Potty-licious

No pictures, please.

Annika is about 90% potty trained. I won't go into details, but suffice to say that she can handle most "business" on the potty.  The 10% part is that she has to wear a diaper to bed because she insists on drinking 24* ounces of milk every night before she goes to bed. (* this number may be somewhat exaggerated).

This good news leads me to Part Deux of more good news...being potty trained means she has moved up a "group" at preschool. She is now a proud member of the Blue Group (formerly Yellow) though she does miss her "Yellow friends." But don't be too sad for her, she sees those friends every time she's there during combined play time.

First stop on the Growing Up Train: Potty; next stop: Doctorate.

Annikasyncrasies

Annika has a new fun game - it's called "take a picture of me with ______".

"Take a picture of me with this blue thing." (location: Home Depot parking lot)


"Take a picture of me with Wall-E." (location: Circuit City)



"Take a picture of me with this red thing at the park." (location: the park)












Funny, I usually say, "Take a picture of me and I'll crush you."

Maui No Ka 'Oi

The first vacation that Chris and I ever took together was to Oahu, Hawaii and it was the first time I had ever been to our 50th state and I couldn't get enough. Warm days, sunshine all the time and the most beautiful beaches I had ever seen.

Since then, we've been to Kauai (where we were engaged) and the Big Island together (along with our very good friends), so Hawaii has always been special to me & Chris. I really wanted to share that with Annika, so I decided that WE WERE GOING TO HAWAII THIS YEAR.

Chris always told me that Maui was probably his favorite island, so I was pretty set on going there. We invited my parents to come along because we travel well together and I'm always looking for a way to have Annika spend time with her maternal grandparents.

I spent about a month researching the best condo, best area of the island, best plane tickets, etc. I love research. I love the Internets. Anyway, we got a fabulous condo on the West side of the island. We also got some pretty good airfare deals from Southwest which of course turned out to be a disaster so we had to re-book the whole thing on United, which was ok. I had to mention that part because it was not cool.

Annika thought that all of Hawaii would be a large sandbox, since she asked as we were landing "We're not in Hawaii...where's the sand?". Her time on the beach was amazing - when we could get her there. She really does not like the ocean. And she does not like the wind. Which turns out not to be a good combination on a tropical island. Annika's favorite question would be each evening "Does the restaurant we're going to have walls?"

Despite those obstacles, she really had fun. She is an excellent traveler and really rolls with the punches and with less sleep. She spent a full night with her grandparents while Chris and I had dinner which she loooved because she had devoted attention for 3 hours from people who want nothing more than to please her. Who wouldn't dig that? She was able to see fish and go shopping for SpongeBob Crocs and spend a full week with her parents. That last part was more exciting for me because it has been too long since we've really focused on our family as we've continued to adjust to the house remodel and our busy work schedules.

Now we're ready for the next vacation.

This Many (3)

Please turn off your cell phones

Annika saw her first movie a few weeks ago. It was a big deal because Annika loves the sound of her own voice. Loves it so much, that during the viewing of most any television program requiring more than 15 minutes of her attention, she asks question after question. Sometimes, I think she cares about the answer, but to be honest - I think she just likes asking. Maybe to get us to participate in the show with her? Maybe just so she can continue to babble?  Who knows...but we never thought she'd make it through a movie.

The movie in question was Kung Fu Panda. We were worried about this movie for two reasons: 1) It was longer than 15 minutes and 2) it had a scary subplot involving a snow leopard. Proving to us how much she's grown up, the length of the movie seemed to be of little consequence to her...but her fear of the danger that Kung Fu Panda and his friends encountered during the course of their journey was almost too much. She asked after the first "scary" scene, "Can I go home now?" And that quickly turned into "Can I leave?"

To paint a picture for you, Annika was sitting on Chris's lap for about 85% of the movie. Her little body is still too light for the 'old school' theater chairs, so she had to sit on one of us. During the height of her fear, I took her and cuddled her and promised her that it would be ok. She would settle for a bit, but then cry out in fear, "Please!  I want to go home!"

It was too much for me to bear, so I told Chris that we needed to leave (having had earlier made the unholy parental pact of  'it's ok to leave if she freaks out even though we're wasting 40 bucks') and he shook his head. I said, "No..seriously."  And he said, "No."

He went to the concession counter and purchased some "incentive." Every time the scary snow leopard came on screen, she was given a piece of candy. I thought it was genius...positive reinforcement to face her fears!

It was rightly pointed out to me later by a friend, "Yeah, now she'll turn to food whenever she needs comfort in the future."

Woops.  

Three reasons why Chris is the best father ever

Father's Day was 3 days ago, Annika is almost 3 and we are a family of 3. So in celebration of Father's Day and consequently, Chris, I present you with the top three greatest things about Chris the Daddy.

1. He loves being with her. Chris isn't the kind of guy that would rather be golfing, out with his really cool friends or driving fast cars; he is a family man. A true family man that wants nothing more than to spend his Saturday with Annika by his side. He wants to tickle her and play The Hungry Caterpillar game and ask her what she did at school that day. He actually wants to know. And when he's not with her, he talks about her all the time.

2. He really knows her. Annika has a habit of giving up rather quickly when something doesn't go her way. Chris and I talked about this at length last night, and he is really concerned that this is something that will be difficult to shake. He notices when she is cranky and when she's hyper and for the most part, knows how to handle it. He also doesn't push her to go poo-poo in the potty because he knows she needs to do it her way when she's ready.

3. He makes her happy. There is no better, stronger, kinder, warmer, softer, funnier, nicer person in the whole wide world for Annika. Chris is Annika's consistent favorite, and there is no other person in the universe who she wants to hold hands with more. Maybe the other caregivers in her life get a little peeved at this, but at the end of the day, Chris and Annika have a bond that makes every person around them smile.

Happy (belated) Father's Day to a truly amazing Daddy and husband.

Quick & dirty & cold update

We went to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom over Memorial Day weekend then drove up to Tahoe. Tony & Laura joined us and we all managed to have fun despite the nasty weather. It was pretty cold and a little rainy while we perused the amusement park, and colder and rainier in Tahoe. In fact, it snowed in Tahoe on our drive home. You can imagine my white knuckles.

Annika had an awesome time although she did throw a couple of toddler temper tantrums. I think we might have scared Tony & Laura out of kids for good this time.

Happy Mother's Day!

May all you mommies be as lucky as I am, and may you all be reminded of how far you've come.

Bigger house, smaller wallet

Some of you may know that our house is undergoing a remodel. The plan is to add an extra bedroom, extra bathroom, remodel the master bath and kitchen and a few other things here and there.

So far, it hasn't been so bad. The workers are outside most of the time, framing the parts of the house that are exterior to the current interior (does that make sense?). They come early every morning and wake up Annika, who says at that moment, "I don't like the construction workers!" But as we leave each morning, she gives them a big smile and says hi. Fickle pickle, that one.

We get some commonly-asked questions about our remodel - I'll do my best to answer them.

Q: Why are you doing this?
A: Our house feels small with a Momma, Daddy, Baby and her four thousand toys.

Q: Why don't you just move into a bigger house?
A: Many of you may be familiar with the Bay area housing market and school districts. Long story short: We're priced out of our own area, and remodeling is actually more cost effective. Oh, and I live five minutes from work.

Q: Does Annika understand what is happening?
A: Oh yes, for the most part. In fact, this weekend we need to move her out of her room into our office/toy room because they need access to that side of the house. She is pretty excited about living in her toy room. She also thinks it's very nice of the construction workers to "make us a bigger house."

Q: Will you be living in the house throughout the remodel?
A: Heck no! Much, much love to my ridiculously generous in-laws.

Q: Will your house be totally "fly" when it's done?
A: Heck yeah!

Q: Have you ever used that Port-a-Potty in a pinch?
A: EW!

Q: So, you're making a bigger house, with an extra bedroom and bathroom...ummmm....do you have something to announce today?
A: No, I do not. Bur for the record, Annika says that she would like a baby sister, and "you (meaning Momma) can have the baby brother."

Annika's first wedding.

No silly, Annika didn't get married! Uncle Tony did.

Loved the dancing. Loved the cake. Loved the veil. (Yeah, that's the real one...don't ask).

Congratulations to two amazing people who don't read this blog!

Confessions of a bad Momma

I'm not a perfect mother.

Confession #1: I let Annika eat "bad" food. Yep, that's a french fry you see dangling from her perfect pink lips. And you know what...it's not her first trip to the french fry rodeo. She eats fried chicken with more ranch dressing than at a salad bar and sometimes simply uses the chicken as a ranch transfer system where she just licks, licks, licks. I tell myself...maybe some protein is finding its way to her by way of chicken crumbs?

Confession #2: She watches TV. A lot of it. She can quote some (ok, a lot of) SpongeBob episodes. She can sing most words to Diego's opening song, even the Spanish ones. She knows that Momma's favorite TV show is Scrubs and that JD can be a moron. She expects the TV to be on. I'm so very proud. (that's sarcasm)

Confession #3: I give in. She wants something...a lot of the times she'll get it. I will proudly proclaim that I'm probably the one person who pushes back the most in her life (a-hem, Chris), but come on...she says please and tells me I'm beautiful...what is a Momma to do? Well, I'll tell you what a Momma is to do - Baby gets to stay up for another two episodes of SpongeBob!

Confession #4: I buy her a lot of crap. For a short time, there was even an unofficial rule that she could get one thing every time we went to a store.  Every time. Not that she was asking for designer jeans, but well, expectations were set. We've (sorta) broken her of that habit, but she gets a lot of stuff. Cute rockstar sunglasses at Gap?  Check. The 15th bouncy ball from the drugstore ball bin? Check. A Halloween sippy cup with a witch on it that scares her? Oh yeah - check. 

Confession #5: I like to go out with my husband. Without the baby. 

Confession #6: I still call her Baby. (sub-confession: I'm ok with that one.)

I write these confessions as a cathartic measure. But maybe the dirtiest confession is that I'm ok with these mistakes (most of the time...someday she's getting brussel sprouts with dinner without ranch!) Annika is so amazing and knows we love her, and that I think is the most amazing achievement in parenting - making sure that kid knows she's loved. But for all you mommies out there who maybe have a few confessions of your own...perhaps you can look at this list and feel a little better about yourself.  

Or maybe you do everything right. If so, please write a book and provide detailed instructions.  Thanks.

Giving the people what they want

It's been a while since I've given you an Annika update. Let me break the silence!

Annika is officially a little person. Maybe that sounds odd to you "non-parents" but there is something to be said for someone who can verbalize their wants, ambitions and opinions vs. someone who simply enjoyed the rhythmic musings of a wooden stick and a copper pot. The shorter point is: I can relate to her.

She asks so many questions. LIKE ALL THE TIME. But I have (nearly) endless patience for them, because it helps me understand what interests her and understand what she's observing all around her. She asks a lot about skeletons lately. She wants to know why we have them. And why they're inside our bodies. And why doesn't her stuffed monkey have a skeleton?? (Try answering that one).

She's also afraid of monsters, specifically the monsters in the shadows in her room at night. We've tried to tell her they are friendly shadows and that The Unicorn and Mr. Bear are there to protect her all night (two of her larger skeletonless stuffed friends) and that we would never let a shadow do anything to her. But she doesn't buy it. They bother her. And I understand so much. I was so fearful as a kid. No real reason, I just was. It's worrisome only because I don't ever want her to be afraid of anything, and I want her to trust 100% that we will protect her.

The fears lead to some nightmares. The most vivid and specific she's related to us is about the giant clam that ate her. He was big. He ate her. She screamed, "No No!" Why is a giant clam trying to eat my baby!

Happier news is that she has taken very kindly to her new big girl bed. She likes to draw. She loves to play with her dolls. She loooooves her Daddy. He is her best friend. She loves him so much. She wants him to read her bedtime books. She wants him to change her diaper. Blah, blah, blah... :) I'm not jealous! (Usually).

Every day is a new adventure and there are literally no words to describe how much I love her. I hope that if she decides to have kids some day, she'll understand at that moment what she means to me. I can wait until then.

Just another Sunday night

Halftime

Don't Stop Believen'

The holidays in brief

What Annika Says is Her Favorite Present: Baby Jaguar.

Her Real Favorite Present: Car ramp.

How Many Hours it Took to Get to Grandma & Pop's House: (not including layover in Santa Monica) 9.

How Many Hours it Took to Get Home: 6.

How Many Presents Annika Opened: Too many to count.

How Many Presents We Bought Her: 5.

How Many Cookies Did Annika Put Out for Santa: 3.

How Many Carrots for the Reindeer: 3.

Who Actually Ate Said Cookies & Carrots: It was a group effort.

Most Memorable Moment: Watching Annika take in all the presents under the tree on Christmas morning.

Second Most Memorable Moment: When she begged me to remove her "itchy" (yet perfect) holiday dress.

Best Playmate: Joshua Henry.

Most Exhausted Playmate: Daddy. 

I'd like to thank my parents for hosting us and spoiling us, my brother and his new wife for being the "fun" aunt & uncle, my husband for driving all over creation and my baby for going with the flow, not (yet) showing signs of over-spoiling and being too cute.

Tis the Season

Annika's first Christmas presents of the season came in the form of a Santa Clara University sweatshirt (that's where I met her Daddy!), a Candy Land game she actually can play and a Dora inflatable house ball-thingie from Godmommy, Lisa, Gabs and Nico came. Annika and Nico actually played with each other and everything.

Much fun was had. Chris even bought egg nog ice cream. 

Tastes better than it sounds.

Little known Annika facts

- Annika likes to play with cars. I think we're going to get her a car garage/ramp thing for Christmas.

- She hates to be wrong. If you ask her to do something that she a) doesn't understand or b) doesn't think she can do, she'll either decline, look away or proclaim, "I can't do it!" If you push her a bit, she'll sometimes try to address the task at hand, but she doesn't like taking chances. She 100% gets this from me, because, man, I hate being wrong. (Try not to gasp.)

- Yellow is her favorite color.

- We read her at least two books every night - one on the floor and the other while she's in her bed. She gets to choose who reads: Mommy or Daddy.

- She cannot - and I mean cannot - stand getting water in her eyes. To the point that if she cries, she begs you to wipe away her tears. I'm keeping a watch on this in the event it's actually a medical issue, but I'm thinking that it's actually a case of the drama queens. Chris bought her goggles for the bath. We're having mixed results with that.

- Annika is fascinated by balloons. When she sees one, she must have it. But when she gets it, she either starts to cry or won't let it go. She then gets disturbed when she's in the same car as a balloon. It's all rather strange.

- Annika's favorite song is "Sexy Back." (Note to CPS: Please don't take her away.)

A big girl's bed

She told us that she was too big for her crib. Multiple hundreds of dollars later, we present you with...Big Girl Bed: The Movie & Accompanying Photographs.

She's old

I honestly can't believe how old she is. Not in age, mind you...she's technically not even 2 and a half. But she looks old. She looks like a 4-year old. How does a 4-year old look, you ask?  Old...?  Mature?

Not that she weighs as much as a 4-year old or is as tall as one...she just feels old. What do they call it?  An old soul.

She has a new trick where she repeats everything you say in a form of a question. i.e. "Annika, you can't have that piece of candy." "Can't have that piece of candy???" I call it playing dumb, because she fully understands what you say, but maybe she doesn't want to really know. When pressed on an issue (Annika, what do you want for dinner?) she'll suddenly say, "I don't know!  I'm just a baby!"  Maybe she's picking up on the fact that we treat her beyond her years (less than 2.5 of them) and sometimes needs a break. Me too.  Sometimes I'm just a baby, too.