Anna's First Slumber Party

The other night Dan and I put Anna to bed as usual, without turning on her bedroom light. We did the goodnight routine and as I was leaving the room, I sensed a cat had entered. I asked Dan if Tiger or Lucy was in the room and he was checking when I walked out. We never discussed it further. The next morning I heard Anna awake in her crib, babbling as usual. Only her babbling seemed more purposeful and she was laughing. I heard her say "Tiger." I opened the door and there was Tiger, who immediately made a mad dash toward the litter box downstairs. Anna was quite excited and seemed determined to tell me about all of Tiger's escapades. When I got her to my mom's that morning and told the story, my mom asked Anna, "did you have a slumber party with Tiger?" Anna immediately got a huge smile on her face and put her hands on the floor. "Tiger," she said, and did this kind of strange crawl. She imitated the cat.

Anna's Tantrum and the Growl of Rachel

Anna threw her first real tantrum today. It wasn't too lengthy, just a preview of what she's capable of. She thought Dan was going to go outside without her and she proceeded to storm around the room, pounding her hands on whatever she could find, letting out an angry "ungh!" with each pound. She went from the couch to the ottoman and even the boppy pillow on the floor. When she realized that Daddy had left the room only to get her shoes, she remained unapologetically angry and babbled something to him that most likely was her version of "that's right, you'd better be putting on my shoes!" Yikes. I'm really looking forward to the legendary terrible twos now.

In other news, Rachel has been growling. She tucks her chin down into her chest, causing her her to look somewhat like a sumo wrestler and just lets it rip. It's hilarious. There doesn't seem to be a reason for it, except that she enjoys making us laugh. She usually follows the growl with a typical Rachel smile. Practicing for future mood swings perhaps?

A Breakthrough At Last

I finally figured out an Anna-ism. For a long time now, she greets people - and things she's happy to see - with a word that sounds like "EYE-nah!" She says it so brightly that it just makes me smile whenever I hear it. Dan and I have been trying to figure out why it's not just "hi." We thought maybe she was saying something like hi there or maybe she was repeating her name like we do, hi Anna. Then last night Anna ran up to me and I said to her, "hi honey." And it hit me that I say that to her somewhere close to five million times a day. Add to that the number of times she hears Dan and I say it to Rachel and to each other. No wonder she says it. I am immensely relieved to know that I am capable of understanding her.

Dan-isms, Part 1

The following exchange occurred earlier this evening -

Me: Honey, Rachel is grabbing fistfulls of my hair and stuffing it into her mouth.
Dan: Don't take it personal.