Toddler Time...

The school year has officially began for Carter and Jacob. After I take them to school, it is just Parker and Anna with full reign of the house for over 6 hours...Toddler Time! From Backyardigans to Diego, Weeble Treehouse to baby dolls, Thomas the Train to Toy Story, it is non-stop play.

Parker, especially over this summer, has gotten so used to playing with the boys, he played "big". All he wanted to play was StarWars, Transformers, Spider-Man, etc. But, this past week, with just him and Anna, he has really started playing like a "little" boy again. He entertains Anna with basically whatever she wants to do. He just wants to play...and Anna, she just wants to do whatever she wants to do.

"Pirates Say ARRRR!" Anna loves Pablo

Her favorite things are a Backyardigan microphone radio type thing, a stuffed monkey that plays music, LeapFrog fridge magnets, and the Jessie and Woody dolls from Toy Story. The change in her personality in just two months is just amazing. She has gone from a very quiet, unadventurous, sedentary, untypical toddler to a vocal, playful, exploratory, teasing, energetic 21 months old.

Anna is now eating IN a high chair. It took us over a month and a half, but we finally done it. When I put her in the chair and put on her bib, she starts getting pretty excited.

Parker loves to play with whatever, especially if it makes noise or could potentially make a mess. It is just the boy in him. He can take a simple juice box and somehow get 'sticky' from head to toe, manage to get it on the table, floor, chair and drip it all the way up the steps. It is only like 4 oz. of liquid, but you would think from the mess it was at least 2 gallons. He has also returned to drawing...on the walls. I thought we were broke from this habit, but he managed to get a hold of a purple crayon, which are all but under lock and key, and drew me a lovely picture between the t.v. and a wall in the family room. The sad part was I was up stairs when he did it. But I was busy, he was being so quiet "playing" I just let him play, or should I say color the wall. He is only three and I have to sometimes remind myself of that. He is soooo much bigger than Anna and I tend to expect him to act a lot older than her. But his is only 17 months older and they are really not that far apart.

If Anna has a baby in her bed, then Parker needs a baby in his bed.

Anna is still very small for her age. She is still wearing 6/9 month clothing with a few 12 month outfits mixed in here and there, but she is acting more and more appropriately for a child her age. She is making more sounds, trying to mimic actions she sees, fussing when she doesn't get her way, and just beginning to act like a normal little girl. When I think about the huge strides she has made over the past 2 months, it just makes me so proud of her and her resilience to overcome the obstacles that she has already faced in her short life.

I know her hair is still to short for dog ears, BUT dog ears was one of Rodney's things. We were both excited about getting Anna and bringing her home, first and foremost, but we both had "things" that we just couldn't wait to do with a little girl...I was excited about dresses, Rodney was excited about dog ears. Finally, I have managed to get two little twigs of hair, that stick straight up, in dog ears for Daddy.

Anna is just the just the most perfect little girl any mother could have every dreamed of. She is sweeter than sugar, cute as a button and she is mine. I don't know why I have been given this enormous blessing, but I am so thankful that God has allowed me to be Anna's mother.

Waiting at the backdoor to show Daddy her new hairdo! Seriously, he almost cried :-)

One very blessed mother. Sending love from Rodney, Marcy, Carter, Jacob, Parker and Anna