Stories

It seems that not a day goes by that Will and I don't look at each other and raise an eyebrow over something new Anna is doing or saying. She's growing SO fast now, not only physically, but socially and mentally, in very noticeable ways.

While the most notable recent milestone is probably the fact that she is walking (more on that soon), I thought I'd share a few stories that have made us chuckle lately.

Anna really likes the playground. Always has, since we started taking her last spring to use the baby swings. Now, we've progressed to the slides and climbing on things, although often Anna just likes to toddle around and watch the big kids run and jump. A few weeks ago, Anna and I were out running errands one day after work. We happened to park in front of a school playlot while we ran in to pick something up. When we came back out, I dumped the stuff in the back of the car, and proceeded to buckle Anna into her carseat. She let out one sharp yell, and started pointing over my shoulder to something behind me. I turned to look, and saw nothing. Trying to go about the business of getting Anna in the car, she started really crying, and kept pointing out of the car. When I finally realized the playlot was in sight, I asked her if she wanted to play. Not only did she stop crying, she started kicking her legs excitedly and smiling. So I gave in, and we played on the playground -- I think there are probably worse things that spending 20 minutes on the playground on a Tuesday afternoon. And, while part of me thought it was just a fluke that day, it's happened a few times since then, so I know it's not. So maybe now we should upgrade "likes the playground" to "loves the playground".

Anna also really loves to take Eve on walks. A more accurate description would probably be that she loves to go with us when we walk Eve. It has become part of our daily routine -- Anna and I come home from work/daycare, settle in, and take Eve out. Anna always kicks her feet excitedly and starts laughing when she sees me get Eve's leash out and we head for the door. Yesterday, we were running a little off our normal schedule, and Will got home at the same time as us. I thought, great, he can take Eve out while I stay with Anna, it'll be so much easier than juggling both of them. Anna apparently didn't think that was such a great idea...when she saw Will head for the door without her, she started crying and crawled after him. So the four of us (Will, Eve, Anna, and I) all went for a walk!

Anna's a total bookworm. She will go to her toybox, pull out one of her favorites, and bring it to us to read to her. She likes to turn the pages herself, and many of our books have flaps that she likes to lift herself to see the pictures underneath. I think she's memorized the stories/pictures by now, but she still seems to enjoy them. Each night, we read her two books, and she cries everytime we close the second one -- she'd MUCH rather read her books than go to bed!

Anna's been saying "bye bye" for a couple of weeks now. She does the cutest little wave and a quiet "buh-bye"...and she does it about 9 times to say goodbye to someone...so, maybe that's an exaggeration, but she repeats it many times!

There are so many fun and cute stories to share, I hope to share more soon. Until then...buh-bye.