Monday, August 31, 2009

Time Saver

I love time and labor saving devices. Even if they do neither. Katie has apparently inherited this trait. She informed me today that she had lined her panties with toilet paper so that if she has to tee tee in the night, she'll be ready. Awesome.

Sweet Anna is talking SO much. I have no idea how much of it is intelligible to other people, but it is amazing to Ronnie and I. Her favorite sentence is "I DID IT!" Said with her trademark toothy grin.

Today, the girls were playing in the bathroom sinks for about an hour while I laid on Anna floor and read. (Thank you, God, for double vanities and rubber duckies.) Anna walked in and said "Water for Duck" She was holding a little tiny plastic bucket and letting the duck drink from it. Then she said, "Bucket." I mean seriously. Eloquence.

Her language development has been so so different from Katie. It is almost like the difference between a vocab course with flashcards or an immersion program. Katie had the most amazing vocab, but usually did not use it. Anna has just soaked up the incredible variety of discussion that flows around her every day. Today Katie talked about two squares forming a rectangle, 'cubing' up the sides of a foam puzzle to form a box, knitting, canoeing and attack strategies of both lizards and bears. She is a WAY better language teacher than I am. Anna adores listening to her and follows every word. Of course, speaking is also a survival technique. Among her first word combos was "Katie. Push." Perhaps I should stop recording the magic and go intervene. I hear Anna yelling and Katie ran in reporting that a bear just threw a pillow at Anna. Damn bears.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Killing me softly...

Today, they almost did me in. Seriously. A combination of a 1:30 am wake-up call with Katie, coupled with a long day of rain and toddler sized negativity corroded my normally sunny disposition. However, two high points:

Anna said what I believe is her first sentence!
"I can't open up." And what was this brilliant scholar trying to open you might ask? A book? The minds of those around her? A low risk, high yield investment account? Um, no. It was a peanut that she and Pop Pop had painted blue and she was trying to eat it. BUT, still, quite impressive.

Katie, my dear sweet angel, had a rough day. She did not like ANYTHING today. Not cheese, not crayons, not even Fancy Nancy. Seriously, a bad day. She made me crack up though as she was contemplating her dinner. Anna was enjoying her cheese ravioli and turkey meatballs. Katie was distraught because she doesn't like sauce (which I had kept separate), she doesn't like noodles (her lifeblood), she doesn't like cutting things (despite her new pink birthday cutlery), etc. Philosophically, she turns to Anna and says, "Well, we're not going to get a better offer," and commences eating her meatball. Apparently, she really does listen to me because that one was straight out of JGB's Grumpy Mom Repertoire.

Friday, August 7, 2009

BRILLIANT

Katie is truly brilliant. WAY more brilliant than your kid. I so enjoy the moments when she surprises me with something that I didn't even know she knew. For the first few years, every word is this product of endless repetition. Every word that came out of her was one that I had put there.
So it delighted me when she showed me a picture on her magna-doodle on Wednesday. I wish I hadn't been driving so I could have taken a photo, but a full 98% of my magical moments occur in the car... So, anyway, the picture was solid black, with a vertical white stripe in the middle. Very simple. She then explained that the black part was the rock of the "bolcano" and the white part was the tube where the "super hot lapa comes out." I mean seriously. I am enrolling her in geology class at Harvard next week.
My brilliant baby also surprises me every day. Anna is just starting that incredible phase of talking where it just falls out of her, without prompting. We passed a cow the other day that she noticed on her own, and I hear a MOOOOOOO from the back seat. (We were in the car again, shockingly.)
Just two weeks ago, we would have had the following soliloquy from yours truly: "Anna, see the cow? What does a cow say? Does a cow say Baaa? See the cow? No, take your foot out of your mouth. See the cow? Katie, stop saying Moo. Let Anna talk, ok Anna, no, not cracker, COW! See the cow?? Does a cow MOO??? MOOOOO." And now she moos independently. Unreal.
My miraculous girls...