An Interesting Conversation

Anna and I had an interesting conversation while in the car the other day.  It was one of the few times in my life that I really didn't know what to say.  At all.  Whatsoever.
We passed an apartment that I used to live in a long time ago which sparked the following:

M: "Look Anna.  See that house?  Used to live in an apartment there a long time ago."
A: "Where was I?"
M:  "It was looooooong before you were born."
A:  "Oh.  But where was I?"
M:  "I didn't have you yet.  You weren't in my belly yet."
A.  "Oh."  She was quiet a few seconds then "Mama?  How did I get in your belly?"

I was silent.  I didn't know how to answer it.  She is only 3.5 so I was desperately trying to think of a way to answer for her age. Flustered I give out the following response...

M: "Well when mommies really want babies and are ready to have them they just get them in their bellies."  Yes. That is really the answer I gave.  How ridiculous was that? Especially because, yup, you guessed it, she followed up with this question:

A: "But how did I GET IN there?"
M: "Well, I just told you Anna.  When mommies really want babies and are ready to have them they just go in their bellies."  Logically I was thinking, since that response was so good the first time, why not say it again, right?

A: "But Mama, HOW DID I GET IN THERE?" 

My response to this was completely absurd and I am sure will go down in history as one of my true failure moments as a mother.  With, I am certain, panic in my voice at the prospect of discussing this any longer, I said:

M: "I don't know!  I don't know, okay? I have no idea how you got in there, you just did! Let 's talk about something else!"

Seriously.  That's the best I could do.  I sincerely promise to do better when she is older ; ).

Swimming Lessons

Like last summer, Anna has been taking swimming lessons.  While she enjoys them, I think that the instructors coddle her a little too much because at home Anna is all over the place in the pool.  She often doesn't wear floaties and will jump off the side by herself and swim over. The girl lives in her swim suit and we spend hours each day swimming.  At lessons, it is a different story.  Because she can, she often will hold onto the side, her teachers (which they let her do) and holds hands to jump off the sides, etc.  She is in a group with the kids her age but I really think she could be in the next group up.  I by no means think she will be as good as the kids in the next group, but at least she will be challenged to do something.  I would rather her be the worst one a group that is challenging to her and actually be progressing with her skills and learning something rather than be just skating by with skills she already knows and exceeds when she is at home.  I haven't said anything about it because I don't want to come across as being one of those moms who thinks her kid is just sooooooooo extraordinary because that is not at all the case.  I just know the difference between what I observe from her at home and then at lessons and like I said, if she were in the next group I think she will struggle but at least would be learning new skills. Anyway, sorry I have been a little disappointed by the lessons this year but she enjoys them and it gives her more time in a pool each day which she likes!  I am going to be looking into continuing lessons for her into the fall because she loves swimming so much, but I may be looking into a different program.

Sorry some of the pictures are blurry.  I sit pretty far away and had to zoom in as much as possible.

Doll Potty

You can't set up a picnic without a potty nearby! Especially one that makes a plays a song when  you shut the lid. (She has one of her swimsuits on in these pictures that is why it looks like she doesn't have on pants.  She lives in her suits.)

Funny Friday (But Really Saturday)

Some funny things from the week:
*Somehow Anna changed the language on her portable DVD player to French.  I didn't even notice it.  After a few minutes Anna said "Mama, what's wrong these people?  They are talking all wonka."

*Anna likes to make up names for items, sometimes even if she knows the right name for what the item is  A favorite go-to, made up name she uses a lot is "ponna".  Sometimes it is hard to decipher which "ponna" she is referring to.

*We have been making frequent trips to the library.  We rarely make it there for story time because of swimming lessons but we still go and get books.  One day, the Children's Librarian came up and asked if there was anything in particular Anna was looking for.  Anna said "Oh yes. Scooby Doo books.  Lots of Scooby Doo books.  And ballerina books since I'm gonna be one soon.".  This is definitely one of those you "had to be there" things to really know how funny it sounded.  She said it so seriously and maturely.  Also, it reminded me that I am going to have to make a decision about which one of the two dance schools I am looking into I want to send her to in the fall!

*One day Anna was telling my mom about something or other that she wanted.  My mom jokingly said to her "Anna, you can't have everything you see."  Anna looked at her and said very seriously "Why yes I can."  This is funny because Anna doesn't usually ask for much (other than Scooby Doo videos) or if she does and you tell you no she has never, ever had a fit about not getting something.  I have always been able to take her in toy stores and we have always made a swing through the toy section on Wal-Mart runs without incident.  So, to hear her so confidently tell my mom that "yes she can" have everything was too funny!

*We have gone to few of the Summer Children's Theater shows at the mall after swimming lessons on Tuesdays.  This past Tuesday I knew it was going to be a turtle birthday party show and that kids were going to get a cupcake.  I asked Anna if she wanted to go, told her about the live turtles they would have there and told her about the cupcake.  She said she didn't want to go because cupcakes are too messy. Funny thing because this child never passes up cake of any variety.  So knowing this, we went anyway.  Anna wasn't really into the show because she couldn't see (as a result of swimming lessons we got there like 5 minutes before it started).  When the show was over I asked her if she wanted to get the two turtle song CDs that they were passing out for free. She said "Nah, I just want a cupcake.  Where are they?".  Hmmmmm....now that's the Anna I know!

*Perhaps the funniest thing of the week occurred at swimming lessons.  While she swims, I sit up on the bleachers.  On one particular day this week, I noticed that two of the instructors kept asking Anna something and then were laughing at whatever she was saying.  One of the teachers was one that hadn't been working with her group before and the other had.  This went on for a few minutes and I could only imagine what Anna was telling them that was so funny.  After swimming lessons were over, I went down to get Anna from the pool and the teacher that hadn't worked with Anna's group before came over and asked me what Anna's name was.  I told her and she laughed and said that Anna was INSISTING that her name was Daphne and wouldn't answer to Anna or Annalise.  I laughed and told her about Anna's obsession with Scooby Doo and that she pretends she is that character.  The teacher thought it was so funny.  She said that since she hadn't worked with her group before she had asked Anna her name to which she replied it was Daphne.  The other teacher overheard that and said told her that it was Anna.  Anna then said no it was Daphne.  This went on  until the other teacher (the one that had worked with the group) was confused and questioning herself and thinking that maybe she had been calling her the wrong name all along!  I can't believe Anna was able to convince her of that.  Maybe she has a career as a lawyer someday, or a politician :).  Anyway, another funny part of it was that the whole thing bothered Anna because afterward when she was getting changed in the locker room she knit her eyebrows together and said "Mama, what's wrong with swimming teachers?".  I asked her was she meant and she said "they tell kids that they can't pretend anything!".

Two Reasons Why....

...I am totally in love with this girl.  There is no one else I know that can break into an impromptu  dance party and then become a super hero within seconds.  LOVE HER.

4th of July....Slightly Late

Our Independence Day was typical this year.  Parade, swimming, food, fireworks.  I really, really tried to get some good pictures of Annalise that day, but she just wasn't feeling it.  That's OK, life with an opinionated three year old often entails this so after trying at the parade, I put down the camera for the day.  Here are my attempts at the parade and you'll see what I mean....

 This one was the best one of the day.

Every time I look at this picture though it makes me sad because she looks SO. STINKIN'. OLD. 

Without further ado, the parade outakes.....

 These armpit pictures are pure bribe material someday!

All in all it was a fun, relaxing day!  We hope everyone enjoyed the day too!

Funny Friday (errr...Sunday)

A few funnies from the week:
-Anna's favorite thing to do since her infatuation with Scooby - Doo began is to "solve mysteries".  She will turn almost any circumstance into a mystery that needs to be solved.  A frequent saying you hear in our house nowadays is "Jinkies!  It looks like we have a mystery on our hands!".

-While Anna loves Scooby - Doo she continues to love all things girly.  She has found a way to mix the two. Anna's favorite character from Scooby is Daphne.  She claims that she is Daphne and will quickly point out that is her name, certainly NOT Anna or Annalise.  To incorporate her love of the Disney Princesses, she now claims to be "Princess Daphne".

-The other day we were cleaning and I thanked her for her help.  She said "Phew!  It was hard work for baby!".  I thought she was referring to herself as a baby so I said to her "Who is a baby?".  She immediately said "Not me!  I'm a big girl!  No babies in this house!".  Just to see what she would say I asked her what if there was another baby in the house someday.  She got really pensive and answered "No, you can just buy a baby statue of me."  Well there you have it.  No babies in this house, folks.

-The other night we were at Hunter's where there is a playground.  After we finished our dinner and ice cream we were playing.  Anna said she wanted to chase me (which she really likes to do lately for some reason) so I was jogging and she was following me running and laughing.  After a little bit I stopped and said "Oh, you caught me!".  Anna stopped running and said "What mama?".  I said, "You caught me.  You were chasing me and now you caught me."  Anna was just looking at me and I said "Did you forget that you were chasing me?".  She got a huge smile on her face and said "Yes.  I did forget that."  Leave it to Annalise to forget that she was chasing someone in the middle of chasing them.

-One night we went to feed the ducks and fish at the fish hatchery.  I pointed out the duck poop because some of it was in HUGE piles and I didn't want it all over the car.  I should have known better than to point it out because, as she has always been, she doesn't like getting dirty so that became a huge focus of hers the whole rest of the time we were there.  I just wanted her to be careful. Not make avoiding poop a full time job.  Anyway, as we were leaving she called out to the ducks, "Goodbye duckies!  You can poopie where ever you want to now!"

-I have mentioned before that when Anna is tired she cries pretty easily, usually over nothing.  The other night we were driving down the road she was tired and started crying.  As usually I asked her why she was crying and she said while she was SOBBING "Beacause they didn't send me my Stompies yet.....what is taking so long???????".  At first I had absolutely no clue what she was talking about.  Then I remembered that a few weeks ago she saw an ad for these slippers called Stompies on TV.  That day she said she wanted them and I answered her like I do most things....we will see waht you get when your birthday or Christmas comes around.  She didn't make a big deal out of the slippers, I never told her that I ordered them or that she would ever get them and she had not mentioned them at all since that day.  But, clearly in her 3.5 year old, sleepy state of mind, her lack of Stompies was very upsetting!

Strawberry Picking

Anna and I went strawberry picking the other day.  Annalise made sure she was appropriately accessorized before we left.  Mission accomplished.

Sprinkler!!!!!!!!!

We have been spending about 2-3 hours each day swimming  Anna LOVES anything that has to do with water.  Another favorite of her is this sprinkler that she got for Easter.  Honestly though, I don't recommend this particular one.  The water doesn't really come out of it real well (unless we hook it up wrong =)).  Anna likes but it really doesn't compare to the pool!

 For as much as Anna loves the water, Riley hates it.  She will not even come close to the pool when we are in it.  Whenever the sprinkler is on, Riley hides under the slide.

I think she looks so old in these pictures!

Moose Tails

Annalise often likes to wear in hair in as many "moose tails" as possible.  I have no idea why she calls them "moose tails", she just started doing it out of the blue one day and the name has stuck.  Each day I ask her how she wants her hair and she does sometimes say a ponytail or a clippy but  moose tails is a common answer.  If she asks for those, I ask her how many she wants and the number varies from 1 to 10.  I draw the line at 4 though, lol.

Do You Like My Outfit?

Many times over the past 3.5 years I have posted about Annalise's obsession with clothes.  She still has it.  It currently includes wearing tutus 5 out of 7 days a week......or a swimsuit....or a panda bear sweater vest  Seriously. We have sooooo many clothing battles it isn't even real.  The deal is she can wear what she wants at home but if we go somewhere she can't.  I have recently started to allow her to choose her own outfits for places like the grocery store and things like that but I really draw the line for anywhere else.  Here is an example of a somewhat typical Annalise outfit.  Actually this on is pretty tame come to think of it....I will have to take more pictures of what she comes up with....

The Easter Bunny!

Even though Annalise snubbed the Easter Bunny at the local mall once again, he still brought her good bit for Easter!  I am hopeful that I will get at least one picture of her with the Easter Bunny and/or Santa Clause by the time she is 10.  I'm not counting on it though =).

 A new book light!  This one is pink which, in her opinion, is much better than her old, green one!

 The only candy she was even interested in was her beloved Reese's peanut butter cups.  She would eat  them 24/7 if you would let her!

On her bed, underneath the yellow and blue dragonfly blanket is her Easter basket  She hid it because she didn't want anyone to get her peanut butter cups.  It was so funny.  We were ready to leave and I asked her where her basket was .  She acted like she didn't know but all I had to do was walk in her room and I quickly knew where she put it!

Egg Hunt 2012

This year we tried an egg hunt again.  Last year, Anna was really excited to hunt eggs and then got afraid of the fireman's whistle that they blew to start it and wouldn't look for any.  This year, I warned her of the whistle and she did much better with it.  Unfortunately though there were soooooo many kids and soooooo few eggs so it lasted a total of about 30 seconds.  Seriously.  It did.  Anna was a little bummed about that part but the homemade ice cream afterwards made up for it!  Next year we will probably try to find a bigger hunt.