Now I Know My ABC's

Anna is bound and determined to recognize and say every letter of the alphabet by the time she turns 2. She plays with her fridge magnets constantly, she loves her ABC book, she likes to look at her flashcards, and she loves to play with her wooden alphabet. I tried to keep track of all the letters she was saying tonight, but she's not always consistent. However, the ones I'm pretty sure Anna can say confidently are: A, B, C, G, H, I, J, M, O, Q, S, T, U, X, Y, and Z. Those are the ones that she can recognize without any help, and there are quite a few others that she can say with prompting. Now, I'm really trying not to be one of those parents who pushes academics on her children to prove to everyone how smart she is. She's seeking this stuff out on her own!

Other recent changes are: She LOVES the song "See You in September," which happened to be one of Rabbie's favorite songs! Yay! She gets very excited every time it plays, and when he sings, "Here we are, saying goodbye at the station," Anna inevitably will say, "Buh bye!"

Sunday in church she started talking really loud, and then she put her finger to her lips and shhh'd herself! She did it a couple times, much to the amusement of the congregation (and Mommy).

Anna calls all orange fish "Memo," which of course means Nemo. I have a sneaking suspicion that she learned that one from Grampy.

A Place for Everything...

... and everything in its place! You can't tell by the state of our house, but Anna just loves putting things "in their place." For example, every time she uses her sand toys and is then ready to move on to something else, she carefully places all the tools back in the bucket first. She will also make sure that she puts her fuel can back on the lawnmower when she is ready to go inside. She's very selective about it and isn't anal about all things out of place, so I'm not sure what it's about, really. However, I find it very endearing.

Beep!

Anna has started doing something quite adorable... and strange! We were at the grocery store last week, and she tapped my back and said, "Beep!" She has also done it several times since then. I think it's hilarious, but I'm confused as to why she does it! Am I a car? Not really sure... I took a video of her "beeping" the train at the park today. Too funny!

Speaking of things coming out of nowhere, on Wednesday at Grammie and Grampy's, she pointed to her dinner of spaghetti and meatballs, and very clearly said, "Meatball!" Where does this stuff come from?

Happy Birthday, Auntie Loonie!!!!!

Today is Auntie Loonie's birthday!!!! Yesterday I explained to Ms. B about how Auntie is going to have a special day, and I think she might have understood a bit of it. Grampy is going to take her out to lunch (at Klas... mmmm) to celebrate, and then Ms. B is going to hang out with her for a bit this evening while I go to my schools' open houses. Saturday we're going to have all sorts of fun! We'll hit Maggiano's for lunch, have cake, give presents, and have a slumber party! I hope Ms. B's very special Aunt has a fantastic birthday!!

Great Labor Day

This Labor Day was one of the best I can ever remember. The nice weather has continued, and we decided to join Grammie and Grampy at McCollum Park for a picnic. Grampy planned the whole thing, and he grilled corn, hamburgers, hot dogs, beans, and we also had chips/taco dip and lemon cake. Tim and my dad threw the frisbee for a bit, Anna got a chance to take a nap (she fell asleep in the car and continued her nap for a while after we got there), and my mom and I got a chance to relax. It was windy and cloudy, but it felt very nice, and after we finished eating, Ms. B got to play at the bebow for a while. She had lots of fun, and there were plenty of us to take turns playing with her. Eventually she got tired and wanted to rest, so we sat for a bit and talked, and then it was time to go. What a great day; yum-ma food, cool weather, relaxation, beautiful setting, and good company! If Auntie Loonie, Uncie Eye, and Uncle Dano were there, it would have been perfect!

Fat Lip

Anna was playing in the backyard this past Friday - we finally got a break from the heat and humidity. It's really been a brutal summer, and at last we have had comfortable weather. Anyway, we were eating outside, and somehow Anna must have tripped funny on something. She fell awkwardly and hit her mouth on the ground; the poor kiddo was bleeding pretty good. I cleaned it up right away, but she managed to get her first fat lip of her life. It has scabbed over now and doesn't look so bad, but that first night was quite sad. As you can see in the picture, she had her friend Tigger to help her feel better (and Plex and Brobee are hiding in there too; she loves her new Yo Gabba Gabba Mega Bloks!)