Yesterday Rachel followed me into the bathroom for some unknown reason. "Cool undies, Mom!" she said excitedly upon seeing that my underwear was striped. "I didn't know that underwear for Moms could have patterns! Do you have any other patterned undies?"
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This morning Anna got up at about 5:40. Although awake, she didn't want to do anything. Then she spotted her schoolbag. "I go school! I want go NOW! I pway with fwends!" I explained that it was not even 7 a.m. and school was not open. "Why don't you play in the playroom?" I stupidly asked her. "No! I want go NOW! Let's go school!" At least she's enthusiastic?
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After talking her down from her "must-go-to-school-now" ledge, we sat down at the kids' table to do some colouring. I got bored rather quickly and started drawing different shapes for her to identify. She knows all of her shapes and most of her colours too, but we haven't talked much about letters. I printed a capital A and told her what it was. "No, that's B!" she told me. Um, no. I think that Mommy knows what a B looks like. So I drew her a B and she proudly told me that was B. Ben says that she does know B and O so apparently I was incorrect to blog near her birthday about her not knowing any letters.
In any case, a little later I drew a cat and printed CAT on top of it. Anna told me that it was a cat (Yay! I drew something recognizable!) and I told her that C-A-T spells cat. "No, Mommy. That not cat. That's A!" she informed me as she pointed to the letter A. Apparently I have a comedian on my hands. Oh wait. We already knew that, didn't we?
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We let Rachel stay up late last night to watch the Canadian ice dancers win gold! She was so excited about it although by 11 p.m. she was beyond exhausted. She just loved everything about it - the costumes, the music, the "cool skating moves"... and I think she was very impressed that Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir first skated together at the skate club in Ilderton, barely 10 minutes from our old house in London!
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Why I would like to be in Canada right now
If we were in Canada at this moment, I would not have turned the tv off in disgust after hearing the NBC Olympic commentator say that Apolo Ohno "took down two brothers and a country". Um, no. He got the bronze medal. I believe that the correct comment would have been that two brothers from Korea took him down. Yes, he raced past the two Canadians at the last minute but that doesn't necessitate the nastiness that we've been hearing all week on NBC. I don't understand why it is that some people feel the need to be superior at all times and think that one way to achieve that is by denigrating others. Pot calling the kettle black? Nope. I can cheer on whoever wins provided that it was a good race.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Body parts
One day last week Rachel was getting dressed. I had gotten out a t-shirt and sweater for her since it was fairly cold out. She put on the (short-sleeved) t-shirt and started complaining. "It's itching my elbow!" she said. I looked at her, a bit confused, and said, "Rachel, that's not possible. It's not even touching your elbow. What are you talking about?"
Rachel: "It's itching the part under my shoulder!"
Mom: "Rachel, that's not your elbow, it's your armpit."
Rachel: "Oh! I didn't know what to call it!"
Rachel: "It's itching the part under my shoulder!"
Mom: "Rachel, that's not your elbow, it's your armpit."
Rachel: "Oh! I didn't know what to call it!"
Seven of Nine
No, not the Star Trek character. Anna has now slept through the night for seven out of the last nine nights! My current definition of sleeping through the night is as follows:
*The sleep must occur in HER bed, not ours.
*She must sleep without waking up or needing any kind of assistance finding Olly, Ducky or Sucky
*She must get up after 4:30 a.m. (Yes, I've way lowered my standards.)
That said, for those seven nights, Anna slept straight for 10-11 hours each time. One of the bad nights wasn't even that bed. She slept in her bed for about 6 hours and then came in with us until she woke "for the day" at 4:30 and lounged in bed until 5. The other night was so horrendous that we are not even discussing it other than to say that she got up for the day at 3 a.m. and took a "nap" from 4:30-6:30 which resulted in a short nap that afternoon and a hideous afternoon/evening afterwards.
Last night she slept from approximately 6:40 p.m. until 5:40 a.m. Happy Birthday, Anna! Thank you for the gift of sleep! (Too bad I woke up every hour worrying about how she was sleeping in the big girl bed.)
*The sleep must occur in HER bed, not ours.
*She must sleep without waking up or needing any kind of assistance finding Olly, Ducky or Sucky
*She must get up after 4:30 a.m. (Yes, I've way lowered my standards.)
That said, for those seven nights, Anna slept straight for 10-11 hours each time. One of the bad nights wasn't even that bed. She slept in her bed for about 6 hours and then came in with us until she woke "for the day" at 4:30 and lounged in bed until 5. The other night was so horrendous that we are not even discussing it other than to say that she got up for the day at 3 a.m. and took a "nap" from 4:30-6:30 which resulted in a short nap that afternoon and a hideous afternoon/evening afterwards.
Last night she slept from approximately 6:40 p.m. until 5:40 a.m. Happy Birthday, Anna! Thank you for the gift of sleep! (Too bad I woke up every hour worrying about how she was sleeping in the big girl bed.)
How is it possible?
Apparently Anna is going to be 2 years old by the time anyone reads this blog post. How is that possible? Wasn't I just calling my good friend H at 4 a.m. to ask her to come watch Rachel because I was in labour?
True to form, I baked tonight. Rachel and I made cupcakes on February 13, 2008. I thought it would be fun to do something with her and it was! Last year we also made cupcakes and cake for Anna's birthday. This year I baked the cake and cupcakes tonight and we will ice everything during Anna's nap just before her party.
Anna is about 34 inches tall and weighed almost 33 pounds at her last checkup in January. We call her "Short Stuff" since her legs are nowhere near as long as her sister's and she is rather rotund and short. Her front hair isn't as long as her back hair which reaches more than halfway down her back. She loves her ponytails and often asks me to put them in so she can look just like Rachel. Of course, Anna thinks that the elastics are called ponytails because I always ask her to come over so that I can put her ponytails in!
I won't even try to attempt a vocabulary list for her at age 2. I will say that while she can sing the alphabet song, I highly doubt that she has any clue what any particular letter looks like. She knows most of her colours and shapes, and can sort of count past 10 if she feels like it. She wants to be just like Rachel and will often come over to stand or sit with her, much to Rachel's chagrin. Big sisters like to have their own space and do not appreciate the constant interference of little sisters... or so it appears in our house most days.
That said, the two of them egg each other on and are quite funny most of the time! They join forces to make random animal noises at the table and they run circles around each other yelling "I'm gonna get you!" We realized this morning that Anna has no clue what that really means since she just kept running circles around Ben yelling it without stopping for several minutes.
Anna loves cars, trains, trucks... anything that goes! She's a big fan of monkeys and elephants, and enjoys the My Little Ponies along with Rachel. She likes going to preschool and always wants to bring something to show her teachers even though she usually ends up choosing to leave it in the car! She's quite a bossy little girl, with a winningly cute smile that usually gets her whatever she wants. "I'm cute and I know it" could easily describe Miss Anna Rose.
Her initials aptly spell ARG. ARG for typical two-year-old temper tantrums. ARG for typical changing her mind a thousand times a day. ARG for not sleeping through the night. ARG for all of her antics. And yet she's our snuggly, happy little girl! I'd be lying if Ben and I said we wouldn't change a thing about her. We'd happily stick in a chip that would program better sleep.
Speaking of sleep, as I type this, someone is asleep in her big girl bed! I found a set of adorable pink, brown & white monkey sheets online in queen size. They arrived yesterday, and I took the time this morning to put the fitted sheet on the mattress on the floor in her room. She was very excited to see it and requested to sleep there for her nap this afternoon. We weren't sure what she'd do tonight, especially since my mother was putting her to bed while we were out at a gig, but apparently she wanted nothing to do with the crib.
She looks so small on the big bed, and yet it's so nice to know that we're really out of her baby years. With Rachel I wasn't in a hurry to see that time end. And while I'm not in a hurry for Anna to grow up, it's fun to see her sense of humour develop and her personality emerge. I can honestly say that I think the next couple of years will be more fun than the first couple were with her. She's starting to sleep better, she can express herself (And, oh boy, how she expresses herself: "No, you may NOT wipe me! Put me down!", etc.), and she's just hilarious to be around.
Happy 2nd birthday, Anna Rose! No puking on your cake this year, please.
True to form, I baked tonight. Rachel and I made cupcakes on February 13, 2008. I thought it would be fun to do something with her and it was! Last year we also made cupcakes and cake for Anna's birthday. This year I baked the cake and cupcakes tonight and we will ice everything during Anna's nap just before her party.
Anna is about 34 inches tall and weighed almost 33 pounds at her last checkup in January. We call her "Short Stuff" since her legs are nowhere near as long as her sister's and she is rather rotund and short. Her front hair isn't as long as her back hair which reaches more than halfway down her back. She loves her ponytails and often asks me to put them in so she can look just like Rachel. Of course, Anna thinks that the elastics are called ponytails because I always ask her to come over so that I can put her ponytails in!
I won't even try to attempt a vocabulary list for her at age 2. I will say that while she can sing the alphabet song, I highly doubt that she has any clue what any particular letter looks like. She knows most of her colours and shapes, and can sort of count past 10 if she feels like it. She wants to be just like Rachel and will often come over to stand or sit with her, much to Rachel's chagrin. Big sisters like to have their own space and do not appreciate the constant interference of little sisters... or so it appears in our house most days.
That said, the two of them egg each other on and are quite funny most of the time! They join forces to make random animal noises at the table and they run circles around each other yelling "I'm gonna get you!" We realized this morning that Anna has no clue what that really means since she just kept running circles around Ben yelling it without stopping for several minutes.
Anna loves cars, trains, trucks... anything that goes! She's a big fan of monkeys and elephants, and enjoys the My Little Ponies along with Rachel. She likes going to preschool and always wants to bring something to show her teachers even though she usually ends up choosing to leave it in the car! She's quite a bossy little girl, with a winningly cute smile that usually gets her whatever she wants. "I'm cute and I know it" could easily describe Miss Anna Rose.
Her initials aptly spell ARG. ARG for typical two-year-old temper tantrums. ARG for typical changing her mind a thousand times a day. ARG for not sleeping through the night. ARG for all of her antics. And yet she's our snuggly, happy little girl! I'd be lying if Ben and I said we wouldn't change a thing about her. We'd happily stick in a chip that would program better sleep.
Speaking of sleep, as I type this, someone is asleep in her big girl bed! I found a set of adorable pink, brown & white monkey sheets online in queen size. They arrived yesterday, and I took the time this morning to put the fitted sheet on the mattress on the floor in her room. She was very excited to see it and requested to sleep there for her nap this afternoon. We weren't sure what she'd do tonight, especially since my mother was putting her to bed while we were out at a gig, but apparently she wanted nothing to do with the crib.
She looks so small on the big bed, and yet it's so nice to know that we're really out of her baby years. With Rachel I wasn't in a hurry to see that time end. And while I'm not in a hurry for Anna to grow up, it's fun to see her sense of humour develop and her personality emerge. I can honestly say that I think the next couple of years will be more fun than the first couple were with her. She's starting to sleep better, she can express herself (And, oh boy, how she expresses herself: "No, you may NOT wipe me! Put me down!", etc.), and she's just hilarious to be around.
Happy 2nd birthday, Anna Rose! No puking on your cake this year, please.
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
I guess she sort of knows...
...that meat comes from birds and animals.
Last night we went to Panera for dinner before Rachel's piano lesson. Rachel asked for her usual turkey sandwich and promptly made it into an "un-sandwich" when it arrived.
She noticed that there was a little hole in one of the turkey slices and commented that it looked like an eye. Then she said, "I bet that's where the turkey's eye was!"
I explained that it was highly unlikely that the turkey's eye was in that exact spot. "But it really looks like it!" she responded.
At least she isn't asking yet how the turkey got turned into sandwich meat.
Last night we went to Panera for dinner before Rachel's piano lesson. Rachel asked for her usual turkey sandwich and promptly made it into an "un-sandwich" when it arrived.
She noticed that there was a little hole in one of the turkey slices and commented that it looked like an eye. Then she said, "I bet that's where the turkey's eye was!"
I explained that it was highly unlikely that the turkey's eye was in that exact spot. "But it really looks like it!" she responded.
At least she isn't asking yet how the turkey got turned into sandwich meat.
Friday, February 05, 2010
The big bad snow
We got about 4-5 inches of wet, slushy spring snow today. Too bad it's February and definitely not springtime yet! The girls were thrilled though. We went outside later this afternoon so that I could shovel and Rachel could attempt to make a snow elephant.
It's supposed to snow again on Sunday or Monday. If this keeps up, I might even start to like Kansas winters a little bit.
It's supposed to snow again on Sunday or Monday. If this keeps up, I might even start to like Kansas winters a little bit.
This website cracks me up
www.aftertherapturepetcare.com
Apparently it's for real. Because, you know, should all of my theological beliefs turn out to be erroneous, the first thing I'd do is go loot and pillage me some Christian pets. Yeah, that'd be top of my list of things to do.
Maybe I should sign up to be a Volunteer Caretaker of a Christian pet. I find this site quite pathetic actually. Although I should give them credit for acknowledging the difficulty of finding caretakers for more unusual pets such as elephants and tigers.
Technically, I suppose I should refer to these pets as "pets of Christian owners" - because if the pets were actually Christian, they'd be flying up along with all the people. Seriously, go watch the video on the website. It's unreal.
Apparently it's for real. Because, you know, should all of my theological beliefs turn out to be erroneous, the first thing I'd do is go loot and pillage me some Christian pets. Yeah, that'd be top of my list of things to do.
Maybe I should sign up to be a Volunteer Caretaker of a Christian pet. I find this site quite pathetic actually. Although I should give them credit for acknowledging the difficulty of finding caretakers for more unusual pets such as elephants and tigers.
Technically, I suppose I should refer to these pets as "pets of Christian owners" - because if the pets were actually Christian, they'd be flying up along with all the people. Seriously, go watch the video on the website. It's unreal.
Thursday, February 04, 2010
New constructs
"I hear someone! It might be Rachel!"
Anna's latest favourite expression is "it might be". She uses it every chance she gets, in between giving orders in complete sentences such as, "Mommy, I want to go downstairs by myself! Can you please carry Olly and Ducky?" and "I want to go outside."
Anna's latest favourite expression is "it might be". She uses it every chance she gets, in between giving orders in complete sentences such as, "Mommy, I want to go downstairs by myself! Can you please carry Olly and Ducky?" and "I want to go outside."
Dad tries to slip in a lesson
While the girls were in the bath the other night, Ben tried to sneak in some French words for Rachel. "Dad, it's not time for Frunch!" she yelled. Yes, Frunch. Since she's outgrown worm/warm, it's clearly time for a new "wrong" word.
An unconventional celebration
To say that I had great intentions for Groundhog Day would be a lie. I couldn't care less about medium-sized rodents poking their heads out of burrows, nor do I think that the presence or absence of a shadow has anything to do with the length of winter. Call me a curmudgeon if you must, but I prefer the term realist.
At any rate, I did think about doing something for the girls. Rachel and I baked a Groundhog Cake in the morning. What made it a Groundhog Cake and not just a regular cake? Why, the groundhog-coloured icing, of course! There's nothing like a cake with chocolate icing to celebrate, well, anything.
I was stumped on what to make for dinner, but I had some chicken thawed and some puff pastry in the freezer that I wanted to use up. And then I had my aha! moment. "Rachel," I said, "How would you like to make Groundhogs in Burrows for dinner?" Yes, we made puff pastry chicken and called it groundhog.
We got Anna on video saying excitedly, "I eating groundhog!" Both girls devoured their meals like they had never seen food before. I should probably rename meals more often.
At any rate, I did think about doing something for the girls. Rachel and I baked a Groundhog Cake in the morning. What made it a Groundhog Cake and not just a regular cake? Why, the groundhog-coloured icing, of course! There's nothing like a cake with chocolate icing to celebrate, well, anything.
I was stumped on what to make for dinner, but I had some chicken thawed and some puff pastry in the freezer that I wanted to use up. And then I had my aha! moment. "Rachel," I said, "How would you like to make Groundhogs in Burrows for dinner?" Yes, we made puff pastry chicken and called it groundhog.
We got Anna on video saying excitedly, "I eating groundhog!" Both girls devoured their meals like they had never seen food before. I should probably rename meals more often.
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