New Dress

Dan's parents got this dress for Anna right after Christmas. She looks so cute that I just had to take a picture!

telephone

I've had to leave Anna with babysitters for long periods of time these past two days and I've felt bad about being away. Today my sister Erica put Anna on the phone. Our conversation consisted of "Mama," followed by silence, the tone of a pushed button, and then repeat several times.

But tonight when Dan and I were in her room trying to read scriptures with her, she picked up her plastic banana, put it up to her ear, ala Ernie, and said, "Hello? Who dis? Erica. Bye!" I sort of felt like she was holding out on me. I guess she does a lot better when she's not confused by hearing my voice coming out of the banana.

While Anna has been with babysitters, I've used Signing Time and fruit snacks to help everyone make it through. After a day or two of this I find green, almost blue, poop in her diaper. Poor kid.

Lately she's also been asking for what sounds like "monkey cheese" to me. Turns out she's saying macaroni and cheese--another food item I've been using to make it through the babysitters.

My Helper

This afternoon Anna unwrapped a Tampon, said "here ya go" and placed it on my lap. Then I closed the cupboard door so that she couldn't unwrap the other 87 tampons under the sink (I like to buy in bulk).

Little Moments

These are just a few things Anna has done lately that I want to be sure to remember.

Anna loves the Signing Time DVDs and it seems that she's picking up some of the signs on her own. The other day we checked out a library board book with fruits and vegetables and text in English and Spanish. When we got home, she found the page with the watermelon slice on it and came to show it to me. She kept holding the book upside down, but then I realized she was holding the picture the way she eats watermelon. She also started smacking herself on the head and it took me a moment to realize that she had recognized lettuce in the book and was making the sign for lettuce. She does it with such enthusiasm though, that it seems a little violent.

For Christmas, she got an Abby Cadabby doll that she absolutely loves. The other day while she was eating breakfast in her high chair, she asked me to get Abby and set her on a chair near her. After I propped Abby up so that Anna could see her, I noticed Anna waving to Abby and saying "hi."

Today I was playing with Anna and I picked up one of her shapes, looked at her through the tiny hole in the center and said, "I see you." Anna took the shape from me, pressed it to her forehead right above her nose and said, "I see you" back to me.

Anna also told us the other day that she loves hockey. We've never discussed hockey with her, but the day before ESPN had done a little blurb about a hockey game played at the Red Sox Stadium (Fenway Park?). Dan and I commented on it to each other. The next day while Dan was watching Sports Center, they showed a clip of a hockey game. Anna pointed at it and said, "hockey!" So Dan asked her if that was her favorite sport and she said yes.

She also loves to say "whee!" When I hang my Shade shirts on hangers on our railing to dry, Anna loves to push them. As they start to swing she yells, "Whee!"