Look Who's Coming to Dinner...

OK this photo is a month and a half old, but I love it. It was taken during the period I now refer to as "Anna's Fishie Rearrangement Obsession" (AFRO). For the record, Anna absolutely adores all the Nemo and various other fishie figurines that she has been given. In the weeks immediately after her birthday, she spent HOURS each day arranging them in various houses, elevators, buses, ponds, and trucks. And then she rearranged them. And she still does! Just not all day long. Thank goodness for preschool.

And because I feel the Obesession part of this is pretty much behind us, I am happy to post this "fishie house" photo montage. I am sure you'll get a sense of the numerous levels of hierarchy and detailed classification schemes Anna employed to keep things organized.

At one point, the fishie house housed not only Nemo fishies and their Nemo fishie babies but also two sets of sea creatures figurines, the 3 snap-on watch faces from the Nemo watch she received for her birthday, 8 party favor sqeezeable plastic bath fishies, at least 8 Nemo bubble blowers, 5 Nemo cards from the Nemo aquarium from Aunt Stacy gave her, 3 expired Metro cards, her NY Public Library card, 12 "magic grow" sponge fishies, one Nemo keychain, and 10 purple index card halves each bearing one Nemo bubble sticker.

(click on the photo for a larger view)



top left: Dusk at the Fishie House After a Particularly Grueling Day (note the turtle)
bottom left: Sunrise at the Fishie House
top right: We've Moved! During the Day, Fishies Sit In Their ZooPals Paper Plates Rooms!
bottom right: Fishies Napping. Finally Mommy Can Watch Heffalump.

I'm sure you'll agree: it was all worth it.

Today

The Good,

• I believe that for the first time ever, Anna used the same Pull-Up all day. It didn't get wet!
  
• This evening, Thomas took 5 or 6 steps in a row. On multiple occasions.

the Jack,

• This afternoon, Jack not only clmibed Anna's high chair but once he was there also attempted to span the distance from the top of the high chair to the dining room table with his body.
  I caught him with one hand on the table and two feet on top of the chair, looking down at the floor below and wondering what to do next.
• This morning, Jack managed to unscrew the top of the brand new tub of "itchy butt cream", stick his entire fist into it and smear it all over him and the floor before I realized what was happening. We dumped him into the kitchen sink. He left butt cream handprints all over our counter (quite funny, actually) as well as on the fish tank.
  

and the Ugly.

• At breakfast, Thomas managed to get a Kix (a single one) stuck in some booger slime underneath his nose.
  Gross? Absolutely. Definitely.
  Hilarious? Oooooooooh yeah. I mean, at that point I could either laugh or actually face up to the overwhelming ickiness of the siuation...
  

Book Smarts. Street Smarts.

Thomas can stack cups and build with blocks and pegs and likes to crayon and look at all his books.

Jack can unscrew the top on his bottle (and of course pour all the milk out), open the latches on the doctor kit, push the top off the toy chest, climb out the window of the playhouse, and turn the oven light and dishwasher on and off.

The Two Faces Of Thomas

Fido.

William Wallace (think Braveheart). At high tea.

A Day At Preschool

Let's See...

• I brought Thomas in his winter duds (big blue hat & coat) to pick up Anna today. As soon as she saw him she shouted "It's a blue man doo!" and laughed hysterically.
  Rest assured not one of the other parents present had any clue as to how clever that line was. And of course I said "that's right! a blue man doo! wow!" and started giggling myself. I mean, she extended our own inside joke. That is really neat. The other parents think we are nuts, but...
  
  
• This week was UN week at preschool. Today one of the moms (Lisa) came in to talk to the class about South America. She also brought in the snack for the day, some sort of delectable (South American?) caramel thingy.
  I guess Anna liked it. A lot. Lisa told me she was the only child who, after finishing her treat, proceeded to pick up her plate and lick it completely clean.
  Then Lisa assured me that this was really cute.
  It is not as if we deny her sweet things at home, you know.
  
  
• Oh yes, Lisa told me one other thing:
  Anna knew where Paraguay was on the globe.
  ha ha! ha ha! We take our caramel with a side of genius...

On Wednesday I did a presentation for UN week, too. I brought in Anna's smart globe and map of the world. Let's just say Anna put on an impressive display (There's Iceland! And Greenland! And Norway! And the Gulf of Aden! And The People's Republic of China! And "Ongolia"! And on and on and on...

Pumpkin Picking (city-style)

Korean market? check.
Leopard print tights? check.

Pumpkin delivery when you're nowhere near the patch? Priceless!

Jack's A Rocker

OK, it's official. Both the guys seem to really like music. The musical toys are by far the biggest hits. The both will sit on their knees and bounce and head bang to B-I-N-G-O or Beethoven or whatever's on until a battery finally wears out. It's adorable. But Jack -- he seems to be a special case.

Jack will not go anywhere without his boom box. It is the first thing he looks for in the morning and he carries it around all day in an attempt to keep it out of Anna and Thomas' hands. He LOVES to crawl into a corner with it and just be one with his music.

top left: Jack strollin' with his boom box.
top right: Jack looking tough. It's all about the music, man.
bottom:
whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa
hangin' tough...
Jack looking slightly NKOTB as he delivers some rhymes.

First Step: Thomas

Last nite (10/23), right into Daddy's arms.

Giving Brothers Pony Tails

I reminded Anna for the umpteenth time the other day not to grab her brothers' hair and try to put it into pony tails. With pink scrunchies, no less!
Anna got a bit pensive. I reminded her that she doesn't like it when her hair gets pulled (or even brushed!), so how does she think the brothers feel?

She looked at me with deep understanding. She said:
"It's funny, but it's not nice."

Ah, yes. So true. You got it, A.

Don't Talk. And Don't Try Any "Fun" Business...

This is how Anna admonished me as she started to read to me before bed tonite. Evidently she's seen my kind before :)

Other recent Anna gems:

• "Mommy, I'm going to give you this cereal but then I'm not going to give you any more..."
• "Jenny, try again." - Anna gives Jenny another shot to put more M&Ms in her bowl. She obviously wasn't pleased with the original amount.
• "You can look at my brothers while my Mommy changes me."
  Anna had an accident in Central Park.
  I started to change her behind the stroller.
  Her good buddy Sebastian, who was playing with us, proceeded to walk behind the stroller and sit down for a front row view. Anna didn't miss a beat and let him know she needed some privacy.
• Someone asked Anna if her Mommy works. Her reply:
  "She works in the house."
  Nice. Totally, completely uncoached. Honestly.
• Anna has a book where the characters are having a limbo contest. I tried to explain the concept to her. She looked totally puzzled and said:
  "But a small guy could go right under!"

A few quotes from several months ago not to be forgotten:

• It was the last day of preschool last spring. I explained to Anna that she could push Winnie in his stoller to preschool because this was a special day.
  She could not, however, take the 5 or 6 gift bags stuffed with random Anna toys that she had hanging off both handles. She looked at me forlornly and wailed:
  "But Mommy, it's Winnie's luggage!"
• I was trying as hard as I could to get Anna out of Claire's (remembering, of course, the time not so long ago when I had never in my life even been in a Claire's).
  I told her she could get one bracelet. She became obsessed with the fact that she has two wrists, so she needed a bracelet for each. I told her she could have one bracelet or no bracelets. To my surprise, she chose none.
  We left the store. During the walk home (with Winnie in his stroller), she was horrible., constantly stopping and weaving and whimpering and really being three-year-old-ish. I looked at her and said something stern, and then for some reason ended with "What are you trying to do?"
  She looked up at me and said "I'm try-ing to get another bracelet...!"
  Well, at least she's up front about it, I suppose.
• Random Anna singsong:
  "Wa-choo, wa-choo, wa-choo want"
  Uh, yes. Time to take the Beastie Boys off the playlist.
• Anna was making every excuse not to go to bed. She didn't like the red light downstairs, she needed a drink, she needed another drink, she needed hugs. Finally, I thought we had done everything and I (foolishly) asked her "Is there anythign else I can do to help you feel better?"
  "You can not put me to bed!"
  She totally got me there. Rookie mistake.
  

Don't Know Much Geography

Actually, Anna knows a lot of geography. Right now she is in a map phase. (Gwammy: she really, really likes the globe you gave her, as you can see.)

Funny globe story: this globe is really neat because you can take the pointer and touch a spot on it, and it will tell you information about that location, such as the name of the country.
Well... Anna was playing with the globe one day and decided to touch some blue country (since blue is her favorite color) MANY MANY times in a row, which triggered "the globe voice" to say the name of the country over and over and over again. Before I could finish rolling my eyes and tell her to please please touch something else, she says:

"Why does he keep saying that??"

in this completely adorable, exasperated voice.

She also has been doing map of the world puzzle and a United States map puzzle and reading a book called The Scrambled States of America. Really , really funny book.

The result of all this is that Anna is frighteningly knowledgeable about the states of our country and the continents. This leads to some fantastic mispronounciations. Did you know that:

• You Mexico
• Avada
• Can-tucky
• Abraska
• and The Crazy Lakes
  

are all part of our country?

This does lead to some tough (if not unexpected) questions, however. The age old: "Why did they put Alaska in the wrong spot?" She can see where Alaska is on the map of the world puzzle, and it doesn't match up with where Alaska is on the US map puzzle. This used to cause her some concern, but now she just lets her friends know before they start the puzzle that Alaska is, infact, in the wrong spot on the US map and that is because there was not enough room to put it in the right one.

A slightly tougher issue with the US map puzzle was: "Why is there a pineapple in the middle of the ocean?". I tried to explain to her that it was an artist's attempt to conjure up images of tropical Hawaii, but she wasn't getting it.
And, uh, oh yeah A--Hawaii's in the wrong spot, too.
That was almost too much for her to take. I could just see her thinking: why didn't they just make the puzzle bigger?

She had a playdate the other day and they started to do the map of the world puzzle. She looked at her friend and said "You do Asia, and I'll start on North America." I was so proud.

At any rate, maybe she'll be the one to finally help me understand why (even though it's actually not) Greenland always looks so big...

King Thomas I

And the attempted coup...

Gosh, I Don't Know What To Do

Well, no worries. I'll just ask the Buddha...

That's One Small Step for Jack

... and a lot more work for Mommy. :)
That's right: today was the day Jack took his first step!

What Jack Ate

What did Jack eat on Saturday? Hmmnn, let's see.
It all started in the sandbox, where he and Thomas had never before been allowed to go.
Within 2 minutes I see Jack take a huge handful of sand and stuff it into his mouth.
I freak out and grab him and frantically search for his sippy cup.
I finally find the cup and as I look up I realize: my son has 2 hands.
And that other one is full of sand. And ... oops! He just stuffed that one into his mouth, too.

I guess the first fistful was so satisfying that he couldn't wait to shove the next one in?

I am still completely astonished. He didn't seem too stressed about the whole situation, other than I could tell he found it somewhat difficult to chew.

So while Jack is on sandbox probation we decided to move to the greener pastures of the Great Lawn. Anna blew bubbles, the boys chewed on the bubble wands, random plastic balls, and parts of their stroller. Ah, urban familial bliss.

Until I realize that Jack had just put an acorn in his mouth. So I freak out again and stick my finger in there and fish it out, and Jack looks at me like I am nuts (ha ha). So I carefully look around our area for any other acorns. Satisfied, I grab Thomas to stop him from licking all the bubble potion from Anna's bubble wand tray. When I turn around, I notice that Jack is intently scraping at something in the grass with his index finger. When I get to him, I see that he is trying to dig up a half-buried acorn with his little index finger.

What's next? Worms? Rubber bands?

Saturday In The Park

Anna Quotes

• "I'll take that as a yes."
  
• Anna often watches me put my contacts in. One morning after I was done, she reached for the empty contact case and dipped her finger into it. Then she used her finger to dab her eyelids. She explained: "My eyes are dry".
• Anna's tactics to get me to sleep with her at night:
• "Why are you just going to dump me in my bed?"
• "Are you coming in, Mommy? I saved you a pillow."
  
• Anna channelling Aristotle to explain to me why she was dumping all new white sand into the muddy water (after I had told her not to): "Water needs sand."
• Anna to Thomas and Jack sometime before her birthday:
  "Now you just have to have 1 lesson if you want to eat cake..."
• Anna reflecting on life before she was a big girl: "Last summer when I was a baby..."
  
• "Am I 3? I should get 3% milk!"
• After Anna's birthday party, I was holding Thomas. Anna handed Thomas the string of a helium balloon and asked me: "Will he float up if you let him go?".
  
• Wonderful mispronounciations:
• biscuit = blister. "I don't want a band-aid on my biscuit!"
  
• flick = cowlick. "We need to mush down Tommy's flick!"
  
• antler = tailor.
  
• Too much Dr. Suess: I asked Anna a question a few weeks ago, and she responded with:
  "I don't know, go ask your dad..."
  

I Can't Resist: Two More Potty Quotes

as these are surely, definitively, classics:

• Yell from the bathroom: "Mommy, I need help! There is poo hanging off my butt!"
• One more poo description: a streetlight. Anna told me she did a streetlight poo. Is she a poet or what?
  
  
• And though I can't take personal/genetic credit for this one, I have to share a couple great ones from a friend of Anna's who is also into naming his poos. Poos identified include a chocolate carrot and a sausage mountain. Wow...
  

Ballet Dancer On Her Way To Work

I love ballet. I love this class. I am so glad I signed Anna up for the 2-year old class, and not the 3-year old class (her birthday is right on the cut-off date), because if she was in the 3-year old class I would not be able to attend and...

did I mention that I love this class?

It is the most adorable thing you have EVER seen in your life. Twelve little ballerinas all in pink leotards, tights, ballet slippers, and, for the last class only: a tu-tu. Dancing to piano accompaniment and singing the most adorable songs--I hum them in my head all day. Literally, I always leave that class a happier person. I am learning so much!

Plie! Arabesque!

Let There Be... "ight" !

Here's a long overdue post on what the guys are doing:

• ta da: Walker Rides!!
  
  Both are quite proficient at it; they can even push Anna. Getting them interested in walking on their own, however, has been a bit tougher sell.
  
• Jack's first word other than "ma ma ma ma ma ma" or "da" or "no no no no" is: (drumroll please)
  
  "ight".
  
  As in "light". He points out lights everywhere: in our apartment, walking down the hall, in the elevator, on the microwave, on my phone, even in the scanner at the grocery store. You name the place, Jack sees an "ight".
• Jack also knows what a fish is. If you say "Jack, where's the fish?" he will point to the tank.
• Jack does pointy shout-outs!
  If he has not seen me in a while, and I come in the door, Jack will grin from ear to ear and point right at me. Nice. (I especially loved this when he did it in front of Anna's preschool director. My kids love me! Score!)
• Jack. Climbs. Everything. He especially loves to climb Anna's high chair. And then get to the top, and grin at you. I've also discovered him proudly sitting in the middle of the train table. He will use the thinnest, most unusable-looking items as a step stool. But he makes it work.
  
• Thomas understands the shirt-putting-on process. That's right--once you get the shirt over his head, he will offer one arm and then switch toys from the other hand to allow you to get the other arm in. When he's in an agreeable mood.
• Thomas gives kisses. You'll be holding him, and he'll look you right in the eye, and then he'll lean in, and stick out his tongue, and lick your lips and attempt to open his mouth and put it around yours. Adorable, especially when he doesn't bite down...
  
• Thomas and Jack can both unscrew the tops on their bottles, thereby separating nipple from bottle and creating an open container just waiting to be dumped. Frightening.
• Thomas and Jack feed me. They like to hold food, or toys, or socks, or dirt, or whatever they have in their hands at that moment up to my mouth and wait for me to make the "smacking lips" sound.
• Thomas and Jack LOVE to turn the oven light on and off. Click-click. Click-click. Click-click. Endless fun. And I am now on my third "oven lock" in an attempt to keep things remotely safe.
  What happened to the first two oven locks? The same thing that happened to the gate on their playpen: they ripped it off.
  
• Thomas: "Hey Jack--What do they call that thing you're chewing on? A child safety latch? What does that mean?
  Hey--look what's in this cupboard...".
  And as you can see, they have also had significant success with the other obstacles Mommy throws in their way.