Anya sang this song non-stop for about 15 minutes before I got out my camera and another 10 minutes after I turned it off. Everyone was here today, including all of the characters from her Where’s Mommy book, Elmo, Ernie, Baby, Anya, Mommy, Daddy, and her classmates and teachers from day care.

Anya tends to sing a lot of different songs throughout the day, but what made this one amusing/exciting to both me and Lex is that we had never heard it before! She must have learned it at day care, probably as part of circle time.

Tonight while I was sitting with Anya during her pre-bath potty time, she kept trying to grab my face, something I did not want her to do.  After several failed attempts despite warnings that I did not want her to, she caught me, and as I was about to give her a firm “No!” she said, “You’re so pretty, Mommy!”  I cracked up, which of course made her repeat it, which of course fueled my laughter even more.  Then she said it about 100 times more, running her fingers through my hair each time.  By the end, there definitely wasn’t anything pretty about me - I probably resembled Cousin Itt more than myself!

Happy Fourth of July from us!

We’ve been having a great time taking advantage of the summer!  Playdates, dance class, story time at the library…so much to do, so little time (to blog)!  I’ll have to post a video of Anya at her “ballerina class” very soon - it’s just too cute, and she loves it. She’s still a little wobbly on her feet and doesn’t really run, jump, or climb, but she’s getting better and more adventurous. She does love to walk up and down the stairs (while holding my hand) instead of crawling, and always reminds me to hold the rail.

Anya has been busy doing all sorts of other things, too.  She definitely knows her colors, or at least the main 8 that show up in her Crayola box plus pink and white.  Her teacher at day care told me a cute story:  She had been working on the color yellow with the class, and was showing the kids a series of yellow objects, asking what color for each one to get them to repeat yellow.  The teacher decided to hold up an apple just to see what the kids would do, and all of the kids said yellow, except for Anya, who shouted, “RED!!!”  Apparently Anya’s excitement was very comical.  Anya still loves to draw and paint, and if you ask her to draw a circle or a line, she does a pretty good job.  Her favorite is still polka dots.

This week we gave Anya one of her 1st birthday presents - a toy baking set - that we had set aside originally because we thought the pieces were too small.  She has been SO cute with it, baking cupcakes for her dolls and feeding them all sort of things.  Watching her pretend is still so much fun, and she’s such a little mommy to her dolls.  It was hard not to crack up this morning when she put her bear on the floor and said, “Here baby girl, change your diaper.  That’s better.”

Anya still talks up a storm, especially at home, and if she’s not talking, she’s singing.  She knows almost all of the words to several of her favorite songs, and she can fill in the words to even more.  It always amazes me when she can supply words to a song that she’s only heard a couple of times.  She absolutely loves music, and she’s always asking us to sing songs to her (or play them on the “puter”).  What’s funny is that whether she’s talking or singing, she speaks with a very strong NJ accent.  “Twinkle, Twinkle” will sound something like this:

Twinkle twinkle little stawe, how I wunda whatchoo awe
Up above the world so hoiy, like a doymind in the skoy

I know that I have a little bit of an accent (and it’s gotten so much worse since we moved back here…grrr), but hers is like a caricature of a Jersey girl, it’s so extreme. Some of it MUST be due to imperfect pronunciation of certain sounds, but it’s still kind of cute.

We’re so happy that Anya is back to kicking us out of her room at bedtime. Two books, two songs, and then it’s “Music off. Crib…go to sleep. Away, Mommy!” She still only sleeps about 10 hours at night, but her nap now lasts about 90 minutes on an average day. It’s nice that she’s cooperative about sleeping, because Anya’s been very sensitive (or ornery, cantankerous, take your pick) about pretty much everything else of late, and she’s a total drama queen (”I’s yelling!”). The way she can turn on and off the tears on a moment’s notice can be very aggravating for us, and her frustration tolerance is very low these days. I think she’s having a little bit of an internal struggle over her desire to be a big girl and still wanting to be a baby. Sometimes she insists on doing everything herself - especially when it comes to meals - and other times she loses it if we don’t help her immediately. She’s also been doing some serious testing of limits. This has been a trying time for all of us, but still, it’s hard not to adore a kid who can exclaim “OH BOY!” with 100% sincerity.

This post is already quite long, but bear with me a little longer - we have another kid to discuss I had two appointments this week, one with a new gastroenterologist and one with the OB-GYN. I went to the gastroenterologist to get a second opinion, and though I’m having a lot of guilt about leaving my current doctor, I plan to go to this practice full-time. This doctor felt that I needed to switch to a different medication, one that is essentially the same as the one I’d been on, the only difference being the, um, delivery method (Look, I have colitis. This is my life.). My current doctor didn’t want to put me on it because he said that he was concerned it could somehow stimulate labor. This doctor pretty much thought that was nuts. My OB-GYN wholeheartedly agreed. I’ve been on it for three days and have already shown some significant improvement.

Our prenatal appointment went well. We only saw this doctor once when I was pregnant with Anya, and though he’s a little weird, he’s very thorough. He found the heartbeat right away, and it was loud and strong. I’m 17 1/2 weeks along, I’ve only gained 7 lbs, but I’m measuring right on target. I don’t think I’m quite as big anymore as I had alluded to recently, but I had a really bad week, colitis-wise. I was very concerned about the effect the colitis has been having on this pregnancy, with all of the cramps and the weight that I had lost this past week. The doctor had a lot of suggestions for additional supplements he’d like me to take which he feels will help with the colitis, and wants me to come back in two weeks to be rechecked. He feels that overall, things are going well with the pregnancy. I’m pretty sure I’m feeling kicks now, but they only happen here and there, so it’s hard to be positive.

I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday!

Some of you may know that as of now, I do not have a job for the upcoming school year. Despite a glowing annual performance report, the school informed me they could not offer me a job at this time because of decreased student enrollment (in special education). There’s still a possibility something will open up by September, if not at my school, then in the district, but starting Friday I am officially out of a job.

Because of my current situation, I had decided I wasn’t going to announce my pregnancy officially at work. I know that legally, the administration can’t choose not to rehire me because of the pregnancy, but it would certainly be easy for them to do so and blame it on something else. I’d like to believe they wouldn’t do that, but I’d also like to believe that world peace is on the horizon. I didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize my chances, should a position open this summer.

I had been planning on telling my co-teacher the last day of school. I thought she might have suspected (how could you not at this point?), but she hadn’t said anything. Well, on Monday we were talking about how pizza had become more expensive lately. That led to a conversation about how everything is getting more expensive, including airfare. I mentioned how this trip to the Bahamas we had planned in August was becoming a little problematic, since tickets were nearing $500 a piece and we wanted to get a separate ticket for Anya. Then I said we’d probably have to consider holding her on our laps instead, wouldn’t that be annoying, blah blah blah, I’ll be so pregnant I probably wouldn’t even HAVE a lap anymore by then…

OOPS!

I was so embarrassed!  That’s pregnancy brain for you.  She said she was pretty sure I was and she understood why I hadn’t told her.

On a somewhat-related note, a different teacher, one I don’t know very well but who is also new this year, came up to me yesterday while I was waiting for the kids to get out of gym and said, “I didn’t know you were pregnant.  Congratulations!”  Flustered, I thanked her and mentioned I wasn’t announcing it yet because of my job situation.  Her response was essentially how could anyone NOT know?

I guess I’m looking a tad pregnant these days!  15 weeks, 2 days according to the new due date.

I have a bunch of unrelated stories, photos, and videos I’ve been meaning to share but haven’t had time.  Rather than writing 6 separate posts, I’m putting them together here!

Izzy’s Little Boo-Boo

Could these two be any cuter?  Anya and Izzy have a total love affair going on.  Their squeals of joy when they see each other at Gymboree are adorable, and apparently Izzy talks about Anya just as much as she talks about him when they are apart.  Poor Izzy had a little mishap at day care and needed some stitches.  I told Anya that Izzy had gotten a boo-boo on his head, and she got very upset - so upset that she wouldn’t calm down until I said I would call his mom Shiri so she could say hello to Izzy.  The next morning when she came into our room at the bright and early hour of 6 am, I gave her a kiss on her hand for some reason (she must have gotten hurt, but I can’t remember, too tired then!).  She turns to me and says, “Izzy little boo-boo…SHIRI kiss it!”

Everyone’s Having a Baby

I was talking to my dad on the phone while Anya was in the playroom.  I mentioned something to him about October, and she starts shouting, “October 19th!” over and over again until I acknowledged that yes, that is her birthday.  She then says, “I big sister!” and I said, yes, that was true, she was going to be a big sister (she associates her birthday with being a big sister because of the questions we asked her in her announcement video).  THEN she says this:  “Alexis big sister, too.  Savannah big sister, too.  Michelle have a baby.  Lisa have a baby!”  Alexis and Savannah are two of her friends, and Lisa and Michelle are their pregnant moms.  I’ve been talking to her friends who are going to have new siblings so that when the babies are born, it will help her understand what’s going to happen at our house, but I never put it the way she said it.

Anya and Her Shadow

This wasn’t the first time Anya noticed her shadow - that was HYSTERICAL - but it’s still pretty cute.  Perhaps she’s just practicing for a Peter Pan audition.

The I’s Have It

In the last few weeks, Anya started saying “I” instead of “Anya” when she talks about herself.  It’s funny when she gives us a play-by-play of what she’s doing - “I all done in the car seat.  I out the car.  I in the garage.  I go outside!”  It’s also funny when she misuses it, like when she grabs her cup and says, “I’s milk.”  My favorite thing she’s said (after I told her that, in fact, Mommy drives the car, not Anya):  “I drive the carseat!”

Alexis and Anya

Alexis is one of Anya’s oldest friends (in every sense - she’s 7 months older, and she came to visit Anya in the hospital when she was born).  Here’s a video of the two of them playing together last week:

Apparently I’m starting a collection of videos of Anya playing “Ring Around the Rosie” with her friends

She Made Me Cry

Tonight when I was getting Anya dressed for bed, we started talking about my belly and the baby.  I’ve been telling her about how when the baby is born, she can give it hugs and kisses, help me change its diaper, give it pacis, etc. (It was funny when she put her head down to my belly and said, “Come out baby!”).   I’ve also been telling her that if the baby cries, she can tell it, “Shhh, don’t cry, baby.”  She connects “Don’t cry” to the doctor, so she starts talking to my belly, saying, “Don’t cry Dr. Donde, baby. It’s okay.”  Then she goes into a whole monologue, a lot of which I couldn’t understand, but I caught the word paci, and then Ernie and Elmo, so I’m guessing she was thinking about things her crib that make her happy.  Next she starts rubbing my belly, saying, “Shhh, don’t cry, fine baby.”  Here’s what got me, though - she then put her head on my stomach to give the baby a kiss, said, “Nice and warm,” and reached for a blanket to cover my belly with a “Here blanket, baby.”  I’ve had a lot of fears that I think many second-time parents have about how the new baby will affect the first child, but I think Anya’s going to make a good big sister.

(In case you aren’t fluent in Anya-ese, at the end of that video when she was “reading” Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? she started talking about what each animal says. When she got to the goldfish, teacher, and children and didn’t know what they said, she made up “Ooh ooh ooh!” As her mom, I thought that was hysterical.)

That’s our Anya, such a big girl (although lately, if you ask her, she tells you she’s a little baby - YIKES!). She’s doing so much and she’s so fun to be around, at least when she’s not sick and cranky (this was a TOUGH week).

Anya’s speech ranges from single words to 8+ word complete sentences these days. Most of the time she talks in 2-5 word phrases. You saw her count in the video. Usually she does “1-2-3-3-4-6-11-12-13!” although this morning she got to eight in the right order. We’re not sure why six seems to be the magic number. She can identify several colors accurately, though she still makes mistakes, of course, but she gets them right much more often than chance would allow. She can tell you her full name and her birthday, too. It’s really neat to see her become more aware of how language works, especially when she self-corrects. One of her biggest misuses is “me/you” - she still says “Rock you! Carry you! Help you!” when she means, “Me.” Now, though you can ask her, “Hold you?” and she’ll say, “Hold me!” I’m also always amused when she repeats things we say. The other day we were talking about something, can’t remember what, and she turns to me and says, rather indignantly, “I said NO!” I wonder where she heard that?

I was just talking with a friend of ours (her daughter is about 7 months older than Anya) about how crazy it is the way toddlers remember things from weeks or months ago, even if it was something that only happened once and it seemed insignificant at the time. She told me some VERY funny stories about her kid, and one story I had shared about Anya was how last week I was driving her home from day care and she suddenly starts asking me to sing something, but I wasn’t sure what she was talking about. She was getting more and more agitated, and then I finally realized she was saying, “Sing people’s trash!” She wanted me to sing a song I had made up and sang to her once several weeks ago when I was driving her home during the week when everybody puts out their big items for the spring bulk pick-up. I was astounded she remembered that - I didn’t remember it!

I’m sad that baby story time at the library is going on hiatus until July. Anya has the biggest “crush” on the woman who runs it. She talks about Miss Renee all week long, imitates the welcome song frequently, and when we’re there, likes to stand within a foot of Miss Renee whenever possible. I am glad she likes going to the library, though, and I guess it’s not surprising, because she still loves books more than anything else. She can “read” so many of her books. It’s incredible how much of them she has memorized. She doesn’t know every word, of course, but you can tell from listening to her that she gets the basic gist of a page. Almost always she ends a book with “The end!” She’ll still fill in the gaps with babble. Actually, when she’s “reading” or pretending to talk on the phone are really the only times she babbles anymore, though she mixes it with words (Right now she’s pretending to talk to my sister, and she’s telling her “Hello! Samantha how you doing? Come out!” It’s very funny). Another favorite pastime is singing. She can sing parts of several of her favorite songs, and isn’t terrible about carrying a tune, either (she gets that from Lex).

Baby play is so great to observe. I continue to enjoy watching Anya play with her dolls. She’s very motherly to them. She still loves to pull out a scarf or a blanket, lay it on the floor, and put a doll down to sleep (which now involves a lot of talking about it). We just picked up some cool pretend play toys from a garage sale, so now she also gives her babies a bath, puts them on the potty (along with the directive to “wipe the vagina and tushy”), feeds them, takes them for walks in the stroller, you name it. So cute. She’s developed a recent fascination with taking the clothes on and off of her dolls - mostly off. This week she stripped down her Cabbage Patch doll (with help), and after I suggested we put the baby’s clothes back on too many times, she took them from me, put them inside her toy drum, and slammed the lid down. Take that, Mommy! We’ve had a little art renaissance here as well, so there’s been a lot of requests to use crayons, markers, and most recently, paints. Like she said in the video, she likes to make dots (even with her food - gross).

We had a minor setback in potty training a for a little while this month. I think it was because there was a small incident involving taking her off the potty before she was actually done, and she became terrified of using the potty upstairs. It became problematic because she didn’t want to poop in her diaper but also didn’t want to go on any potty, so she was holding it in for 24 hours (not good when she’s used to going 2-3 times a day). Eventually a new Elmo potty seat and hand stamps whenever she successfully went on the potty got her back into the swing of things. She’s actually started telling us she needs to go potty first thing in the morning, too, even if she just has to pee - that’s a major improvement - but she still has a wet diaper more often than not. Our pediatrician’s advice was not to push it and follow her lead.

Anya’s been getting more mischievous and daring lately. Her climbing skills are getting better, which is how she ended up standing on a stool in the middle of the kitchen two nights ago. We’re used to being able to let her out of our sight for a few seconds without worrying that she’ll get into too much trouble, but it looks like those days are quickly becoming numbered. She wants to open, touch, throw, and climb on everything (but at least with climbing we’re not at the get up on a kitchen chair and climb onto the stove phase yet!). I’m sure she’s got lots more in store for us…never a dull moment!