My Nice Annie Post

Here are some amazing things Anne is doing these days (to counteract her more defiant nature, as of late...)

--She knows almost all of her letters

--She counts to 14

--She knows all of her shapes and colors

--She can spell and read her own name

--She can spell and read "Opa" "Oma" "Mommy" "Sammy" and "Daddy"

--Last night I spelled (out loud) all of those words and she told me what they were. I laughed when I said "What does M-O-M spell?" and she said "You!"

--She can type her name on the computer

--She has a repertoire of 12 songs or so

--She jumps! A pretty good 2-footed jump. Yesterday she said "I have to jump and pop the bubbles" I don't know what that means, but it was helping her jump.

--Opa has been working diligently with Anne to learn to identify the logos of NHL teams. She can do them all! Show her any logo and she says "That's Buffalo!" or "That's the Oilers" She can also, then, identify who the Wild are playing on any given night. I particularly love when she says "Avawanche"

--She also knows the players on our Wild team calendar. Last month she'd say "That's Boogie" (Derek Boogaard) and now she asks "Where's P-Marc?" and we have to page forward to July and see him. If we prompt her with a first name, she'll fill in the last name ("Cal....?" "Clutterbuck!")

What really amazes me about her is that you only have to tell her something once and she'll remember it. The details she can recall are amazing.

This post was prompted by the notes in "What to Expect: The Toddler Years" According to the book, a 2.5 year-old child should be able to:

-Identify 1 picture by naming
-Identify 4 pictures by pointing
-Use 2 or 3 words together

So, when I have a child who has the following conversation, I tend to think she's exceptional:
A: "Where's P-Marc?"
M: "He's not playing tonight."
A: "Yeah, he hurt his head. Long time."
(For those of you unaware, the Wild's Pierre-Marc Bouchard, aka P-Marc, has been out of commission dealing with a concussion. Anne has been paying attention.)

or

"Sambo is crying. He's upset."

"These are my babies. They're brothers. They're sleeping."

"My tummy likes French toast!"

"That's not your seat. That's Daddy's seat." (spoken every time I drive anywhere)

"Sambo is crying. Please come get him!" (spoken/cried from her room one early morning)

And she randomly said "Orangutan" last night...took me a minute to decipher that one!

We love you, Anne. Use that giant brain to do some good in the world!