April Fun

It is so much fun to share new things with Anna Claire and to expose her to things I enjoyed when I was a little girl.

One was playing with my niece Jenny. We loved being together and always had fun together. Now Anna Claire gets to play with her girls, Taylor and Carolyn. My sister Kathy invited us over for a fish fry last Sunday and Jenny had flower pots and paint for the girls so they could decorate them. She absolutely loved this.

painting flower pots with cousins

Saturday we made 2 trips to Mary's Gardens. Both trips were very exciting for Anna Claire because she got to ride around in their wagons there as loaded up veg, flowers, and a blueberry bush for us to plant in our garden. I also got her a pumpkin plant which should grow into a 25 pounder by Halloween.

The second trip to Mary's was for tomatoes. I wanted Larry to come with us to pick. There were SO many different varieties, that I thought he'd be excited to see. It did not disappoint. He enjoyed looking at the selection and the herbs. We planted 4 different varieties of tomato as of this trip.

riding the wagon at Mary's

Later in the day, we ventured to the strawberry farm. We went last year and Anna Claire really enjoyed it, but this year she could actually carry her own basket and really pick herself. She was keeping up with Larry! As predicted, she ate about as many as she picked. She keeps asking to go again. 

I loved finding honeysuckle with her yesterday, and just sitting in the grass, pulling the "string" out of each one and letting her taste the drops of nectar inside. I just read this afternoon that you can actually eat the flower itself. Supposed to be pretty tasty, just like the nectar.

We sit and pick clover flowers for the longest. Then I use some to make her a crown for her hair or a necklace. Anna Claire likes using them to make "art". She likes lining them all up first turned in the same direction, then she will practice making shapes. I watched her make an X, a square, and an oval yesterday.

Speaking of art, remember the Mr. Sketch markers? The scented ones? I always wanted some but never had any until I was an adult. Well, Anna Claire LOVES them. She is so careful with them too. She likes drawing and sniffing them, but also lining them up in a neat row. She has also learned that you can stack them end on end to make a marker tower. Then she will wave her constructed tower of 3 or 4 markers at you and say, "I will make you disappear with my magic spell!"

"smelly markers"

She also counts them. I just read a bogus Baby Center article that said children her age mindlessly "say" numbers in sequence but don't attach meaning to it or really understand what counting is until age 4 or 5. I say baloney. I watched my 2 3/4 year old count her 12 markers yesterday!

Finally, Anna Claire loves making a "hole." It all began with the little booklets that come with her ABC Music and Me CDs. We started doing the activities in the book at home. She LOVES them. One activity was to make a hole, by placing pillows on the floor in a circle. Then you get in the "hole" in the middle of the pillows. I did this with her months ago and she asks for us to make them all the time. When I came home from yoga today, she was sitting in the floor in a hole her Daddy had made.

in "the hole"

March and April at The Red Barn

Anna Claire loves being in the Bunnies class and loves her teachers, Miss Caitlin and Sharna. In the past couple months they have been talking about the letters O, W, Z, S, J, and R, so for Show-n-Tell she took in some things that started with these letters. She took in her Olivia for O, shared her wallet for W, took a toy zebra for Z, brought jelly beans to share with her friends for letter J. We took her radio and some raisins for letter R. Not remembering S at the moment.

Such fun and special things planned for the kids in March and April.

In March, for Dr. Seuss's birthday, they got to try green eggs and ham! Anna Claire really liked them! They also had Red Barn Olympics for letter O. For letter W, they ate dirt and worms (crumbled oreos with gummy worms). She still talks about this.

In April they had their Easter Egg hunt, made s'mores with marshmellow peeps, and had the Week of the Young Child. They wore their clothes backwards, turned the TV off all day, had a trike-a-thon, and No Child Left Inside day.

Anna Claire enjoyed:
playing outside (beautiful weather in March and April!)
painting
coloring
playing in homeliving
playing duck, duck, goose
dancing
playing with sidewalk chalk

We have really turned a corner this month, because Anna Claire will now poop in the potty. It's so telling to go back and look at her daily sheets. The days immediately following a poop she was: cheerful, cooperative, cute as a button, sociable, energetic, and sweet as sugar. Four or more days following a poop: tearful, quiet, clingy.

Bribery ended up being the thing that sealed the deal. When she poops in the potty she gets a small present (something under $1). It is working like a charm. Only problem is I am out of  presents at the moment! Gotta stay stocked up! She is reg-u-lar. :)  She is only wearing pull-ups at bedtime to protect against bedding accidents. I don't think she even need those pull-ups. She usually wakes up dry. :)

Looking back at other notes from her teachers, Anna Claire also is "doing a great job telling her friends when she is mad," and tip-toeing to go outside. She "loved skipping with her friends outside." Anna Claire "uses her words so well when she needs help."

Anna Claire talks about her Bunnies class friends often, usually on the way home from the Red Barn and when saying prayers. She tells me almost daily that Hudson Blake plays Power Rangers. We also have a lot of dialogue about boys not coming in the playhouse. I tell her the playhouse is for everyone, boys or girls. She is also telling me things that concern me, like "So and so isn't my best friend anymore," or "I don't have any friends." This makes me sad. I turn it around on her and start naming friends and asking, "Is Maggie your friend?" "Is Amy your friend?" Each time I ask a question like this she'll say, "Yeahhhh....." with a big smile. It always cheers her up. I tell her all the boys and girls in the Bunnies class are best friends, and that they all love her so much. So are all the other mommies I've talked to. Hopefully this "best friend" talk is a phase and will come to an end soon. It sure does cause a lot drama at our house.

Miss Caitlin did share with me that almost the entire class will move to the Ponies in June, ACCEPT Anna Claire, Olli, Knox, and Hudson Black (the children moving up are all older than Anna Claire by a month or more). I am totally OK with this, partly due to the reasons mentioned in the last paragraph. Although I do like Anna Claire being around and challenged by older children, I also want her to feel safe and confident. I think with her age fallling right smack in the middle of these two age groups, it gives her the best of both worlds. The time she will spend in the coming months will encourage her, being able to do some things that her little friends can't do and being able to help them.

We have talked with Anna Claire about this change and she is excited about it too. She is looking forward to Abby, Emery, Lucas and Baby J being in her class again. She is happy that Olli, Knox, and Hudson Black will be staying with her. What she was most excited about was staying in HER Bunnies class with Caitlin and Sharna. She loves them so much.

Funnies

Loves saying:

"You can have one you get older, Mommy." - AC to me regarding treasure chest lollipops she gets from school each Friday.

"I just like 'Punzel, Mommy."  - She wants long hair like Rapunzel.

"That comf-bul for you, Daddy."   - when she wants us to sit somewhere else, and trying to sell us on it. (manipulating?)

 "I don't have toenail, Mommy."  - when not wearing nail polish.

"Daddy Monster! Ahhhhhhhh!"  - see video below to appreciate.

Can always be seen with: 
"Catty," her stuffed cat; Blanket; and a magic wand.

Loves wearing:

"Jeans, just like YOU, Daddy!"; toe nail polish, same color as Mommy; tennis shoes (every day if she had her way); fancy clothes from Grandma; hair product just like Mommy; rainbow colors, skirts that twirl.
 

Lyla's Birthday

Lyla and Anna Claire give each other a hug

Anna Claire has been looking forward to Lyla's Kids-n-Play birthday party all week, and it did not disappoint. We did have a couple of meltdowns early on, but the rest of the party, she was all smiles and had a blast.

When we first arrived, AC hollered for all to hear, "LYLA!!!!!!" Lyla was all the way on the other side of the building, but she heard Anna Claire's loud cry and came running to give her a hug. So sweet. Love the birthday girl!

The two girls took off for the play system. Anna Claire went right in with no tears or hesitation...a very different scenario than our last b-day party experience here.

Then, about five minutes later, I hear her cry. I look up and she's stuck. By stuck, I mean she doesn't know which way to go to get out of there (the play system is basically a huge maze) and she doesn't see any of her friends. I looked at the other mommies and said, "I'm going in."

Anna Claire and Maggie

Encouraged by my new friends' words, I did. I crawled under, around, through small spaces and finally found her. It was NOT easy. Then, I didn't know how to get down or out. So I asked one of Anna Claire's little friends and she helped us out. Anna Claire did not want to take the slide that you have to go down to get out, but I made her go down anyway, tears and all. I was so ready to be out of there. Won't even lie.


From there, Anna Claire had so much fun playing dress up with her friends. Lots of princess dresses to try on. They did that for the longest. And the twirling. Do those girls ever love to twirl. So sweet.

She loves wearing this fairy princess dress.

AC and Lyla

After dress up, they played in Totville, where there is a little grocery store, doll house, train set, and more. They had lots of fun playing with all of the toys together. Lots of Red Barn friends there!

Ollie and AC playing cars and trains.

Then it was time for pizza and cake. Anna Claire loved having "red drink" since she has a Nazi mommy who only gives her healthy drinks - milk, juice and water. We allow her to indulge and try other options at parties. :)

Pizza and "red drink." Check out my little Neanderthal.

The Fresh Beat Band - Live!

Anna Claire was blessed to go see her favorite band in concert Sunday - The Fresh Beat Band!

I think Larry and I were just as excited about it as she was. We had never been to The Ryman before, so just going to that venue was cool to us. I think we'd like to see just about anyone there. Loved the acoustics, the pews, smaller crowd...awesome.

We got there just minutes before the show started, found our seats and enjoyed 3 or 4 songs. Then the band said we would have a short intermission, but minutes before that, AC needed to go potty. This worked out great because I was able to take her, and got her a treat and drink on the way back before the big intermission rush. There was absolutely no waiting in the bathroom or at the concessions which was nice.

The next set, the kids wanted to get out in the aisles and dance, AC included. She rushed down toward the stage all of sudden, and I couldn't understand why, I looked at Larry and said, "We need to go after her!" Then I looked up and saw WHY she ran...there was Shout (one of the Fresh Beats) just a few rows in front of us.

He took off just before she and Larry made their way down. Oh well.

The rest of the show was great, but Anna Claire's focus seemed to be on watching the other (bigger) children dancing in the aisles. She has a little fear of older kids, and kept telling us she wanted to dance too, "but the big kids dancin'."

It's funny though, ever since the concert, when a Fresh Beat Band concert video comes on Nick Jr., she dances like there's no tomorrow, giving it all she's got. She tells us after the video, "I going to see Fresh Beat Band again!!"

We did get Anna Claire a concert T-shirt with Marina and Kiki on it (2 of the other band members). She absolutely loves it. She was so excited to get to wear it to school.

I do think Anna Claire enjoyed walking the streets of downtown Nashville ("Nash-veeeele" as AC calls it) as much as the concert. We walked from the Ryman down to Demos and got her a spaghetti dinner afterward.  My kind of kids' concert: started at 5:00 and was over by 6:30!

What a fun night!

Landry's Birthday

Birthday girl, Landry!

Dana Kailian definitely wins the prize for throwing the best birthday party I've ever been to. As Paige referred to her, "the hostess with the mostest."

It was also the most thoughtful event I've ever been to. There were lots of fun things for kids to do, but small touches too that made everyone there feel special.

There was an inflatable, a trampoline and a pony! Anna Claire was terrified of all three from the get-go, and reached a point within five minutes of being there where she absolutely broke down. We have tried to get her in an inflatable and in a trampoline before, but she was too scared. I think she reached point where she thought, "I can't do any of this...but I want to."

And she did. By the end of our time at the party, she was in and out both the trampoline and the inflatable, without our help and you couldn't GET her out of either. So proud of our brave girl.

Landry and her brothers also have a playset with a ladder and a little treehouse. She cried about that too. Her friends could get up and down, but she had never been on a ladder before. Again, before we left, she was climbing up and down like a champ.

Dana had so many little thoughtful stations set up for the girls. Mommies could sit down at a table and decorate cupcakes at a station with their child. Their choices of icing and sprinkles.

There was a table with large jars of skittles, m&ms, sour patch worms, jellybeans, each with scoops. Every child was given a peanut butter sized plastic jar to fill with their choice of candies.

Miss Sharna, their teacher at The Red Barn was there! The girls could go to her and get their toenails painted.

Dana also painted the girls faces.

All of this, not to mention the usual birthday fun...cake, ice cream, and presents!

And Miss Dana fed us. There were chicken nuggets, pizza, Capri suns, chips and dip and more.

Again, so thoughtful. We are so blessed that we were able to attend. Thanks Dana!!

Landry's grandma was able to calm Anna Claire with watermelon

...and candy :)

Then she decided to join in on the fun. Proud of my girl!

Hey, this is fun!

Getting her face painted by Miss Dana

Cupcake decorating station with Lyla. Both girls are just like me, they want the frosting!

Yum!

Popcorn too? Wow!

We never did make it over to the pony. "Maybe next time, Mommy," she said.

Sharna giving the girls their pedis!

Anna Claire and Maggie climbed up the inflatable slide for the longest.

In the inflatable with Avery. Being "bwave!!"

Sweet girls AC and Lyla singing Happy Birthday to their friend.

Amy and AC chilling on the trampoline after an hour or so of playing hard.

I got up here, now how I get down, Daddy?

This was AC's gift to Landry: crayons, markers and coloring pencils.

Lots of Firsts This Week!

This has been a very exciting week for Anna Claire. She has overcome several fears and hit some milestones.

This week Anna Claire:
1. Went to Kids n Play and did EVERYTHING "just like the big kids, Mommy."  Last time we took her there were so many kids, she was afraid to get in the big play system or the caged area where the air vacuums shoot out foam balls.
2. Went poop in the potty. This is HUGE!
3. Bounced in an inflatable
4. Bounced on a trampoline
5. Climbed up and down a ladder by herself
6. Will go to her first music concert tomorrow!

Hananoki!

Grandma and Freddie invited us all to dinner at Hananoki Saturday night. Anna Claire absolutely loved Hananoki. Aunt Lisa, Uncle Clint, Khloie, Marie, and Sean were all there with us. Little did we know we were there to celebrate Grandma and Freddie's engagement! Very exciting!!

Anna Claire loved the food and the show! She was not scared of the fire at all, as you will see in the video.
She also loved eating ice cubes, trying to use chopsticks, and the complimentary chocolate sundae they gave her at the end. Thank you Grandma!! And congratulations!! (having video issues again...will have to try again later)

Easter Sunday

 We went to church this morning. I am loving that Grace switched from 8:30 start time to 9. That extra half hour is awesome.

Anna Claire was fine with going to church, but there was apparently a bully in her Sunday school class who pushed her and took her snack. When we picked her up she was throwing the biggest tantrum I have seen her throw in a long time. Larry rescued the poor teacher and picked her up. She started pushing with both hands against Larry's throat and kicking.

She finally was able to calm down enough to explain why she was so upset. "Snack! My snack!"

I asked the teacher if she got a snack. She said she had graham cracker, but went and got her another one. Anna Claire pushed the teacher's hand away. "No! Snack!!"

I looked behind me and saw a jar of long fat pretzel sticks. I asked if they had pretzels too. They did. "Anna Claire, did you get a pretzel?"

"Boy took mine!"

Aha. We gave her a pretzel but she continued to have a fit as we worked our way through the hundreds up people making there way in to the 10:00 service. Sigh.

___

Fast forward to after nap. My mom and I took Anna Claire to her friend Lyla's house for an Easter Egg hunt. The hunt was a blast, but afterward we had another pretty major tantrum.

Anna Claire apparently wanted to go play upstairs with Lyla's toys, but the plan for after the hunt was to play outside with bubbles. I was so put out with her bad behavior (refused to leave the egg hunt and go back to the house with everyone else, screamed when Lyla's dad gave her water...she wanted milk, screamed when he gave her the milk in a sippy cup per my request, tantrum when I offered to take her outside to find her friends, tantrum when I said ok that we could stay inside).

Turns out she had to poop. She holds it in for days, doesn't want to do it in the potty, then is a total monster the whole day of. It explains it.

It also motivated me to go buy some Miralax. Starting it ASAP. We are done with this not pooping (for the birds).

Easter Egg Hunt at Red Barn

Like most moms, I like being there for special moments in my child's life. It's not always doable. But sometimes, I can make it doable. I had some personal days saved up, and had no intention of taking any more days off this school year. I decided to take a half day and spend the morning at Anna Claire's Easter party and egg hunt at school.

This was not a decision I made lightly, because although I selfishly like being there, I also know my little girl functions best with structure and routine. I also know that historically, any time I've shown up at school in the middle of the day to attend something of hers, it's thrown her off. There are tears at some point. She's clingy. I anticipated it could be hard on us both, but went anyway.

Anna Claire WAS clingy. She didn't want any of her friends to sit in my lap. She didn't want me to leave the room to help the other parents hide eggs. She didn't want to give her Easter basket to the teacher. She was the first to realize that the spoon race eggs were edible and started a trend with her friends: eating them shell and all. She didn't want to come in from outside. Tears, tears and more tears. I knew this could happen.

But she had fun. She was excited to see me. She happy in my lap during circle time and wanted to hold my hands. I loved getting to be there for circle time. Anna Claire's teachers are wonderful - teaching them so much. More than I expected. Friends were fighting over who got to sit beside Anna Claire which made me smile. She loved the egg hunt and was excited to find all of her eggs. Although I missed a part of the party, I heard she loved the s'mores they made with marshmellow Peeps. :)

A couple of days have passed, and I can honestly say that I'm glad I went. We share that memory now, and I was able to capture moments for myself and other parents who weren't able to be there.

Will I go to her next school event? If I can, you bet. Because the easy thing and the right thing aren't the same.

The Little Things

I would never elect to sit and watch the leaves blowing in the wind for five minutes straight on my own. But when AC does it, it forces me to do the same. Kids are great because they remind us to slow down and notice the little things. :)


The other day, I opened up my camera case to put the camera away and found this.... :)

Sweet reminder that I am a mommy. It's the little things...