Hege Highlights: Anna Update

With all the baby madness in our home and in the homes of my siblings, Anna has definitely been knocked off of her "only grandchild" pedestal, for sure, poor thing. Although we have had our moments of attitude and adjustment, overall I think she has handled the changes beautifully. She absolutely adores her baby brother and all of her new cousins. She is such a sweet girl and is absolutely hilarious. I wanted to take the chance to do a little update on our almost 4-year-old...

Anna has just finished her first year of gymnastics and LOVED it. She is one of the most limber children I have ever seen. It was amazing to see the transformation from when she first started. She listens to the coach and follows instructions so much better. We're hoping we can continue this for several years until we reach more team sports.

Nap time has become rest time because she doesn't need a nap every day anymore. She goes up to her room about 1:30 and we've told her she can come out when the first number on her clock is a 3. Most days she will play quietly or read and then eventually crawl into bed and go to sleep. Other days, she pops out of her room at 3, ready to go. Luckily, she is no longer a complete monster later in the evening when she doesn't get her nap. Our new problem is when she falls asleep at 2:30 or later and then sleeps 2+ hours, we can't get her to bed on time! I might have to start waking her up from her nap, although that's usually not desirable because she is such a pill when she is woken up (like her Mama!).

She just finished her class at preschool and had a blast. She learned so much! She has just learned how to write her name and is so proud. We are currently working on the sounds the letters make since she recently made the connection between letters and words in all the books she has. She LOVES to read and spends a lot of her rest time "reading" books on her bed. Her imagination is amazing and she makes up the best stories while flipping through the pictures in the books or "reading" to Jack. She likes to make things rhyme like all of her Dr. Seuss books.

Her memory is amazing and she doesn't forget a thing. You can't leave out a word in books that you've read more than a couple of times or she'll call you on it. And she will remember things that we told her over a year ago. We have to make sure we're on our p's and q's, for sure!

Anna just hit 30 pounds...finally! She still lives off of fruit and will eat carrots and celery before she'll eat fries. Where she came from, I don't know. She needs size 3T for the height but is still so thin. She will only wear dresses right now, which is good because the only shorts that will stay on and up are 2T ones that are a bit on the short side. She wears dresses every day, and even "dressing gowns" (dresses that become nightgowns at night, thanks to Fancy Nancy books) to sleep in.

She is in full princess mode and costumes go hand-in-hand with that. It's nothing for her to change costumes hourly on the days we're at home. Much to Will's dismay, Mommy and Mimi got Anna a "married dress" and accessories, since all the princesses get married at the end of the fairytales. And she's not shy about telling you how beautiful she is! I'm encouraging that self-confidence in my little woman--the world will make her doubt it soon enough.

And let me not forget the "Why?" stage. I'm amazed how often she asks this, but love seeing how her little mind is trying to piece everything together. The good thing is, once she's got it, you don't have to tell her again!:)

Here are a few of our favorite Anna-isms:

-- "Neckslace" (She has always added an "s" to this word, but it takes you a while to figure out how she's saying it.)

-- "Cupcape" (and you have to take the "cape" off before you can eat the cupcake)

-- "Sheshells" (the beach variety) and "shushi"

-- "Crank" (as in, "leave the door cranked when you leave")

-- "That was just a plain pootaroota!" (Ok, let me explain. In the crazy Collins family, we call passing gas a "pootaroota". So, when we were potty training her, each time she would pass gas, we would ask her if she needed to go to the potty to shoo-shoo. After a while, she would immediately look at us and say this so we would know not to ask her.)

-- We call her "a piece of work" all the time, so she has started telling people that they are "a piece of cheese" (or whatever else comes in pieces).

-- She has started telling "jokes". They usually go something like, "What is a pig when it's a strawberry? ... A banana!" And she'll tell you when you have to laugh.:)

-- She is apparently a baby whisperer. She is frequently saying things such as, "Jack doesn't want to go down for his nap yet. He told me he wants to stay here so I can love on him." Or, "Caroline told me that she doesn't want to play in the exersaucer anymore. She wants to play on the jungle mat." Good thing we have her around so we know exactly what the babies want!

She is so much fun right now and will get more so, I'm sure, once we leave the three's and all its wonder behind us. We just love having conversations with her and seeing how that little mind works. We love our little "big" girl so much!

In her "married dress"