I'm on a Boat!

This past weekend, we got a call from Grandpa wondering if we wanted to go for a ride in his new boat... I bet you can guess Anna's answer! YES! So we gathered all of our things and headed out. Anna Kate was super excited to "go fast" and had many why questions along the way. We also had to stop for a swim, and Grandpa's new swim platform is perfect for a two year old getting up and down on (I am sad I didn't think to take more photos!). She fearlessly jumped straight into the deep water by herself and swam around without anyone in the water with her (we were close by, obviously). Our little girl may be shy around people, but give her some water and she is GOOD!

Fearless! Also... flying pigtails are pretty cute!

Helping to navigate, obviously.

Lounging on the job! It's hard being Anna Kate.

Don't worry, she was checking to make sure we were heading to a good swimming spot!

Potty Trained Princess!

So I mentioned in the last post that Anna is "awake" potty trained. She isn't waking to potty from naps or overnight, but mostly wakes up dry from naps. I would also attribute her wet diaper in the morning after an overnight from the fact that she loves to drink water heavily at the end of the day, and who am I to deny her water in the hot summer? We usually play outside or she has run around like a nut with Daddy, so I assume she is very thirsty after such activities.

We have been working on potty training for quite some time now, which is opposite of how I thought it would go, but I think that is a main criteria for being a mom: decide you know how something is going to go, and then it never goes that way. I had read all of the material on the "three day method" where you pump kids full of liquid, stay home for three days, and go through various stages until they get it. But Anna kind of "got it" early, and preferred to go on the potty (especially #2), but aside from me being a potty watch dog, she didn't have the capacity to get to the potty by the time she felt like she wanted to go.

Well, enter the "sticker chart". After moving into big girl underwear full time during the awake hours in May/June and still having accidents in the evenings (when she was more tired and drinking more) we started a potty chart. For each "dry day" where she had no accidents, she got a sticker. Turns out, girlfriend just needed a "why" to stay dry all day. As in, potty treats (M&Ms) were apparently not enough motivation to get to the potty, and she needed more of a challenge? I don't know. All I know is, it worked. We started at the very end of June, and over the course of a month and a half she only had a handful of accidents, the majority of which happened when we were babysitting a 10 month old. Jealousy does crazy things to the bladder, ha.

At the end of the sticker chart, Anna got to go to the store and pick a "dry prize". She didn't quite get the concept, as we perused the toy aisles of Walmart and went past all sorts of toys I figured she would go ga-ga over. I was sure we would be coming home with a Cinderella doll. But no, she is a girl after my own heart, and when we hit the clearance aisle she picked out a Doc McStuffin's magnetic doll (like paper dolls, but magnets).

I know that we will continue to have random accidents, but really and truly she was so very easy to potty train, even if it wasn't the method I thought I would take and wasn't a method that some moms would "enjoy" (who enjoys potty training??). We are proud of our girl!

Note: I wrote this post last week, then Anna decided to have a string of accidents, one each day for several days. It's like she knew I was going to declare her potty trained, haha. That, or she no longer had any long-term motivation to get to the potty. So we are on "Anna Kate's Potty Chart 2.0", and have not had an accident since it's introduction. Oh toddlers.

She is quite proud of herself. She will tell you she is a "big girl" because she goes in the potty!

'Hold up the sticker chart and smile' is a hard concept for a two year old :)

So big!

Lately

Although I know it is quite obvious, I have not been keeping up with the blog as quickly as I used to in months and years (what?) past. Anna and I have been on the go this summer, keeping busy with play dates, visits, and trips, but I don't always take lots of photos. When I do, they have been mostly on my phone, which takes more thought and effort to get the photos off of the phone and onto the computer... so, I'm going to share with you our past month or so via cell phone photos! Prepare to be... overwhelmed with photos. I'm also going to add in some details for myself, for those days later in life when I hear you can't remember things as well.

Just a girl in her pigtails enjoying some popcorn! This girl has gone ga-ga for some popcorn!

Feeding Nana's horse, Joe! Joe loves carrots and apples, and every horse's name is Joe :)

Anna is much braver than Mommy, look at those big horses!

Getting ice cream with Grandpa! Anna is getting much better with socializing with males. Ice cream helps too :)

So fun!

This day, Anna was "helping" me pack for a trip. I was in her closet getting some clothes and I hear, "Mommy, can we pack Anna?" She was so proud of herself!

This summer we helped babysit a friend's daughter during the day a few times who doesn't have family around. Our morning routine involved Anna on Mommy's back and Maggie in the stroller for a long walk!

Aunt Lisa bought me a cool bubble gun! Coincidentally, bubble gun and bubble gum are very similar and quite confusing to hear Anna ask for bubble gum when she has never had any... oh wait, bubble gun!

Watermelon popsicles with no clothes (but obviously a bow) is the best!

This little girl makes me laugh. I turned around at a stop sign, and she was just sitting there with her sunglasses on upside down! You can see her book next to her... our car always looks like a library exploded because she constantly wants to flip through books!

There are some fountains near our favorite pizza place. Anna Kate enjoys them and will request to walk down to them after pizza, which is usually a welcomed necessity after a big meal!

Potty Chart! Anna has since filled her potty chart (pictures to come of our proud girl!). She has really been very easy to potty train (so I am told), and over the course of about a month and a half filled that potty chart with stickers. She gets one sticker for every day without an accident, and it really ended up being the key to seal the deal on her wake-time potty training. Almost like she needed a reason to stay dry all day (potty treats just weren't enough motivation, ha!). Either way, we are proud of our big little girl!

Reading to Bailey (video post to come, just wait if you haven't seen it!). Bailey has become increasingly patient with Anna... or is becoming too old to care.

One of her current favorite afternoon activities includes walking to the mailbox. There is a bench there for the kids on our short street to sit while they wait on the bus, and Anna Kate likes to sit and wave to the cars, sort through rocks and pine cones, and read our mail. We have easily spent over thirty minutes sitting out here before, and momma can't complain! She also loves to walk down the street to visit the caterpillar nests to see if they are getting bigger or moving.

Our Cutie!

So, as Mark pointed out... "it's about time for you to post to the blog, huh?" And here we are! I haven't been taking too many photos with the "real" camera lately, so I will try to get up a post of photos from my phone this week which is now so full that if I take a video or too many pictures it tells me that I am running out of space for anything else. Oops.

Anna is getting so so big lately (obviously, since every mom ever says that). The main areas we have noticed her developing and growing are her language and creativity. Her vocabulary is getting larger everyday, and we have noticed her using her imagination while playing alone- things like singing to her baby doll (Baby Sven), having her little people talk to one another, and making pretend meals. She is very interested in people, wanting to know their names (and their mommy's name) and facts about them, but is still a little bit shy talking to other kids and adults to ask them the questions. She is pretty much potty trained, although she wears a pull up for naps and bedtime. She mostly wakes up dry from naps, but on the occasional three hour nap her body isn't waking her up to tell her she needs to go yet. In other news, she is very much two years old! :)

Our sweet little girl!

Something was funny!

Anna had been obsessing about this one tomato (on our pitiful porch "garden") and announced that it was finally red!

I let her pick it, knowing it would not get eaten.

She was pretty excited!

Yay! Tomato! That I won't eat! (She will tell you, "I don't like tomatoes.")