Riding into Spring

Finally, finally, finally it looks like we're heading into spring (or at least a long string of days with temperatures well above 50 degrees...). By Atlanta standards we've had a looooong winter this year.  On more than one occasion Jason and I have uttered, "I thought we moved here to get awawy from the cold!"

I know our friends and family in New England are rolling their eyes at me right now, but hey - three snow storms is A LOT for the ATL!

But recently we've had several nice days and the forecast looks good for days to come.  Sunday will be in the low-80s which will bode well for Easter egg hunting!

Anna is thrilled by the nice weather. Throughout the winter she would ask hopefully if we could go to the park or spend more than 10 minutes outside and it's great to finally be able to say yes.

And, we've officially been able to move her bike out of the house.  On the colder days we would allow her to bring her bike in the house and ride circles around the living room...

Now that we've logged some outdoors time, she's enhanced her bike skills tenfold and proudly proclaims that she is going to, "Use the pedals!" each time she gets on.

I'm impressed by her coordination and determination to master the bike.  She will give you a death stare and emit a minor shriek if she suspects you have touched the bike while she's riding because, as she says, "I do it myself!"

She will, however, gladly allow you to push the bike back to the house after riding down to the cul-de-sac at the end of our street.  At this point she's only good for a one-way trip.

No Pinching!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Three Little Monkeys

We took advantage of one of the few nice days recently to make a jaunt to the zoo. We were accompanied by Hayla and Jake (who was the best behaved baby I have EVER witnessed).

As you can see, the kiddos took a time out to hang with Willie B. the gorilla (I always laugh at the "No climbing on statue" sign the zoo workers have so naively placed by WIllie).  Anna played it cool all day, donning her dollar store pink sunglasses for the entire visit.  What a ham.

Big Doings

Anna is potty trained. I can hardly believe it because it happened literally overnight.

Over the last few months we'd been dabbling in potty training but never really buckled down or got formal about it. We did dole out the occasional M&Ms for a successful use of the potty, but the times that happened you could tell Anaa was really in it for the sweets and not the triumph of "tee teeing in the potty".

So, imagine my surprise when during lunch on Saturday, February 20 (recording the date for posterity…), Anna announced that she needed to go potty. I said, "Ok, go ahead.", and she promptly jumped off her chair and scurried to the bathroom.

I didn't get up to follow until a few minutes later when I heard a slightly panicked/frustrated cry coming from the bathroom (in my defense, she'd never proactively told me she needed to go potty!). I found her with her pants off but struggling to remove her diaper. It struck me then that something big was happening.

I took off her diaper and she hopped up on the potty and did her business (and not just number 1!?!). And she hasn't looked back (or, more surprisingly, requested M&Ms).

Gone are diapers during the day – we're all about the big girl panties now. We've even successfully made it through several public outings with no accidents...yet (I don't kid myself here). She really wants to wear panties to sleep but we're not quite there yet as I believe there is a finite number of times you can change a crib sheet within a week's span without totally losing your marbles. I guess we have to think about a big girl bed now. Where did that baby go???

Needless to say we are very proud of Miss Anna B. And, apparently I’ve told her this often when she uses the potty. I know this because Anna now comes in the bathroom while I am using the facilities and says, "Good job, mama, I so proud of you for going potty."

I am sure when she gets older that she will not be super fond of this picture and the fact that I made it public for all to see, but it's a milestone too big to not document. Plus, the picture is cute...