Four Years Old

Anna turned four at the beginning of this month. She is still my independent kid who wants to do everything her way. For example, yesterday she pulled out my quilt that I've been working on for five or ten years. I told her I wanted her to put it away because I didn't want it to get dirty. When she dilly-dallied, I went to pick it up and that brought on a scream of outrage and the declaration that she would give it to me if I would let go first. Then she added that she wanted to hop around it first. Whenever I tell her to give me something that she shouldn't have, she always responds that I have to let go first and then she'll give it to me. We have very similar personalities--we both want to be in control--so we butt heads often, but it is getting better as I'm figuring out how to talk to her so that she'll listen to me.

Her streak of independence and her natural curiosity probably are part of the reason why she loves to play with worms. In fact she loves playing in the dirt in our backyard and just being outside in general. With all this warm weather we've had this spring, she's been playing in my raised garden beds. She loves pulling out worms and the other day while I was digging out weeds, I pointed one out to her. She picked it up and started talking to it like it was a little baby, in a high pitched voice: "Hey there. Do you want to go back into your home?"

Last Thursday we went to PetSmart for a preschool field trip. I was impressed at Anna's willingness to touch the lizards and she even let them put a rat on her shoulder. He liked to nestle back behind her neck under her ponytail.

She has started to ask to say prayers on her own. Often they are full of lots of "thank thee"s. Tonight she said, "Thank thee that daddy can go visit people and serve. Thank thee that I can clean my room. Thank thee for Heather and Maren. Please help them. Please help Ryan on his mission." There was much more to her prayer, and I wish I could have turned on a tape recorder and caught it all because it's only an hour later and I can't remember most of it.

Recently she figured out how to pump on the swings, which is awesome for me because now I only have one child begging me to push her on the swings. Anna still likes a good push, but she can get herself going if I can't get outside at that moment. She's been taking gymnastics all year and she's finally starting to get the idea behind a cartwheel. Now she wants to do them all over the place. She really likes gymnastics, but since she was still talking about her dance class from last year, I decided to sign her up for dance again.

Anna is a great kid who wants to do what's right. Recently, I started planting in my garden and adding fertilizer. I told her I didn't want her playing in there anymore and she's been great about it. Her favorite primary song is still Follow the Prophet and her favorite food is probably cinnamon toast. She also loves to say, "You're really freaking me out, Mom." She's a great kid and we love her.

Recital Photos

Along with Anna's dance recital back in May, the studio had a professional photographer take some photos of the all the dancers. Personally I think the photos are a little scary with that bright pink on the black background, but I still paid for the CD of negatives because I think Anna is cute in all of them even if she does look a bit like a deer in headlights. And, I guess I should have known to put makeup on Anna, but the thought didn't even occur to me. Maybe the problem isn't with the costume or the photos, but with me. I'm not sure I'm cut out for this dance class stuff.

Snapshots in May 2011

Evie rocking some pigtails.

Before the tulips were all gone, we went back to the tulip festival one more time with my mom.

It was a warm day, so Grandma taught my kids how to splash in the fountain.

Anna's last practice before her dance recital.

Cell Phone Photos

The other day I uploaded all the photos I've taken on my phone. It's so nice to be able to so easily transfer these photos to my computer.

February

In February, Evie had tubes placed in her ears due to the almost constant ear infections she's had. We had to get to the hospital around seven in the morning. Evie LOVED the fish tank, but we didn't wait long before they took us back and had us dress her in a hospital gown.

Even though it's a little sad to see your baby dressed in a hospital gown, it was also kind of cute. They took her away from us for the surgery and sent us to another room to wait. It felt like we waited ten minutes before we could hear her screaming as they brought her back to us. They kept telling us that she was just disoriented from the anesthesia and that as soon as we walked out of the front doors, she would calm down because she would know that we were leaving the hospital. Not so. She screamed most of the way home until she fell asleep in her car seat. I kept thinking that maybe she was also screaming because they just punched holes in her ear drums, but what do I know?

Since her surgery she's managed to beat the odds and have two more ear infections, but that's a significant improvement over last winter. And now that she has the tubes, as soon as her ears start to drain, I can tell that she's got an ear infection and start giving her drops. She's sleeping through the night so much better now and we all feel better rested. So, despite her two ear infections, I think the surgery was a good idea.

Eating ice cream at Baskin Robbins thanks to a Valentine's Day gift from Grandpa and Sandy.

Anna chose Bubble gum flavor.

Yay for frozen yogurt. It was my addiction from February to May, so the kids benefitted.

March

Evie is playing peek-a-boo with her napkin at the Olive Garden.

April

wearing Mom's lip gloss (applied by Anna)

May

Our friend, Walene, treated us to some frozen treats at Starbucks and Evie totally took over my chocolate drink.

Anna abandoned naps soon after her third birthday, but every now and then she'll get tired enough that she'll bury her head in some pillows and fall asleep. Just yesterday she climbed up on our couch and I found her with her face totally pressed against the pillows, in the fetal position.

June

Evie loves the swings. Once I put her in, I can't get her out, except to switch to another swing.

Anna at Thirty-Eight Months

Last Saturday Anna had her dance recital. Her dance class performed with all the other dance classes at her studio, but I have to admit that we left as soon as Anna's dance was done, mostly because Evie wasn't all that interested in watching the dancing. Anna's class danced to the "Lollipop" song and they got to hold plastic suckers. Anna loved dancing on the stage and loved the plastic suckers. I had to take her to a dress rehearsal at 8:30 that morning and then the recital began at 7:30. She asked me all day when she could dance on the stage again.

Lately Anna has seemed to move out of the terrible twos. For awhile there I thought the terrible twos were just going to continue until she was four or five, but then one days, she woke up and became rather reasonable. It's a good thing for all of us that she made this transition about the same time that Evie started throwing tantrums.

Now it's no longer a huge fight to get her into her car seat. Sometimes we still have to do some negotiating. And when I'm trying to get her to do something, if I can explain why, in terms that she understands, I need it to be done a certain way, she's often pretty willing to cooperate. Of course, posting this probably means that I've just jinxed myself. Lately, she really wants to do everything herself and she gets upset if I push open a door instead of letting her or throw something away that she wanted to throw away, but it's nice to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Dance Class

Anna started her dance class in September and at the beginning of December we got to go to a dance class demonstration, meaning that instead of watching Anna through the window, we got to sit inside the studio to watch. They did a few dances and then sang some songs. Her friend, Avery, is in her class too, so that's a bonus. She LOVES dance class. Even though she doesn't really know the days of the week, if dance class is canceled, she'll notice that we haven't been in awhile and start to ask. She likes to run around the house saying "shasee" which I think is her way of saying chasse.

Here are a few photos from her class demonstration. I can't wait for the recital with the costumes and everything. The costumes might make up for the fact that every week I dress Anna in the same black leotard and pink tutu, while the other little girls always seem to be wearing something new and much more exciting than Anna's uniform.

Grandma came and brought Anna a pink daisy.