Why?

Let it be known...we are officially at the "why?" stage of development with Anna. She asks it ALL. THE. TIME. After every request, every comment, every breath (it seems like). I try to remember that she is learning through this process and I try not to stifle the learning opportunities. For example, the other morning when Will was getting ready to leave for the office, she asked why Daddy always had to go to work. We explained that adults have to go to work to make money so that we can have important things like a house to live in and food to eat and clothes to wear. So now, in the mornings before Will leaves, she has to recite for us the reason for him going to work. The other day after Will picked her up from his mom's when I was working, Anna said to him, "Daddy, thank you for going to work so we can have a house and food and clothes." He could barely keep the car on the road after that response! How sweet is that? It lets us know that she is learning so much through this process. Interestingly, the house/food/clothes response has recently been expanded to include cars to drive and toys to play with!

As sweet and endearing as the "why?" phenomenon is most of the time, there comes a time when you don't want to answer it anymore and she's really just asking it to stall going to bed or getting in her car seat or whatever it is you are asking her to do. I have found me repeating the age-old "because I said so!" just like my parents did over and over to me. I try to limit it's use, but man it comes in handy sometimes!

Another favorite, especially when she is asking about nature or why the world is the way it is, and she has surpassed general knowledge or is getting deeper than I care to go at age three, the response "because that's the way God made it" works really well. I know I'll expand her knowledge later, but trying to explain why boys have tee-tees and girls have tu-tas really only deserves one response at this point: because that's how God made it.

I wonder how long this new stage is going to last? Fun, Fun, Fun!!

The Hands and The Feet

Oh, for the last, let's say, six months or more, Anna has been doing this quirky thing with her hands and her feet. She refers to them in third person. Here are some examples of the kinds of things we hear from her:

"The Hands don't want to get into the car seat."

"The Feet won't stop kicking the seat. I told them to stop, but they keep kicking!"

"Look what The Hand did! It picked the doll up and threw it!"

The Hands and The Feet get in trouble quite frequently and several times she has put them in time-out for their misbehaving. She has even gone as far as spanking them for not listening to her! It sounds and is a little crazy, but all we can do is laugh (or try really hard not to). I keep wondering if this is better then an imaginary friend? At least these aren't imaginary, although there are times it appears that she has little control over them:). Even for her lack of control, she does tend to discipline them fairly quickly for their actions, especially when reminded by Mommy and Daddy. For now we'll just continue to be entertained by The Hands and The Feet and see what other adventures they take us on!!:)

Oh, What a Year Can Do!

Anna's First Day of Preschool 2010

We were a little delayed with the start of preschool this year. Clemmons Moravian renovated their entire education building and, of course, the end date kept getting pushed back farther and farther. So, we started on September 21st and will go through the 10th of June, so we at least get our time back at the end!

We went to visit Anna's new teachers, Miss Susan and Miss Jane, last week and Anna was upset that the meeting was only 20 minutes long! Even though she just turned 3, she's in the 2-year-old class this year because of the August 31st cutoff. She'll just always be one of the oldest! She was so excited for school to be starting back again and to get to see Miss Linda from last year. There are 13 in her class on Tuesday/Thursday, which is quite a bit bigger than last year. Plus, she gets to go in the drop-off/pick-up line this year like the big kids did last year! She thinks she is hot stuff!

So excited!

Showing off the new backpack

Silly face

The annual standing with Daddy picture!

The first day went great and Anna got in the car rattling off the names of all the kids in her class! I can't wait to see all the cute things Anna does in school this year with Miss Susan and Miss Jane and how much she grows and learns. We're off to another fantastic beginning!

It Has Finally Started!

Ever since, oh about last February, Will has been in mourning over the loss of the wonderful pastime called football. And ever since they started talking about it again, say about July, he has been busting a gut for football season to get here. Well, this past Saturday was officially the first UNC home football game and the tailgate we have been planning for for months now. I'm so glad I don't have to worry about my hubby mourning for the season to start anymore...but maybe I need to worry about him mourning the UNC team that could have been.;0) Regardless, we had fun at the tailgate and even got to have a mini extended birthday party. Anna and Lawson, my friend Melissa's little boy, exchanged birthday presents and got to play with Dora and Diego while the adults caught up. We also got to rub on Talley's belly and congratulate Block and Talley in person about the coming of little Charlie. How different next year's tailgates will be with Jack and Charlie there to help cheer on those Heels!

Starting Gymnastics

At the beginning of September, Anna started gymnastics classes one afternoon a week. Will and I wanted to get her involved in something active that involved other kids, but we really think 2 and 3 is a little young for the semi-organized soccer teams and what-not. There is a gymnastics center close to us, so we went in for a trial session at the end of August. Anna LOVED it! I was impressed with all of that they had the kids do. Plus, I knew it would be great for her listening and following directions skills (because she got easily distracted with multiple classes going on at one time). Last week I was able to get some pictures...

A handstand with forward roll

Not quite sure about the whole train thing...

Through the tunnel

It is so stinkin' cute to watch her during her class, especially when she runs over and says, "Mommy, did you see what I did?" She's so proud of herself and is picking things up really quickly. She's the youngest in her class, so we'll see all that she learns this year!

Is Baby Jack Squished Yet?

A while back, Anna asked me when baby Jack would be ready to come out. I explained to her that babies need to grow and grow until they get so big that they get squished in their mommy's bellies and then it's time for them to come out. So, every day or two, Anna looks at me and asks, "Is Jack squished yet?" and I have to say, "Nope, not yet. He's still growing." It's so hard to wait, isn't it?!

Anna's Three Year Check-up

We went to see Anna's pediatrician right after her birthday for her three year check-up. I can't believe she's actually three years old! Everything looked great according to Dr. Silkstone. Her ear infection had cleared up from a couple of weeks prior. She weighs 27 pounds and is 36 inches tall. Her percentiles were 12th for weight (ha!) and 25th for height. As much as it feels like she has shot up lately, I was surprised her height percentiles weren't higher...guess it's all relative. She did have to get one shot in her leg, but at least her flu vaccine was nasal! She was so brave and only cried for a few seconds. Man, was she proud of her bright orange band aid! It's so sad...she doesn't have to go back until she's four! Our little girl is getting so big!

Anna's 3rd Birthday: Dora and Diego Party

On Sunday we drove back home so we could celebrate Anna's birthday at Nannie and Pop's house with the Hege family. Nannie went all out decorating with Dora and Diego--there were balloons everywhere, Dora and Boots toothpicks in the appetizers, all the appropriate paper products, and even brown, yellow, and green streamers hung in the doorways as "vines"! It was so cute and Anna loved every second of it!

Nana ready to party in her festive garb!

Aunt Judi and Uncle Bren gave Anna a precious princess tent. Anna was so excited because we had recently gotten rid of her cardboard "house" and now she had a pretty new one! Thanks Judi and Bren!

Anna loved all of her musical cards!

Nannie and Pops got Anna Diego's animal rescue center and Dora's princess castle! Daddy had to help get everything out of the box and put together.
Nana gave her the cutest prince and princess magnetic dress-up set. You can switch dresses and crowns and shoes!

Aunt Erin and Aaron gave Anna a goodie bag with crayola bath crayons, a hand painting set, an Ariel coloring book, and the all-important bubble wand. They had to go out on the deck and make sure it worked!

A family pic

The set-up

The precious cake!

"You can't touch my cake, E!"

Blowing out the candles

What a face!

Star of the show!

Anna and Daddy playing in the princess tent!

Thanks, Nannie and Pops, for helping to make it such an awesome birthday!

Surprise...Happy 35th Anniversary!

Having Anna's birthday party in Wilmington was wonderful, but it was really only a ploy by the Collins siblings to get everyone in Wilmington without our parents being suspicious so we could surprise them for their anniversary. Their 35th wedding anniversary was on September 6th and they celebrated with a much-deserved trip to the Rocky Mountains and Yellowstone National Park in August. They had such a blast, they are already talking about when they are going back.

The siblings and significant others decided last spring that we wanted to do something special for them, so we concocted this "Anna birthday in Wilmington" idea to get everyone home, and then planned to take them to a special dinner at The Oceanic (one of their favorite restaurants). We just told them to be ready at 5:30 with black tops on...otherwise they knew nothing! It felt so great to surprise them! The stars further aligned and we were able to get a special family friend, Jack Upton, to meet us at the restaurant and take some family pictures. We are forever kicking ourselves after those rare occasions that all of us are together because we always forget to take a family picture. This time, we were prepared! We had a great night and now have some very precious family photos to show for it. Thanks so much, Jack!

Happy Anniversary Mom and Daddy!

Anna's 3rd Birthday: Princess Party

Anna got to have TWO parties for her birthday this year, which was perfect since she couldn't choose between a princess party and a Dora/Diego party. This way, she got to have both! We headed down to Wilmington on Friday, the 10th, and had her party on Saturday morning. It was overcast, but warm and breezy. We had her party at the pool at Dune Ridge at Wrightsville where the Hege's condo is. It was great because no one else was there since it was the weekend after Labor Day. Anna loved her balloons and became very possessive of them. She was so afraid they were going to pop in the wind, so we ultimately had to put them away in the condo to keep her from freaking out!:)

A dear friend, Heather Sutton, made Anna's cake. Mimi found these miniature princesses to put on top that Anna got to keep. You can even change their dresses--too cute! Anna had a hard time keeping her fingers away from the icing!

Since the sun was not out, the water was a little chilly at first, but everyone had fun swimming and playing. Some pretty intense games of water volleyball were enjoyed by the family. Poor Johnna was about to pop--only 2 weeks left until D-day!

Anna and cousin Nia

We had pizza and watermelon and veggies for lunch--some of Anna's favorites! Then it was cake time!

"I'm three!"

Mimi and Papa got Anna the cutest beach towel with her name on it and jeans and a sweater for this winter. She got a cute outfit and a football with her name on it from Aunt Sarah and Uncle Jason. She had requested the football a week earlier at Jason's football game!

Jeff and Johnna and Nia got her a Cinderella doll with two dresses to put on it. Uncle Greg and Aunt Michelle got her a play-doh ice cream set--how fun?!

Mommy and Daddy got Anna The Little Mermaid DVD. We had been looking everywhere for it to no avail and finally had to resort to Amazon.com to find it. I have to admit, I was a little excited about seeing the movie again. After she opened it, she said, "Oh, I was so worried when we couldn't find this movie!" Hysterical!

Mommy and Daddy also splurged and got her a complete Cinderella costume, complete with gloves, purse, and shoes. Don't I look beautiful? I think I might be able to guess what Anna will be for Halloween!

We had such a great time. After we opened presents, the sun broke through the clouds and we got to swim in the sunshine for a while before we left for a much-needed nap time! It was great having the whole Collins Zoo together to celebrate! Thank you, Mimi, for all your help in making it happen! Happy 3rd Birthday Anna!

The End of an Era

On Labor Day Monday, Will and I raided Anna's room to try to make some space for the birthday toys we knew were soon coming. While we were cleaning out, I made a comment about wishing we could take the rails off of Anna's bed because it would be SO much easier to make up in the mornings. Will reminded me that Anna had slept in a rail-less bed at my parent's house and had been fine. I looked at Anna and asked her if she would be OK if we took the rails off. She responded matter-of-factly, "Mommy, I will not fall out." There you have it. So, the rails went up into the attic!! SAD....our little girl has out-grown her bed rails!

Just for peace of mind, we decided to push her bed into the corner, so at least there was only one open side. This required rearranging her whole room and disposing of her cardboard "house" that has been in her room for the last year since we bought her dresser and big girl bed. She wasn't so excited about losing the house, but her room looks so cute and so BIG with the furniture rearranged!

I do have to admit that I love the rails off because now I can sit on the edge of the bed or easily lay down with her for a few minutes before I tuck her in for the night or wake her up in the morning. I have already enjoyed our extra bonding time!