Today is Anya’s second birthday.  It’s hard to believe that it’s already been two years since I spent most of the day in labor and then finally welcomed our baby girl into the world at 10:22 pm.  How does time go so quickly?

Anya brings so much joy to our lives every day.  She is just a fabulous little person to be around, and though she has her cranky and ornery moments  - after all, she is two! - they are easily drowned out by all of the wonderful and amazing things she does.

We’ve been busy, busy, busy with going to the library, seeing friends, ballerina class, and of course, school (her transition class).  Most likely because of the time she spent in day care last year, Anya is one of the few kids who doesn’t cry when it’s time for the parents to leave, and she tells me each week that she can tell the other children “Don’t cry, it’s okay.  Mommy will come back soon!”  Anya is the youngest in her class, and her teacher has mentioned to me several times that Anya is very bright.

Talking is definitely Anya’s thing.  She’s got something to say about everything and unless we’re around people she doesn’t know or she’s in a large group (she’s still pretty shy), she’s rarely quiet.  Lex and I were trying to estimate the size of her vocabulary the other day and gave up in the end.  She generally speaks in long, complete sentences and uses all kinds of words you might not expect a two-year-old to say.

Anya still loves books and reading more than anything else and generally wants to take a book (or five) with her anywhere we go.  She can entertain herself for hours by sitting with her books and “reading” to herself.  If she knows the story, she’ll repeat what she remembers, but she’s also perfectly content to make up the story for herself.  Thanks to her Letter Factory video, she knows all of her letter sounds now and is starting to understand that letters can be put together to make words, though she’s not anywhere near reading yet, of course.  After books, dolls are her next favorite play thing.  She has an extremely vivid imagination and invents elaborate pretend play situations with her dolls and other toys.  It’s fun to see her acting out things she’s seen or done, or even better, things Lex or I have done.  She loves to sing and dance, and knows the words to more songs that I can count - and she’ll call you on it if you get the words wrong to her favorite songs.  I also think it’s neat that she can recognize some songs just from their melodies, even if no one is singing.

I’m glad to report that Anya has gotten more adventurous when it comes to eating over the last year.  She’s willing to try most things and eats a pretty good variety of healthy foods (though she definitely knows what dessert is now!).  As long as she can dip it into dressing, she likes salad, which I find so funny. Actually, she’s much more motivated to eat anything if it can be dipped into something else.  She’s been practicing drinking from a big girl cup (not a sippy cup) and can handle it pretty well.  Anya can be pretty messy when she eats - she gets several reminders to keep her hands out of her hair and away from her eyes during meals - and she still eats SOOOOO slowly.  I think we might be the only parents we know who are constantly encouraging their kid to take bigger bites and eat faster, but it is painful to watch her eat each pea individually at the rate of one pea a minute!

Anya loves being a big girl and has really embraced the “I want to do it myself!” attitude (I am SO tired of hearing her say that), though she does recognize when she needs help and will accept it IF she has asked for it.  She loves her big girl room and sleeps well there during the night.  Naps are still a big struggle - she usually doesn’t cry if I leave the room anymore, but she will not go to sleep without assistance.  We’ve been thinking blackout curtains may help and will probably try them soon.  Also, as of last Saturday, Anya has been wearing underwear full-time whether at home or out and about.  We put a diaper on her whenever she sleeps, although she wakes up from naps dry 99% of the time.  She’s only had one accident since we started this last weekend - not bad!

So that’s our big girl!  Anya’s about 26 lbs and just under 34 inches, I think - we’ll get a better sense at her two-year well checkup on the 27th.  Right now she’s mostly wearing 24 months shirts which are a little too big and 18 months pants which are way too big unless they have adjustable waists and I roll the bottoms up at least one time.  She’s sporting one of her two-year molars with at least two more starting to push their way out.  We have her birthday party this afternoon at Gymboree, and then we’ll go back to Grandma and Grandpa’s house for pizza and a little more cake afterwards.  More birthday posts to come soon, including party pictures and what I’m sure will be an extremely moving collection of thoughts from Lex.

Well, it’s October, which means Anya’s second birthday is fast approaching.  There’s very little baby left in her now.  She’s about 95% daytime potty trained (a subject for a different post) and her first two-year molar finally cut yesterday (rather bloodily, gross!).  The exciting news is that she is officially fully moved into her big girl room.  She’s been sleeping in there for naps and through the night since last week and she’ll tell you the nursery and crib are for Baby Sister.  It’s still a bit of a challenge to get her to fall asleep for her nap, but I’m finding some strategies that are working for the time being.  All of her things have been transferred to the new room, and it looks all put together now.  Check it out:

Izzy’s grandma made this sign for Anya when she was born:

I put together the name artwork over the dresser, which came from Lex’s and my original bedroom set.  You can also see her new Dora nightlight:

The pretty flower area rug:

Her big pink bear and rocking chair moved to her new room, of course.  The rest of her stuffed animal collection from her old room is in the storage basket:

Many of the things in her new room have been there for a long time or were gifts from when she was born/her first birthday, but these toy bins are one recent purchase we made, since she doesn’t have a bookcase or shelves.  They’re pretty empty now, but we’ll bring some toys up from the playroom soon:

Her activity table and book bins:

And, of course, she has her big girl bed!  She took her blankies, her “friends” (Ernie, Elmo, a bunny, a bear, and a monkey), and her Baby Einstein turtle aquarium with her from the nursery.  The comforter and sheets were mine from college.  The bubbles over the bed are those removable wall stickers:

The nursery looks so barren now :(  I’m sure it will look a little better once we raise the crib mattress back up again and put on the crib skirt and mobile, but it seems sad and empty to me right now.  Maybe that has something to do with the bittersweetness of Anya growing up…

I can’t feel too sad, though, because every kick in the stomach reminds me of how sooner rather than later there’s going to be another beautiful girl to fill both that room and our lives!!!  Less than 10 weeks until Baby Girl is due and my first baby becomes a big sister!

I fell on Tuesday.  I scraped my knee pretty badly and have a huge bruise on my right arm.  Both are the result of crashing into a parked car on our driveway when trying to stop Anya from doing the same as her ride-on car rolled faster than she could manage.  Luckily she did not get hurt other than when we bumped heads during the collision.  She was pretty upset that I had fallen, but even more disturbed that her car rolled down the driveway into the street (”Get it!  Get the car!”).  What did I learn from all of this?  It is not a good idea to take the recycling down to the curb while trying to watch a toddler on a ride-on car make her way down the somewhat steep driveway, especially not while wearing flip-flops.  Also - don’t let Anya ride her car down the driveway in the first place!

Anya is currently asleep in her big girl bed for the first time at night!  We’ve been talking it up for several days, and she’s been pretty excited.  I even asked her a few days ago if we could give her crib to Baby Sister when she was born, and Anya was a big fan of that idea.  Last night she told me she wanted to sleep in her big girl bed, and when I said that she could sleep there the following day but would sleep in her crib that night, she said, “No, Baby Sister is going to sleep in the crib, Mommy!”  I was worried that it would be hard for her to fall asleep in the bed since naps are still pretty difficult - she doesn’t want me to leave the room, screams if I do, and she takes a LONG time to fall asleep, usually with my help - but she went to bed without any objections or problems.  Apparently it’s just naps in general that she objects to, not their location.  We’ve gotten through the first potential hurdle of this transition (falling asleep in the bed); let’s hope we get through staying asleep all night and waking up without problems as well.  Anya’s new room is almost finished; I’ll post pictures soon.  I transferred all of her clothes and many of her things to her big girl room this week, so if sleeping there at night goes well we will soon be able to start setting up the nursery for the new baby.

I had an appointment with my OB-GYN, the one who actually delivered Anya, this morning.  Both the baby and I are doing well.  She had a strong, steady heartbeat, and I am measuring right on target.  I’ve gained about 20 lbs so far.  After the examination the doctor asked if we had discussed scheduling the c-section yet, which was a convenient way to begin the VBAC discussion.  It’s very clear to me that though they haven’t said I can’t have a VBAC, the doctors at this practice are not in favor of the idea.  I was not happy with the way the doctor (the same one who assured me when I consented to the c-section with Anya that I would not be locked into c-sections for future pregnancies) went over the risks of a VBAC with me and kept harping on all of the things that could go wrong.  I understand that he is trying to cover himself and all of that, but I was particularly annoyed that he inflated the risk of uterine rupture to 1-2% when in fact it is actually less than 1%.  Then he gave me the consent form for VBACs to take home and review.  The tone of this paper was essentially “I acknowledge that a VBAC poses less risk for ME than an elective repeat c-section, but that it will probably harm or even kill my unborn child, so I’m signing it anyway because I’m a selfish bitch.”  It was not lost on me that it took them a long time to find the consent form in the first place, and one of the receptionists didn’t even know what a VBAC was.  I left the appointment very upset with my confidence shaken.  I have been in contact with several different people about VBACs recently, and the advice I keep getting over and over again is to switch doctors and hospitals (because CentraState has a 47% c-section rate, which is among the highest in the nation).  The same OB-GYN practice has been recommended to me several times, even while I was pregnant with Anya.  I have a consultation set up for October 6th and will update more on this topic after that appointment.

One cute story - we had gotten Anya a pretend doctor’s kit at a garage sale over the summer, and we finally got around to cleaning it and giving it to her yesterday.  She’s been having A LOT of fun playing with, giving check ups to both me and Lex, as well as her dolls.  She’s very serious when she’s being Dr. Anya; everything she does is very specific and deliberate, though not necessarily logical.  For some reason every exam involves pretending to cut my hair with the toy tweezers!  Today I asked her if she wanted to go play with her doctor’s kit in the playroom to distract her from the post-nap crankies, and she said yes.  She told me I was the patient and I should sit on the couch.  She took out the little blood pressure cuff and put it on my hand, and then (this is the cute part) lifted up my shirt to listen to my belly with the stethescope.  Until then she had only listened to our hearts like Lex showed her, but I guess after coming with us to my appointment this morning, she wanted to check on Baby Sister, too!

We’ve been working on getting Anya completely potty-trained for a little over 1 1/2 weeks now.  After an auspicious beginning, things took a downward turn beginning last Thursday to the point where Lex and I were ready to call it quits on Sunday and try again in a week or two.

Monday I decided to give it one last go, and even set up the potty chair in the playroom.  Anya had never used it before; she had only used a potty seat on the toilet.  I thought that maybe having it closer might help prevent accidents.  She was kind of intrigued by it at first and was happy to sit on it with a book, but not particularly interested in using it.  She finally did once but wanted me to clean it out right away and refused to use it again.  Anya prefers the toilet, apparently.

I don’t know if the potty chair inspired her or if something else just clicked, but she’s been doing fabulously the last three days.  She’s only had one accident; it was right after her drinking her post-nap milk and luckily she happened to be wearing a pull-up at the time.  She told me right away though and even managed to finish what she needed to do on the toilet.  It seems like she’s gained a considerable amount of self-control since Monday.  She even woke up dry from her nap yesterday and today, and I’ve taken her out several times in pull-up that she’s kept completely dry.  Lex said that when he got her this morning and took her to the bathroom, her diaper was wet but considerably less so than normal, and she peed A LOT as soon as he got her on the toilet (enough that in my sleepy stupor I thought he was the one using the toilet, not her!).

It appears that Anya has also become more aware of and bothered by being wet.  Yesterday she slept until 7:30 am (How awesome is that?!?) and when I went to get her, the first thing she asked for was the potty.  While we were walking to the bathroom, she told me in the poutiest voice ever, “I have a wet diaper.”  I assured her that was okay, that it was hard to hold it in while sleeping, and she said, “I need a new one.  I need a clean diaper.”  That’s a pretty huge deal for her; she has never minded being wet since birth.

The big next step to achieve is Anya initiating asking to use the toilet with enough advance notice to actually get her there in time.  If she asks to use it now, it’s often too late.  I ask her if she needs to go frequently throughout the day and insist that she at least try at certain times, so I might not be giving her enough opportunity to recognize that she needs to go.  We’re all very encouraged by her success the last few days, and we hope she continues on this path!

Today was day four of napping in the big girl bed.  To recap, the first day was great, the second was a disaster, the third was pretty good, and now the fourth was even better.  Instead of needing to rock Anya to sleep in the glider and then transfer her, I was able to get her to fall sleep in the bed while rubbing her back, and she slept for an hour.  Not bad.  She can climb into the bed on her own with her Dora stool for sure now, which is another good thing.  If things continue to go well, we’ll probably attempt having her sleep in her bed at night in another week or two.  I just hope that in that time Anya starts feeling secure enough to return to going to sleep for naps without someone in the room.

In other news, we took advantage of being rained in today and started full-out potty training (in case you aren’t up-to-date, Anya has been using the toilet exclusively for poop for months, but is equally content to pee in the toilet or her diaper).  This morning after breakfast, Anya wore her big girl underwear for the first time.  Of the three pairs in the pack, she chose the white ones that said “Princess” all over them.  We started with training pants, the kind that have a little extra padding, although since the smallest size I could find was 2T (HUGE on her), the padding was completely useless.  The underwear looks like shorts on her!  She discovered that, unlike her diaper, she could actually take these off all by herself and did that repeatedly for a while until we realized the tag in the back was bothering her.  After I cut it off, she kept them on while playing with her toys.  She had one accident this morning, and then stayed dry the rest of the day when awake.  She wore a diaper for naptime and woke up wet; I think it will be quite some time before she’s sleep-trained.  Of course, Lex and I asked her if she needed to go to the bathroom about every 10 minutes (she eventually got annoyed with us and would shout “NO!” when we asked).  Also, she really only went to the bathroom when we told her she had to go try, like before getting in the high chair to eat.  Still, I’m glad she was able to hold it in better than when she was wearing a diaper, and perhaps soon she will start telling us when she needs to pee instead of us insisting that she go.  She certainly LOVED getting stickers every time she went on the toilet.  For now, she will wear a diaper to sleep and probably a pull-up with her underwear over it when we go out of the house, but only underwear while at home.

One other thing - Anya has gotten much better at going down the stairs by herself in the last few days, mostly because I’m trying to remember to give her the opportunity to practice instead of carrying her.  It’s a pretty slow process, which is why I had tended just to pick her up, but I will need her to be able to handle stairs on her own in a few months when the baby arrives.  She’s been able to climb up the stairs on her own for a long time, but again, it’s slow (unless she tries to sneak upstairs when we aren’t looking, then she’s a speed demon), and she is easily distracted, which isn’t very safe.  Anya would love to walk up and down the stairs, but due to some combination of the height of the banister, her short legs, and her general lack of coordination, she just can’t do it safely yet, at least not without holding someone’s hand.  Although she had been resistant to going down the stairs on her tush for a long time, she’s finally accepted that method.  She just needs to be watched carefully, because every now and then she announces she’s going to walk instead and tries to stand up, ultimately throwing off her balance.  I don’t think she’d enjoy a tumble down a whole flight of stairs onto the hard tile, and I don’t think I’d enjoy the heart attack that would certainly follow.

Anya took her first nap in her big girl bed today!  It only lasted about 30 minutes, but still, this is progress.  We tried unsuccessfully yesterday for about an hour and she ended up in her crib.  Today she fell asleep on her own; I stayed in the room but sat on the floor until she was sleeping soundly.  I’m hoping that soon she’ll feel comfortable enough for me to tuck her in and then leave, like I do when she sleeps in the crib.  I’m nervous about just leaving her if she’s upset.  I don’t want her to stand up in the bed like she would in the crib.  Despite the short nap, she woke up in a good mood, begging for me to read her another book.  She was excited to get stickers when she woke up!

She wanted to sleep in her crib tonight, which was fine with me - there’s still a few things left on my to-do list before Anya’s room is completely ready for her to move in full-time.  I’m very proud of her, but this was definitely one of those bittersweet moments when your heart is torn between pride and heartache as you realize your baby is growing up so quickly.

We are in a full-out questions phase here. While we most often hear “Who’s that?” or “What’s that?” (now used correctly), we get a constant barrage of all sorts of other unique inquiries:

• “What the lady’s name?”
• “Where he’s going?”
• “What’s Daddy doing?”
• “Why I do that?” (my favorite)

Anya has also been observing similarities between things - and sharing them with great joy. Frequently she compares something that’s happening to something from one of her books. Some things she had said while we were on vacation:

• After I pointed out some birds flying overhead: “Birds flying in the sky - just like the airplane!” (which we had seen moments before)
• After Lex told her that 5 am is too early to be grumpy: “Like the troll!” (from one of her Dora books)
• After I offered her some grapes: “I eat green grapes - like Elmo!” (again, from a book)

Pretending has reached a whole new level, and it is one of Anya’s current favorite activities. It usually involves imagining objects that aren’t there. She’ll ask me to give her pretend food, or she’ll make pretend cookies for me. She likes to put on pretend jewelry/accessories (necklaces and bracelets are at the top of her list, but she also enjoys hats, rings, and pocketbooks). A recent fad has been reading a pretend book, only if Anya reads a pretend book, Mommy has to read one, too. This morning she was carrying around a pretend baby (whom she called Diego, and then it evolved into a more elaborate game involving Diego’s baby jaguar). It’s cute to watch, and it’s nice to know I have a way to keep her entertained for a bit even when I have NOTHING available.

This is how Anya sits in her high chair, every time:

She’ll keep her feet like that for most of the meal.  I don’t see how that can possibly be comfortable, but it seems to work for her!