New Tricks

Annabel is in a new stage over the last few weeks. She is getting more complicated and surprising me with some of her questions and reactions.

A few examples:

Yesterday morning we were having breakfast and Annabel wanted to go for a walk. I told her that we could go, but only after everyone was finished with breakfast (Kristin and I hadn't started). She launched into pouty mode, which is usually just her saying something like "But I want to go NOW!". This time though there were gestures in there too. The objection was accompanied by a physical display where she crossed her arms, pouted her lip, furrowed her brow and stood up straight. I've never seen that reaction before. Where did she learn those moves? Not from Kristin or I....

Another example: Last weekend, we were driving in the car. It had been suspiciously quiet in the back seat for a few minutes when she called up to the front with a question: "Daddy, am I still three?" What was she thinking about back there?

She is also starting to be frightened of things. She crawled into bed with Kristin and I last night because she had a scary dream. That's a first for her. I asked her what she dreamed about and she said "I was at the scary Halloween store". We had walked past a Halloween store the weekend before and Annabel wanted to go in, so I took her. Don't I feel like a heel...

Annabel's 3rd Birthday

Annabel's 3rd Birthday, originally uploaded by Rgold.

Annabel had her third birthday party this weekend.

It was a princess party and she was adamant that everyone wear a costume. For the last several days, she could be seen walking around the house saying "No Clothes, Costumes!". She was primarily concerned with princess costumes for the girls and ladies. When I asked what I should wear, she grudgingly allowed for a price or king costume, but she was clearly much more concerned that Kristin wear a princess dress.

The party was awesome. Lots of kids, fun parents, a nice place and a beautiful sunny day.

Here's a Link to Annabel's 3rd Birthday Party Photo Album.

Kristin and I just got back from our trip to Florence if you want to see pictures of that...

Pine Cone Soup

Pine Cone Soup, originally uploaded by Rgold.

We spent the 4th of July weekend in Lake Tahoe. The place that we rented came with a fully equipped kitchen, so we cooked most of our meals. Seeing me preparing kebobs for the grill, Annabel wanted to do some cooking too. We gave her some ingrediants and a bowl and let her go to town.

Pince Cone Soup includes:

2 pine cones, collected locally
Romain Lettuce, leftover from the salad
Pancake Batter
Baby Carrotts
Salt and Pepper

Combine ingrediants in bowl and stir well. Chill overnight then throw away in the morning.

Daddy's Birthday

I had a great birthday today. Both kids got me very thoughtful gifts. From Annabel , I got a purple four-square ball and from Gabby, some magic markers. Kristin assures me that they really did pick the gifts out themselves and I believe her!

We are headed out to Lake Tahoe for the long weekend. None of us have ever been before and we are excited about the trip! We should probably have pictures up when we get back...

In the meantime, I've been playing with Google's new Web-Photo album service. Here's a link to a gallery of photos of Annabel and I and here is one of Annabel and Kristin.

I'll add to these and try to clean them up over time.

Fathers Day

 


We spent the day at the beach for fathers day. We went with Carrie, Aaron, Sedona and Karina. All four girls had fun and kept the grown-ups busy running back and forth to the shore for fresh sandcastle water.

Kristin did a great job of covering the kids with Sunblock so by the end of the day they were just tired and sandy. Daddy, on the other hand is badly sun-burned :(

-rg 

Drama Queen

 

Annabel likes to play out the dramatic scene from Cinderella where the step-sisters and wicked stepmother are ripping decorations and jewelry off of Cinderella just as she was ready to leave for the ball.

"Grab my dress, momma" Annabel will say, then when Kristin grabs her dress, she will spin around and say "No! Those are my beads!" 

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.