random thoughts about ani

my outside - ani was standing at the back door and i needed to let gibson out. when i only let him outside, she was upset and told me "my outside!" i assume she meant that she wanted to go outside too, but it's too cute the way it came out bath time boss - when nissa and ani were taking a bath, both girls were shampooing their hair at the same time. nissa took a break to scratch the inside of her ear and ani said "no" and showed her how to wash her hair. . . no ear scratching allowed, stick with the program! babies! - for months now, ani has loved babies, any baby doll will do. she'll give it hugs and kisses, have it hug and kiss other toys, feed it with a toy bottle, etc. i just bought a book with a baby on the cover and she's obsessed with the "baby book." kisses and hugs - ani has mastered the kiss (complete with smack sound) and a hug that includes a polite grunt and a pat on the back. she shares them sparingly with people (though she is good about kisses for those leaving) but is generous with her toys, and amongst her toys. glad to see toys interacting with each other with kisses and hugs. dancing - ani loves to dance. mostly it involves swinging her hips our putting her hands up in the air. sometimes you can join her (or she demands it), sometimes you can't (like if you're grandpa armin and she just says "no"). even toys get to dance at times. any music will do, but songs with a beat are a hit, as is the nickelodeon jingle, and she knows how to turn on the radio in our bedroom with the expectation of hearing music.

yarn friends

when nissa was smaller, she watched dinosaur train pretty religiously, so she adored dinosaurs. i couldn't find any cute plush dinos (plenty of hard plastic ones, so couldn't be taken to bed), so i looked for a crochet one and came up with a winner: for ani, she seems to favor monkeys, more than once picking out her monkey shirt to wear when given the choice (or not, she's very decisive). so i looked around and found a bunch of cute patterns to crochet something for her. adam picked out this one from the bunch. ani calls all animals by what they say, so this is "ah ah" (short for ooh ooh, ah ah). dogs are woof, cats are meow, dinos are rawr (with arms waving, of course, a la t-rex), cows are moo, rabbits are hop (they don't make noises). ah ah is a big hit with the kiddo, and for nissa too. i'm so grateful that i have the ability, time and resources to make these fun toys for my daughters; it really warms my heart.

wet team - dry team

sometimes i feel guilty that i don't ask for nissa's help more often in the kitchen (and ani is usually napping when i make dinner). yesterday proved me wrong. we were making biscuits for dinner and i asked for her help in whisking the buttermilk powder into the water, while i collected the dry ingredients. she didn't like that she wasn't able to whisk the dry team, as is her usual job. when i left the dry bowl to attend to something on the stove, nissa got herself a wooden spoon and dumped in the wet into the dry and started stirring, with no prompt from me. she stirred it up pretty well too, just needed a little scraping up. i am very proud.

ani and blessings

ani has been doing amazing things lately and i'm going to try to capture some here. they are coming quickly, so it's hard to get them all down. 

one of my favorites is her saying please. usually it comes up when she wants something that i've already said no to, but it doesn't make it any less adorable. sure, it sounds more like peas, but she is learning an important part of her future vocabulary. i also am pretty sure she is saying thank you and excuse me, too.

with all the new words comes the fits, too. when she gets frustrated, she will assume yoga's child pose, put her forehead in her hands and pout. this happens when a simple "ow" doesn't do the job. it doesn't usually last long, but it can be frustrating all around.

we started ani on the standard night time routine and it's been going well. i cam still bribe her upstairs with the promise of brushing teeth (what???) and she usually willingly participates. i try to never make it a fight. potty check is usually just time spent reading pee-related stories, but we have caught her peeing twice and she even pooped just the other day!

aside from my kids being their fantastic selves, i am feeling blessed by the opportunity to help out at sunday school. there are only 6 kids with 2 teachers, but they are young, full of questions and easily distracted. it is a wonderful challenge that i have come to embrace, despite the huge time commitment every sunday morning. the church community is very supportive and friendly, it is wonderful. i enjoy finding ways to be pragmatic and christian at the same time, realistic and faithful. that, and try to come up with engaging projects that are practical and send home the message of the lesson.