In the past 10 minutes Anya has:
laughed because I said, “Hello” in a funny voice
wailed because she dropped a piece of macaroni & cheese and couldn’t reach between her tray and her bib to get it (Daddy: “What’s wrong?!” Anya: “MACARONI FALL DOWN!!!!!!!!!!”)
said “Macaroni and cheese — oh boy!”
screamed “All done with the fork! Spoon! SPOON!”
Amazing.
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.
We’ve been more hesitant blogging about Baby #2 here than we were the first time around, but I’m vowing to change that now. The main reason for me is the health challenges that we’re facing with this pregnancy — Lauren’s colitis flare-up, the subchorionic hemorrhage, more recently a potential amniotic band. But although these are serious and important health concerns that we have to stay on top of, I’m no longer going to allow them to hamper my excitement and enthusiasm regarding #2!
We’ve spent the last week or so informing key family members about this pregnancy. First, we told Grandma Esther — but only because we thought she already knew! Grandma had been using Lauren’s laptop, and Lauren realized in a panic that she had left some pregnancy-tracking websites open. We used the same method to tell her that we ended up using with Grandpa Marty a few days later:
Lex: Y’know, we’ve been thinking about that Bahamas trip you had in mind for this December. We don’t think we’re gonna go.
In-Law: Why not?
Lex: We don’t think the baby will be old enough by that point.
In-Law: Old enough for what?! Why not?
Lex: Well, by then, it’ll only be one or two weeks old.
Hehehe. Credit goes to Lauren, because that was her idea.
Next we told Great-Grandma Evie, since we wanted to give her some happy news before she went in for her second hip surgery in three months. The funny part there was, after Lauren told her the news (and that Daddy didn’t know yet), Ev asked: “So, what are you going to do?” Lauren replied: “Um… Have the baby.”
Ev: Oh, so you’re going to keep it?
Lauren: Um. Yes?
Ev: Are you going to marry him?
Lauren: Grandma, you know this is Lauren, not Sam, right?
Grandma Evie breathes sigh of relief that actually causes a breeze straight through the telephone line.
In between Esther and Marty, we told my parents (Papa Ducky and Grammy, which sounds more like a Saturday-morning cartoon, but I digress) via video-chat. Anya was wearing her custom-made “I’m going to be a big sister!” shirt. Grammy noticed first, and jaw properly dropped, said “I like Anya’s shirt!” to make my Dad spot it too.
Last night, Anya wore the shirt to tell her Aunt Samantha, and today she wore it for Great-Grandma Shirley. G.G., as she prefers to be called, was told to read the shirt, which she did. She thought nothing of it. “Put your glasses on, Mom,” Esther suggested. “I can read it!” Shirley said. “It says, ‘I’m going to be a big sister.’” Pause. “WHAT?!?!??!?!!!?!”
Today, we have four more siblings to notify!
Many mornings, Anya and I start her breakfast together. Once she’s in the high chair and having her breakfast banana, I generally feed Charlie his breakfast. Once Charlie’s finished, he needs his insulin.
This morning, after I took out the insulin and a needle, Anya announced: “Medicine!”
I gave Charlie his injection. Anya then announced, “All done! Cookie!”
Right she is. After every shot, Charlie gets a cookie (complete with an allergy pill hidden inside).
A couple months ago, a few of Anya’s cousins were visiting us for the day. I went out to the bookstore to pick up some gifts for the kids before they arrived. While there, of course, I was unable to resist the lure of buying a few books for Ani, too.
One of those books was That’s Not My Monster, in the series of “That’s Not My…” touchy-feely books. (When we win the lottery, we will one day own all of them. Even if we no longer have small children. Lauren finds the books very compelling.)
The book has lots of fun textures to read, as you realize (for example on page one): “That’s not my monster! It’s nose is too bobbly!” Other monsters that aren’t yours have appendages that are too hairy, too rough, too fuzzy, etc. Eventually, on the last page, we discover YOUR monster: Its ears are so furry.
So, a couple days ago, during our flight to Houston, Anya was having a merry old time with different toys, books, and other playing with Mommy and me. She started rubbing my arm, and announced: “Fluffy!”
It was funny.
Anya quickly verified that Mommy’s arms were not fluffy, but that Daddy’s definitely were. She later decided that Daddy’s chest was, too.
As Anya’s language skills continue to develop, I become more and more amazed at her ability to express what’s going on in her mind. Two recent examples:
1. Tonight while Anya was finishing her dinner, Lex brought his laptop into the kitchen. After requesting to hear one of her new favorite songs, she said, “Hat? Hat? Hat? Ducky? mmmBack (come back)!” She was asking to video chat with Papa Ducky (Lex’s dad, for those who don’t know)! She remembered that we had talked to him on the computer the previous day and that he wears a kippah (which she calls a hat). I just find it so neat when she remembers that something happened and that she liked it, and then that she is able to formulate the words to ask for it. Luckily he was near his computer and we were able to have a very exciting conversation with Papa Ducky, Grammy, AND several hats!
2. This past Friday when I picked her up from day care, Anya was very excitedly telling me something that sounded like “Big girl! Amanda!” as we walked out to the car. I had no idea what she was talking about or who Amanda might be. Today when I picked her up from school I asked her teachers if they had been talking about anything like that last week, and it turns out they were! One of the girls who had recently moved up to the next classroom had been back in Anya’s room on Friday because of understaffing, and apparently the teachers had said something about Alexandria (not Amanda) being a big girl. What makes this particular story exciting to me is that it’s the first time I became aware that Anya has the ability to tell me about something that she has experienced but I have not. I suppose she might have been able to do that for a while, but I didn’t realize it until today.
I took several developmental psychology classes and a few linguistics courses throughout my undergraduate and graduate programs, and I always found learning about the development of language highly interesting. However, getting to observe it firsthand with Anya is just thrilling. Somehow when I wasn’t looking she became a person, and not just my baby.
This morning Anya woke up bright and early at 5:30 am. Lex went to get her and told her as he was bringing her back to our room that she needed to be quiet because Mommy was sleeping. That worked for a few minutes, then as usual she crawled over to me and starting bopping me on the head - “Wake up, wake up!” Of course she immediately began begging for milk, but as per my new policy I don’t nurse her before 6 am. I can usually get her to at least lie down next to me or on my stomach, even though she won’t go back to sleep, especially if I give her two pacifiers (because one just isn’t enough). At one point she started to fuss again, and with my eyes closed I told her “Shhh, I’m sleeping!” Suddenly I felt a little, slobbery, smooshy kiss smack on my lips, followed by another one. I opened my eyes up to a huge, satisfied grin. It was just so sweet! I grabbed her and gave her a big hug, and she whispered “Ooh eee (Ooh squeeze).” Not a bad way to start your morning, even if it is before 6 am!
Hooray for snow! Because of the bad weather, my district declared a snow day, so Anya and I both got to stay home from school and play. We had a really fun day! We took about a million pictures, but here are some of the highlights (click on any picture to see it enlarged):
One of the first things Anya wanted to do was dress up in a bib that’s way too big and her hooded penguin towel. I’m not sure why she wanted to do this, exactly, but it was good for at least 30 minutes of entertainment:
Then the penguin baby helped me put away the laundry:
After the laundry was finished, Anya wanted to play in her crib. She was actually having a good time, despite what the picture suggests:
Hey, check out that snow!
After lunch and a nap, Anya got to try finger painting for the first time:
Anya thought the best part of finger painting was watching me squeeze more paint onto the plate, and she was extremely unhappy when I told her that she had enough. A massive tantrum followed the sweet pictures above, but when she eventually calmed down, she wanted to color:
Next, we were finally ready to brave the cold and play in the snow! Anya loved walking all over the backyard, throwing snowballs, playing on the slide, and building her first (mini) snowman:
(After watching this video hours after filming it, I’m not convinced that she was actually saying “white” anymore, although we had been talking about how snow is white all day long. Oh well.)
We came back in and warmed up again, and then, much like her online pal Braiden, Anya discovered the joy of an empty box, which her dad had left by the front door:
Such a fun day calls for an equally fun dinner:
Our day ended with more fingerpainting, only this time it was in the bathtub:
She’s up in her crib now, sleeping soundly. Let’s hope she stays in there until at least 6 am tomorrow!
Some cute stories and pictures from today:
1. Anya loves getting the mail! It’s been a little too cold for her to go to the mailbox with Lex, but she’s still very happy when she gets a letter (or when we give her some junk mail and tell her it’s for her):
There’s one of those devilish grins
2. This morning Anya was hanging out in the playroom while I finished making her lunch before I went to work. I was listening to her talk and sing to herself, when I heard her singing, “Kead up, kead up.” I peeked in on her and saw her putting her rubber ducks back into their bin. I realized she was singing the clean up song from Gymboree. I never would expect any child with half of my genes to clean up without being asked. Perhaps brainwashing works, after all!
3. My mom brought Anya a present today - a neat doll that she had crocheted for her! As soon as Anya saw it she exclaimed “Baby!” and then proceeded drag it with her everywhere all day. It even had to sit at the table with us while she ate:
Hugs!
Don’t leave home without baby!
Hungry? Here, have some blocks!
Check out more new pictures!
1. Last night Lauren and I went to check on sleeping Anya around midnight. We thought her room smelled a little funny, so we both poked and prodded her (Anya’s) diaper to see if we would need to do a dreaded sleepy-time change. (We didn’t.) Our poking, though, did cause Anya to adjust her position and let out a little sigh.
As we left the room, Anya suddenly, in her sleep, let out a crystal clear utterance: “Airplane.”
It was very cute, and very hilarious.
2. In response to Lauren’s post below… I’m not certain that Anya’s lying about having pooped. I think the “No” Lauren heard was pre-emptive: “No! Don’t restrain me for diaper changing right now; I want to keep playing!” That’s as opposed to the bald-faced: “Nope, I didn’t poop, Lady.”
