They Say It's Your Birthday

Happy 2nd birthday to my little Anna-bug!



This kid has personality in spades. She's funny, loving, mischievous, independent, persistent, and just strong-willed enough to stand up to a certain big sister when necessary. She loves looking at books, singing songs (especially Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star and The Itsy Bitsy Spider), dancing anytime she hears music, and testing boundaries. All. the. time. She can navigate my iPhone like a pro, and whenever she sees it, she asks, "I watch a moo-bie?" She loves her baby dolls, and is a fan of "cooking" at the toy kitchen. She loves her little friends and cousins; in fact, she won't refer to herself by name, but will ask for Miles, Mason, or Lauren (sounds like Morn). And she thinks Buzz Lightyear is her bud. She tries to escape to the great outdoors at every opportunity, and when we are outside, she immediately tries to get the gates open...last week I had to buy some cable locks for the gates to keep the little monkey in. She's also a very physical kid; she's a snuggler when happy and a thrower when angry. Love this little girl.


And this one too.

Someone is Turning Two Soon...

...and boy, is she letting us know. Anna will be two at the end of the month, but she's not wasting any time getting into the two-year-old groove. She has always been the quietly mischievous type, and lately I'm really getting some insights into the fun we're going to have over the next couple of years. This kid is trouble. Insanely funny and adorable, but t-r-o-u-b-l-e.

Let me illustrate with a couple of events from this afternoon. At one point, Anna decided she was mad at Clara for some reason (she gets mad at Clara approximately 1,597 times a day. Clara gets mad at Anna 5,384 times. But then they hug and make up. Really, it's cute.). Anyway, when Anna is mad, she tends to throw things. So she threw the apple she was eating on the floor. I reminded her that this is a no-no; she looked at me with a level and determined gaze, picked up the apple, and tried to throw it at Clara's head, very deliberately. This earned a time-out.

Later in the afternoon I was working in their room, sorting out clothes that they have outgrown. Anna darted into the room, grabbed my phone (she loves a few of my games and tries to snag it as often as possible), and tried to dart out of the room. I managed to grab the phone back and told her it was not a toy; she screamed at me and threw her pacifier across the room. She then gave me the same level and determined gaze from earlier in the day, walked over to my organized piles of clothes, and proceeded to pick them up by the armfull and throw them around the room.

I'm really in for it, aren't I?