On the road again...

As everyone knows, Jason is a "road warrior" for work and travels pretty much every Monday to Thursday. He and Anna have started a little tradition that is so sweet - on Sunday nights when he packs Anna brings him a "guy" to take on the road for the week. Jason then sends Anna pictures of her pals and the adventures they have during their travels (a la Flat Stanley). Each night when they talk on the phone Anna always asks how the guy is doing. It's a special activity for the two of them and helps bridge that time between "Daddy's going on airplane" to "Daddy's coming home!" I think it also keeps Jason's creative juices flowing, coming up with new poses and picture locations each week. Following are a few choice shots :

How do my ears look? 

Catching up on the headlines.

 

Hippo bathtime

Where's horsey?

What's for dinner tonight?

Trendy lights

Catching some ZZZZZZZZsss

Eggstravaganza

On Easter we hosted an egg hunt for several pals. Luckily the weather cooperated and the little ones were able to scatter in the backyard gathering what seemed like 2,000 eggs into their baskets (thanks again to everyone who brought eggs!).

The kids were funny to watch during the hunt. The more seasoned (i.e., older) kiddos were very focused on filling their baskets to the brim. After all, they knew what was at stake. The younger ones, while initially swept up by the excitement and energy of the big kids, lost their hunting steam quickly. At the beginning of the hunt Anna made a beeline for an Elmo-shaped egg, secured it in her basket, and then was done with the hunt. We had to convince her to keep looking for eggs, which she did -- and she also added a few stuffed animals, some rocks, and leaves to her basket, so she still didn't quite grasp the goal.

After the hunt, there was a clear division of the sexes...the girls eagerly sat in a circle comparing the loot from their eggs (I think this was the point when Anna realized the eggs were prized possessions - she had NO idea they had candy in them at the start of the hunt). I think she'll step up her efforts next year.

The boys on the other hand, were much more interested in digging in the sandbox, eggs and candy be darned!

A few days before Easter Anna received a pair of bunny ears in a package from Gramma and Papa Odie. She wore them for a whole day, only taking them off during her bath. What a goof.

Opening Day

Yankees at Red Sox

Fenway Park

Sunday, April 4

8:05 p.m.

Can you tell who we're rooting for?

Anna says sorry, Papa Odie.

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...