Aaarrrgh!!!

Blast it.  She's waking up again.  1:40 a.m.  This will be her second time tonight.  I'm guessing her gums/impending new molars are bothering her. 

NATURE PARK!!! and cute quotes

Yes, I'm catching up on the last few weeks at darn near one in the morning now. 

We've finally had a few decently warm days for an Indiana spring: 40s and even some 50 degree weather.  So, I finally got to take little Anna back to the Jamestown Nature Park, one of our favorite places.  We walked on trails, and she rode in the wagon some and just had a great time.  As usual, I had trouble keeping her out of the water, despite the somewhat chilly temperatures.  She really wanted to go throw rocks in it the way we had when it flooded along the railroad tracks a few days ago (I need to post a short video of that day.  It was quite cold, but lots of fun), but I was able to keep her focused on hiking, enjoying the trees and looking for birds, another of her favorite things.  We checked out a couple of bridges, ran around in the gazebo a little, and sat on a log under a big tree at the edge of the woods (a delightful first for Anna), then had a snack at a picnic table.  We finally saw some birds before we got back in the car; a flock of sandhill cranes overhead.  Anna thought they were pretty neat, but she really wanted to see some of the little birds she's used to watching out the windows.  Still, we had a good time.  I hope she never grows out of her love for hiking with her Daddy. 

I'm really thankful the weather has been nice enough for us to go to some parks again.  

And now some cute quotes from a two year old:

"Go see a disaster house?"
"Walk in the disaster house?"
"Look at ANOTHER disaster house?"
 This isn't a stretch for the girl who used to say "Disaster loves you," one of my favorites.
Tammy and I are looking for an old house to fix up and sell.  After hearing me predict one day that the house we were going to see might be a disaster, she started calling them all "disaster houses."

That's a question: How many ______ are ______?
     - for example: "How many leaves are outside?", when she wanted to go outside, or "How many shoes are on Anna?"
   

"I have an idea"
"I have another idea"
Most of the time, she doesn't tell us what her idea is.  And she says it in a happy, almost sing-songy way that only a toddler can pull off.

"I have a tail."
"It's my tail." [spoken as if declaring something that should make everyone happy and proud]

Me: "Don't get in that water, it's cold and yucky."
Anna: "[very upset that I won't let her play in flood water on a windy 42 degree day] Get a NEW water?"

"That's a doondoo bot."

"Uhwellowellowellowellow"

"Give me a NUBBINS!"

The tail thing continues

So it seemed that after my stepmom, Mary gave Anna a long, narrow mink pelt with a clip on one end to use as a "tail," the whole tail thing would be resolved.  Not so.  Anna was petrified of the furry clip on critter. 
She kind of lost interest in it for a little while, until, last week, while she was sitting on the potty, a.k.a.: the duck toilet; named as such for obvious reasons.  We were looking at a book where she saw a baby and two parents.  She pointed out the Mommy and the Daddy in the picure:

Me: "That's right.  Other kids have Mommies and Daddies too."

Anna: (with a huge excited smile) "And other kids...HAVE TAILS!"

The all-caps emphasis is for enthusiasm, not anger.  She was back on her mission to procure a tail for herself.  
She later proposed that a short string with a cloth leaf and two cloth butterflies on it (part of an old baby toy, but was integrated in a way so it wasn't a strangulation hazard) could be her tail.  I believe she even used the word "pretend."  So, I tucked it into the back of her pants, and until I can come up with something better, that will be her de facto pretend tail. 
She spent the rest of the day talking about it
"I have a tail" and "My tail" and "Anna have a tail"
I would compliment her on her lovely tail and she would say something like "butterflies on it."  It was a good week. 

Potty Training, Toddler Bed, 2 yr Molars, and Separation Anxiety

You would be correct to assume by the name of this post, that we haven't been getting much sleep lately.  Anna Rose has decided she is scared to be away from Daddy all day, and she wants her Mommy to sit in a rocking chair by her bed all night. 

We've been able to ease her off of having Tammy sit in the chair til Anna goes to sleep at night, but she of course spends her whole day with me.  Stay-at-home moms have networks and contacts, and they have play-dates for their kids all the time.  Not so for the stay-at-home dad.  There's no group of dads with kids Anna's age for her to socialize with.  It's just me and the kid.  We have a great time, but it kind of reinforces her separation anxiety.  Almost everywhere she goes, she goes with Daddy.  The other day, Tammy tried to take her to an ice cream party with some moms she knows and their kids, but Anna would have none of it.  She spent over half the time crying and throwing a fit because she wanted her Daddy. 

She'll grow out of it, but I wish I had some opportunities for her to get to know more than just the realtors I work with and the occasional client, when I actually have active clients.