Annie Update

A few notes about Annie and how she's doing at 2.25 years old:

1. She says the most hilarious/bizarre things. Example: she looked at a barcode on a library book, then looked up at me and said "Nine dollars!?!?" like she was shocked by the price. Another: today I paid cash for our groceries and when I pulled out the money she pointed at it and said "Twenty dollars!" She gets confused when we get gas because it is "in the car" but she can't see it. I just put a whole chicken in the oven and she said "Whoa, that's a big chicken nugget." And if we are out of cheese, she says "We need to buy some more at the store."

2. She can identify the following letters: A, B, C, D, L, M, N, S, and W. Today she was in the car saying "Mmmm, Mmmm, milk!" like she was sounding it out. Too funny.

3. She can use the potty! We started her training after Christmas, and she has been major-accident-free for 2 weeks now. We did the "3 Day" training plan, in which you basically stay home for 3 days and let your kid run around with no pants on, taking them to the bathroom frequently. Our experience was not exactly smooth (I'll spare you the details...there was lots of poop in very odd places), but one day it just "clicked" and she could do it. We are beyond thrilled not to have to change those giant diapers anymore, and Annie is pretty proud of herself. Today we had a few mini-milestones: she made it through a trip to the grocery store and lunch with Daddy without an accident, and she napped without a diaper and woke up dry. I think we were just lucky enough to catch her at a good time and get her going on the potty.

4. She can be stubborn! It has happened twice now that Anne has had a time-out. I know. Pretty rare occurrence in our home. Which is good, because she is a pill when it happens! The rule is that she has to sit on her bed for 2 minutes, then apologize for her behavior. The thing is, she will NOT apologize! Twice now we've had hour-long standoffs, one resulting in an insincere "sorry" and one resulting in Anne going to bed. It cracks me up a little, though, because when I watch her, I am watching myself! The way she's embarrassed to be in trouble, the way she avoids eye contact, the way she huffs and pouts, the way she is NOT going to give in...it is all me! Ah genetics, coming back to bite me :)

So that's what our little Anne-Pan has been up to these days.