Yes we have a Halloween Post!

We can't skip blogging on Anna's second Halloween. Last year she was about 7 months old. She wore a heavy chicken costume. She was carried house to house and people actually gave her candy. She was insistent on her 6:30 bedtime, which we dared to push a little till around 7pm before she started getting cranky. We went with C/M/O (TJ was in school), L/A/A, and my mom.

This year, Anna was a cheerleader. The weather was most perfect, probably in the low 70's and dry. We were joined by TJ/M/O/B, L/A/A, my mom, and her husband R. Aunt S stayed behind at our place to hand out candy. This year we got to watch Anna join in the fun with the older kids (princesses and pirate). She ran to keep up and we encouraged it. She ate rice krispy treats as she went house to house. She said "thank you" sometimes and I think I heard "Trick or treat" once. She got a kick out of one woman's cat inside her house. I think she thought it must be weird to go door to door to people's homes and get candy while people told her how cute she was. We loved to watch her do this whole thing. We were with friends and family and it was pretty perfect. She kept up till around 7:30 when we all decided to head to my house for dinner, where we were joined by L, CM, and Z.

Everyone brought food and we ate and had good conversations with lots of catching up to do while Ghost Hunters Live played on the TV (as is such every year). Anna played with the other kids and I realized how wonderfully busy it kept her. She was having fun. Around 9pm, she went to bed, and I dug through her candy :) Folks stayed till around 11PM.

We skipped the dinner at my place last year just because it all snuck up on me. Friends had moved away, Anna had a sleep schedule, and I was still a new parent longing for sleep. It was great to have folks back again this year, though a smaller group. We missed the others, but it was still fun as usual. One amazing change is in the kids. A, O and M are so grown up and Anna is not far behind. I remember when O and M were Anna's age. Crazy. It's happening before my eyes.

Before she went Trick or Treating, TJ/O/M and Anna and Paul and I headed over to one of Paul's friends' who owns a car dealership. The place was all decked out and had a few games and candy for the kids. It was actually really cool. The kids had fun and the employees took pride in their spooky work. Anna bobbed for apples:

Halloween bonus: With all the kiddos at our house playing on Halloween night, they dove into Anna's Leggo wagon. Paul glanced over and saw something shiny and familiar in one of their hands. There was the nice Timex watch I had bought myself back in May because I needed a nice watch to wear with my nice clothes. I knew Anna-bear had run off with it and placed it somewhere, but I figured searching would be pointless. Turns out I was right on both accounts! I got my watch back, though! Thanks SpaceDaddy and fun kiddos!

Now, has anyone seen the Indiana Jones' clothes? We have a naked Jones and it's not pretty.

...And yes, we have teething

I spotted a definite canine eruption this morning on her top right. Not nearly where we expected to find the first pop up, but there it was, staring at me as I was tickling her upside down at drop off this morning.

No swelling, ro redness. Just more drool the past 2 days.

No notice. And that's how it goes.

She melts my heart

First thing this morning as she's getting dressed, she picks up the Snow White book and counts the dwarfs: "ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR! FIVE! SIX!" OK she missed #7 but baby can COUNT. As clear as DAY. Wow. She did it again when I asked her to. And then again. Beautiful, happy sounds to my ears...

Dressed her in the halloween (not scary, remember) outfit her Nana sent her. Beautiful, cute.

Peaceful breakfast. She actually let me get dressed while she ate. I haven't been able to leave the room without her screaming for me the last two weeks (ear infection). Silence, peace, happy eater.

"Rocket ship!" she said, pointing at my space shuttle bubble bath (don't judge me). YES, BABY!!!! THAT'S A ROCKET SHIP!!! WONDERFUL! WAY TO GO! Where'd you learn that? I mean, we've probably said it a handful of times. Did you remember? Or were you born knowing what that was because of mommy's love for it?

On the way out the door, Anna on my hip: Anna, can you say I love you mama?
"I LOVE YOU MAMA!!" Clear as day. Clear, and perfect. Perfect, perfect.

She's said "I love you" alot, and she's said "mama/mommy". But never all together. This was directed at me. With a big silly warm smile on her face, all cuddly-like. This was the sweetest, most heart-melting sound I have heard in the past 19 months.

A content and happy morning.

Geeeeko!

A gecko snuck into my house as I opened the door to bring in a package on the way to put Anna night-night. Squealing and giggling on my hip, Anna delighted in this but I did not. I HATE geckos.

They move really fast and weird and it's like they have zero brains. Like little ADHD lizards. Those green standard lizards I can deal with. At least it seems they are thinking before they move.

Geeeeeko!Geeeeko! OK, Paul was not home. I had to do something. I couldn't very well leave this thing to squirm around in my house till he got home. I am the mama.

I bravely tried to catch it. Anna on my hip, giggling, squealing, GEEEEEKO!

I caught it! There it is in my hand, Anna do you want a good look? Oh look the tail is gone. Oops. That's means it's around here somewhere. Don't look...

...just throw the gecko outside. Say bye-bye. Bye-bye gecko. Then, as I turned to go back inside, there was the tail, ofcourse it's flip-flop squirming all around now without a body. Wonderful. It's at the foot of my stairs. Just go pick it up and toss it. You're a neuroscientist, you know what's going on here. No big deal.

No, I don't want to touch it. I use a piece of paper that was shoved into my doorknob as a flyer for something I'll never now know...trying to scoop it up...damn, did you know you can AGAIN cut that tail into two and BOTH parts will start flipping and squirming? Yeah, that's disgusting, and now two times to deal with. Crap.

Lots of scooting with lots of paper and Anna actually still on my hip giggling, the parts made it out of the house.

Texas. Ecchh.

Sun, not flower

Anna, can you say Trick or Treat?
Holding out her green cloth pumpkin, she practices for tomorrow night: "Treekitsweet".
"Good job! What's this?" as I put the ducky into her bag...
"Duck!"
And this?
"Elmo!"
And this?
"Deeseewah!" (Dinosaur)
And this?
"Sun!"
No baby, it's not a sun, it's a flower.
"SUN!"
No baby...
Eyebrows furrowed: "SUN!"
Anna...
Head shaking: "SUN!SUN!SUN!"
OK, it IS a sun flower. We'll compromise. Good eye.

Children's Fall Party

We joined Ommom and her family at Space Center Houston last night for the Children's Fall Party. It was pretty cute and fun...I have been to the Space Center before but since it's a visitor's center, and I work for the real deal ;) I've not been in a long time, and I've never really walked through the whole thing. So we did last night and were amazed at the stuff they had there, especially their moon area. It was way fun. Plus Anna got to dress up like a cheerleader (Denver Broncos, though in the pink form), which was a gift brought back from Ommom from her Denver visit awhile ago. We are psyched she gets to wear it for Halloween!

We are on one solid week of sleeping through the night again. It was all due to the ear infection. We still don't have teeth: isn't it funny when you're in the thick of it, looking for answers, you could swear those gums look red and swollen? Even then I knew I was grasping at strings, hoping teething was the answer. Though the ear is still slightly draining, it's definitely on the clear, but I guess that just means we still have teething to deal with. It's OK, we'll just cross that bridge when we get to it too. Also, her cough has stopped. Yee-ha!

In fact, I feel like we have our happy, less-irritable, less cranky, less clingy little toddler back. Then again, this weekend I will be home with her without Paul (he's working) so I guess time will tell. I may be pulling my hair out by Saturday afternoon ;)

Either way I won't be sleep-deprived. None of us will. Whew. Bring on the beautiful weather!

Anxious

I am not excited at all that in 7 days, we will be leaving our Anna-bear for 4 long nights. Without us. What the heck am I thinking and why is Paul agreeing to this?

We are leaving her with Paul's parents in Louisiana while we go to a conference in Colorado.

They need to know that she seriously doesn't sleep well on travel. She has become clingy lately, she may be teething...she's fighting an ear infection that should hopefully be gone by then. She likes to sing ABC's to sleep, plus Snow White's song, plus 1-2-3 bumblebees, and whatever else she asks for even after her books have been read to her. She may wake in the night several times on travel, looking for her paci. She may be looking for her mommy and her daddy too. What if she wakes unconsolable and confused?

She may try to fight naps on top of that. She won't want her teeth brushed. What if she keeps asking for us? FOUR NIGHTS is a LONG TIME to be away from both mom and dad. What am I thinking? This is NOT OK. NOT OK, NOT OK. BAD MOMMY AND DADDY.

She's only 19 months old. Well, 20 months old by then.
Bad, bad, bad. What have I done?

Good night and good morning

Anna's moods last night and this morning have been fun and encouraging. Talk about cooperative and sweet. Maybe it's the weather? We'll take the rough days if they are sprinkled with some good ones in-between like this.

Last night we taught her how to say Trick or Treat! Won't that be fun this Friday?

Her cheery mood may be due to the fact that it looks like her ear is clearing up, after the shades of gunk turned from red/brown that was last week, through yellowish, and finally to bright green yesterday morning. Wondering what that meant, I called her ENT to see what he thought. He wanted to check her tubes to be sure there wasn't something crazy happening there. Apparently, all is good in that area, and it's just a nutso ear infection that is taking a little while to clear. They cultured it and told me to call back Friday for results and updates on her ear.

This morning her ear looked really good: no gunk leaked out overnight. I guess that's expected after having paid the $30 co-pay for a sanity check. You can guarantee that as soon as the money hits the table and your day is disrupted with the doctor's visit, things will start to improve.

I'm so grateful but bummed I didn't get any photos of the funky stuff.

Easy target for the Air National Guard

All it takes is a flapping silly-man-thing and a beach ball and she's ready to join the Air National Guard. These people know who they're marketing to...19 month-olds are easy targets. Airplanes all around us and helicopters putting on a show overhead, and this is Anna's most captivated moment at the airshow yesterday. We stood here awhile:

We stayed a few hours but left in time for her nap, especially as Paul and I noticed there weren't nearly as many planes in the air as we'd expected = boring. As soon as her nap came, so did all of the planes overhead, including the war reinactments. With bombing.


Ha.Ha.


Regardless, she mercifully slept through the attacks and woke just in time to run out to watch the Thunderbirds show, which has a great view from Paul's clinic across the street.

By the way, if you're keeping score

Third night in a row of peaceful sleep last night (yay, more Vick's on the feet and chest and no coughing!). Myself included. I think I only woke once or twice. She didn't even fight going to sleep. Her ear wasn't even as gross this morning.

Today at drop off, since we were late, I got to leave her in music class, which is her favorite thing in the world. They gave her a pretty pink scarf, and I passed her off to the teacher and didn't hear a peep.

Yes, it counts...two days in a row of no screaming at drop-off. Darn it, it's Friday. I fear we may lose this peaceful streak with the interjection of the weekend. Ah well, the two good days were great while we had them!

It's COLD!

Mention the word "cold" and she goes, "OOooohhhOOoohhOOoohh" all sing song, like OOH, it's COLD! Last night we watched SpaceDaddy play softball and it was a beautiful cool night. It was already cold but add to that Anna's latest addiction to "ice, ice, ice" and her little hands were frozen while she guarded the team's beer cooler. I took every opportunity to warm them in mine and I remembered when people who cared about me used to do that for me too. I guess I'm growing up and it's my turn. It was sweet and I was happy to help.

Toddlerhood is tough

This morning she said "otameel, oatmeel". It's the cutest thing ever. She sounds like a little person. Ever had a pet for a long time and you always wondered what they would sound like if they could talk? You get the idea. I love when she says new words so clearly and almost perfectly. It's like I'm talking to a 2 year old or something. She's still 19 months. Well, 19.5 to be exact. She watched me make her oatmeal and was fascinated. And it was only the microwave and water.

She usually enjoys oatmeal, but this morning as I sat her down to eat, she took one bite and started screaming. Unhappy. She kept eating. Unhappy. I'm tired of asking her what's wrong, like I can fix it, so I gave her some milk and fruit and let her just do what she was doing. She calmed down after a bit. I think she was so hungry that she was ticked she had to use her hands to slowly get bits of oatmeal into her mouth (I tried to thicken it, credit here)...since she still stinks at getting the spoon to her mouth without dumping all her food out.

Paul left while she was eating and I was only half dressed, which was fine, except these days the child gets oral antibiotics, ear drop antibiotics, and forced tooth brushing and forced hair brushing. The ear drops go OK, but the oral meds are hit or miss. If you leave it out for her long enough in the little cup, she'll get curious enough to go over and take it all. But sometimes if you just ask her to take it, these days she'll either be cooperative and drink up, or just downright refuse. She used to love taking meds, it was so easy. Now it's on her terms (just like the tooth brushing). Adding more time it takes to get out the door. I was tired of the games this morning, so I had to resort to holding her down to get the meds in. That was no fun but at least she didn't spit it back at me.

All of this resistance made us late getting out the door. At least she still enjoys putting her shoes on at this time.

After changing her poopy diaper (just great), which amounted to more resistance, I could actually feel my anger building, and the loss of control that would soon follow if we didn't just get out the door soon. I don't think I even finished getting myself dressed. We just fled and were still late.

I am getting tired of "nice mommy" and she is only 19.5 months old. It's about time to put the smack down. Too many games just wear me out and drag on and on. You can't blame me for trying...trying to just give her a chance to do the right thing...or trick her into doing the right thing. Any parent who's been here before recognizes my mistakes and realizes I'd eventually come to this conclusion myself...that for the most part it's going to be mommy's way or else.

...OK now we're under attack

...by more and more planes. It's cool and all, but um...just woke sleeping beauty from her nap. Guess we'll go outside and watch them fly over?!

Here come the planes!

One by one we can hear and see all the different types of planes coming to land at Ellington Field for the Wings Over Houston Airshow. This air force base is just right down the street from my neighborhood so we have front row seats to the fun every year. Anna is going nuts pointing them out all the time. It's non-stop and fabulous! Her head is going to explode (in a good way) when we take her to the actual air show this Saturday. We can't wait to see her reactions. And the weather should be beautiful.

She hearts airplanes, big time. How cool is THAT?

**

Today she didn't even cry when Paul left her at her classroom. Wow. When I picked her up, her teacher blew her a kiss bye-bye and Anna blew one back. As we left the room, she looked through the window, pointed at her napping buddy and said, "ocky, ocky, ocky". She said his name all the way down the hall. I am relieved because other than AS, all her other toddler buddies moved up to the next class in August. She used to ask for them but hasn't in awhile. I am glad she's found some new names!

My own R&R

Before I forget, Anna's newest words: steeberries (strawberries she had last night for dinner, yum!), siren (wee-oo-wee-oo), socksnshoes (socks and shoes. She's always said socks and always said shoes but now it's socknshoes!).

Her ear didn't seem to be as messy this morning. She slept all night (night #2). Thanks to my mommy peeps encouraging me to try the Vick's on the feet thing, I gave it another shot even though it didn't seem to work last week. I'm not sure if it worked last night but all was quiet. It seemed to work when she was a baby the few times we tried it. Or again, maybe just coincidence. Regardless, last night her bath was in mentholated J&J, and she got Vicks on the feet and chest. She fought going to sleep (screamed) for about 3 min then not another peep. Score!

Again, this morning the cough ticked her off, as well as the fact that she was wearing long sleeves. She must get that part from her daddy. But the congestion was minimal.

I fought a fever all day at work yesterday and right now I am about to get a little rest at home before my afternoon with her starts because when the fever hits, it's no fun.

I found a new CD with some of Anna's favorites and I played a preview for myself in the car yesterday before I picked her up. Is it screwy to have been so excited about playing it for her?