Wrook wrook whyin, daddy

someday I am going to miss Annabel's toddler diction. Her L's sound like Wr's. We passed this ornately engraved gold door on our walk this morning and she noticed a lion on a crest. she saaid "Look! Look! Lion, Daddy" but it came out like "wrook wrook, whyin, daddy". So cute.

Home again, home again Jiggity-jig

Kristin and the kids are back after 2 weeks in Iowa. It seems like its been forever. I'm so happy to see them.

We are at breakfast now and annabel is doing her strange and unique 'hodah, buddah' chant wherein she turns her head to the left and says "Hodah", then whips it around to the right and says "Buddah". I think that it's her own original expression, but I wouldn't be surprised if it starts to catch on with other two year olds at the park. It's very catchy.

She still has very strong ideas about things. When I put her down at a table in the cafe she protested: "No daddy! Go go that way", and she pointed to a different table. "Sit sit there".

This is a picture of her after re-locating to her preferred table.

Annabel is 2 years old

Annabel turns two today!

We have now had three different birthday parties for her over the course of the last two weeks in three different states.

She loved them all, and now walks around the house singing 'Happy birthday to you'.

She is changing and growing every day. She is almost using full sentences now. Last week, after reading "The Giving Tree", she turned to me and said "How about Doctor Suess now?".

She is staying with Kristin and her family in Iowa for the next two weeks while I am back in California working. I'm afraid that she will come back fully grown up!

Billy-bob binky

This is annabel in seat 15a on the plane on the way to iowa. She is learning to put on her shirt. Somehow she managed to get her head through one of the armholes and the rest of the shirt just flopped over her head. She happened to have her billy-bob binky in, which created this very convincing jawa look.

'I did it!'

This is Annabel after climbing into her crib all by herself.

Annabel on mothers day

Cute!

No Daddy, Purple

There were two colored blocks in front of Annabel yesterday. One blue and one yellow. She was reaching out for one and I asked her "Which one do you want?" and she said "The purple one". Now Annabel knows her colors pretty well. She rarely gets them wrong and this particular block was a rather indigo shade of blue, but blue nevertheless, so I corrected her: "No, that's a blue block. It looks sort of like purple, but thats blue". Here's the interesting thing: She corrected me right back: "No daddy, purple".

What is amazing about this to me is that she clearly understands the idea of what it means to be wrong about something, because she is suggesting that I am wrong about the block color!

It's crazy to me that she has the pluck to be so sure that she is right even when corrected. I mentioned it to Kristin and she said that she had the same thing happen today.

They were in a store and Annabel picked up a stuffed alligator and said "dinosaur". Kristin corrected her: "No honey, that looks like a dinosaur, but actually its called an alligator". And again Annabel said "No mommy, its a dinosaur".

How interesting!

Ducky Goldman

My buddy Dave bought Annabel little yellow plush duck when he was here. We were moving some toys to the basement last week and she saw it in one of the boxes and said "oh, Ducky!". Seeing her enthusiastic reaction, I asked if she wanted to keep the duck upstairs and she said that she did.

I texted Dave, telling him that Annabel liked the duck that he bought her. He texted back, asking if she had named it. I saw that and asked her: "Annabel, what is this duck's name?".

She said "ahhhh. ahhhh. Ducky Goldman" I guess he is a member of the family....

-rg

Ahhhhh

If you ask Annabel a question, now she will say "ahhhhhhhh" while she is thinking about the answer. It's very funny. She asked for a piece of paper to color on this morning, for example.

"Daddy, Daddy. Piece paper."
"What color paper do you want?" I asked
"Ahhhhh. Ahhhhh. Orange Paper" She said

She'll also do it when you ask her what she wants to eat, or which book she wants to read. It's like a sound that she makes while her brain is processing. Hysterical.

Kristin is convinced that Annabel learned it from her. Maybe, but I don't remember noticing Kristin doing that...

Edamame and a good cry

We went to Betelnut for lunch today and ordered Edamame. Usually, Kristin takes the peas out of the pods for Annabel, but today she wanted to do it herself. She put the pod in her mouth and took the peas out with her teeth then threw away the husk, just like a grownup. It was crazy. I didn't even start eating edamame until I was in my 20s. She is husking them herself at 22 months.

Then she took a two hour nap and woke up PISSED OFF. She takes after her mother in this respect. When she woke up, she was in an emotional state. She would cry for the smallest things. Lets put on your socks. "NO!" and tears. The socks went on within a minute, but the crying kept up for probably 6 or 7. Afterwards, I asked "Did you have a good cry?". She said "Yes, Daddy".

Women!

And they chose to call me "You"

Annabel thinks her name is "You". Yesterday she put her hand on Kristin's knee and said "Momma", then put her hand on my knee and said "Dadda", then put her hand on her chest and proudly said "You".

How can you blame her? Everyone she every sees refers to her that way. "How have you been", "What are you doing?", "Good for you!".

Its so funny!

Doing Doing Daddy?

Annabel has a fondness for saying things twice. Not sure why, but it's hysterical.

If she wants to leave the house, she might say "Annabel Annabel going going!". If she can't seem to find her mommy, you might hear her in the other room yelling "are you are you mommy?"

As I type this post, she is asking what I am doing: "doing doing dadda?"

Annabel is born

Born on July 25th, 2003 6 pounds, 5.6 ounces 19 inches long

Almost human looking

In this one she is a little more person shaped, and she has grown to a whopping 13 cm. The first is the flat pic and there is a 3D one below.

Annabel before she was born.

I've been meaning to get this into the blog for a while now. This was our first ever image of Annabel. It was taken just about 8 weeks into pregnancy. Annabel was 3 centimeters!