A bearded baby

Last night Anne and Tim were discussing who has beards and why. Anne said "Only boys have beards, right?" Then after a little pause, "Maybe our baby will come with a beard!"

Introducing Anne's "Girl"

Anne has a girl. We might have referred to her previously but I know we've never really explained who she is. She has had her for about a year. Sadly, her girl has no name but she leads a very exciting life. Whenever we are talking about something that Anne might want to do in the future or anything scary or exciting Anne launches into a story about when her girl did that. Her girl can be 3 or 33, she participates in activities for girls of all ages. Everything Anne has done, will do, can't do, might do... her girl has done. Anne isn't the least bit shy about her girl either; it doesn't matter who we're talking with, if she thinks of her girl she'll start talking about her.

When we ask Anne what her girl's name is she usually says she doesn't remember. She sometimes will try to call her to ask but whenever she's doing that her girl isn't available. Once she even tried calling her girl's grandma but she didn't remember her name either.

Anne celebrated her girl's birthday yesterday and then again today. Yesterday she just sang her "Happy Birthday" over and over again, "Happy birthday dear My Girl..." today she has been singing to her and she is making her a water cake. I asked her a little while ago how her girl was liking her birthday party and she said her girl isn't here yet so it's not time for the party. I guess this is all just excited preparation. We frequently wait for her girl to join us but Anne always gives an explanation as to what is holding her up (school, work, wedding, etc.).

Dinner prayer

Anne is very sincere when she prays and she spends a few seconds thinking before each thing she prays for. At bedtime she will make more requests, at meals everything is usually "thank you". Here is a recent suppertime prayer.

"Thank you for this food. Thank you for time to eat. Thank you for Jesus. Thank you for Grandpa's ouchie on his eye getting better. Thank you for Daddy has a good haircut and that it doesn't hurt. Thank you for him and that he has good hair. Amen."

Betrayed!

Anne has had a rash on her bottom for the past few days. Last night while I was putting ointment on her she said, "My bottom is just hurting me so much! I don't know why, 'cause I've had it a long time!" As though she can't imagine why her bottom would betray her after 3 good years.

A big day

Last night was Anne's first night at AWANA. I can't believe she is big enough to be a Cubbie! We spent all day yesterday talking about it; me trying to psyche myself up for it and Anne excitedly trying to understand what she was going to be doing. She was so excited she could hardly fall asleep at nap time, she kept calling me in and asking me questions about it. I tried to teach her the Cubbie Bear motto, "Jesus loves me", but she couldn't ever get the "me" no matter how I tried to explain it. I said, "Jesus loves me," she said, "Jesus loves you." If I said "Jesus loves YOU, so say 'ME'" She said, "Jesus loves us." We went around and around and I finally gave up. When we were on our way home from AWANA, Tim and I were talking to her about her evening. She was completely worn out so it was a funny conversation. We asked her if she had fun, she said "yes!" We asked her if she wanted to go back next week, she replied in a sad little voice, "no." But, she continued to talk about it like she was planning to go again. Then she said, "Am I still a Tubbie?" To which we replied, "Yes, you're still a Cubbie." Then very quietly, "Am I still Annie?" Poor girl. We explained, "You go to AWANA and your little group is called Cubbies so we say you're a cubbie..." Ha! I don't know if she thought Cubbies was such a big deal that it was going to change every aspect of her life- including her name- or what exactly caused the identity confusion.

Yesterday was also her first day of school. I set the timer for 15 minutes thinking that was all I'd get out of her but we were in the middle of things when it went off so I set it for another 15. She lasted about 13 more minutes before staring into space and ignoring everything I was saying. Guess we'll try to make it 20 minutes today. She learned how to circle things, draw a line from one item to another, and we worked on her name and some numbers. She is very excited to be "doing stool" finally.

Pigs

"Please do a story on my piggies" Anne said this morning. It took me a second but then I realized what she was asking so I did "This little piggy" for her. Then she tried. "This little piggy went to market... to market to buy a fat hog, this little piggy stayed home, um, jiggedy jog?" Grandma just taught her "To Market" last weekend, now I guess she knows what the little piggy was going to market for!

Last night she was putting an animal puzzle together and she asked me where the pink cow went.

Futons and croutons

Last night Anne was lying in bed while I was looking around the house for her Bible. She kept hollering ideas from bed for where it might be found. "Look upstairs and look on the bookcase, then look under the sofa and under the crouton."

If you read Tim's "Salad Days" post you know, she's a little confused.

Happy Birthday

Here's Anne's birthday song for Lydia.
(compiled from several songs: happy birthday, ring around the rosy, and give me that old time religion)

( sung by a three year old)
happy birthday
ring around the rosy
ring around the birthday
ring around the birthday
ring around the birthday
it's good enough for me

I will not ask

Lydia told me tonight, "Anne did a great job today."

Every night I get a "report" about how well behaved Anne was, and when she's especially good, we get her a treat somewhere.

Lydia and I just decided that we were going to let her have $10 to spend tonight at Walmart on either a new baby dolly, or something for her babies.

So we were talking by spelling...

"So do you want to g - o?"
"I was thinking about a b - a - b - y"
"W - a - l - m - a - r - t?"

When we were done, I told Lydia, "I want this to be a surprise"

Anne replies (in a small voice), "Ok, I will not ask about the surprise, what is it?"

"I'm not asking, what is it?"

What a snootertoot!

Daddy

As Tim was leaving for work this morning, Anne was waving to him; he was waving back.

She turned to me, and said,
"He's a nice daddy isn't he?"
"A little scary though."

The magic disappearing banana

Anne "ate" supper tonight at Nana's house, and I suspect that it wasn't as much as it should have been, even though I showed up and helped her eat a last few bites, it obviously wasn't enough.

She just ate an entire banana in under 90 seconds. Lydia and I were sitting here talking, and Lydia kept helping her peel the peel down a little farther, and then I realized it was gone.

I asked, "Did she just eat that banana in under 90 seconds?"
to which Lydia replied, "Uh, Yeah!"

I think the implication of her statement was that I, Dad, did not feed my girl enough tonight (Lydia was working)

I might resemble that.

Happy Birthday to my Baby!!!

Anne is playing in her bedroom very nicely right now, and I just heard her sing, at almost the top of her singing voice, "Happy Birthday to my baby! Happy Birthday to my baby! Happy Birthday to my baby!"

"Goodbye"

"Hi"

What a silly little thing.

Looks like...

Anne and I were getting ready to leave a minute ago. I said, "Now, I just have to see what my hair looks like" and I went into the bathroom. Anne said in the same tone, "Now, I just have to see what my hair looks like" and she went in to look in the bedroom mirror. A second later I hear, "Mhmm, looks like my hair."

Annie Oakley

Today Annie had her first horse ride, her first moon-walk, and her first cotton-candy.
She loved the horse (more on that in a minute), she bounced perfectly around in the moon-walk, but she hated her cotton candy.

I even tried to poke some in her mouth when it was wide open as she tried to say something. She just spat it out.

We tried to tell her that it was just sugar. But it was to no avail.

She eventually thought she might like it, and wanted to take some with us when we left. She never ate it, and when she decided she'd like to try it, it was just a hard lump on the stick - it had melted into a hard ball.

The horse she rode on was named Annie. There they were, Annie on Annie. The horse's full name is actually Annie Okeley (read about the real one here)

Anne looked very sober, way up there on a great big horse. Several times she started to slide off, but the horse lady took good care of her. I could hear her asking the horse lady what her name was, but Anne couldn't remember what it was on our way home tonight.

All in all it was a full, fun day, and a great day for riding a horse for the very first time.

RallyPoly

I just took Anne outside because she wanted to find a "Rally Poly" (RolyPoly) to put in her sandwich baggie.

Anne:
Rally Poly, Rally Poly where are you?
Rally Poly, come 'ere I have a baggie for you!

(Crouching down to look under the "ban" (van) )
Rally Poly, (muttering under her breath)
Maybe there's one under here... Nope.

It's a SECRET Rally Poly, I have to look over here...


Hey Dad! Close your eyes so you can't see my SECRET Rally Poly.

She looks for a while, goes around the ban, then as she's coming around the corner towards me,
"Dad, keep your eyes closed, I'm looking for Rally Polies."

She never did find her Rally Poly, secret or otherwise.

We're going to look tonight after I get home from work.

Three years old

Well, Anne is three now and she had three birthday parties to celebrate. We didn't do it intentionally but that's just what ended up happening. One with Nana and fam, one with all her friends (at the zoo), and one with Grandma and fam. She had a birthweek, not a birthday. All last week I could tell when she was about to ask for something that she knew might be a stretch because she would begin with, "Is today my birthday party day?" Hmm, guess she picked up on our leniency.
I assembled a bed frame and brought her bed up off the floor. She was concerned that it was going to be too big so I told her that three year olds get big girl beds. She is very excited about it. Now whenever we are meeting somebody new, the questions are: "What's your name?" "Do you have a girl?" "Does she sleep in a big girl bed?" "Do YOU sleep in a big girl bed?" Interesting questions to ask a complete stranger in Walmart. There have been worse ones though, trust me!

Salad Days

Anne just asked Lydia for "futons" on her salad.

Blame it on the bug!

Tim went to get his iced latte out of the fridge tonight. When he pulled it out, he noticed the lid was cracked. He asked me, "Did this get dropped today?" I said, "No". He then asked Anne if she "did this". She said, shrugging her shoulders, "No. I didn't do it. I don't know, maybe the bug did it. " She voluntarily denied it a few more times while we were laughing to ourselves. Then, after a few seconds pause, she said, "Maybe I sorta did it. Maybe I helped the bug a little."

maybe i just need some strawberry

Anne is in time-out on her bed. She just said, "Dad! Dad!!! DAD!"
"What?" I replied.
"I have to go pooop!"
"Well, go on in there and poop then."
She comes walking out into the living room and says, "Maybe I just need some strawberry"
referring to strawberry milk.

Riiight.

swimmin hos-pital

Anne, "Look Daddy! That's just like marchands tool!"
Anne, "simmin tool."
Anne, "no, swimmin hos-pital."
long bit of silence.
Tim, "Did you say swimmin hospital?"
Anne, "yes"
Tim, "why"
Anne, "I don't know."
Tim, "was it because you were trying to say 'swimming pool'?"
Anne, "yes."
Tim, "Why didn't you say Swimming Pool"
Anne, "because I'm silly"

Nice ta meetcha

The other day Anne and I were talking while we were swimming. She said, "my name's George, what's your name?" (We do this almost every day where she comes up with a name for herself and wants to know what my temporary name is.) I said, "actually, I have a story to tell you" and I went on to tell her about how when I was a little girl her size everyone used to call me Libby. Well, one day I decided that I didn't want to be called Libby any more so whenever anyone called me that, I was quick to correct them with, "my name is LYDIA, not Libby." I told her it used to make me really grumpy that people didn't call me by my name and they always just wanted to call me Libby. She acted very sympathetic as I was telling her the story. I told her that finally, after having to tell people over and over again, they started calling me by my real name and I was very glad. She turned away and splashed for a minute then she turned back to me and with that ornery look in her eyes said, "nice ta meetcha... Wibby!"

All better!?!

Anne has not run a fever or vomited since Wednesday night/Thursday morning. She is acting very normal today and her coloring is finally starting to look better. She still does not have her normal appetite back, but she's eating little bits throughout the day and that's fine for now. The pro-biotics seem to be helping with the diarrhea, it's not been too bad. It appears she's "going to be all better" (her words) soon.

no pukies!

Anne did not puke last night.

Raspberries and Broccoli

From earlier this week:
Grandma: Let's go pick raspberries and broccoli
Anne: OK! I'll pick raspberries, you pick broccoli

----

Anne loves picking raspberries. Rarely do any make it into
her container because she eats them as quickly as she picks them.
Last summer when we were staying with Grandma, she ate so many
raspberries that when I went to change her diaper one time it was
completely full of seeds!

Much better last night and today

Last night Anne ate two small bowls of potato soup.

She was quite excited when informed that it consisted of potatoes, sour-cream, cheese, and butter - (singing) these are a few of her favorite things!

She had a fever of 102 during the night which responded to a single dose of tylenol.
She vomited twice, but appeared to have kept down most of her dinner.

She slept until 10am this morning, but didn't stay up very long, she went down for a nap around noon and slept until 4pm ish, and she is now in bed for the night at 9pm (which is very out of the ordinary for her as she has been something of a night owl these last few months.

She didn't have a fever all day, but didn't eat much until supper when she ate a few bites of hamburger and several french-fries. She's been taking pro-biotics today to help with the diarrhea she has from the antibiotic.

Tim took her shopping tonight to Walmart then the Christian bookstore, and she had to visit the bathroom both places because of her antibiotic-induced "happy-bowel-syndrome."

Tim stayed home from work today because I've not been feeling well, although I think it's either allergies or a sinus infection.

somebody's being naughty

A few minutes ago, Anne snuck to the stairs with a pen and the library card I gave her. I told her, "don't be naughty over there." A minute later she says in a little voice, "somebody's being naughty." I didn't reply. Then she said a little louder, "somebody's being naughty." I said, "are YOU being naughty?" "Yes," she replied. She was coloring on her library card. I was just glad she wasn't coloring on the wall.

Maybe starting to do better...

In the night Anne's fever rose again and she threw up a few times. Early this morning I checked her temp and it was 103 so I gave her more tylenol.

When she got out of bed later (11:30) her temp was 97.4 and it has not started climbing yet. Maybe the fever is gone!

She said she was hungry after she woke up. I asked her what she wanted to eat and she said pancakes. So I made her pancakes, she ate two tiny bites and said, "I'll save my pancakes for later cause I'm FULL." Guess her appetite is still gone.

I just gave her the second dose of the new antibiotic.

Today was a pretty grueling day

Today was a pretty grueling day. We drove to Olathe to see the PA at Dr. Brooks office because Anne had been throwing up during the night again and woke up with another high fever and chills - her overall condition concerned us greatly.

The PA told us her ear infection was more-or-less gone so she must have something else going on and did not rule out the possibility of Lyme Disease from her tick bite a few weeks ago. He started her on a different antibiotic that would also tackle Lyme if that was the problem and he said we could have labs drawn in a few days if things didn't improve.

She had a normal temp at the Doctor's office this morning but by the time we were heading to Grandpa's farm she was hot again and still wouldn't eat and she had thrown up. When we got to the farm, her temperature was 104.3 so Tim called Dr. Brooks who said to bring her in for labs. We went back to Olathe to pick up the prescription at Dr. Brooks Office then to a Lab One where they had a pediatric phlobotomist. When we inquired as to what that meant exactly, we were told "poking kids is our specialty".

Well, unfortunately today was training day for the lady who first tried to draw Anne's blood. She poked the right arm then when she didn't hit the vein, she started moving the needle back and forth about an inch and a half - all the while Anne is, if not screaming, certainly crying quite loudly. After a minute of that (poor Anne!) she gave up and they called in "Paul the professional" (our name for him). He tried the left arm and found the vein immediately. Tim and I just hated ourselves for not asking for someone who was good or at least stopping the lady who was being trained.

Well, Anne was a trooper and in the end, I think she was more traumatized by having to wear a band-aid out to the car than she was by the "professionally" administered gouging. By supper-time at Grandma's (who Grandma?! - regular Grandma) house, her temp was around 102 and she said she was pretty hungry. She ended up eating probably an ounce of steak and quite a bit of a potato. That is more than she's eaten in the past 3-4 days.

Her motto had become, "I'll save it for later" when we would ask her if she was hungry. We were relieved to see her eat and she was pretty chipper too. Dr. Brooks called at 9:00 tonight with the lab results. Her white blood cell count was 18,000 (for children he said it is usually about 10,000 - 12,000); high, but not surprisingly so, basically saying she has an infection. The other thing that was high was sedimentation which indicates inflammation (it was 60). So basically we still don't know what she has, but it sounds like it's a viral infection and Dr. Brooks said he expects her fever to spike again tonight and then hopefully the antibiotic will work and we'll start to see improvement. I guess the blood tests didn't turn up a definite BAD thing so at least we know that. Dr. Brooks was glad to hear she'd eaten some dinner.

Punkin Update

We went to the doctor earlier today. Anne had no fever. He gave us a different antibiotic to try.

We had lunch with "regular" Grandma and Grandpa. "Who Grandpa?!" regular Grandpa.

Anne wouldn't eat anything - she gagged every time we offered her food.

When we got back to rg's (see above) we were getting ready to take naps when we checked the snootertoot's temp, it read 104.4

?!

So we are now heading back to Dr. Brooks office where we will have blood drawn for lab work.
So now she's going to not only have a fever and vomiting, she's going to have a hole poked in her skin - thusly causing much weeping and wailing.

Current temp: 103.1 after tyenol @ 2:05pm

Poor Punkin

The poor little snootertoot has been running a fever for about the last week. She's on antibiodics, and we're giving her tylenol, but it's still hovering between 101 and 103. Night before last it was up to 104.7. She went to the doctor last week and he told us it's an ear infection. She's also been vomiting from time to time. It seems to go in spurts (pun intended) - she won't vomit for hours, then she will every 30-60 minutes for several hours.

Her eyes are all glazed over, and she keeps having trouble with abstract thoughts.

For instance, she has ink stamps on the backs of her hands. I told her, "When the Doctor sees those, he will say, 'Oh NO!' and you will just giggle and say 'Silly Doctor.'" She said, "The Doctor will giggle?... I'll say, 'Oh No?'"

Poor Punkin.

Why you playin' with my horse?

So there Tim is, eating his supper (we all were) when he picks up Anne's tiny plastic horse and neighs loudly while rocking the horse in the air.

Anne just looks at him and asks, matter-of-factly (almost in a condescending tone, as if she's the adult in the situation), "Why you playin' with my horse?"

Raspberries

Anne: "hey nana, whatcha doing?"
nanna: "having raspberries"
Anne: Bossy Tone: "don't eat all of them"

Who took my water?!

We are sitting down to supper. Right now. I just got up to post this because it's so hilarious.

Anne has a cup of ice water with her supper, and as we are all just sitting there, with a small lull in the conversation, she picks her cup up. Right then, I say, "You're doing a great job with your supper!", then Tim chimes in and adds, "You are doing a great job."

Anne looks down at her plate, then gets a satisified look on her face. Then she says, with a perplexed and slightly accusing look on her face, "Who took my water?!"

Tim and I start laughing because she had it in her hand, and just got distracted because of the compliments.

My Mouth Hurts

Anne was riding in the back seat earlier today in her "ban" (that's van) when she says, "My mouth hurts.... maybe it's my bain (brain)."

How Anne Prays

When Anne hears or thinks of someone who needs to be prayed for, she closes her eyes and whispers for about 10 seconds. Then she opens her eyes and says, "I payed for ____, did you hear the voices?"

Happy Birthday Dear Me!

Anne is in her bedroom at this very moment in her bed, singing loudly, "Happy Birthday dear me, happy birthday dear me!" repeatedly.

I don't have a beard

Annie was in the bathub this morning when I was talking to Lydia on the phone. I told Lydia, "I love you" as I was hanging up and Anne asks, "That mommy?"

"Yes"

"Why you tell her 'Love you?'"

To which I sang repeatedly, operatically and quite loudly, "Because I Love Her!"

Anne giggled all the while.
Then when I was done, I asked her, "Can you sing like that?"

She replied, "No, 'cause I don't have a beard!"

kiwi

We were having kiwi for the first time tonight for supper.

She asks, "Mom, what's this?"

"Kiwi"

She looks at it then declares, "My girl had kiwi yesterday and it almost 'kielled' her!"