SShhh! Gampa.

I tell Anna Claire to be very quiet in the morning so we don't wake up Grandpa. This morning I yelled up the stairs to Larry. She quickly scolded me with her finger over her mouth, "SSshhh! Gampa."

Anna Claire's favorite things right now...

Naming everything.
Eating.
Saying "hi" and making friends with everyone.
Going outside: Picking flowers, wild onions, clover, and naming them. Finding acorns and pinecones.
Books.
Making Daddy wear the pirate hat every night.
The zoo.
Bubble baths.
Music - her music or ours, doesn't matter!
Play doh.
Crayons, the black one in particular.
Stroller rides.
Grooving (her signature dance move, that she's been doing since about 14 mths).
Any time BOTH parents are in the room.
Her plaid coat.
Chocolate ice cream.
Boots.
Blues Clues.
Counting to 8.
Colors. She knows all 8 primary colors, plus pink and white, and loves to tell you what color anything is.
Making friends with Kitty.
Fruit.

Meme's House

Normally, my mom comes to see us on Sunday, but we decided to go to her today! Anna Claire had so much fun bouncing on her bed, running up and down the hallway, and playing the piano. Of course we had yummy white grapes, as always, or "geen gapes" as AC calls them. Her name is much more logical to me.

Anna Claire loves Meme's bed

Running up and down the hallway

My budding musician

Fun on the Farm

We took Anna Claire to Riverview Mounds Century Farm this week and thought I'd share a few of the pics...

I liked this chicken. Anna Claire never noticed it.

Cutie.

Wabbit.

Wabbit.

Grab the bull by the horns, baby. Atta girl!

A highlight of our farm visit was this "wope." Anna Claire loved it!

Wope, once again.

Letting wope know who is boss.

Babies!

Awww!

Do you want to be my friend?

Egg hunt!

Bee-ub

I just heard Anna Claire say "bib" in her sleep. I love that she pronounces it "bee-ub" like a true Southerner.

This is funny in and of itself, but even more so if you understand how obsessed she is garments and their functions, and particularly with her bib right now.

When a meal is over, Anna Claire cries when we take off her bib, "bee-ub! bee-ub! No! No!" Between meals, about every half hour or so, she will go over to the closet wear her bibs are stored and reach up, "bee-ub! bee-ub!"

When we get her ready to go out and play, Anna Claire will advise us, "coe! boo!" (coat, boots). In her mind, we have to have boots and a coat to go outside. This has carried over from a long snowy winter. Even though it's been weeks since our last snow, she insists on boots and coat when we go outside to play. I tell her, "Baby it's warm outside, you don't need coat. you don't need boots." This is typically followed by a tantrum. We think it is so cute that she says, "coe, boo" but loathe the tantrum that follows, so I've just learned to put on the boots and coat/jacket, then she will take the coat off herself within a few minutes of being outside.

So knowing this background, you can appreciate this mornings fail: we put on boots, but today they don't fit. Tantrum. "Boo! Boo! Boo!" Reaching for them, bawling. So pitiful.

But guess what? An hour later, we were looking at shoes at Walmart, and I found the exact same brown boots that she loves in the next size up! And they were on sale for $3.00! Win! She was so happy, to see them. Biggest smile ever.

I am thinking...if Anna Claire could dress herself, she would no doubt choose  "boo" , "coe", and "bee-ub".

Ear Infections Suck.

This has been a trying week for our household. Poor, sweet baby girl is in so much pain, she is unknowingly putting Mommy and Daddy through the wringer.

Thursday I got a phone call that Anna Claire had a fever of 103, was withdrawn and lethargic.She is typically a very happy little girl, so I was beside myself wondering what was wrong, and wondering how I could get to her as quickly as possible.

I recently took on a new role at my school as sponsor of photography club. It was then that I got the call. I was fortunately able to get a friend to watch my students so I could take off and get Anna Claire.

She was SO hot and pale and weak when I arrived. Larry had made a call to the doc's office in the meantime, and booked us the soonest available appointment. We were diagnosed with another ear infection right away and prescribed our amoxicilllin, and away we went.

In the days that have followed, we have had very sweet moments where she wanted nothing more than to cuddle and snuggle in our laps for hours at a time, which I love.

We have also had moments of frustration, where we have been at a total loss as to how to console a crying, suffering child. The latter is the source of my present discontent.

I can honestly say we have fully used our knowledge of her favorite things to our advantage: we have been outside more times than I can count,  large quantities of fruit and snack mix have been consumed, play doh has been rolled and patted, favorite books have been read multiple times, and favorite Blues Clues episodes have been played and replayed; crayons, markers, and paper are in continuous circulation. And we have allowed her paci and blanket to accompany her whenever she chooses. Larry and I have figuratively and literally bent over backwards to accommodate and indulge Anna Claire.

Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, crying, tantrums, and generally fussy behavior continue to ensue.
If Larry or I fail to correctly and promptly identify her needs and requests, we are met with physical disapproval. Yes, I have been hit. I have been kicked. I have had my hair pulled. I have had toys thrown at me. All in a three day period.

I have come to a couple of conclusions. 1) Tubes are imminent. 2) All toddlers must learn not to hit, bite, kick, pinch, pull hair, or throw things, but in order for this learning to occur, so must actual hitting, biting, kicking, pinching, hair pulling and throwing. So then, I am choosing to just say we have had numerous learning opportunities at our house this week.

Anyone who knows my child, knows this aggressive behavior is not common. I just want it to be over so I can have my sweet baby girl back. Stupid ear infection.

Kites, Zoo, New Foods, Wuv it.

Kites
Friday, after I picked up Anna Claire, we stopped by Dollar Tree to pick up a couple of kites. I was motivated by a week of windy-winds, and this day was no exception. Buying 2 kites proved to be wise. As soon as I began running with the first one and had it launched into the air, she began fretting and wanting THAT kite. The second kite allowed her to be pacified with one to hold, and to enjoy watching the other one fly. OK, it was more like fly, crash, fly, crash, fly. But there was SOME flying, and that counts for something.

The Zoo
We had an absolute blast. Anna Claire loved seeing animals, but I think her fairly newly found mobility took precedent. She DID NOT want us to hold her hand. She was definitely Miss Independent, with ideas of her own. And, you know, that was ok. We arrived at the zoo fairly early, so it wasn't terribly crowded. This allowed her freedom to have fun and explore, and we just had to be hot on her trail.

I couldn't have pulled off the trip without her Daddy. I have had some pretty severe back pain in the past few weeks, and really relied on him to do the child-lifting. I also made a conscious decision to be less uptight this trip, and fought the urge to fall into the trappings I heard other parents fall victim to: wanting the child to see maximum number of animals. In the five minutes I spent in the ladies restroom there, I must have heard, "Don't you want to see the animals?" three, if not four, times. It was more fun for all parties to just let her enjoy herself, even if it meant only seeing 3 animals and the aquarium/terrarium creatures.

Here are a few video clips, showcasing highlights of this visit:

 

 "baseball clapping" our way through the indoor exhibits

That's poop, honey. Wash hands.

Wuv it.
Anna Claire's new catch phrase is "Wuv it." And when she says it, she means it.

It may come as no surprise to find we hear this phrase the most at mealtime. Tonight Anna Claire tried crawfish for the first time. Larry served it with a creamy pasta. Both got "wuv its."

Typical day outside.

Anna Claire is loving this nice weather, like I'm sure everyone is, albeit windy. As soon as we pull in the driveway, she is calling to me, "Up, up, up." I unfasten the offending straps and remove the crying-out child from the contraption. Off she goes. "Stick! Stick!" So the search begins. Normally sticks and seashells imbedded in the driveway are the targets of the search, but today she discovered...pinecones.

Anna Claire had so much fun gathering large pinecones under the pine trees. She loved walking under them, with their branches being so low to the ground. It reminded me of that feeling from my own childhood, feeling so small, looking up and trying to touch the lowest branch, just out of my reach.

What blew me away, was her COUNTING. I'd say, "Now we have two pinecones," and she'd say, "THEE!" I'd say, "Three pinecones," and she'd say, "FOUR!" I went for it one more time to test my theory, "Now we have four pinecones, Anna Claire." Sure enough, "FI!" Seriously?

Oh, and then there's the slide. I am not ready to let her go down the slide by herself yet, nor do I want to climb up the webby, dirty steps to go down with her. After a good scrubbing, maybe. Anna Claire wants to go down regardless. So I lift her up as high as I can and hold onto her as she glides down. She loves it so much. We repeated this process more times than I can count. My back's a little sore from it, honestly.

Ready to go in, I do what I know works to get her in without tears, "Want to go inside and see Daddy? Let's see Daddy and get a snack." Off she runs toward the house. Works like a charm everytime.

A Week of Firsts (and it's only Tuesday)

Ponytails. When I picked up Anna Claire from school yesterday, she had a ponytail in her hair, which I know her teachers have been dying to do for weeks. I have made several attempts, but she fusses so much because it pulls. It's also so hard to manuever your fingers to get it good and tight.

Raisins. Yesterday Anna Claire tried raisins for the first time. She LOVES them. Larry told her they are dried grapes and that has stuck. She is referring to them as "gapes." She can take out a whole little red box herself.

Play doh! I can't say that I introduced it, but we bought her a 10 pack and gave it to her yesterday. She was so happy to see the pack of ten little cans. She kept saying "whoa! whoa! whoa!" She spent the next five or ten minutes taking them out of the little holes and put them back in like a puzzle. She did a great job not eating it. She loved watching us roll it into balls, logs, and other shapes, then trying to copy us.

The night sky. Anna Claire has never been out at night. We always do bath, pampering, books, and bedtime. We are so consistent that it occurred to me tonight that we've deprived her of moon, stars, and peaceful darkness. (Sorry if this is too stream of consciousness) On the way to the book fair tonight, she kept saying "night night! night night!" and then "HI!" alternately. Then she would call out, "dark!" and later "lights!" as we turned onto Sango Rd., driving past the gas station and McDonalds.

Book Fair. Anna Claire loved being in her pajamas, having her teddy bear, and seeing her little friends with their mommies and daddies. She loved seeing all of the books, taking 2-3 seconds to look at each one before passing them off to me to return. It was neat to see many of my friends there too. We have so many connections at The Red Barn. It's neat.