I realized I haven’t written much about all the cool things Anna has been up to lately. So here are a few.

1. She is so good at putting things away and following directions. We can tell her, “pick up the book and put it back on your bookshelf” or “pick up your shoes and go put them back where they go,” and she will (usually) do it. She can put some of her own laundry away—she puts her pajamas in her pajama drawer, and she takes the stack of little washcloths to the bathroom and puts them in the cabinet. She’s amazing! (However, since putting things away is a much slower process than getting things out, don’t think things are always tidy around here.)

2. She loves music. When I start a CD, she will start bobbing her head up and down. She can hear the the faintest jingle of the ice cream truck when it is still several blocks away, and she will drop everything and start clapping and dancing. Her favorite song right now is “If You’re Happy and You Know It.”

3. She eats about one good meal a day. I never know which one it’s going to be. And sometimes I find a food she loves and she gobbles it up, then the next day she won’t touch it. Toddler diet, I suppose. She likes (in a rotating fashion) raisins, applesauce, cheese, oatmeal, breads and crackers, rice, beans, scrambled eggs, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and yogurt.

4. She is getting pretty good at using a spoon and fork to eat.

5. She’s still not trying to say many words, but she can make a variety of animal sounds when prompted. Or, rather, her version of them. If you see her, ask her what a kitty cat says. It’s funny. She sticks out her tongue and makes this high-pitched utterance that sounds more like a sick alley cat. I taught her “meeeoooow,” but I guess that’s what it sounds like to her!

6. She likes to pick out her own books to read. This used to take forever while she went through every single book on the shelf and found just the right one, but then I figured out if I grabbed 3 or 4 and let her pick from those, she’s happy with that.

7. She’s not the littlest kid at the park anymore. She has grown a lot this summer!

8. She does great when we drop her off at church. The past two Sundays, she didn’t even make a peep when we handed her to her teacher. She has fun playing with new toys and other kids.

9. She likes to pretend to put on lotion. She’ll touch the pump, tap her hands together, then pat her face, arms, legs, whatever. She’ll also pretend to put the deodorant under her arm if she gets hold of it.

10. She might be a little O.C. Tonight as she was walking through the living room, she noticed that the corner of her Aquadoodle mat was turned up, so she stopped and straightened it out. When she was putting her pajamas away, the drawer wouldn’t close all the way, so she had to open it and poke the clothes down further and close it again. Twice.

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As you may recall, Anna got an early start helping me with the laundry. Now, it is one of her favorite things! If I try to do it without her, she hears the machine filling up and comes running to help me.

She helps carry it to the laundry room:

We have a new ritual; she sits on top of the dryer and I hand her things to throw in the washer as it fills up:

Then I hand her things to put in the dryer, give her the dryer sheet to throw in there, and she shuts the door!

Ok, so this may be pretty boring to you, but it’s so cool to see her learning to do the things I do. She mimics everything!

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I took Anna to The Wonder Place down in Little Rock this morning. It’s a really cool place for young kids to play—they have all kinds of fun stuff to play with/in/on. Anna had a great time and we’ll definitely be going back! It was pretty crowded due to their special admission price today, so my apologies to the other moms for your kids’ pictures being on my blog, but I couldn’t really avoid it in some instances. :)

The “River Market” area:

The water table:

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David is off today, so he got to go to the park with us this morning. (We usually go to story time at the library, but they take the month of August off, so we’re going to the park instead.) Look how big she’s getting!

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… to let their grandkids do things that mommies and daddies won’t… in this case, push whatever keys she wanted to on Nana’s computer. Anna thought that was great fun! (And congrats to Nana for recently switching to Apple! Yea!)

After which, of course, Anna insisted on getting on our computer:

Yep, she thinks she can do whatever she wants to around here!

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Anna has finally crossed the 20-pound threshold, which means she can face front in the car! I know it is recommended that kids stay rear-facing as long as possible, and I originally wasn’t in any hurry to turn her around. But since this peanut allergy thing entered our lives, I want her where I can see her sweet little face, so that every time she coughs I’m not wondering if she’s ok. (I’m sure that will get better with time, but I’m still a little jumpy.)

We went to Staples yesterday for her first forward-facing excursion. I think she liked it. She even instinctively knew how to use the cupholder. Smart kid.

This was one of those times where she let out a big smile after I took the picture each time. I gave up after a few shots.

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… when Anna brings me a book and wants me to read it to her. I mean, how can you refuse a child who wants to read a book? I love it! I tell you, I’m not getting a thing done around here because every five minutes she’s toddling up to me with that little “uuh, uuh, uuh” and holding up a book, and I just drop everything and plop down right there on the floor with her in a heap of smiles and cuddles.

We’ve always read to her, but she’s really gotten more into her books the past several weeks. She wants to pick out her book herself, she watches and listens more attentively, she wants to read the same ones over and over, and she’ll sit through 4 or 5 now rather than just 1 or 2. She’s amazing!

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Peanut, that is. And apparently, Anna doesn’t.

After discussing it with her doctor, I decided to try Anna on some peanut butter for Friday lunch. I gave her a little taste on a spoon to see if she liked it, planning to make her a little sandwich if she did. I was watching her for a reaction, but I honestly didn’t expect to see one. Not MY kid. That’s the kind of thing that happens to someone else’s kid, right?

It wasn’t even a minute until she started pulling at her ears and rubbing at her face. Coincidence, surely? No, she was clearly agitated about something. Then I saw the little bumps on her face. Oh, crap. So I squirted a dose of Benadryl into her and called the children’s clinic. She ended up with an epinephrine shot, a prescription for an Epi-pen, instructions for strict peanut avoidance, and a referral to an allergy specialist. Just like that.

She never had any swelling in her mouth or trouble breathing; however, if she reacts again, it could be more serious.

There are still a lot of things we don’t know about how this will affect us. A visit to the allergist will determine just how sensitive she is and what kind of avoidance we need to practice. I sincerely hope she’s in the “don’t feed her peanuts” category rather than the “don’t let her within a mile of anyone who has ever even thought about eating peanuts” category.

At least we’re already ahead of where a lot of families are in terms of food preparation. We hardly ever eat out, we make most things from scratch, we don’t rely heavily on pre-packaged convenience foods, etc. So hopefully it will come down to a few little tweaks here and there.

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I’m a couple of weeks late with this, but Anna finally got to swim in a “real” pool at the home of some church friends of ours. I didn’t know how she would react, but she loved it!

After a little while, Anna wanted out of that toddler boat, so we put her life jacket on her so she could move around in the water a little bit. The life jacket made her float on her back (maybe I need to look for a different kind), but surprisingly, she liked it anyway.

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Anna found her daddy’s shoes the other day and decided to give them a try. :)

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