snootertoot

I love your argues

2008-10-30T00:26:00.001-05:00

Recently Lydia and I were teasingly arguing. I was being mock-frustrated with her and she was giving it right back to me. Anne was standing there, looking back and forth between us as we did this. We looked over at her and she giggled with a big huge grin on her face. "I love your argues," she said.

I asked her "Why?" - she said, "It's because you love each other."

I replied, "Right - and we enjoy teasing each other - you know we're playing, right?"

Anne responded, "Yeah."

Things overheard while cleaning

2008-10-30T00:20:00.001-05:00

Overheard yesterday while Anne was cleaning the bathroom

and I unbutton my jeans while doing my school
I’m sittin’ at my desk and I’m so comfortable

you should get a car that has seat belts
they will keep you safe
oh yes, ham and avacado will keep you safe
oh yes it’s so good

now she’s switched to singing the same spanish word
over
and over
and over

nueva

oh yes I like it
oh yes I like it
oh yes I like it
and you better too
or else I’ll flick ya in the eye

Where does she get her violent streak? (I'm blaming Lydia)

Conspiratorial Glances

2008-08-19T00:17:00.003-05:00

This has been happening for at least a year now, but whenever her brother, cousins, extended family, friends, and even complete and total strangers do things, say things, or are dressed oddly or inappropriately, we get

The Glance

Where Lydia and I would just glance at each other, Anne gives us

The Glance

Sometimes it is is accompanied with a mouth click. "Tsk" - Glance

There are many different glances that are all categorized under this title.
There's the "my brother is doing something really funny but naughty at the same time so I'm not going to laugh out loud, but I want my mom and dad to know that I know that it's funny - glance." This one is sometimes preceded by the quiet "Dad|Mom, look at me." We look, we see "The Glance"

There is the "Look at the way that kid is behaving" glance. Which is a completely serious look that says, "No way would I get away with acting like that"

There is the "That person is wearing a (short|skimpy|tight|immodest|gross) outfit" glance. Lydia has a near 100% success rate at predicting this glance. She notices the outfit and looks at Anne right as Anne turns her eyes from the offending outfit to Lydia to make sure that she can execute "The Glance" - this one is accompanied by a slightly raised eyebrow.

The glances we see on a daily basis are as varied and diverse as life itself. You can make your own. Just add a kid, with a sense of morality, humor, irony, and a whole lot of legalism and out comes "The Glance"

Once removed from the situation, "The Glance" is resolved either through a group laugh, an explanation, or a reprimand to be more understanding/forgiving of the way other people live.

I've been a-salted with a question

2008-08-19T00:04:00.006-05:00

We were at Whole Foods Market yesterday. Anne and Lydia were in the seasonings aisle - Lydia was looking for salt.

Sea Salt.

Celtic Sea Salt
$5.99 a pound Celtic Sea Salt (health benefits and all...)

Lydia, being the fantastic home school mom was telling Anne all about sea salt.

Anne asked, "Does all salt come from the sea?" She paused, then in typical kid fashion, asked another question before waiting for the first to be answered, "Does the sea make pepper too?"

Lydia told her, "No." and before she could answer those two questions, Anne began "peppering" her with more questions about the origins of all spices in the aisle.

"Does the sea make anything else?"
"Like... are all the things on this shelf from the sea?"

First grade will be fun. No, seriously.

Two highway patrol cars: Double the ticketing fun

2008-02-16T21:21:00.005-06:00

So we were on the highway the other day, coming home from Grandpa's birthday party when we saw two patrol cars in the median of the highway. They were facing different directions - driver's door to driver's door.

We were coming up on a speed zone and I told Lydia to make sure she watched her speed and pointed the patrol cars out to her.

Anne, ever curious Annie, said, "Huh... There's two of 'em. What are they doin?"

Lydia said, "I don't know, probably talking."

Anne agreed, "Yeah, they're probably giving each other tickets."

Then followed many giggles from the back seat as she enjoyed her own funny little joke.
Or maybe it was because Lydia and I were laughing...
Or maybe it was because the idea of two policemen writing each other tickets tickled her funny bone.

There was a reference to "pulling you down" - her way of describing being pulled over, or being stopped for a ticket.

What to do in case of fire

2008-02-16T21:15:00.003-06:00

Talking about what to do if the house were on fire... we just got a new alarm system with fire and smoke detectors...

"I would look both ways and then go to suzy's house and use their phone - 'cause I know Nanna's number."

"If you were to die I would grab your cell phones and the cordless so at least we wouldn't waste phones."

She's such a Wii addict that if she were to take the cell phones, she would probably call her aunt and uncle so she could play video games the rest of her life. Wii boxing and bowling!!! Yeah!!!

She has told us that's where she wants to go if we die (yes we do discuss it, but rarely).

"Jumping out a window would be a really good idea... I would just find something to bash it with."

Fifer, the tiny cow-child of teddy bears.

2007-05-04T01:32:00.000-05:00

This is Anne, playing by herself, with stuffed animals.

"The little one, the little tiny cow is named Fiffer.
The white one, the sister, is named Lucky,
The daddy is Bucky,
And the mommy is Lydia, she has the big tummy 'cause she's pregnant."

Did you toot?

2007-04-09T21:51:00.001-05:00

Anne:
"Dad, did you toot?"

Me:
"No."

Anne:
"Don't tell a lie!"

"I'm not."

Anne:
"Ok, we have a dead mouse."

Apparently my toots smell like dead mice.

That's a really bad thing to find out about oneself.

Dealy-Bob

2007-04-09T21:47:00.000-05:00

Anne:
"Well dad, I think I'm going to have to go to the Doctor."

Me:
"Why?"

Anne:
"Well I will if my dealy-bob doesn't start feeling better."

Me:
"Dealy-bob?"

Anne:
"I'll tell you after I get through eating my cookie."

(5 minutes later)

Anne:
"Ok, are you ready to listen about my dealy-bob?"

Me:
"Sure"

Anne:
"Ok....

When I do this it hurts (flings her left arm straight out from her body)

And earlier when I was taking a nap my leg hurt. Both legs. It's weird."

Me:
"That sure is weird."

The Bible is SEEERIOUS!

2007-02-08T19:40:00.000-06:00

Lydia just told Anne it's time to get ready for bed.

Anne: Mommy, can we do Bible time?

Lydia: Yes.

Anne: I like Bible time... 'Cause the Bible is SEEERIOUS! Those things REALLY HAPPENED!!!

Lydia: Yes they did.

Anne: I know!

I'm glad she has been listening to me. Every time I read to her from the Bible, I make sure to remind her that the Bible is an account of things that actually happened, not just stories like from her books.

Annie Bakes a Cake

2007-01-10T23:05:00.000-06:00

December 15th, 2006 (I've been meaning to post this for a while)

Anne spends almost as much time in the kitchen as I do. She loves to watch me and help in whatever ways she can. Almost every time I go into the kitchen to start cooking or baking I can pretty much count on her joining me with her chair in tow within about 2 minutes.
I was baking yesterday and Anne had been watching me for quite a while. The idea entered my head to let her make her own cake, just for fun. I asked her if she wanted to and told her that I wasn't really going to help her. She got the biggest grin on her face and immediately set to work. She was positively giddy. She came up with the entire recipe on her own and it's pretty creative. The only thing I had to set her straight on was the very first ingredient, flour, she said, "Hmm, I think I should start with 7 cups of flour." After I told her she probably should start with one, she pretty much did all the measuring herself. On a few of the ingredients, she sought my opinion sneakily by stating what she was going to do with a bit of a question mark at the end. She didn't want to appear to be new at this! Well, here is her recipe.

Anne's Chocolate Cake

"We always use a bowl for all the flour and sugar and dry kind of things, don't we."
In a large bowl, combine:
1 Cup Flour (no, not 7)
1 Cup Sugar
3/4 Teaspoon Baking Soda
"A little salt" (about 1/4 Teaspoon)
1/2 Cup Cocoa

In another bowl combine:
1 Stick Butter (softened)
1 Egg
1/2 Cup Buttermilk ("We like to put buttermilk in our cakes and things because it's gooood.")
"Some Vanilla. Vanilla doesn't taste good when we drink it plain but in a cake it's so gooood!"
Add to dry ingredients with mixer.

Then add, (because "It needs something to make it creamy." Off to the fridge!)
4 Ounces Cream Cheese (softened)

"It's kind of chunky and thick. Yeah, it's too thick. Sometimes it's ok to add water isn't it."
Add 2 Tablespoons water

Mix until smooth. In fact, I don't know that you can over-mix this cake. Anne likes using the mixer. Pour into a greased 8x8 pan. (Anne used a small rectangular one I had but it's probably about the size of an 8x8.) Bake at 350 about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean.

From Bakery

Is that Even Good for Us?

2007-01-10T20:32:00.001-06:00

I looked over at Tim who was lying on the couch holding his nostrils open with his fingers.

I said," What are you doing?"

Anne was lying on the floor looking at the phone book and saying random phone numbers and having imaginary conversations.

Tim said, "I'm breathing."

Anne stopped in the middle of a phone number and said, "Breathing? Is that even good for us?"

Lazy Daddy

2007-01-10T20:31:00.001-06:00

I was eating supper tonight, and went in to get some milk. Lydia had the van today and was supposed to go to the store - but didn't.

There was enough milk for half of a glass.

Very disappointing, but I got over it.

Then I ran out of milk and the sky fell.

I said loudly in a pouting voice full of grump and whine, "I want some more milk!"

Anne said, "I'll go get you some."

I replied, "There isn't any more."

"Oh," she replied, "I just thought you were bein' lazy."

You Should have Covered

2007-01-10T20:30:00.001-06:00

I just sneezed - with a small amount of food still in my mouth. Very small, just the little bits and pieces actually - not enough even to swallow.

There is a small pattern of said food on the curtain in our family room. I said, "Oh no - it's all over the curtain."

Anne comes trotting over to see, "Ew, gross - you should have covered."

Which is what I am constantly reminding her to do.

She was right. I should have covered.

Junky and Old

2007-01-01T10:36:00.000-06:00

Anne has a toy camera that says things like, "You're as pretty as a princess!" and "Say Cheese!" and "You look beautiful"

She was just taking pictures of Samuel and the camera said, "You're as pretty as a princess!" Then she looked at me and said, "He's not really pretty as a princess is he?"

I said, "Yes he is." which she quickly echoed "Yes, he is."

Then she went in to get out of her jammies and into day clothes so we could go grocery shopping for mom.

Lydia was waiting in Anne's bedroom to help her. Anne walked in with the camera going off and says, "Mom, are you as pretty as a princess?"

Lydia replied, "Yes I am!"

Anne said, "No you're not, you're junky and old!"

The aftermath:

Anne: "Sorry, mommy, for saying that you're junky and old, please forgive me."
Lydia: "Do you really think I'm junky and old?"
Anne: "Yeah." (drawn out)

Lydia: "Do you still think I'm junky and old?"

Anne: "Yes."

(round and round we went for about 5 minutes about it until...)

Dad: "Anne, your mom is beautiful and young, not junky and old. You need to tell her you're sorry again."

Anne: "I already did!"

Dad: "But then you said it again! Apologize right now and give her a kiss!"

"Sorry mommy for calling you junky and old, please forgive me." *Kiss*

Dad: "Do you still think she's junky and old?"

Anne: "No, she's young and nice and beautiful."

You can pick your friends... just not at school

2006-12-09T12:51:00.000-06:00

Anne and Lydia were doing school in the other room yesterday...

Anne had not been paying attention or doing a very good job.

She had been giggling and was just generally being naughty.

Suddenly I heard Lydia say loudly,

"NOOOO.... Get your finger out of your nose! When you are doing school you do not have your finger in your nose. You're just fiddling around with that finger!"

You can pick your friends. You can pick your nose. You just can't pick your nose at school.

2006-12-02T18:29:00.000-06:00

"Ahhhhh - The shoe cracks me up!"

- Anne while watching me go through pictures on the computer.

Omaha

2006-12-02T18:27:00.000-06:00

The Rare Pizza Animal

2006-11-30T18:15:00.000-06:00

Tonight, during supper:

"What kind of animal is this in my pizza?"

We all laughed, then I went to get my camera to document the offending animal.

As I'm taking the picture, she continued,

"It could totally be a bug, the little string things could be its eyes."

Then after taking the picture, I tossed the "animal" back onto her plate, breaking it in half accidently.

"Hey!!! You broke my bug in half!

Omnivore!!!!

2006-11-30T18:08:00.000-06:00

Right now, at this very moment, while I'm posting other stories...
ha ha ha ha
I can barely type this...

Anne is feeding Samuel the rest of his supper.

But the funny thing is that she keeps repeating over and over, very loudly,

"Omnivore!!!! Omnivore!!!! Omnivore!!!!"

She did start out by teaching him what omnivore means,

"Sam, an omnivore is somebody who eats all their food."

Our Poor Neglected Left Hands

2006-11-30T18:04:00.000-06:00

Today Anne asked Lydia,

"Mom. What am I supposed to be doing with my left hand?"

Lydia replied,

"Anything you like."

Which seemed appropriate to me.

While Lydia was telling me about it at the supper table tonight, Anne added,

"I asked 'cause it just kinda hangs there and I always use my other hand!"

So we came up with a list of things she couldn't do without her left hand:

Clap
Tickle
Carry her brother
Rake leaves
Help dad with chores
Carry two gallons of milk (which she's been able to do since she was two and one half)
Unload the dishwasher (honestly one of her favorite things to do)
Swing on our swingset
Pull up your pants (when she has plumber's disease - which happens quite often )

Poop Tunnel

2006-11-27T22:42:00.000-06:00

We were driving home from Tim's office the other day and there were hundreds of birds in the road, on the wires above, in the grass beside the road - all around.

I honked the horn as we approached and they started flying around. Anne piped up from the back seat, "Wow Mom! It's a poop tunnel!" Then after we passed them all, "Did they get us?" I said, "Nope." She said kind of quietly, "They made a poop tunnel and they failed."

One Tough Kid

2006-11-27T22:35:00.000-06:00

"See how I'm missing a finger?

"Yeah, I went down to the basement and I was working and I dropped my wallet and my cell phone.

"I bent down to get it and I put my hand on a poky, not a poky little puppy (favorite book) but a poky thing; and it went 'bulooom' (motioning with one finger around the one that was "lost") and I felt pokies in my finger and they hurt but I picked up my wallet and my cell phone.

"Then I came back upstairs and I noticed I had lost this finger. So, I went back downstairs and I found it and then I picked it up and took it to the Doctor and they glued it back on. I was glad because I wouldn't be able to do my work if I didn't have all my fingers.

(So is it missing or not?)

A song

2006-11-27T11:06:00.000-06:00

Found this one that Tim had written down from 10/15/06

Anne is singing right now, while looking out the window, "Unsweetened Yogurt, Unsweetened Yogurt, Unsweetened Yogurt"

...she used her seat belt.

2006-11-05T17:37:00.000-06:00

In the van today waiting for Lydia watching a lady beside us get into her van.

Anne: "Hey dad, that lady knows the Lord Jesus."

"Oh yeah, how do you know?"

Anne: "Because she used her seat belt."

Mr. Salesman

2006-09-07T21:59:00.000-05:00

Lydia was in the kitchen fixing dinner tonight.
The phone rang.

"Tim, can you get that?"

"Yep." I answered.

I answered the phone, "Hello?"

"Hi may I speak with Lydia please?"

I asked, "May I ask who is calling?"
"This is Mr Cutco." (Not his real name, but was he really was calling about)

I said, "One moment."

(covering the phone microphone)
"Lyd, it's Mr. Cutco."

She answered, "I'll talk."
Then to Anne, "Go get the phone from Daddy please."

Anne comes to the back room, I'm holding the corded phone, "I need that" she said. I laughed, "Anne, get the cordless."
"I can't!" she said, "Mom told me 'Get the phone from Daddy'!"

I told her, "You can't take this phone to her, go get the cordless."

(All the while Mr. Cutco is waiting)

So, Anne marches into the dining room, through the living room, and into the front hall and pushes the button to make the cordless phone beep so she can find it. It's five feet away from where I was sitting. She walks back through the living room, through the dining room, and back to the back room to pick up the cordless phone.

Poor Mr. Cutco Knives - still waiting.

Where was I... Oh yes, the cordless phone was beeping when Anne picked it up, so she did what she always does. She pushed the button to make it stop, which also happens to be the button that takes it off hook so one can talk.
She loves to talk on the phone... Poor Mr Cutco Knives... He has no idea what is about to be unleashed upon him.

"Hewoh." (Hello with a 'w' instead of the L's)

"Good evening Lydia, how are you today?"

"Dood" (Good with a D for the G)

"Great! Well I'm just calling to talk to you about ... blah blah blah" He goes on for about 15 or 20 seconds, then there are some noises that are obviously Anne giving the phone to Lydia, then -

"Hello?" - Obviously an adult voice, obviously Lydia's voice.

"Oh, did you hear what I just said?"

"No, that was my four-year-old."

At that point I hung up...

Which means I could have, at any point intervened and spared Mr Cutco Knives the embarrassment of having been duped by my four-year-old daughter.

But you know, if I had, you wouldn't be reading this right now - snickering.

Warning: Gross - Alternate term for fly guts

2006-09-03T15:55:00.000-05:00

Anne and I are talking about flies. There is a huge one on the window screen. I said, "Smash that fly with your finger."

She replied, "Ew! No!"

I said, "Why?"

Anne: "Because sometimes they have boogers come out of their bottoms."

Lydia: "When did you see one with boogers coming out of its bottom? Was it dead?"

Anne: "Yes, I killed it, then I touched it, then I got booger poop on my finger."

Last night's dinner prayer

2006-09-02T10:41:00.000-05:00

We've told Anne that when she wants to pray the same thing for a lot of people, she can just say something like, "everyone we love" or "our friends and family". Oftentimes she'll pray things like, "Please keep everyone we love safe and help them have a good night's rest."

Tonight before she was going to give thanks for dinner, Tim reminded her that a lot of our good friends are traveling this weekend.

This is how her prayer began:

"Dear Father, we pray for all the people we love who are traveling this weekend... (long pause) even the Blooms."

Clean-Up on Aisle Four

2006-08-28T22:25:00.000-05:00

I was writing an e-mail today and Anne was in the room with me. She said, "Mom, I'm going to go poop, will you come wipe me?"

I said, "Yes, just call for me when you're ready."

A few minutes later I heard:
In a slow announcer voice (like over the over-head speakers at a store):
Clean-up on aisle four. Someone has pooped. Clean-up on aisle four. Someone has pooped.

First, I couldn't believe my ears... Where did she come up with that? I sat in my chair for a minute laughing and listening in case she said something else hilarious. Then... Panic. What if she had an accident on the floor and that was her way of telling me? When they say "aisle" they usually mean floor. I did NOT want to do the clean-up on aisle four! Well, fortunately it was just her quirky sense of humor and she was sitting patiently on the toilet waiting for me when I finally went in to take care of her. What a relief!

Fifty Thousand

2006-08-20T00:29:00.000-05:00

When Anne is talking about something that she thinks is really expensive, she'll say, "It's Fifty Thousand bucks!" (Well, it actually comes out "Butts" and it's always hard for me to keep from commenting "That's a lot of butts!") She also says things like, "Will you be gone fifty thousand hours?" Fifty thousand is her biggest number.

As we were leaving Grandma's house tonight Anne announced from the back seat, "Mom, I shut the garage door all by myself!" I said, "Really? Wow. " Anne said, "Yeah, it's really hard. It's heavy. It takes like fifty thousand strengths, and I have them... and you do too!"

Crazy

2006-08-09T22:08:00.000-05:00

I can't think of a better title for this post.

This is a collection of things I've overheard Anne say since about the first of March of this year (2006).

Anne!

Where are you?

I'm just watching out our window.

What?
What are you doing?

"I'm just watching out our knee boar hood (neighborhood)"
"Out the window"
"I'm watching the alley."

---------------------------

"Up from the Gravy (grave)... I will follow you."
"I'm not following you, I want to stay with the Lord Jesus."

"Up from the grave He ARosa"

---------------------------

"Doors are fun, doors are beautiful."

then she sings
"Doors are fun, doors are good to shut."
"open their mouth, and open their mouth."
"open their door, and open the door."

---------------------------

"Oh Tree Cellphone."
"Cellphone"
"6...9..." (trailing off)
(then starts a coughing fit)

-----------------------

while holding a bottle of sprinkles for ice cream,
"Chocolate Corn-Head, Chocolate Corn-Head"

Talvary

2006-08-09T22:04:00.000-05:00

Singing... "You went to talvary, and there you died for me. Thank you

ward for wuvin me."

Bleeding Eyes

2006-08-09T22:00:00.000-05:00

This is from a month or two ago

I'm walking around in my underwear.
We're talking about going on a date, and leaving, and anne needs some shorts to
be modest.

I told Lydia, "You'll be fine."

Anne pipes up and says to me, "Dad, you are NOT fine."

"You can wear your t-shirt, but you can NOT wear just your unders.
People would see you and say, 'Ew! Gross' then have to look away and their eyes would bleed."

Fixin' to find out

2006-08-09T21:58:00.000-05:00

(From July 20th) We were cleaning the counter together and I asked Anne if that was food or a stain on the cabinet to the right of her. She headed toward it with her washcloth and said, "Well, we're fixin' to find out."

Beefers

2006-08-02T23:53:00.000-05:00

The other day Lydia and Annie, and Nanna were on the highway when they saw a beaver along-side the road.

Anne said loudly and excitedly, "What is that?!"

Lydia said, "That's a beaver."

(Still loudly and excitedly)
"What's a beefer!?"

Beefer has now become a term of endearment and slight insult in our house.

examples:
Sam is a big beefer
Lydia does not like it when I call her beefer.

Gas

2006-08-02T23:51:00.000-05:00

I was talking to Lydia on the phone the other day and she told me this story.

Anne: "I'm the gassiest little person!!"

Lydia: "You are?"

Anne: "Yes!"

(small pause in conversation)

Anne: "I tooted when were at the garage sale."
Anne: "Then several back there." (matter of factly)
Anne: "And then two times again... Just now!!"

Badness at Breakfast

2006-07-29T09:00:00.000-05:00

Anne and I are eating breakfast together.

I needed some more milk, but before getting it,I went into the other room to talk to Lydia for a few minutes. When I came back, I went into the kitchen to get the milk out of the 'fridge.

Anne pipes up from the adjacent dining room, "What are you doing? Getting a spanking spoon?"

I thought to myself, "Hmmmmm.... Sounds like a guilty conscience." So I replied, "Yes."

Now, usually when she asks questions like that and she knows she didn't do anything deserving of a spanking she will say, "Why?"

But not this time. Nope.

Instead I heard an almost dejected, "Ok." As thought she knew she deserved it.

I didn't actually get a spanking spoon - just the milk.

When I got to the table Anne asked, "Where is it?"

I said, "Anne, I know you did naughty things, and I know what they are, but I want you to tell me what you did."

She said somewhat contritely, "I blew bubbles in my milk."

At this I barely restrained an explosive giggle, but managed to maintain a stern face.

"What else?"

Even more contritely, "Umm... I also ate my sausage."
(I had told her to eat her blueberry muffin before finishing her sausage.)

"Ok, what else."

"I spilled milk on my weg (leg)... when I was blowing bubbles in my milk."

(Barely restraining explosive laughter) "Ok, Anne. You know, you shouldn't blow bubbles in your milk, but I'm not going to give you a spanking for these things because they're pretty silly."

The Accidental Gun

2006-04-14T11:35:00.000-05:00

Annie (contrite voice):
Dad, sorry.
I drew a house, and I needed to draw a door...
But I accidentally drew a gun.

Sorry.

Dad:
Annie, we don't draw guns.

Annie (still contrite):
I know, it was an accident.

Here's the evidence of the crime.

I will slice your tires...

2006-04-06T22:14:00.000-05:00

Can we listen to music please?
No, we're just having a quiet day.
Yeah, and you like to hear my nice songs.

if you do not have salvation... I will slice your tires with a gun.
if you do not have salvation, I will shoot the artilleryery.

Probably uses a 'mote

2006-04-05T20:48:00.000-05:00

I was showing Anne lightening tonight.

She said, "Sky! More lightening please!"

To which I replied, "Annie, God is the One who makes the lightening, you should ask Him."

She responded, "Will you ask Him with me?"

So we sat there together praying, "God, may we have more lightening please? Amen."

"How can God make the lightening, He doesn't have a thing for it, He probably has a 'mote" (Remote)

I didn't say anything.

She continued, "No, He doesn't use a 'mote, He uses His Heart."

Several minutes later...

"I just saw some more lightening!
I guess He's selling more."

I like boys

2006-03-10T20:42:00.000-06:00

"I like boys, did you know that?"

no.

"Yeah, they're cute.
Like babies."

A bearded baby

2005-10-15T12:52:00.000-05:00

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"

2005-10-05T16:54:00.000-05:00

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

2005-10-04T12:47:00.000-05:00

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!

2005-10-01T12:36:00.000-05:00

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

2005-09-08T08:28:00.000-05:00

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

2005-08-25T10:25:00.000-05:00

"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

2005-08-23T09:51:00.000-05:00

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

2005-08-19T18:20:00.000-05:00

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

2005-08-15T20:39:00.000-05:00

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

2005-08-05T23:57:00.000-05:00

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

2005-08-02T23:12:00.000-05:00

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!!!

2005-08-02T21:36:00.000-05:00

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...

2005-08-02T11:37:00.000-05:00

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

2005-07-30T23:01:00.000-05:00

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

2005-07-29T11:05:00.000-05:00

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

2005-07-19T09:28:00.000-05:00

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

2005-07-18T17:59:00.000-05:00

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

Blame it on the bug!

2005-07-06T18:31:00.000-05:00

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

2005-06-29T19:29:00.000-05:00

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

2005-06-29T19:24:00.000-05:00

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

2005-06-22T13:43:00.000-05:00

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!?!

2005-06-18T09:58:00.000-05:00

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!

2005-06-17T09:52:00.000-05:00

Anne did not puke last night.

Raspberries and Broccoli

2005-06-17T09:51:00.000-05:00

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

2005-06-16T21:00:00.000-05:00

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

2005-06-15T16:08:00.000-05:00

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...

2005-06-15T13:05:00.000-05:00

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

2005-06-14T22:35:00.000-05:00

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

2005-06-14T14:48:00.000-05:00

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

2005-06-14T08:40:00.000-05:00

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?

2005-06-13T19:21:00.000-05:00

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

2005-06-13T19:19:00.000-05:00

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

Who took my water?!

2005-06-10T20:10:00.000-05:00

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

2005-06-10T14:41:00.000-05:00

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

2005-05-25T21:12:00.000-05:00

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!

2005-05-24T22:20:00.000-05:00

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

2005-05-22T22:47:00.000-05:00

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

2005-05-20T23:34:00.000-05:00

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!"