Terrifically Typical (almost) Twos

It's become very obvious to us that Anna is almost two years old. There are definitely huge advantages to this, as well as some interesting challenges.

First the good ... Anna is full of energy these days. She loves to run from place to place and is trying her hardest to jump, although she can't quite make it off the ground yet. She loves to investigate anything and everything, sometimes spending long periods of time watching bugs or taking apart and putting back together toys (sound like her Daddy?). She's picking up language like a sponge. It's really hard for us to remember that just a few short months ago Anna was only starting to repeat words. Now she doesn't really say anything that isn't a complete sentence.

Not only is Anna a parrot with what she says, but how she says it. She's gotten very adept at saying "Shadow, get down!" in a nice, commanding voice, when she sees Shadow up on a counter.

Also, Anna's developing a really silly sense of humor. For example, this morning she was getting dressed for church and kept saying "Daddy wear strawberry dress" and then giggling up a storm. Fun times.



Here's a very silly picture of her after she got to have some chocolate ice cream. Goofy kid!


Now the challenges ... We experienced our first all out public temper tantrum last week. Anna and I had our first special outting since Kate was born on Thursday afternoon. We got to go to the flower store and then to the grocery store to pick up some ice cream for Daddy. Anna really wanted to walk in the parking lot by herself, but our rule is that she must hold a hand. Well ... I got a lot of "Anna do it!" screams until she sat down, then lay down, on the asphalt in the handicapped space kicking and screaming. It took 5 minutes to get to the van, another 5 minutes to get her buckled in the van, and then she proceeded to scream and throw a tantrum the rest of the way home. Whew! So much for our special outting.

"Anna do it!" is definitely a favorite phrase right now; it just takes a lot of patience on our part to be there to help if she asks, but let her try when she wants. We're working on teaching her the phrase "I CAN do it." for when she gets frustrated with what she's trying. Sometimes it works :)