Anja, 23 months July 30, 2009

I refuse to acknowledge that less than a month from now you will be two.  Nope, just a very tall, very smart one-year-old you will be forever.

Yet here I am, celebrating your 23 months of life.  You are:

• Incredibly tall for your age, still.  Several times lately you’ve been mistaken for an almost-3-yr-old.  You can reach the light switches in our house, a responsibility that 23 months cannot handle.  Showers in the dark are not my favorite thing.
• Very interested in babying your puppy (actually, MY puppy) Sherman.  He has his own special blanket that we dare not leave out of the crib at naptime, or you cry on his behalf.
• Impetuous.  Not always, because you still have your sweet moments, but often you act rashly, boldly, and headstrongly.  Your daddy was like this, and sometimes I wonder (aloud to him) what I have done to deserve his payback.  J
• Identifying more numbers and letters.  A and B still remain your favorites, as well as the number 5.
• Constantly drawing.  You get out your crayons multiple times every day, and have nearly depleted our scratch paper supply (note to self: bring some home from my recycling bin at work).  Your drawings have a very distinct quality to them—I could pick them out easily among other toddler drawings.  You favor your red crayon, black being a distant second. You still taste your crayons occasionally, evidenced by color stuck to your teeth (doh!).  And when you use your coloring books, everyone gets a black or brown face.  Why, I do not know.  When you get bored making your own drawings, you bring your paper or book to Mommy or Daddy and implore, “Draw circle?  Draw triangle?  Draw heart?” until we have satisfactorily filled the page with shapes.  I love your little quirks.
• Not a very good help in the kitchen.  You like to throw things and put onions (whole ones) where they don’t belong.  I don’t expect much from 23 months, though, so don’t feel too badly.  You may never care to cook, and that’s okay, too.
• Can sing quite a few songs to the point that one can identify what they are.  Sometimes songs bleed into each other, becoming a medley: “Farmer take a wife, farmer take a wife, hi ho, farmer take a mommy, mommy on the bus goes ‘I love you, I love you, I love you,’ all through the town, Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the weerld…” and so on.  I think it is so precious when you make up your own words, such as “The daddies on the bus go ‘shh shh shh’.”  Haha!
• Liking to take off your own bibs.  We have a conversation many times daily about how Mommy and Daddy decide when the bibs should come off, but it has yet to do any good.  You have stained some of my favorite shirts of yours, you little booger!
• Increasingly affectionate.  Mommy, Daddy and Baby P never tire of your kisses!

More Weirdness from Husband July 17, 2009

He sends me the most odd links throughout the day.  These don’t really have any political point, they’re just funny.

When Online Dating meets West Side Story… June 30, 2009

You get something like this, courtesy of my sister-in-law.  Heh heh.

Summer Music June 19, 2009

Beck asked for a summer playlist today, so I thought I would post one here.  I am an oldies’ freak, so almost all of them probably appeal to the 50-and-older crowd more than our generation.  But they scream summer to me!

Anything by:
The Beach Boys
Chicago
Creedence Clearwater Revival

or

“Shambala” by Three Dog Night
“In the Summertime” by Mungo Jerry
“Sunshine on My Shoulders” by John Denver
“Dizzy” by Tommy Roe
“Sugar, Sugar” by The Archies
“Beach Baby” by The First Class

How about you?  Any summer favorites?

Sunday Sunshine 05.03.09 May 3, 2009

Jack Black on American Idol

We went to this yesterday, but we missed most of everything.  Oh well.  No more taxes!

In the past, some pandemics have been mild, while others have been severe, notes WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl, adding that “people should act with common sense, not with panic.”

Well, it uses less water, so you would think at least the green people would want one.

And…don’t forget to enter my giveaway!  It ends this Thursday.

Feeding My New Obsession…. April 20, 2009

So Now I’m Crying… April 15, 2009

Husband sent me a link to this.

“Song!” February 25, 2009

That’s what Anja says these days when she hears music of any kind. Here’s a photo of her plinking away on the ivories as my entry to this week’s I Heart Faces theme: Black & White.

Do pop over there if you’d like to play along! Or just to view all of the other spectacular entries.

Another Anja Day January 23, 2009

Anja and I were supposed to have a playdate this morning and a vaccination this afternoon, but we cancelled both since she isn’t on her “A game” right now.  Meaning, she has snot running down her face and is coughing like a 78-yr-old smoker.  Seriously, I’m going to try to get her coughing on video.  It sounds heartless, but I want to remember how funny she sounds!

I’ve been wanting to record here (since I haven’t been terribly good about putting things in her baby book) some of her latest “accomplishments” (is learning to kiss without a wide open mouth an accomplishment?), so here goes.

1) Counting to three.  We do this a lot in our house.  She helps count the amount of buckles to get her in and out of her high chair or car seat, we count to three before she can jump off the changing table into my arms, we read counting books almost every day, do flash cards…She had been counting “one, two” for a long time, but just recently added “feeee” to her repertoire.

2) Identifying colors.  There are still several she mixes up, but she consistently gets the following right: black, white, yellow and orange.  Hey, it’s a start!

3) Walking backwards.  Again, she’s been practicing for months, but now she can do it full on (full back?).  Atta girl–what a talent!  heh heh.

4) Naming body parts: legs, feet, butt, hands, arms, neck, back, head, forehead, nose (she loves to name other people’s noses and touch them, too, which can be awkward at times), mouth, chin, eyes, tummy and “button” (belly button).  Doesn’t get the concept of cheeks yet.

5) Telling us when she’s about to poop.  We’re hoping this leads to early potty training.  We have a potty in our bathroom that she sits on regularly, but she tries to stand in it or disassemble it just as frequently.

6) Feeding her babies.  She got a little Snow White doll for Christmas from my cousin, and she sits her down into her Bumbo, has mommy help her put the tray on, then sets out a spread and feeds her with a spoon and cup.  She uses very emphatic nom NOMs just the way her mommy does–it’s hilarious.

7) Doing actions to (and kind of singing) songs.  She would, for the longest time, enjoy watching such classics as “Itsy Bitsy Spider” and “Only A Boy Named David,” but wouldn’t do the actions (except for the falling down part at the end of “David”).  Yesterday I sang “Old Macdonald had a farm, ” and got a very distinct, if not in tune, “E-I-E-I-E-I-E-I” in response.  No O’s necessary here, man.

Then at breakfast this morning, she was acting rather peculiar, putting her fingers together in the “more” symbol, but not asking for more, then moving her hands from up in the air down to her tray and saying things like “Wash” and “Bitty.”  After a moment of confusion, smart Mommy quickly figured out that she was trying to sing “Itsy Bitsy Spider,” and boy oh boy was Anja overjoyed when I began singing the song for her!

Another favorite is “Peas Porridge Hot.”

8 )  Drinking out of a glass.  Not a sippy cup (she’s never handled them well) or even a plastic cup, but one of our heavy glasses.  She has used it since she was a little younger than a year for drinking (again, not so good with sippy cups), and for the last few weeks holds them and drinks herself in a surprisingly controlled manner for a 16-mo-old.

9) “Praying.”  After many nights of prodding, she finally folds her hands (for about 5 seconds) at the beginning of prayer time.  Still working on focus–she’s a bit busy for anything besides reading that requires sitting still.

———

A couple of things we’re still working on:

1) Learning to push herself forward instead of only backward on her little scooty car.

2) Putting away toys and books before naps and bedtime.  This has  brought on more than a few tantrums and punishments, but consistency is that for which we are striving.

———

Encouragement and tips accepted!!!

I’m Dreaming of a…….. December 5, 2008

Tuesday night brought me the distinct pleasure of attending opening night of Irving Berlin’s White Christmas at Ordway Center for the Performing Arts. A couple weeks ago, the nice folks at The Ordway contacted me wondering if I might like to attend. I think my response was something along the lines of “Are you kidding me? I would LOVE to attend!”

White Christmas has been my favorite movie since I was about seven years old. I wanted nothing more than to BE Judy Haynes (Vera-Ellen). Two years ago, when White Christmas made its debut at The Ordway, I convinced Husband to make that my Christmas present. I had never been to a big show because I didn’t feel like it was a luxury I could afford. Four friends and I went out to dinner and then took in the show. And let me tell you—OH. MY. GOODNESS. was it worth every penny! We even ended up splurging on two tickets for his parents as a Christmas gift that year. They loved it, too.

So when I got the chance to attend again this year, and they suggested it would be a great family tradition (oh my YES!), I knew that in my particular family it would not make a great tradition. See, Husband isn’t a big fan of The Musicals. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be a tradition among friends! I took the three other ladies who are part of my church Small Group instead, and boy did we have a great time! It was a fantastic evening. We ate at nearby Pazzaluna (more on that another day), took in the show, and came out to a light snowfall.  How stinking perfect is that? If you’ve seen the movie, you understand…  The photo above (thanks nice random lady for taking it for us, and Amy for sending it to me!) shows us standing in beautiful Rice Park outside after the show.

Here’s a little more about the show itself:

A bunch of my favorite songs from the movie were featured: “Sisters,” “Count Your Blessings Instead Of Sheep,” “The Best Things Happen While You’re Dancing” and of course “White Christmas.”  But there are new songs as well that make it interesting and different and not exactly like watching the movie, which would be kind of a drag.

My favorite numbers were “I Love A Piano” (that takes some serious abdominal strength) and the finale “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm.” The friend I was sitting next to said she heard someone behind the closing curtain shout “We did it!” and that was what clued me in to it being opening night. Otherwise I would have conjectured they’d been performing it in front of an audience for weeks. It was polished. The set transitions were remarkably seamless and the costumes divine. It made me want to live in that era, just like the movie does.

The Ordway dresses herself up best at Christmastime, and the atmosphere is so cheery you can’t help but be upbeat.  I am pretty sure I had a silly grin plastered on my face for the duration of the show and quite a while afterward.

One more fun fact: Kristen Beth Williams played Betty Haynes so deliciously that it almost made me want to be her as much as Judy Haynes (played equally as well by Mara Davi)!

So if you’re interested in starting a great family tradition that won’t need returning and won’t take up space in your home, go to White Christmas!  It runs now through January 3, 2009.