Miss Independent

"Ah-nah!" she exclaims, pointing to herself.

This was the pervading cry of the day. I thought I'd share a brief list of things "Ah-nah" Claire did herself, just today:

• eating yogurt with a spoon straight from the Yoplait container
• using the potty twice today (so proud of her!)
• feeding ham to Kitty
• getting up from falls (normally she wants to be picked up)
• drinking from a straw
• pet 2 dogs, got licked in the face by one
• looks up and holds her head up when I ask her too, when rinsing shampoo out of her hair
• gets that string cheese is fun. She peels it string by string now.
• can climb down 2 steps by foot, as opposed to on her belly as she had been
• has learned the magic words for getting her blanket/paci, and getting us to open the gate and refrigerator ("nap", "potty" and "pickles", respectively)

The Five B's and The Three S's

As I was pushing Anna Claire's stroller through our neighborhood this afternoon, listening to the soothing sound of a lawnmower in the distance and birds singing all around, I thought, "The past two days with Anna Claire can be summed up in eight words - yesterday, our tried and true five B's, and today in three...and they all start with "S"!

Yesterday was all about the five B's. The five B's have been key in Anna Claire's life for months and months, and all five always bring her joy. Thank you God for bubbles, balloons, books, blanket and her beach ball!

 

Today's highlights were the stroller ride, drawing and coloring with sidewalk chalk, and wearing sunglasses (on top of her head and over her eyes). If she put her glasses on her head, she wanted me to do the same. True also if they were over her eyes. "Mommy, gasses, head!" then later, "Mommy, gasses, eye!"

Sidewalk Chalk!

New sunglasses from the "E bunny"

Puddle Jumpin'

I have wanted rain boots for Anna Claire for months now, but I think I am finally ready to just accept the fact that none exist for a size 4 foot. The size 5s (smallest size they make) are ridiculously huge on her.

Anna Claire has asked to jump in puddles for awhile now too. We just let her go for it yesterday, and got her into dry clothes after. She had A BALL. And check her hairdo - she did have 2 ponytails, but felt one needed to come out. I can dig it.

No luck finding rain boots, but we found the most adorable umbrella.

 

Here you see her struggling with it a bit, but by the end of the day, she had mastered the art of carrying an umbrella.

Khloie's Birthday

We had Khloie's birthday here at the house yesterday and what a fun day it was for everyone, including (and maybe ESPECIALLY for) Anna Claire.

It was Anna Claire's first birthday party and we had spent the greater part of the morning getting ready for Khloie's birthday, and talking about birthdays and Khloie and Uncle Clint and Grandma coming over. Boy, Anna Claire really kept her eye on the freshly baked cupcakes, asking for one every time we passed through the kitchen. I had told her that once both "Cwint" and "G'ama" arrived, that she could have a one. She kept saying, "Cwint....G'ama....cu-cake!" It was so cute.

Once everyone arrived, I kept my promise and Anna Claire did get the cu-cake. She enjoyed sitting at the table with everyone for pizza and breadsticks. I hadn't had Little Caesars in ages. It was really good!

cu-cake!

After everyone had eaten, Khloie opened presents. She loved the top we picked out for her, and it looked so beautiful on her! (see pic below). She also loved the combination lock and the idea of practicing so she will be ready to open her locker next year when she starts middle school. Go Team Averitt.

Anna Claire and Birthday Girl, Khloie in her new shirt!

Then it was time to head outdoors. Anna Claire wanted to be wherever Khloie and Sean were. Sean is Clint's girlfriend's son, and he is absolutely precious. Khloie and Sean were both so sweet to include Anna Claire. It meant so much to her!

Anna Claire, Khloie, and Sean - love their facial expressions and capturing moments like these.

Later, indoors, we played a little game of keep all the balloons in the air. No one enjoyed this more than Anna Claire!

We even had an Easter egg hunt that evening. Larry "hid" some easy-to-find ones for Anna Claire, so she would find some too.

It was a really fun day! I am so happy she is spending time with her dad's family. Now I just need to work on my side of the family.

Good Friday? Yes, it was.

Today I took a personal leave day since Anna Claire's daycare was closed for Good Friday. I have loved being home with her.

We began with a wonderfully lazy morning. We stayed in pajamas much longer than usual and had a later breakfast. Anna Claire loves not having to rush and getting in extra cuddle time with both parents and Blanket.

Because Larry does the grocery shopping for the household, going to Walmart is very exciting for Anna Claire. We made a brief excursion there to get more Motrin to help with her ear pain and general fussiness. Anna Claire is beginning to love looking at clothes. She has a definite opinion about what she likes and what she doesn't, and she enjoys naming the pictures, shapes, and colors on all of the clothing.

When we got home, we spent a long time outside, and a good bit of time on the potty (she asked to go a half dozen times, but only used once today, in the AM).

While outside, I was excited for Anna Claire to see a couple of things she had never seen before: the garbage truck picking up our trash, and a robin taking a long, leisurely bath in a puddle on the side of the house. Afterward, Anna Claire and I collected rocks from the front of the yard to place under and around the hose area so that it is not so muddy. Anna Claire enjoyed helping me collect the rocks and digging in some top soil with her toy shovel.

We went inside for a bit and no doubt to potty, then it was important to Swiffer (which Anna Claire calls "mop") and to use the broom. She loves to help clean! The broom and Swiffer are really awkward for her to maneuver. I am thinking a small child-size broom is in her future - adding it to my list of things to get her, along with a child's umbrella. She LOVES mine.

After her nap, which was brief, I took Anna Claire to Mary's Gardens to check out their berry and herb selection. Pushing a stroller through gravel ain't easy, so our visit was brief, and she let me know about it! "Mama! No! Ride! Ride! Hum! (fun!)"

Anna Claire has been referring to herself in the third-person this week, which is hilarious. Like this morning, after the robin finished her bath in the puddle, Anna Claire pointed to herself and asked, "Pudd-o....bath...Cwaire?" She also noticed my zucchini seedlings have really grown and pointed them out. She told the zucchini while rubbing her belly, "Chini! Grow! Grow! Cwaire eat!" Zucchini, please listen to my child. Mommy would like to eat you too!

This evening, it was important to Anna Claire to befriend some squirrels. I'm interested in this too, especially since finding out my friend Cheryl totally tamed a squirrel now has him for a pet. We grabbed a bag of stale whole wheat bread and headed outside to make friends. I told Anna Claire about how my Mamaw and I used to throw bread to the birds and squirrels and sit and watch for them to come and eat it. She really believed me, and I think she would have camped out all night waiting for them, if need be. Fortunately this wasn't necessary. We had a taker right away. He didn't seem the least bit scared of us, but it did take a lot of coaching on my part. Lots of "ssssh"-ing and reminders, "move very, very slow so you don't scare him." She really listens! She really must want to be their friend!

Well, this was our day. It may be simple, but it was good.

No TV this week, but it's on her mind...

We are committed to no TV week, and it's honestly been easy because Anna Claire wants to be outside, in the kitchen or on the potty.

TV's still on her mind though. Tonight we were reading her Baby Einstein: First Words book. Opened to the pages with pictures and names of musical instruments, Anna Claire began pointing to instruments and telling me The Fresh Beat Band member who played the instrument and its name. So cute.

"Mawina! mawacas!" (Marina, maracas! She did play the maracas once.)
"Mawina! dwum!" (Marina. drum. Yep. She plays the drums.)
"Hout! Twumpet." (Shout! Trumpet. Ah, yes, I unfortunately remember the Bugle Toots Bugle episode all too well)
"Monca. Chiss." (Harmonica. Twist. I think he did play it once on the episode where they were outside.)

Now, check out the child playing the flute at the bottom of the page on the right. Girl or boy? Anna Claire couldn't tell either. You may recall from a previous post that she uses the terms "mommy" and "daddy" to identify gender. She kept pointing to the kid asking, "Mommy? Daddy? Mommy? Daddy?"  and then "Boy?" I told her the truth, that Mommy wasn't sure!

 

Potty update: Anna Claire is asking to use the potty once in the morning before she goes to The Red Barn and 2-3 times in the evening. She's actually "gone" potty at least once each day this week! She continues to narrate the process, "Pant off...diaper off...potty...keen...hand..." And tonight, "Potty! Wub it!" She really does.

Ear infection update: Anna Claire is EXTREMELY happy and playful considering. They want to look at her ears again once we've completed this round of antibiotics because when we went in there was so much liquid in one ear that the light was being refracted back into the doctor's eyes and she couldn't see anything.

Potty time!

I do believe it's potty time, ladies and gentlemen.

Whenever Anna Claire says, "Potty," I take it seriously. We go the the bathroom and I ask her if she wants to sit on the potty. The answer to this question has always been no, until today.

When we walked into the bathroom, she walked straight to the potty, as usual, only instead of pointing to it, naming it, and walking away like she normally does, she sat down on it. Here is the conversation that ensued shortly thereafter:

Anna Claire: Off! (pointing to boots)
Mommy: You want your boots off?
Anna Claire: Off.
(Mommy takes boots off)
Anna Claire: Pant. Off.
Mommy: You want your pants off too?
Anna Claire: Off.
(Mommy takes pants off)
Anna Claire: Diaper. Off.
Mommy: You want your diaper off? Do you need to go potty?
Anna Claire: Off. Potty.
(Mommy takes diaper off)
Anna Claire: Wead.
(Anna Claire reads her Wonder Pets: Shapes book, retelling me what happens on every page in the book, all the while sitting on potty)
Mommy: Do you need to go potty?
Anna Claire: No. Keen diaper.
Mommy: You want a clean diaper? Ok. Let's go get a clean diaper.
Anna Claire: Hand. Keen. Wash.
Mommy: You want to wash your hands? Ok great!
(We wash hands. No poop or pee in potty, but I am excited that this was all her own idea and we are moving in the direction at this point)
Anna Claire: Hand. Dwy.
(Mommy walks Anna Claire to dry hands)
Anna Claire: Done!

We repeated this sequence several times this afternoon, the book selected varying for each one. But later....

At bath time, I was just about to shampoo Anna Claire's hair, when she looked me right in the eye and said, "Potty. Poop," then looked at the potty.

I said, "Can you wait just a minute? I just need to wash your hair, then we're all done."

"Mo," she said (which is how "no" is coming out right now). I REALLY should have listened to her. After getting her all "sudsed up" she made the "I'm about to poop" face. I pulled her out of there so fast, suds and all.

She fussed, but she pooped in the potty for the first time! And nobody had to fish a floating turd out of the bathtub. Win Anna Claire! Win Mommy!

Lots of "Yays!" and hugs, and "Good jobs!" from Mommy and Daddy followed.

Not exactly how I had envisioned her first successful potty experience, but there you have it.

Ear Infection: Again.

I predicted this a week ago, and should have taken Anna Claire then. But then she seemed better. At any rate, we have yet another ear infection, and I am thinking it's just a matter of time before they tell us we should get tubes.

I anticipate another 3-4 days of fussiness, if this one is anything like those we've endured previously. Good news is, we are getting much better and faster at recognizing the symptoms (fussiness).

Today was not horrible, but Anna Claire was doing things like asking for milk, then crying when we got it for her. She was crying, "Up!" then continuing to cry if we picked her up or if we didn't pick her up (sort of Mommy and Daddy can't win types of moments). These seem to be the clear signs that we need to take her to the doctor.

In a way this is a relief to us, to know that this is NOT her nature. She is NOT a monster. She just feels bad. Ear infections come and go, but our child is good-natured, happy-go-lucky, and fun to be around. Take that (insert antibiotics here) ear infection.

Counting to ten!

Larry as my witness, tonight I was reading Anna Claire The Bunny Book (A Little Golden Book) and on the page with many bunnies, she began counting them all the way to ten! She's counted her ten play-doh cans before, but this was in the correct order, leaving none out: one, tee-oooo, fwee, fo-uh, by, ix, eben, eigh, nine, ten.

Wub it! Honey!

I have no idea where Anna Claire got this, but it's her new catch-phrase: "Wub it! Honey!" (love it, honey!)

She seems to say it when she's really into something. The following have earned "wub it honeys"":

• stroller ride
• zoo
• grapes
• chocolate
• A Mud Pie for Mother book
• dandelion puffs 
• drinking from a straw 
• hugging BOTH Little Giraffe blankets

Adjectives

Anna Claire has loved naming objects for months now. She is now tagging on adjectives to these, and her vocabulary is growing and growing! I am constantly amazed!

This weekend, Anna Claire stroked my hair and said, "hair...pwetty!" My heart just melted. I love it and I love her.

Today, Miss Ashley, her daycare teacher shared that Anna Claire pointed to her necklace and said "heart" (it was a heart pendant) and then "pwetty." Ashley was really touched.

As we were leaving the Red Barn, Anna Claire pointed to the paintings the children made of zebras and said  "paint"..."fun!"

Anna Claire LOVES dandelion puffs (which she is ironically allergic to, I'm afraid). She picked one today, hugged it, and said, "puff!"..."wuv it"..."honey". She has been told repeatedly that bees make honey from flowers and she knows the puffs form from the yellow flowers, so that's what "honey" is about.

Tonight Larry handed her a warm bowl from the dishwasher. She hollered, "hot!"

Whenever she sees the word zoo (remember she can read over 200 words), she says "woo! fun! again!" I always tell her we'll go again.

Tonight at dinner, Anna Claire looked out the window at the dogwood trees and said, "pwetty!" I talked to her about the trees, that the ones with white flowers are called dogwoods. She said, "wood wood! pwetty! fwower! pwetty!"

As she was eating her hot dog tonight, I showed her Mommy and Daddy were eating hot dogs too. She said, "dog dog! wuv it! yum!"

I could also get off topic and share that she asks us to write "Anna" every time we get out crayons and paper. She calls out, "ah-nah! ah-nah! ah-nah! cwaire!" until you write her name. Then she says, "name!"

I could continue to stay off topic and share that I write words in bath crayon on the shower wall each night. Tonight she read, "bath", "shadow", and cupcake." SHE IS 21 MONTHS!

I stay amazed.

I miss "Nonny"

Since Anna Claire began talking many months ago, I have been "Nonny". My mom, who likes to be called Meme, has been "Nene."

Well, Anna Claire has finally got her N's and M's straight, and is consistently calling us Mommy and Meme. I was just thinking today though, that I kind of miss "Nonny." I miss her patched little pants when she was walking on her knees. I miss when she would lay in the floor for five minutes so I could run downstairs and grab something. I miss her daycare teachers, Leah, Jeanne, and Ashley. I miss seeing her in her favorite frog T-shirt that no longer fits her (not giving THAT one away to Goodwill!).

So many things I miss about Anna Claire being little, but I love so many things about her being a BIG GIRL!
I love how she can tell us what she wants, CLEARLY. I love that she can walk and no longer has bruised little knees. I love how smart she is, and how inquisitive she is. I love that she loves books. I love how outgoing Anna Claire is and that she loves listening to Mommy and Daddy's music now. I really love how much she enjoys being in the kitchen with us when we are cooking.

Lots of pros and cons to her growing up, but I always love the age she is and enjoy each phase to the fullest!

Two-Word Phrases...we're there.

Brand new today! Anna Claire is starting to talk in two-word phrases:

"See it?" - anytime I had something today that she wanted.

"pajama on." (pajama on)

"Ice keem...coh!" (ice cream cold)

Larry walks downstairs to the kitchen when we get home this afternoon. AC: "Daddy...cook!"

At dinner tonight, many times, "Eat it!"