I wish you were little

Annabel at the Aquarium, originally uploaded by Rgold.

A conversation from earlier tonight:

"When I was your age, I had glasses too, Uncle Rick" said Annabel as she finished up brushing her teeth.

"Wow." Said Uncle Rick "I wish I knew you back then"
"Yeah." Said Annabel as she thought about that for a second.

"I wish you were little, Uncle Rick. And you too Mommy. An you Daddy. I wish you were all little"

Learning at two and a half

Saturday morning was hectic. We were rushing out for our weekend vacation with another family and running about 30 minutes late. Kristin asked me to stop at the bagel shop on our way to Monteray to go to the aquarium.

"I'm starving", she said

"You Starving mommy?" asked Annabel
"No, I'm not really starving. That just means that I'm hungy" explained Kristin
"Oh mommy. Oh" said Annabel

Then about two hours later when we are arriving in Monteray, pulling up to the restaurant where we were meeting our friends.

"You ready for lunch?" I asked Annabel
"No, I not starving daddy. I not starving"

Annabel Speaking

Annabel has gotten much more articulate lately. Over the last few weeks its been amazing to notice all of the new inflections in her voice. She is now much more expressive than she has been. It is easist to notice this new expressiveness when she REALLY wants you to get her something. The please daddy is much more dramatic than it had been even just a few weeks ago.

Yesterday, I asked her to hold the microphone (which she calls the speakerphone) and tell a story. Here is what she came up with.

Eggs for breakfast?

Some further evidence that the easter is extendingg itself in Annabel's mind for weeks on end:

I asked Annabel if she wanted eggs for breakfast this morning.

"I do, daddy" She said.
"What kind of eggs do you want?" I asked
No response
"Do you want scrambled eggs or sunny-side up eggs or over-medium eggs, like mommy likes?" I asked

"I want CHOCOLATE eggs, Daddy. Chocolate."

Purple Princess Dress

Picture 299, originally uploaded by Rgold.

This is Annabel's favorite princess dress. She wears it almost everyday. She often asks to wear it to school or out to the cafe for breakfast. When we say that she can't, she insists. When we stand our ground, she sometimes has a tantrum.

She REALLY likes it.

Somebody's Tired

We were all set to head out for an afternoon of house hunting. It took at least 20 minutes to get everyone dressed and ready, get the car loaded, get the kids into the car seat and open the garage door. Just as we are about ready to pull out, Annabel says that she has to go potty.

I take her upstairs, put her on the potty, shut the bathroom door and go about collecting some CDs to bring to the car. After about 5 minutes, I hear her singing in the bathroom "somebody's tired". It actually sounded like "Sum-buddys Tie-Rrd".

I opened the door and asked "Annabel, are you tired?" And she smiled at me and nodded yes.

I said "Are you done going potty?"

"Not yet" she said, so I closed the door again and when back to what I was doing. As soon as the door closed, she went back to singing "Some-buddys Tie-Erd". Cute :)

When I grow up, I want to be...

Today, Annabel told us that she wants to be an egg-hunter when she grows up.

"And I could find eggs with Gaby" she said.

She's been on a week-and-a-half long Easter kick, and it doesn't seem to be letting up at all. Sue is here now and she reminded us that Annabel brought her Halloween pumpkin with her to Iowa when we went there for Christmas, so I guess at that rate, it's possible that Easter lasts all the way through the summer.

She also said that she wants to be an artist, a storyteller and a teacher when she grows up too...

Easter Sunday

Easter was quite an affair this year. Kristin set up Easter baskets for both kids and planted Easter Eggs all over the house for a morning Easter Egg hunt. Annabel LOVED it. Here is a video of her running around the house looking for eggs.

Kristin dressed them in matching Easter dresses, which I thought was hysterical, and we walked up Union street to the Union Street Easter festival and parade. Annabel had her first horseback ride on a little pony they had there and then we went on the spinning teacups. Mommy was already feeling a little sick, so daddy had to do teacups with the kids.

By the time we got off, I was feeling sick too...

There are princesses dancing in that castle.

We got some castle megablocks for the girls. Annabel and I made a big castle today and made up some stories about princesses and horses and castles.

Rick asked Annabel if that was a new castle set.

Annabel said "Yeah, and there is another castle outside.".

Rick said "oh really?"

Annabel said "Yeah, want to see?" Then she went to the window and pointed at Coit Tower.

"See, uncle rick? There's princesses dancing in that castle".

Here is a blurry picture of Annabel and the castle.

The arrival of Annie

Annabel's invisible friend Annie arrived recently.

The first time I recall her mentioning the name was when she was in the bathtub. We opened the drain, and when Annabel heard the water going down, she said

"Annie went down the drain to the ocean."

And we asked "Who is Annie?"

"Annie is my friend and she went down the drain in the water". She said.

Since then, she's mentioned Annie just about every day. They play together, and Annabel is often waiting for Annie to come over. When rooms are messy, it's often Annie who is the culprit and it's Annie who orders food that Annabel never seems to be interested in eating.

Interesting that their names are so similar :)

Busch Gardens

carousel, originally uploaded by Rgold.

We spent a day at Busch Garden's before leaving Florida. Now Annabel has seen Carousels before. She's seen animals before. She's even seen Carousels and animals together in the same place before (The San Francisco Zoo has them both).

But never has she seen carousels, animals, flying dragons, stuffed animals, slides, pirate ships, ice cream, lollipops, and rollercoasters all in one place.

She fell asleep in the car on the way home from all the excitement.

funny words

"cowapater" = caterpiller

"chicken nudditz"= chicken nuggets

"backack" = backpack

"kwistin" = kristin

"wob" = rob

Cornhead

We flew from Iowa to Florida today for part II of our holiday vacation. We got to the airport a bit early and had to spend several hours hanging out in Des Moines International Airport.

I've spent many hours in this airport over the years, and I have appreciated this cornhead gag-gift many times in years past. Annabel found it yesterday and couldn't resist trying it on.

Somewhere there is a picture of Kristin wearing it that I took many years ago. I'll have to dig that up someday.

UPDATE: I just ran accross the old picture while organizing some photos. This is it and it was taken in March of 1999. Clearly not much has changed in 7 years. Note that they have the same display rack behind the display with the same merchandise in there...

:)
 

Christmas Toynado!

Christmas in Iowa. This is Annabel's second, Gaby's first, my 14th and Kristin's 35th.

We flew in on Christmas eve and didn't get home until after 11. Gabby was up all night, and so were we. Next time we're going to come a few days early to make for an easier adjustment.

we had told Annabel all about Santa, but she was so tired when she woke up, she forgot that she was supposed to get presents!

She figured it out pretty quickly though and the day descended into a sort of atavistic toy orgy. Annabel had a great time playing with her cousins, Mary and Abby. They dressed up, played with toys, played hide and seek, performed play-surgery on a very sick little puppy, and filled a play-house with decorative glass beads that they took from the candle display. A great time was had by all.

We had a great Christmas dinner at Roger and Shiela's house.

Then today we went to Kristin's dad's place where Annabel tried on the leather hat he recently got in Australia, and then we came back to Kristin's mom's place for a Christmas party.

Bunnies and Squirrels Are My Favorite!

We watched the classic Rudolph the Red Nosed reindeer TV special tonight.

There is a scene in the snow where Rudolph is walking Clarise, a cute little girl-reindeer, home from school. They are surrounded by woodland animals including raccoons and bunnies and birdies who serenade them with "There's always tomorrow", a happy song about rainbows.

Annabel turned to me and said

"Oh! The bunnies and the Squirrels are my favorite! I want to hold them in my hand because they are my families. They are so cute!"

I think they really made an impression...

Annabel's first night in her big bed

Annabel had many firsts this week-end. her nana's 60th birthday......a first. built her first snowman, and slept in a big bed for the first time. wow what a week-end.

Nanna's 60th Birthday Party

It was Nanna's 60th birthday this weekend. Kristin, Rick and I set up a scavenger hunt for Annabel and her. It was 6 clues and it took them all around West Bloomfield to the various places we went with my mom as kids. At each place there was a little bag with balloons, presents and the next clue.

The 6th clue took her to the fox and hounds restaurant where we had a surprise party waiting for her.

Kristin and Rick did most of the prep work. I drove the car for them and shot pictures of the two of them at each clue.

I had a great time, and I think they did too.

 

On Nana's 60th Birthday

Annabel and Nanna getting ready to head outside to build Annabel's very first snowman!

Annabel's first face

This is Annabel's first picture of a face. Those two marks at the top are the eyes, then the mouth right below that, and then the nose at the bottom :)

I wittle daddy

Annabel is starting to understand some abstract concepts. Yesterday morning I was lying in bed and she came up to me and she said.

"You grown up, Daddy"
And I said "Yes, I'm grown up"
And she pointed to herself and said "I wittle"
And I said "Yup, you are little"
And she said "I Growing Daddy, I growing up".

Big ideas for such a little girl...