Junk Food

I have tried to instill good eating habits in Anna. As my mom can willingly tell you, I was a picky eater as a child and afraid of most fruits and vegetables. It's something I'm still working on, but I don't want Anna to be like me. I guess I could only keep the junk food away from her for so long, especially since we're setting a great example by eating it ourselves. She loves Cheez-its and she likes feeding them to Dad too. And in the picture below, that's a chocolate Pirouette she's eating, not a cigar. In the photo above she's holding a rice crispy treat, but she didn't actually get to eat that. I just gave it to her to calm her down after she stuffed a Hot Tamale in her mouth. I was eating them at Bear Lake and she kept begging me for one. I knew that they would be too hot for her, but somehow she got one in her mouth. I think she took one from Grandma when she wasn't looking. We didn't even notice she had one until she started to cry and she spit it out. But when I tried to take it away from her, she grabbed it back and stuffed it in her mouth. Then she started to cry again and she spit it out. She did this one more time before she willingly gave up the Hot Tamale. Perhaps you can see the red all around her mouth from her Hot Tamale drool.

This photo has nothing to do with junk food. I just think it's cute. She didn't actually get to go for a ride since we didn't have a life jacket her size, but she was happy just to sit while the other little kids got on.

Family Trip to Grant Teton National Park and Yellowstone

This year we decided to take a trip with just our little family to Jackson Hole. While I was still in grad school, Dan and I had visited Jackson Hole when I presented a paper at a conference held in the area. We've been wanting to go back and we thought it would be a great place to take a little kid because she could be outside and no one would be bothered if she decided to be noisy.
These green chairs were probably Anna's favorite part of our trip. They sat right outside our room and were the perfect height for someone her size to climb into. If we tried to take her inside, she would cry and point to the door. As soon as we opened it, she'd be back outside in these chairs.
The first night we were there, we drove into the park at dusk to see some wildlife and managed to see a herd of buffalo including this one and two more who crossed the street right in front of our car. That night we also saw a buffalo calf with the herd. During our stay we saw some antelope, elk, and moose, including a baby moose with its mama, but no bears. Ironically our best views of moose came as we were driving through Star Valley. On our way to Jackson, we saw a moose standing near the road and on our way home we saw a baby moose and its mama eating from a tree right by the highway.
Unfortunately for us, it rained quite a bit while we were there. Everything was green and pretty, but it was hard for us to go on a hike if we thought it might dump rain on us. So we spent lots of time in visitor's centers, but we did manage to squeeze in one hike around a tiny peninsula near Colter Bay on Jackson Lake. This was Anna's first time in our new kid carrier backpack and she did pretty well.

On Friday we drove up to Yellowstone to see Old Faithful. Anna didn't much like waiting for it to go off. She wanted to push her stroller, which usually involves running into other people, or walk around, darting in and out of all the people walking around, which I didn't much like. But when it finally went off, she was impressed. We spent some time walking around looking at the other geysers near by before stopping to eat at a restaurant on Yellowstone Lake.

No one got much sleep since we were all crowded into one hotel room, but that just means that after a fun trip, we were ready to get back home to our own beds.

Lesson Learned

the hard way.

After I handed her a cup full of chocolate Teddy Grahams and let her eat as many as she wanted during the drive home from Target, I discovered this messy baby in the backseat. The funny thing is that since then she's refused to eat them again. I guess I can't complain since it's junk food. I just think it's interesting that she seems to have had her fill of the cookies.

Do you have any cucumbers for my eyes?

I take a high chair photo about once a week. I don't know why I find these so entertaining, but I do. Today she smeared yogurt and oatmeal all over her face. This picture doesn't really show the full extent of her work. I ended up putting her in the bathtub to get it all off. Even if she does like to rub the food in her hair, she's a pretty good eater.

Happy Easter

So the Easter Bunny was a little under prepared for Anna's Easter basket, but she didn't seem to mind. When I was a kid the Easter Bunny brought us only candy: Robin's Eggs, solid chocolate eggs, jelly beans, Peeps, and Reese's Eggs. Dan's Easter Bunny brought fancier stuff like See's chocolate and presents. I'd always gaze at the giant cellophane wrapped baskets in the stores and wish the Easter Bunny would bring me one of those toy- and candy-filled monstrosities. But, no worries Mom. Now I look back on my Robin's Eggs and Peeps with nostalgia.

Since Anna is too young for candy (although she would tell you otherwise), the Easter Bunny brought non-food items, but only two: a board book about Easter and crayons. Now it seems a little lame. He could have at least got her a toy or something, but I figure she's too young to care and maybe next year the Easter Bunny will plan a little better.

Saturday afternoon our ward had an Easter egg hunt. It was the highlight of my day. Anna hasn't spent much time on the grass because her mom doesn't think to take her out much, and in my defense, the weather hasn't cooperated much this spring. She's still a little scared of the grass, so she was walking on her tiptoes, while other kids her age where ambling along if they weren't running. Can you see the look of concern in this photo? I think she was even nervous about sitting on the grass.

She also didn't really understand the idea of picking up the eggs. And I think she was nervous about getting her hand so close to that prickly grass. So I'd pick up an egg, hand it to her, and try to get her to stick it in the basket. Then she started taking eggs out of the basket. I wasn't worried about her getting lots of eggs since we were going to eat the candy anyway, but it was pretty entertaining trying to help her understand the concept of an Easter egg hunt.

Flopping Baby

What makes toddlers think that it's a good idea to arch the back and fling their bodies backwards when they're mad? Certainly if someone is there to catch the flopping baby before she smacks her head on the ground then it can be quite dramatic and a great way to get Mom's or Dad's attention. But it's also a great way to get a headache if Mom or Dad don't move fast enough.

I admit that I laugh when Anna flings herself back onto my robe or an extra soft blanket and then snuggles down into it. It's a little bit less cute when she tilts her head and shoulders and knocks her head against the wall repeatedly and downright annoying when she does that against my collar bone. Lucky for me, I haven't caught a flopping Anna with my face yet and lucky for her, she hasn't flopped back onto the tile or the hardwood floor yet.

She especially loves to flop when I'm trying to lay her down and change her diaper, so she's already closer to the floor and often gets a bump on the head that results in even more crying. And I'm still waiting for the day when she "successfully" flings herself out of my arms and is temporarily airborne. I'm hoping she can learn about gravity a different way.

First Steps

Last Friday night Anna took her first steps. All she needed to inspire her was a cute little boy. We were having dinner at our friends' house and after watching him run around, she started standing by herself. Then when Jessica held out her arms to Anna, Anna let go and started walking towards her. She did it a few times that night and once more on Saturday night when my friend Angela held out her arms to her, but since then she hasn't been interested in walking. She's back to crawling and knee-walking.

At first I was sort of disappointed. I know she'll start walking when she's ready. She did the same thing with crawling and rolling. One day she rolled over all by herself and then she didn't really do it again until six weeks later. But I thought it was pretty cool to see her walk and I thought it would be great if she would continue to progress. Then a friend pointed out that once she starts walking, she'll be running, and I decided that I'll be fine if she wants to crawl for the next few months. She'll walk soon enough.