Good thing I didn't make a resolution to post more in 2011, eh?

I had forgotten how hilarious the almost 3 year old age is.  Here's a conversation we had at lunch a couple of weeks ago:

Me: "Anna, put your grilled cheese down on your plate!"
Anna: "It's a grilled cheese HAMMER!" *continues to bang*
Ben: *snorts and leaves room*
Me: *thinks that Ben's cooking can't possibly be that bad but it really did sound like a hammer on her plate...*

Another food-related incident occurred when I made a fontina-ricotta lasagna with white sauce.  Rachel was suspicious but ate it all and declared that she loved it!  Anna took one look and announced, "I don't like it!" without even taking a bite. We ignored her and continued to eat. A few minutes later she repeated herself and I let her know that it was fine if she didn't like it, but that was her dinner. Within seconds, she had taken a bite and announced, "Wait! I DO like it!"

But not all hilarity springs forth from the kitchen table. The bathroom (or lack thereof) provides plenty of fodder for bad jokes too.  A few nights ago, Anna was playing in the bathtub with a crocodile and an elephant.  The dialogue?  "Oh no! You're in Windsor! I'll rescue you!"

Anna started wearing underwear this week.  I think that it's going better than potty training Rachel did.  Then again, I've blocked much of that time out of my mind for the sake of my (in)sanity.  When we're home, I've tried to just have Anna in a top and underwear, which sucks for the heating bill but makes for less laundry.  The other day, I let her watch a show on the couch.  I sat her down on a waterproof mat (LOVE those Kushies changepad mats!) and left the room for a few minutes.

I came back to find her sitting in wet pants, thankfully still on the mat.  Our conversation went something like this:


Me: "Anna, is there anything you want to tell me about that wet spot on your pants?"
Anna: *looks down and thinks for a moment* "It's really, really wet!"

We have thankfully progressed (?) to her telling us right after the fact that she has to go to the bathroom. We put up a sticker chart the other day and she gets to put a sticker on for each time that she actually does something in the toilet. She gets chocolate chips just for trying though.  I had forgotten that she is counter height, so I have to remember to put the chocolate chips away before she helps herself! When she fills up a row with stickers, she will get a little prize. There are 6 rows on the chart and I increased the number of boxes for the last few rows. I'm hoping that by the time she's filled up the page she will be more or less trained although that sounds suspiciously easy so it probably won't work.

At least they knocked...

...instead of ringing the bell at 8:45 p.m. tonight.

Ben opened the door to two ladies.  Despite our outdoor light being off, they had knocked on our door.  "Hello, my friend and I share blah blah blah something Jesus blah blah blah," the one lady said.  I was in the office and called out fairly loudly, "We're Jewish, we're happy, Ben would you please close the door now?!"

Yes, I know that was perhaps not the best way to handle it, but really?  Who knocks on someone's door on New Year's Day at almost 9 p.m. when the light is OFF?  I think we need a glow-in-the-dark mezuzah to scare them off or something, although with our luck that would probably just attract more of them.

Next time maybe I'll invite them in to discuss why we don't believe that Jesus was the Messiah.  That could make for some interesting discussion.  I doubt I'd do it though.  It's not as if I would change their minds, nor would that be my goal. 

Now the Costco lady?  I'd like to have a discussion with her.  I don't believe that I have blogged about this one yet.  Last week while Ben was in Toronto, I took the girls to Costco.  We were in the checkout and the lady taking care of the carts looked at Rachel and said, "So did Santa come?"  Rachel gave the lady a blank look.  I was a bit frazzled already due to the crowds and the girls being on the cranky side, so I just said, "Actually, we don't celebrate Christmas."  I didn't give a reason why.  The lady thought for a moment and then said in a puzzled voice, "No Santa?"  "Nope.  We don't celebrate Christmas." I replied with a cheerful smile.  She gave me a look that was somewhere between bewilderment and a glare (Seriously! She looked almost angry that we don't celebrate Christmas.  Don't get me started...) but said nothing further.

Cute Anna sayings

Tonight while heading to the bathroom for Anna's bath, I had to return to her bedroom to turn the light back on because "if you turn off the light, then my jammies can't see!"

Rachel has been on a game-playing kick for the past few weeks.  She loves Monopoly Junior and UNO, and is learning to not be a sore loser.  For those who know me well, this is indeed a remarkable feat.  She does gloat when she's ahead though.

Since Rachel has been playing games, Anna has felt the need to also play games.  She likes Dress-A-Bear and has really gotten into Hi Ho Cherry-O lately.  She doesn't completely understand how to play, but she sure understands the concept of winning.  I remember when Rachel was that age.  We didn't even discuss winning or losing.  We usually just played until everyone had finished, or for Candyland, we gave out "free tickets" to the end once one person got there.  Not so with Anna.  Nothing gets past her.

She and I were playing Hi Ho Cherry-O the other day.  The object of the game is to get all 10 cherries off of your tree and into the bucket by spinning a spinner and following instructions to take off 1, 2, 3 or 4 cherries.  It's a little befuddling to me since you put cherries back on the tree when you land on bird (eats 2), dog (eats 2) or spilled bucket.  Anna's not too fond of putting the cherries back either.  I think it bothers her, because she knows that you can't put things back on trees once they've been picked/pulled off.

In any case, Anna managed to get her bucket full first.  I had one cherry left on my tree.  I pointed out to her that she had no more cherries.  "I won!" she yelled gleefully.  "Mom, we won!  We won!"  Sadly, I showed her that I still had one cherry left.  "Oh, wait. You didn't win, Mom." she said in a dejected little voice.

Happy New Year!

To celebrate, I'm putting the blog back to public status.  Why?  Because I'm tired of it not remembering ME despite my checking the little box each and every time that I log in.  From now on, anyone and everyone can feel free to read all about our little adventures here on Planet Earth.

But first, a summary of the past 2 weeks:

Everyone except Ben got sick.  It sucked.

Now, an update on the children:

Rachel is whiny when she's sick, but she's cute, smart and funny so we'll keep her anyway.

Anna is lucky that she's cute since she's quit sleeping again and has started stomping her foot and growling "NO!" at people whenever she doesn't like something that has been said to her.  My poor mother wasn't even allowed to get near Anna last weekend without being growled at.