In Ana's Head

Anissa's ever-expanding vocabulary keeps giving us a deeper understanding of what's going on in that brain of hers. A few examples:

Anissa views everything as potential playground equipment (the oven door handle, baseboard heaters, our office chair, our legs/necks/backs/any parts of our bodies, etc etc). She confirmed this when I pulled the round top of our new foot stool out of the IKEA box and she gleefully exclaimed, "Trampoline!".


Everything, and I mean everything, in the universe belongs to our darling Ana. "My _______ (anything she decides is attractive in anyway)" or "Mine" is part of every second sentence out of her mouth. I didn't think it could any worse until I tried to clean her nose a few days ago and she pushed me away with an angry, "My boogies! Mine!".

Happy Birthday Memere

From two of your girls!

The Birthday Girl Arrives in Style

The Birthday Girl Arrives in Style
Posted by: trinastjean.

Anissa turns two tomorrow, but she celebrated yesterday at her birthday luau. It was a gorgeous sunny day, and many of her friends/family (Memere and Pepere all the way from Alberta, and of course Mama Jo) were there to join in the fun. She got to ride her new bike over to the park, and even let her pals take it for a spin. Cake, icecream, presents, hula dancing - could a day be any more perfect?

Thanks to everyone for making our little girl's day so special!

Time Flies

A whole week since I've posted to the blog! I must have a life or something. Things have been a little busy, in a good way: a lovely Father's Day, the arrival of Memere and Pepere, and a trip down to New Hampshire to find a place to rent (and we did - a little house). And then the preparation for Anissa's big day tomorrow - her birthday party. Her new tricycle is hiding in our bedroom and I can't wait to see her reaction tomorrow morning when she finds it in the living room. I can't wait to hear what she says...she's talking like crazy these days and coming out with all kinds of sentences. (Running: "I''m fast! I'm fast!". After getting a glass of water: "I need straw!". And everything "I wanna __________hold it/see it/do it".) It's so much fun but of course makes me a little sad. She calls herself a big girl, and I guess it's time I accept that she is.

Awwww, do I have to?

Yawn

I've just come out a dark room after spending ONE HOUR singing, telling stories and trying to convince Anissa that bed is the place to be. Needless to say, I'm exhausted. Why won't my daughter go to sleep? Why does she have to flip and flop and climb on me and play with my hair and ears to enter the land of dreams? I've joked that putting Anissa to sleep is like wrestling a midget, but sadly I'm serious. I cannot even believe the amount of time and energy and thought Mehdi and I have put into getting Anissa to zonk out - and stay zonked - over the past 2 years. We've tried it all. It's getting better, I guess, if you compare it to getting up every hour on the hour when she was 6 months old. I realize that a large part of the problem is the bad habits we have created over time, in desperation to just get her to sleep. But I also believe that part of it is her character - she just doesn't know how to relax. I suspect she may grow up to be a very driven (and stubborn!) woman. But maybe, just maybe, there's something more to the problem. After exiting that dark room, I spent a few minutes searching online for information regarding toddler sleep problems, and....VOILA! One site provided the answer:

Anissa has Restless Legs Syndrome!

Yes, this is a real disorder. It would explain the midget wrestling. Or, if she doesn't have Restless Legs, the problem could be another suggestion on the website:

Disruptive room decor. Maybe we should take down the cheerful giraffe growth chart hanging above her bed...


All right, maybe she's just a normal, energetic toddler who doesn't want to miss the party. But this normal, worn-out mother-of-a-toddler has got Heavy Eyes Syndrome...

Bonne Nuit!

Our little lady

Anissa's language skills have been sky-rocketing lately. She's coming up with new words all the time, and the huge grin on her face when I actually understand her is priceless. She's so proud - and so am I. There are drawbacks to her increasing ability to express herself, though. Whenever she wants to do something she shouldn't or can't (Ana, shave? Ana, cut zucchini with a huge knife?) or wants to do something herself which I know I can do much faster (Ana, butter the toast? Ana, put on her own diaper?), I admit that I often resort to rather wordy explanations of why she can't, in hopes that she will be too confused to argue. Sometimes it works. Most often, I simply tell her she is too little. She's been arguing back that she's a BIG GIRL lately, so I've been trying to throw her for a loop by varying the vocabulary a little. Today, though, she put me in my place. When she wanted some chewing gum (specifically, the piece that was already in my mouth), I told her she could chew gum when she grows up and becomes a lady. She surprised me with her response: "Ana, lady NOW!".

I guess it's time to come up with some new arguments.

Here's a shot of our little lady posing with her new handbag last week at the sidewalk sale (I've been a little lazy on the picture-taking these past few days.):

Update

Here's a little round-up of what makes our little girl tick at almost-two years old...

Anissa's likes:
the park (wee, wee!), Barney, Mama's hugs (an excuse she uses to be picked up), jumping on the bed, holding Lala's hand, the packages she gets from Memere and Pepere in the mail, going to Mama Jo's house (where anything goes)

Anissa's dislikes:
having her teeth brushed (even with her Barney toothbrush), most vegetables (Bleh!), leaving the park, the Bird Guy (a man dressed as a bird at her playgroup picnic), when characters in books go to sleep or elephants at the circus go to sleep or Mariella goes to sleep or God forbid we try to put her to sleep (she protests by saying, "Morning, morning!)

Anissa's cute habits:
Saying "Pomme" for Come, telling us we are "peshul" (special), so many more that I will stop before I bore you

Anissa's not-so-cute habits:
playing with Mama's ears to go to sleep, the on-going battle to put her pyjamas on after the bath

Anissa's favorite words/expressions:
"Ana big girl", "Hug, Mama, hug!", "Me too!"

Golly gee, what can I do next?

Anissa is a country girl (and tomboy) at heart. Papa, Mama Jo, Ana and I had a picnic today at Ile-de-la-Visitation, a lovely nature park along the St.Lawrence, in an attempt to escape the intense heat of the city. We were sweating and complaining, but Anissa quickly forgot about the temperature and mustered up enough energy to chase after birds and a few unsuspecting ducks, climb rustic wooden fences, throw rocks and attempt several jumps right into the river. She's going to be in heaven (and we're going to be exhausted) if we take her to my parents' farm in Wandering River this summer. Just keep her away from the buffalo pen, because I have a feeling she won't be afraid of those beasts at all. I guess Mehdi and I can always let Memere and Pepere chase her around outside while we sit on the couch and watch satellite TV.

(I can't wait to see my Mom's response to this idea...)

Does anyone appreciate...

Does anyone appreciate...
Posted by: trinastjean.

just what it takes to get five toddlers in a playground to line up and actually look somewhere in the direction of the camera for a simple-looking snapshot?

I do now!

A few stories from today:
All of Anissa's friends call her a different version of her name; Ann, Ana, Nissa. But today I heard the best of all. Zach was chasing after her in the park, yelling, "ASSA! ASSA!" Let's hope that one doesn't stick.

Anissa and Mariella had another one of their stroller arguments today while Natasha and I cruised the tables at the Mont-royal sidewalk sale. It starts when one of them says their own name. Anissa says, for example, "Ana". Then Mariella (or Ana) responds with her own name,"Lala". They continue this way, back and forth, their voices getting louder and the argument growing more and more passionate. Today Mariella got so worked up each time Anissa yelled, "ANA!" that she kicked and threw herself back in the stroller (as much of a full-blown freak-out one can have when strapped into a stroller - which is actually not bad, considering). I couldn't help but laugh, despite her obvious distress. I'm just dying to know what exactly it is they think they're arguing about (or what it is Anissa is egging her on about). I guess it's all about ME ME ME at this age!

All's Well That Ends Well

I can (barely) laugh about it now, but Anissa and I took a flying dive out of the bus this morning. In a nutshell: I badly judged the distance from the bus floor to the sidewalk and, while I was attempting to maneuver my way outside, the stroller tipped forward and out of my hands. What did I do? What any mom would do - I threw myself out of the bus, trying to catch the stroller. But, alas, it was too late. It flipped all right. Strangers on the street stopped to help us, the bus driver got out of the bus. Anissa, thanks to that wonderful invention the five-point harness, escaped unscathed (and didn't even cry. Natasha suggested she must have been thinking something like, OK, Mom, I like stroller tricks as much as the next kid, but this is a bit over-the-top.) . I'm a little banged up from my crash landing on the sidewalk, but mostly it's my ego that took a beating. Luckily Natasha was there with her assurances that yes, I am fit to be a mother and yes, Anissa is absolutely fine. (Thanks, Natasha.)

On the lighter side:
We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out downtown. On the way to meet Papa to go to his soccer game, we stopped and watched some cats grooming themselves (their paws, stomachs, and all the rest) in a pet store window, then headed to the mall to kill time. I was checking out some sunscreen when I glanced down at Anissa, (safely) in the stroller, to find she had pulled her feet up to her face and was licking the tips of her toes. Shocked, I asked her what she was doing. Her response made complete sense:
"MEOW!"


Later at the game, Anissa demonstrated just how fine she is by showing off her kicking skills.

SHE SHOOTS...



SHE SCORES!



(Dan - Mariella's Daddy - is the goalie.)

Good Times

Good Times
Posted by: trinastjean.

Our weekend: sun, fun and friends. Result: happy exhaustion and early bedtimes for all.

Who is this dashing fellow?

Who is this dashing fellow?
Posted by: trinastjean.

Anissa does take after me in some way after all: she seems to prefer younger men. Zacho, Leo, now the 10-week-old Lukas, who came over to play (all the way from San Diego) yesterday. Anissa gave him kisses, caressed his head and even brought him a cracker (never mind that he doesn't eat yet, it's the thought that counts). She was quite enamored. And who can blame her? Just look at that gorgeous, hunky Quebecois-French-Californian!!!

Catching Up

These past few days, sans computer, confirmed what I've suspected for some time: I'm addicted to blogging. I've been feeling strangely...unfulfilled. Here are a couple of stories to get my blogging needs out of my system:

While having a snack on a restaurant patio on the weekend, Anissa said, "Papa peshul. Mama peshul". At first, we had no idea what she was talking about. Then she began to sing, "Buddy peshul" and we realized she was telling us, like in a Barney song, that we (like Buddy - everybody) were special. We were touched...until she began pointing to random people also dining on the patio (beginning with a girl with pink hair - good choice, I thought) and saying, "That, peshul. That, peshul. Buddy, peshul". Nice to know she's contributing to the self-esteem of all the good citizens of Montreal.

Mama Jo is back! Anissa has been busy showing her grandma all that she's missed while on vacation; her new garage sale toys and puzzles, new songs she's learned, etc. And, as usual, she wants to do everything Mama Jo does, have everything she has...even pink eye. Poor Mama Jo has a bad case of conjuctivitis, so Ana keeps pointing to her own eyes and saying, "Ana, hammara (red in Arabic) eye". So of course she needs to get regular doses of Jo's eyedrops too!