Oh, the things they say...

I was reading a newsletter today that I get by email from BabyCenter.com (a website that will send you information and articles of interest based on the age of your child - from conception on
) that said that preschoolers Annabeth's age say the funniest things. It is so true. Here are a few of the latest..

Sometimes Annabeth misspeaks certain words, especially when she is emotional...

We were at a parade last weekend with our friends the Junglings, and the kids were picking up all kinds of candy being thrown from the floats. At one point, Annabeth excitedly asked me, "Mommy, can I see her pollilop?!"

Annabeth then spent the afternoon with the Junglings, and "Aunt" Kelly told me that sometimes when Annabeth said her name, she would say "Annabeth" and sometimes she would say "Annageth". I heard her do this last night when we were over at our neighbors' house. I don't know if it's because she's a little shy being around people she's not used to, or what, although she usually warms up very quickly.

Annabeth also likes to make up words, both in English and in Spanish. (she's learning some Spanish words, courtesy both of Grandma and Dora the Explorer) Her spanish mostly consists of little slang phrases ("I want to go mimis" for I want to take a nap, "I have a yaya" when she gets hurt) Tonight she used another slang phrase her grandma taught her quite appropriately. We were eating dinner and she accidentally dropped something, and said, "Ay Carumba!" (she also likes to say "Ay Chihuahua!")

Lately when I carry her up the stairs, she hangs onto me and says, "I'm your little monkey." Yesterday, she said, "I'm the baby monkey, you're the mama monkey - let's go to the branch."

Ready or not, here I go!

We went to a church potluck last Sunday night, and Annabeth played outside with the older kids. See if you can guess what they were playing...

This past week at home, Annabeth has been hiding her eyes against the kitchen cabinet, and saying "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, ready or not, here I go!" Then she takes off running.

Sometimes she's just standing in the middle of the hallway, and she says, "1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, go!" and takes off running.

Another funny moment from lunch yesterday... Annabeth was drinking a glass of water, and looked up at me and said, "I'm giving my lips a bath."

Beautiful Double Rainbow...

After a fairly dry spring and early summer, we have been blessed with some really nice rain over the last few weeks. Everything in Edgewood is green and growing. In fact, it looks much like it did when we first saw the house before we bought it. Last week, God gave us a beautiful show of his colorful creation with this double rainbow.

Here is Annabeth looking out our front door with the reflected rainbow showing off the glass.

Mommy and Annabeth with the rainbow..

Here is a view of the double rainbow.

Here you can see how green it is around here now, and just under the rainbow, though it's a little hard to see, are some sunflowers. We have had beautiful sunflowers here the past few weeks


We had some fun playing in the water and splashing in the puddles on the porch. Annabeth really enjoyed making footprints, and here is a picture of Daddy, Mommy, and Baby footprints. :)

You are special...

Yesterday I read Annabeth a book called "You are Special" by Max Lucado. When she and I went to the library this morning, she pointed to a board book version of the book that we saw there, and said, "You are special!" Then, when we came home, she was playing with Grandma at her dollhouse, she said, "Grandma, you are special!" and then she said she wanted to sing a song. When Grandma asked her what she wanted to sing, she said, "Jesus loves me." It's nice to know that she's catching some of the messages we're trying to communicate to her. :)

She's starting to recognize the emotions of herself and others and communicate them to us. Yesterday she told me, "I'm mad. Grandma told me to put my toys away and I don't want to and I'm mad." She also tells me when she and others are sad and happy.

I think one of the hardest things for a toddler is that they have such strong emotions, and at times have trouble communicating them. One of our friends gave Annabeth a book shortly after she was born (when her own boys were in their toddler and preschool days) called "My Many Colored Days" by Dr. Seuss. I think I see why this is such an appropriate book for kids (and parents of kids!) that are Annabeth's age.

Zoo Crew

A couple weeks ago, Annabeth, Grandma Maria and I took a trip to the zoo. On the way we stopped at Wal-Mart and Annabeth got these cute zoo stickers, which about 2 minutes after they were pictured here were stuck all over all of us and the car. :)

Here is an ostrich that we saw. I always take pictures of them when I see them, because I have a certain affinity with the bird. My maiden name is Oestreich, which often got pronounced "Ostrich" when people attempted to pronounce it. (Actually, it's pronounced like in baseball, "A-strike")

Later in the morning, we met up with Auntie Cam, Kendall and Jonathan during the sea lion feeding time. Then we went to a big play area for the kids where they have a huge maze of tunnels and slides that they can climb through, and this area with a big mat where jets of water shoot up out of random spots. Annabeth had a blast there, because she could finally get wet. It was a really hot day, and everywhere we went in the zoo, wherever we saw water, whether it was a running stream, a waterfall, or even a dirty pond or puddle, she would say, "I want to go swimming!" Finally she got her chance.

In this picture, you can see one of the water jets getting ready to hit Annabeth.

Here's all three of the kids after playing in the water.

After playing in the water, we went and saw a few more animals, the elephants, giraffes, (Annabeth and I had some dippin dots (ice cream) to cool off while Kendall and Jonathan got to feed the giraffes, because we had seen them eariler) the alligators, and then the kids got to sit on this Komodo dragon (statue).

After that, we went and saw all of the cats, including this meerkat, who ran from the other side of his cage to the fence right in front of us when he saw us. He must like to perform for his audience. :)

Next we went to see the tigers and the polar bears. When Annabeth saw the tigers, she said, "I want to get in there!" This was another recurring theme - she kept wanting to get in the cages with all the animals - "I want to pet them!" It was fun to see her enjoy the zoo in a totally different way than the last time we were there, which was a year ago. Auntie Cam told her she couldn't get in with the tigers because they would want to eat her. This must have made an impression, because the next day she said to me, "Auntie Cam said I can't get in with the tigers because they want to eat me."

Here is Annabeth looking at the polar bear pool from the passageway that goes underneath it. It's a bit shadowy, but I thought her shadowed profile looked pretty cool. We didn't see the polar bear from here,

but when we got up to the top, there he was.

We ended our trip to the zoo with a picnic. It was a great day.

All in a Day..

Annabeth said a couple of funny things today that I wanted to share with you.

First, when we were having breakfast this morning, she had a cup stacked on an empty bowl and was putting cereal into the bowl underneath. She told me, "I'm making my bottom beautiful."

Then, on the way to the grocery store this morning, she said, "I want a baby." I asked her what kind of baby she wanted, and she said, "Mommy, get me a baby sister at Walmart." I told her that they didn't have baby sisters at Walmart, and told her she could pray for a baby sister. She prayed, "Thank you, Lord for a baby sister." At dinner tonight she said, "I'm going to pray" and prayed the same prayer. Now that's faith. :)

Annabeth is really into lining everything up that she's playing with right now. Whether it's cars, blocks, or her library books, she will line them up one after another on the floor.

Learning manners..

We have been working on training Annabeth to say "please" and "thank you," and it's neat to see her catching on.

Last night and the night before at dinner, when Annabeth asked for tea and Pat gave her some from his cup, she said. "Thank you for sharing!"

Annabeth has learned pretty well over the last few months to say "May I.... please?" when she wants something or wants to do something. She gets a little confused when she wants to ask someone else to do something for her, though, and it sounds something like, "May I, you, carry me up the stairs please?" She's definitely trying, though, and has the concept, which is great.

This is not related to manners, but just something funny that Annabeth said. Today at church and this evening when we were snuggling for a few minutes after her nap, she rubbed my arm and said, "I'm petting you."