Happy 2nd Birthday, Anna Claire!

Anna Claire's birthday was super-fun. After weeks of agonizing over where to have it, who to invite, and how simple to keep everything, We decided on Dixon Park on Tenth Street. It's not a location one might normally consider for a 2-year-old birthday party, but once I stumbled upon it, there was no doubt in my mind that it HAD to be there.

I visited many parks before settling on Dixon. I knew I wanted the party to be somewhere other than the house - no need to clean up for or after guests. And I knew I didn't want to pay for a venue, so city parks where a logical option. It was the sprinklers at Dixon that sold me. They are built into the sidewalk and come on at intervals.

Anna Claire in her element...she is part fish, I think.

Things weren't all rosy with the sprinklers the day of the party. I went into panic when "the button" did not turn the sprinklers on after many attempts. I'm standing there staring at 8 swimsuit and water shoe wearing toddlers, waiting for the water to come on. I promised water play, I intended on delivering it! I tried pressing  "the button" repeatedly. No dice. Then I tried holding "the button." Defeated, I walked over to the other adults wondering if maybe they had any ideas or if there was another switch or button I'd overlooked. Halfway on my walk back to the group...we had sprinklers. Yes!

watching for the water to come out!

Prior to water fun, the kids enjoyed the playgrounds (there are 2: one for 2-4 years and one for 5 and up). The toddler playground was the other selling point for Dixon. However, the pavillion picnic tables were on the side facing the playground for big kids. So guess where our kids wanted to go? Yep. Thank God no one got hurt, and that Anna Claire is leary of climbing. She just sort of stood back and watched her friends climb. If she had attempted the unbelievably high climbs and slides some of her peers tackled, my heart would have been in my throat.

Sweet, brave friends

The snack choices were good, I think. After a little playground time, it rained a bit, so good timing for string cheese and popsicles. By the time they had finished their snacks, the rain had stopped. So they played a bit more.

Precious Ava and Abby enjoying their popsicles in the rain

I "hid" a few Easter eggs filled with Smarties around the toddler playground to lure them over there which was effective for a little while.

Avery loved pushing the eggs she found in Ellie's baby doll stroller.

Then we had cupcakes made from scratch. One of Anna Claire's little friends has a peanut allergy, so it was a fun challenge for me to find a recipe that was peanut free, especially since AC wanted chocolate. The cupcakes turned out really yummy, although they were very crumbly and messy. I just forewarned parents of this and that maybe they should keep the wrapper on to retain the chocolate goo.

Anna Claire had a tower of chocolate cupcakes with Pooh and friends nestled between them.

After cupcakes, we did have sprinkler fun. Then presents. The gifts were all very thoughtful and well-loved by Anna Claire: Bubble Mower, Pillow Pet Pee-Wee, Scented Crayola nail polish, 2 beautiful textured story books, Baby Boutique baby doll and accessories, baby doll stroller, and an Aquadoodle (which I think Larry may steal from Anna Claire  - not sure who likes it more :).

Baby bee pillow! She actually has the larger version too!

bubble mower!

From Meme

That concludes the birthday party story.

Other sweet gifts: Mommy and Daddy gave Anna Claire her doctor's kit (a big hit), Dora flashlight (even bigger hit) many books, pajamas, socks, Kai Lan outfit, Mega blocks, toy camera, magnifying glass, and Your Child Can Read.

Anna Claire also received money to "pay it" from Paw Paw and Meme. Grandma gave Anna Claire her Radio Flyer wagon which she loves so much. She also gave her Noodles which are like giant pipe cleaners and two sweet books that are quickly becoming favorites. She also loves the eButterfly and so do Mommy and Daddy. Very cool!

At Anna Claire's party: Mommy, Daddy, Meme, Paw Paw, Aunt Cindy, Kristen, Ellie, Abby Williams and mom; Avery Hawkins, mom, and baby sister Sara; Ava and Drew Hawkins and mom and dad; Emma and Maggie Williams and mom and dad

Oh yeah! Almost forgot....the Hunny pots. Made them to hold the party favors: Pooh bear stickers, Pooh Pez, splash ball, ring pop, blow out, Pooh ears (instead of hat), and sidewalk chalk.

Current Two-word phrases....

To pronounce in the style of Anna Claire, one must say the first word in the phrase as one sentence and the second word as a separate sentence.

Cheddah. Cheese.

Baybee. Pool.

Diapah. Change.

Dinnah. Time. (Potty. Time., Lunch. Time.)

Wattah. Shoes.

"'gain!"

After we do something fun, it is now very important to Anna Claire to know she will get to do it again. She will consistently ask, "'Gain? Back? Ne' time? Pah-miss? (My translation: We'll do this again? We'll come back? There will be a "next time"? Promise?")

Things we've done this summer Anna Claire would like to do 'gain:

• YMCA pool
• eat popsicle/play in her baby pool (she asks daily if she will get to do these 'gain)
• Public library
• "Nastics" (Gymnastics)
• Creek at Rotary Park
• Zoo
• Swing while watching sprinklers on the ballfields at St. B Sports Complex
• Jump in puddles after it rains

Watch what you say...

We are really going to have to watch what we say around Anna Claire from now on. She repeats EVERYTHING. 
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For example, just this morning, Larry was strapping her in to her car seat, and I nagged him about something related to it. Larry said, "I know."

Anna Claire parroted back, "I know!"

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At school, the kids get called by their full names when they are being mischievous, and I am finding her saying, "Ah-nah Cwaire Avitt!" when she is trying to "write" her name, or doing something she shouldn't. ;)

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I have a bulging disc in my lower spine, so often when I pick her up, I will say, "Oh my back." Anna Claire will repeat this, "Oh my back!"

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Anna Claire wants to know what everything is, what people are doing and for you to tell her all about it. I often don't realize how well she listens until much later. A few days ago she was watching her grandpa work  and wanted to know what he was doing. I explained that he is good at building and fixing things and that was what he was doing.

Last night we read a book about Elmo not having a kite, so he and his friend built one with construction paper, ribbon, crayons, and sticks. Anna Claire went to her crafts basket, grabbed a baggy of construction paper pieces and ran to the door wanting out. She said, "Kite! Paw-paw build. Go!"

Sweet Sundays

To trim my extremely ticklish little girl's nails, I have learned to wait until she falls asleep. And there are many advantages to this, in addition to the obvious.

The Sunday night routine begins like any other night. I read her a story (tonight was Guess How Much I Love You) and we say our prayers. Tonight Anna Claire thanked God for cheese, noodles, and Meme.

The difference on Sundays is that we lay in my bed until she falls asleep. This can take awhile, but I love it. Her Fisher Price Sea Horse plays in the background while Anna Claire repeats after me as I state my nightly well wishes: "Night Night," "Sweet Dreams," "I love you." She plays with my hair, touches my eyelashes and lips and laughs. She puts her hand up to my mouth for me to kiss her hand, which I do, and repeats this many times. She gets right up in my face and cackles. Eventually she DOES fall asleep, nails are trimmed, and child is placed in crib. It is such a precious time and I can't image doing it any differently.

Summer is here!

Summer is here. That means going to the pool, ice cream, and fun times with my favorite girl!

Swimming at the Y
Today I took Anna Claire to the Y for her first swim of the season. She picked up right where we left off when I stopped taking her last fall - kicking her legs, putting her face in the water, fetching a target thrown at a distance - she remembered all of it.

We saw her last year swimming teacher while we were there and I asked her if there was a class for her age offered this summer, and she said it would be the same exact class as last summer until she turns 3, so we will wait. She and the lifeguard did show us how to tie a noodle around Anna Claire's waist to give her a little more independence and buoyancy. Anna Claire LOVED the noodle. She's talked about it all day today! So cute.

Hugger
Anna Claire also has developed a reputation as the class "hugger", even hugging her friends at naptime. The hugging has carried over to home. We saw a beautiful brown butterfly with blue and orange spots yesterday, that really seemed to like Anna Claire. She unfortunately shared the sentiment, chasing it, and hollering, "Hugger!" trying to hug the butterfly. I protected the butterfly and shooed it away from the hugging. :)

"Bary"
Larry and I took Anna Claire to the public library this afternoon to return library books and to pick up a few new. She always enjoys walking through the area with the toys, and making friends with any children who may be playing over there. She walked over to a little boy, about 3 I'd say, and said, "Hiya! Fwiend!"

I swear to you, he held up his hand to her face and said, "No! No! No!" Made me so mad.

About 10 minutes later, after we had browsed through the book area, she came back through and saw a castle wall, and showed us, "Castle! Castle!"

The same mean boy who at this point was playing on the other side of the library ran over to Anna Claire and yelled at her, "No! No! No! That's my castle!" *sigh* We just removed her from the situation so she no longer had to be subject to his ugliness.

Berry Bear
We took Anna Claire to Berry Bear afterward since I got a $2 gift card from school. This was only her second time there. She loves the fruit flavors and fruit toppings! One happy little girl today. :)

Bedtime Prayers
After several months of modeling bedtime prayers for Anna Claire, she is doing it on her own. She is naming her sweet friends to be blessed and prayed for and naming things that we did that day or things that she is thankful for. Last night it was all about her blanket and paci - very grateful for those 2. Tonight she was really naming her friends - named everyone in her class! She also was thankful for the noodle she used swimming this morning. ;)

And so it begins...

This one's brief, but must be posted:

Tonight I called Anna Claire over to put her pajamas on, to which she replied, "Wait a minute!"