conversation

We are getting ready to go to our PEPS meeting and Anya insists on wearing her new princess dress. It's way too cold for her to just wear that (was snowing today, even), so I give her 3 choices.

1. Put on a shirt and pants and wear princess dress over them.
2. Wear another parent-approved outfit
3. Wear princess dress as-is, but stay home from PEPS.

After much complaining and about 10 minutes have passed, I ask again what choice she has made. Her response:

Anya: I want to make my own choices.

me: Oh? What choices are these?

Anya: Number 1 Wear nothing and go to PEPS.
Number 2 Wear my princess dress and go to PEPS.
Number 3..ummmm...wear something else.

While trying hard to stifle my laughter, we finally made another compromise. Wear shirt, pants, and princess dress to PEPS, but change into just princess dress as soon as we get there. Problem solved. Little stinker.

Maui

Back in November, Chris' parents oh-so-awesomely took us on a trip to Maui (Kihei)for a week. I had never been and neither had Anya, so it was pretty exciting for us. We had a relaxing and fantastic time. Some highlights: daily swimming/playing at the beach across the street and the pool at the condo complex, checking out Haleakala, Iao Valley, surfers at Honolua Bay, and other spots on the island, doing a helicopter tour of the island with Chris, ziplining with Chris, having enough relaxation time to read 2-1/2 books (!!), lots of Mai Tais and Pina Coladas, body surfing poorly and getting knocked around by the waves, and of course hanging out with Lynn and Steve.

One other neat highlight was that we got to have a playdate with one of Anya's new school friends, Ella J. Her mom and I got to talking one day and found that we were going to be in Maui at the same time - overlapping by 2 days. So we met up at their lovely resort and played for an afternoon. It was great getting to know Julie and Todd and Anya and Ella had a good time playing.

Thank you, Lynn and Steve, for a wonderful, special experience!

view from our condo balcony

Iao Valley - escaping the jerky parking lot attendant that was trying to rip off tourists


Iao Valley


Anya, Steve and me (and some unknown person in the background)


Steve helping Anya warm up at Haleakala (it's cold up there at 10,000 feet!)



on our helicopter tour

Helicopter view of Haleakala

Wall of Tears

our romantical ziplining adventure

The adventure continued after we returned to Seattle. Chris, Anya, and I returned a few days earlier than Lynn and Steve. The day after we got back, Seattle was hit with a snowstorm, referenced in this post http://anya-marie.blogspot.com/2010/11/snow-day.html

Santa Visit

Grandma and Grandpa Lodwig took Anya to see Santa this morning. According to them, this year went better than last year. Last year, she was pretty nervous and untrusting of Santa, but obliged us with a picture (perhaps she was just frozen in fear?). This year, I hear she was fairly excited and spoke to Santa. She told him that she wants "wind-up dinosaurs" for Christmas. She saw these cheap, plastic little dinosaurs in a catalog about a month ago and has been stuck on them ever since. Easy enough for us, though.

parent/teacher conference

I remember Chris telling me that he looked back at report card comments from his earliest teachers and would think yep, that still pretty much sums me up. One of the comments was "Chris loves his projects." And as his wife, I can attest to the truthfulness of that (and he's pretty darn good at them too).

We just had Anya's first preschool parent/teacher conference earlier this week. It was weird for me - I felt both nervous, as if I were in trouble and going to the principal's office (again) and "oh my gosh, I'm a GROWNUP doing grownup things!".

Anyway, it was neat to see what Anya's teachers say about her. She seems to be just like she is at home: very, (very!) active, sweet, curious, independent, but not very willing to listen. So here's her first conference notes. I'm curious to see how much of herself she will recognize in this when she is an adult.

Anya Plays Wii

Yesterday Anya asked to play wii yoga with me. What self-respecting dad wouldn't let his daughter do yoga? I'm sure everyone will be surprised to find our exercise session quickly turn into playing Wii Fit's Penguin Slide game. And what self-respecting dad, when seeing something like this doesn't post it to the web?

little ballerina

after her first ballet class (with the addition of fairy wings and an extra tutu) helping me make cinnamon toast.

Snow Day

I snapped a few pictures of the season's first snow from last week.

Chris teaching Anya the proper way to build a snowman

giving it a go (before wandering off to do something else)

kid and dog

The storm was a bit of a doozy - very cold and windy. This was the nice, calm snow - the kind perfect for snowman building and snowball fights - before it got really nasty out. That night Chris was to pick up Grandma and Grandpa Lodwig from the airport, as they took a few extra days in Maui, and drop off some friends there too. Chris is not a snow-driving wuss (unlike his wife), but he was unable to drive all the way to the airport, there were so many accidents. I heard at one point it was a 7 hour drive to SeaTac from our area. But light rail in the International District came to the rescue - he could drop off and pick up there successfully. (on a side note, poor Grandma Lodwig only had shorts and sandals from Hawaii and wasn't expecting to get stuck riding the light rail in the snow and 20-some degrees, but she made it). Driving was pretty treacherous for a few days after and the city was more or less shut down. We don't deal well with ice here, partially because it's so darn hilly.

The next night it got so cold that our kitchen hot water pipe froze. Our 1928 house has no insulation in the walls, so it shouldn't have come as too much of a shock...even though it did, since I had some cooking to do. But Chris slowly heated up the pipes once he cut a hole in the wall behind the cabinets for access and they eventually (7.5 hours later) thawed. Phew. Now there's insulation back there, so *knock on wood* this won't happen again.

Now we have normal fall weather - gross, rainy, want-to-stay-indoors, but also not ridiculously cold (40's). I have to admit, thought, I'm looking forward to the next snow day.

Third Birthday

We had Anya's third birthday party on Nov 6th at Blossoming Buds Cottage. It's a drop-in preschool that I've taken her to a handful of times and she's always loved. Anya was insistent that her party be at the zoo this year, but with the rain, cold, the cost, and us being terrible parents we opted for a completely indoor party. She still managed to have a good time in spite of it.

coloring birthday crowns

enjoying snack time

Anya requested favorites: veggie booty, grapes, juice, & bagels with cream cheese


giggles over juice

banana cupcakes with pastry cream. Yummm.


blowing out the birthday candle.

playing with Riley and Molly

Not surprisingly, the theme of the party was "Mermaids" as it seems to be The Year of the Mermaid at our house. In attendance were: Riley & Flynn, Brenna, Molly, Eva, Eloise, Javier, cousin Kalea, Corwin, Gavi & Toly, and Noah. It was a noisy, playful, fun party and the kids enjoyed themselves.

Once home, the celebration continued. Dondon and Grangie flew in from North Carolina for a few days. Uncle Bob and Aunt Amy (with doggie-cousins Aspen and Trixie) drove up from Portland, and Grandma and Grandpa Lodwig came down to spend the evening. It was a mellow, but lovely time with family together. Anya was thrilled to spend time with them (as were Chris and I). I very much hope we can continue this tradition.

Anya Discusses the personalities of various animals

This was Anya and I talking through the insert from National Geographic.

Anya goes through her emotional pallette about a bath

A Brief Moment of Terror

Tonight Amy went out with her friend Shayne for drinks. She did so before Anya went to bed. Oh, did I mention Anya only wants mom to put her down these days? Or that she stayed at Grandma and Grandpa's last night? That she skipped her nap? Did you know she's very smart? That she's persistent?

So let me describe for you the eye of this perfect pre-schooler storm.

Amy's gone. Anya is screaming over and over, "I want mommy to put me to bed...I wanna go [with Mommy]!"
Daddy: "Hey, I'm gonna go down stairs and watch some animals on TV."
Anya: "I want mommy to put me to bed...I wanna go!" (Stomp, stomp, yell, yell)
I head down stair, still under the naive assumption that ignoring tantrums is somehow beneficial. Suddenly, it gets very quiet. I run up stairs and notice that the door (which has a child safe knob) is WIDE OPEN.
Anya is standing on the sidewalk of our VERY busy street. She runs up the stairs into the house when I catch and yell at her.

Disaster averted.

I bolt the door and head back down stairs.
Anya: "I want mommy to put me to bed...I wanna go!" (Stomp, stomp, yell, yell. THUMP! Drag.)
I go back upstairs and she's pulled a chair over to the door and was trying to unbolt the door again.

I move the chair, put on her favorite music (see earlier post) grab a wad of Play-Doh and made an Elephant. "...Watcha makin' daddy?"

Problem solved.

Halloween 2010

This year, Halloween was jam-packed. I imagine this'll happen pretty much every year, considering Anya's birthday is 2 days before the holiday. Anyway, away we go with pictures:

Holiday festivities began on the 29th (birthday!) with a preschool Halloween parade. Anya didn't feel like wearing the head to her elephant costume, but I think she was just as cute without it.

Teacher Bonnie was the the Morton Salt Girl and Teacher Emily was a Scrabble Board

Then that evening, we hosted our PEPS Halloween party. Somehow we managed to not take many pictures, but there were some good costumes. Anya, considering she turned 3 that day, decided to wear only her birthday suit to the party. Of course.

Kids did crafts, ran around, and had fun. It was a nice time. We sure are fond of our PEPS friends.

Then on Sunday, we got together with the Seligs and went to a neighborhood Halloween parade & did some trick-or-treating. Anya decided at the last minute she'd rather be a princess than an elephant.

Anya, Riley, and Flynn. Sweet, angel-faced children.

Neighborhood parade. Much fun. Very loud.


Cow, princess, and Greatest American Hero (I still think Chris should've worn the costume he wore to work. Wuss).


Trick or Treat!

Excited about their first candy score.

I think this is the first year Anya is starting to "get" Halloween. She was all about dressing up. Slightly less about the candy (I think it was more about keeping up with the big kids she was trick-or-treating with), but she certainly got into the excitement of it all. Anya cared about the candy, of course, after she got home and surveyed her loot. She got 1 piece per day for a few days until suddenly the Halloween Fairy showed up and took it all away to be handed out next year (I dunno...I made it up on the spot when she was demanding more candy. She accepted that explanation, so we'll go with it.

Anya's 3rd Birthday Mix

I must say that yet another one of my concerns of having a child has yet to be realized. That being she doesn't want to listen to the Wiggles and Barney songs 24/7. Additionally she has daddy's taste in music, squealing and bouncing about to such bands as Neutral Milk Hotel, Vampire Weekend, and Jane's Addition.

For Anya's third birthday we put together a CD of her favorite songs. This is the CD of music my child likes at the age of 3.

1. We are the Not-Its! (The Not-Its)
2. Colonel Hathi's March (Jungle Book Sound Track)
3. White Winter Hymnal (Fleet Foxes)
4. Cha Cha (Balkan Beat Box)
5. Dancing Queen (ABBA)
6. Come Play at Our House (The Not-Its)
7. No Hiding Place (Hem)
8. I Love My Rooster (Laurie Berkner)
9. Over in the Meadow (Susie Tallman)
10. The Bear Necessities (Jungle Book Sound Track)
11. Holland, 1945 (Neutral Milk Hotel)
12. Ragged Wood (Fleet Foxes)
13. King Kong Kitchie (Dan Zanes)
14. I Wanna Be Like You (Jungle Book Sound Track)
15. Helicopter (The Not-Its)
16. Father Goose (Dan Zanes)
17. My Energy (Laurie Berkner)
18. Side Walks of New York (Dan Zanes)

Strange Bed Time Conversations

Every night I talk to Anya about something. Sometimes I co-tell a story with her which is basically mad-libs for the lazy dad.
Dad: "Once upon a time..."
Anya: "There were girls named ANYA AND CORA!"
Dad: "And the went to..."
Anya: "The ZOO!"...
Etc...
Or I tell her about three things (usually animals)
Or I let her ask 3 questions, which is usually just her making very strange pronouncements of fact.
Tonight was a three questions pronouncement of facts sort of night. I was amazed at some of the thoughts running through her head. These things (and others) were actually said by my child:
"Sharks eat fish, and they eat seals, and but seals can go on land, and but sharks can't because they can't walk on the beach, because they have fins not flippers, and so people have to help sharks get on to the beach, and sharks aren't leopards even though they have teeth."

Then she asked about dogs:
Dad: "Well dogs and people have been friends for a very long time. There didn't used to be dogs, there where just wolves who became friends with people. The people would feed the wolves and the wolves would protect people and then they became friends."
Anya: "And the Wolves would protect people from animals with teeth. Bears have teeth and bears are real. And did they protect us from foxes?"
Dad: "Well foxes are pretty small, so probably not foxes so much."
Anya: "But bears, and Leopards? and Dinosaurs!?"
Dad: "Well not dinosaurs, because people and dinosaurs never lived together."
Anya: "And dinosaurs all died because a rock fell on their heads. You protected the bald eagles."
Dad: "Well people protected bald eagals not me really"
Anya: "But no one was there to protect the dinosaurs. But foxes have teeth and Leopards have teeth and all cats have teeth to eat things like cat food, and other food."
Etc etc...

I must say I get a HUGE kick out of talking to this kid at night. It's really sad that she begs every night now to let mom put her to bed instead of me.

Happy Birthday

Happy third birthday to my little (big!) girl today. You are bright, independent, kind, and loved by many. We are all so lucky to have you in our lives.

taken today at her preschool Halloween parade. She's an elephant (not wearing her trunk)

What Will She Be Like?

Knowing your kid today and looking back to her younger days, it is very easy to find the child of today in the baby of yesterday. But what's the challenge in that? Much more fun and interesting to take a swing at her future self and see how right you are in 10 years. My little girl is going to be 3 years old tomorrow, so now is as good a time as any to make my predictions.

Anya is unfazed by physical danger. She climbs fearlessly and endlessly. Yesterday I came into the bathroom and she was standing on back of the toilet braced against the window ledge reaching for a shelf to get down her hand stamps. She terrifies me a little every day. To her credit she still (thank God) has never fallen during one of her climbing escapades. Our photographer Judith called her a little mountain goat after her birthday shoot the other day. Very apropos.

She's good-natured. She wakes up in a good mood pretty much every day (not so much so for overly short naps). She always wants to play and run, and several times in a 3 hour period she'll get so excited she'll resort to jumping up and down in place and squealing.

She wants to do things for herself...and for you. She will generally refuse help on tasks she knows how to do (like putting on her shoes) and she'll generally refuse to listen to your requests for autonomy when there are eggs to be cracked in the kitchen or dogs to be fed up stairs.

She's empathetic. If you or one of the animals get's hurt she is very quick to soothe (although, thanks to a misguided attempt to calm her when she wasn't really hurt she thinks the right thing to say as I roll on the ground clutching my groin is "It's okay daddy!")

She is extremely willful. Still not sure if that is a prominent feature of her personality or if she's just being a 3 year-old. This may serve her very well in life, as she seems to be a loving friendly and kindhearted kid, but if she ever strays toward the dark side, the world best watch out.

She gets frustrated very easy. Once again not sure if this is just being 3, or if it is core to who she is. She has both extreme patience and short-fused frustration in her blood (not saying which side is which) so we'll have to see. I'm trying to teach her to simply ask for help when she needs it rather than getting upset. That works some times.

She is, as always, extremely talkative. But more than that, she shows an unusual ability for complex thought. Just tonight, we were driving by a neighbor's house to see if they had hung up a Halloween decoration we had left them on their door step. Anya said "Maybe someone we didn't know came by Monica and Brian's house and took the Halloween present we left them." And then there is my current favorite thing she said last week, "Ursala the Sea Witch steals my dreams and feeds them to a monster so that I don't have any dreams left," which is both a little terrifying and amazingly detailed thought for a not-quite three year old.

I also love it when she says things like, "I'm keeping my eyes out for airplane contrails".

If I were to guess on a path for her. It would have to do with words, ideas, and adventure. Me thinks something like what we call today a "Foreign Correspondent" a job which will likely seem quaint to her by the time she has its future equivalent in 24 years.

Breaking Daddy's Heart

Until very recently Anya has been quite happy to have me put her to bed at night. I read her two stories and talk to her about three things of her choice. It's one of my favorite times of the day. About a week ago she started being adement that she wanted mom to put her down. Of course I've asked why. The first night she told me that it was because she didn't love me, which wasn't one of my happier daddy moments as I'm sure you can appreciate. But I asked her again yesterday and I got a better answer, and the one I'm choosing to accept. She told me that when mommy puts her down she dreams of candy canes, and when dad puts her down she has dreams of dinosaurs and gets scared.

kid quote of the morning

Anya's friend Eloise is over for a playdate this morning.

Eloise: "My mom and dad won't get me a fairy wand, even though I really, really want one. They keep on telling me no".

Anya: "Because you have too many things, Eloise"

Anya and Eva being goofs at the playground after preschool yesterday

An unflinching look into the mind of a child

Amy went out last night, and this is what Anya and I do when she's away.

complooter

I'm not sure whether to be proud or worried (or both) that our 2 year old likes to sneak upstairs to the computer. She opens up Internet Explorer, clicks Favorites, selects www.Starfall.com, turns up the volume, and then proceeds to navigate the website.

Starfall is a great website and all, but I suppose it's time to add some parental controls to the computer. Not something I expected to have to think about for awhile.

photostrip fun

from Chad and Megan's photostrip camera at their wedding...

Autumn in NY

Anya wandering in the field at our friends' wedding outside Cooperstown, NY, croquet mallet in hand.

First Day of Preschool

I can't believe we're here already. The first day of preschool. I snapped this picture right before we grabbed our jackets (yes, it's still summer here, not that the weather has been noticing the calendar) and headed out the door. Anya was super excited....until about 5 blocks from school, where she commanded me to turn the car around and get elephant. Of course I couldn't, so there were big tears, which continued well inside the school building. After several unsuccessful attempts at consoling her, I had to literally pry her off me and leave. Ugh. Doing that just tears at my heart.

As expected, she got over it within a few minutes of my leaving and had a grand time. Her little report from the teachers said her mood was "curious, fun, and eager" and she was very cheerful when I came to pick her up. She played with Eva (her good friend Eva is attending the same preschool) and said she made a new friend Ella. She was a chatterbox on the drive home and wanted to tell me aaaalllll about her morning. So that's a good sign.

We're looking forward to her next class on Thursday. And we won't forget elephant this time.

summer

early summer. Feeding the "Willawong parrots" with Andrea.

zooming down the street at Grandma and Grandpa Lodwig's house

post-haircut cupcake happiness (as with probably half of north Seattle, this is one of our little mother-daughter traditions)

later summer. By now, an old pro at feeding the birds

Anya just kissed the bird statue on the tip of the beak and finds this hysterical :)

Dad and daughter riding the carousel at the Evergreen State Fair

Now that summer seems to have come to a screeching halt (at least weatherwise), time for a little recap. While we stayed in town, Anya had a good, full summer. Lots of quality time with Grandma and Grandpa Lodwig. We went to the playground often, took many walks, played in the sprinklers, had many a playdate. There were plenty of parties and social events to keep us occupied as well.

She had a great summer nannyshare on Wednesdays and Thursdays with her buddy Cora and Cora's neighbor, Lauren. The girls had a wonderful time with Leslie (the sitter) and it gave me a chance to get things done around the house sans kid as well as do some running training.

We also had summer roommates at the house -- yes, plural. One was my best friend Andrea and the other was a dog park friend, Becky (plus their pets). It was certainly a full house, but Anya loved having them around. Now that Andrea is in Hawaii (not fair!) and Becky has moved on, the house is quiet again.

Anya starts preschool on Tuesday - I can't believe it's here already. And then fall is in full swing with all sorts of things on the schedule. One more day and bye bye summer.

Reader's Digest of Funny Kid Quotes

Here is a progression of Kid Quotes of the Day from Facebook posts over the last couple of months.

29-May - [After hearing me get very annoyed that the car wash was not working after I'd bought a wash] Daddy, sometimes car washes don't work. Because people use them. And then they run out. Maybe we can go buy some more and fix the car wash.

12-Jun
Anya: Can I give Laika a treat?
Dad: Sure! But you need to tell Laika to do something before you give her a treat.
Anya: Why?
Dad: Because, the whole reason we give dogs treats is to teach them how to behave, how to be good dogs.
Anya: I get Jelly Beans when I go potty.

24-Jun - I'm chewing on a jelly bean AND a teething ring. Is that the right idea?

14-Jul - (This one left me a bit dumbfounded) Swiper-Fox is going to come and swipe my legs and eat them like a sandwich. Haraump! haraump! (those are munching sounds by the way)

23-Jul - (After I get home from work I like to sit Anya down and ask her questions about her day)
Dad: Anya, what made you smile today?
Anya: You daddy!

31-Jul - Anya: Laika (the dog) always plays duck-duck-goose with me. I do duck on her head and she roars.
(Incidentally, Laika has never so much as growled let alone roared at Anya)

2-Aug - (Anya and Dad at Safeway)
Anya: I want a gumball. (Incidentally, to my knowledge she has NEVER had a gumball)
Dad: We don't have any change.
Anya: [pointing at a stranger] That man would give me change!

10-Aug - (after getting a time out for hitting mom when mom tried to stop her from messing with poor Laika-dog)
Mom: Why did you hit mom?
Anya: Ummm because I was coloring Laika (with markers) and then I suddenly moved my arm very fast.

11-Aug - (Anya being caught sneaking out of her room after bed time)
Dad: Hey, what are you doing?
Anya: I'm going to sleep in YOUR bed
Dad: Uh, well, I want to sleep in my bed.
Anya: You're not sleeping in your bed. I'll sleep in your bed. You go sleep on the couch.
(Incidentally, I don't think I've every slept on the couch)

19-Aug - Anya has started reading. She just sounded out (with a fair amount of help) "Anya Lodwig" Then literally ran off saying. "Did you see my hair!? It was so blonde!" Giving me one of those my-kid-is brilliant-my-kid-is-going-to-be-a-cheerleader moments.

22-Aug - (I asked Anya to leave alone a bunch of dusty blackberries at the dog park):
"I feel like I have to touch them" she also pointed out that, "They look like they want to be eaten"

24-Aug - One time ago, I broke my mosquito bite.

27-Aug - (Anya loves to watch Rikki-Tikki-Tavi on my iPhone. This conversation took place maybe an hour or so after watching Riki-tikki-tavi but otherwise apropos of nothing)
Anya: Cobras don't talk over here!
Dad: Over where honey?
Anya: In the world! That's just silly, Daddy.


28-Aug - I'm not a toddler, I'm a human!

28-Aug - (Watching Dora the Explorer after her nap)
Dora: Are you going to help the baby?!
Anya: [To Dora] I'M NOT ON TV!

4-Sep - This morning for breakfast the kid took Jungle Book out of the cd player and put in Modest Mouse. :-) when "Bukowski" came on she excused herself saying, "I've got to dance". Her Bukowski dance involved a lot of falling over, which is probably her first accurate interpretive dance.

How Anya Deals with Cats...

Miraculously, neither of our cats have ever scratched, bit, or otherwise harmed Anya.

We have very patient cats

is it wrong of me to wish the cats were just a wee bit less patient with Anya? I'd like her to learn this lesson without too much trauma if/when it happens.

Funny Scene at the Play Ground

Anya Laika and I were just at the play ground where she made an insta-friend and began playing while the mother and I chatted.
There was a play counter and a big bowl, and they were filling the bowl with wood chips and then moving the chips to a large pile which was deemed a "cake".
Suddenly the mom said, "Ooops there go the clothes!"
As you probably know if you're reading this blog, Anya has a penchant for nudity, and sure enough, it was her removing layer after layer until she's just wearing pants. (By the way, it's about 50 degrees out today).
I walked up and asked why she was taking off all her clothes and this is what she said:
"We're making a cake, a magic cake. We're making a cake for YOU daddy, and we're making it, and that's why I have to take off my clothes."
"Oh really? Whose rules are those?"
"Me's!"
I just thought it was cute.

Stuff My Kid Can Do

As of today Anya is 2 years 9 months and 3 weeks old.
Just a quick update of the things she can do at this age so she'll know and we'll remember. Also, a little parental bragging ;)

At the Little Gym, she once did a back flip on the rings by herself (which surprised her, and freaked out her mom and other parents). She can also do flips on the bar by herself regularly -- only on a really low bar that's close to the ground. But still. She can flip! Pretty cool.

She can count up to about 12 objects. Like the actual amount of things, not just reciting the numbers. That's very recent, in the last 2 weeks or so.

She can carry a tune...albeit not well, but when she hums a song I can recognize it.
She can also sing in unison. Last night, for example, she and I read/sang Marsupial Sue (one of her favorite books) and she sang right along with me. It used to be that she would stop singing when I started.

Every day I have longer and longer conversations with her about more and more interesting things. She can explain herself when I don't understand her, which is great. Yesterday she asked me about Tome.
"Who's Tome?" I asked.
"He's the little boy who lives on my steps," She replied. So I'm thinking she has an invisible friend.
"You have a little boy who lives on your steps?" I smile.
Anya smooshes up her face and says, "He's the boy who was on the steps and someone swiped him and now he's gone."
"Ah, the GNOME! Yeah someone took him, honey. And no, it wasn't grandma and grandpa" (She thinks they took him because they came over right after he was stolen, and I mentioned when Laika barked that I hoped it was someone returning the gnome)

She can do the entire alphabet. She knows both her capital and lower-case letters by sight. She also knows the basic sounds that 80% or so of the letters make. This means she can read. With a lot of help from me she has read the words: "Ten", "Zoo", and--last night--"Anya Lodwig" (and, with mom, "fox", "six", and a few others).
I don't want to oversell her reading abilities, the conversations go something like this:
Dad: "What letter is that?"
Anya: "A"
Dad: "What sound does that make?"
Anya: "Ah"
Dad: "Great!"
Dad: "What letter is that?"
Anya: "N"
Dad: "What sound does that make?"
Anya: "Nnn"
Dad: "Great!"
Dad: "So this is?.."
Anya: "Ah..nnn"...
Rinse repeat until a word is sounded out. But I don't tell her the letters, or the sounds, or the words. She slowly puts it together. It's pretty wonderful.
But she has to be in the mood (which is rare), or she doesn't look or try and just makes word up:
"What does this say?"
"Tameeko...Tableeko...etc."

Anya Performs The Elephant Song From Jungle Book

Anya plays on the trampoline

We have some neighbors who generously (and probably dangerously from legal perspective) allow Anya to play on their trampoline whenever she wants.
This is a video of her about in June I would think.

kid qotd

As Anya snuck out of her room after being tucked into bed...

dad: What are you doing?
Anya: I'm going to sleep in YOUR room
dad: Uh, well, I want to sleep in my bed.
Anya: you're not sleeping in your bed. I'll sleep in your bed. You go sleep on the couch.

A Mother's Deceit

Anya, Elephant, and a piece of bread. This is Anya's "smile for the camera" smile. At least for today.

That stuffed animal above is an impostor. And, thankfully, my child doesn't seem to care. We've probably mentioned once or twice on this here blog Anya's "lovey", Elephant. It was purchased by her great aunt and uncle Carl and Marion when she was 7 months old. She was pretty much instantly attached to this odd stuffed animal that made farting noises when you squeezed its belly and a very fake, over the top, obviously-a-person-making-the-sound "elephant" trumpeting.

Once Chris and I realized Elephant was going to be her lovey, we started looking for a duplicate for when the original gets threadbare. About once a month for 2 years we searched without any luck and had given up hope. The thing was originally purchased at Kohls and apparently was discontinued awhile back. Anyway, about 2 weeks ago, either Chris or his parents brought up Elephant in conversation and one was magically found this time on Ebay. Maybe I'm dumb, but I paid $25 to "buy it now" for the replacement elephant. She's THAT attached to her elephant - who is now getting threadbare and no longer makes any noises.

It arrived this morning while Anya was at nanny share. When I picked her up, I told her that I took Elephant for a special bath and he's extra soft and cuddly today. She of asked what I dropped Elephant in to make him so dirty as to need a bath. I lied and told her the dirt. She came in the house, looked at him, squeezed him, and there was that farting sound. She asked why he was all of a sudden making noises again and I just pretended I didn't hear her (I'll come up with something if she asks again). And then she shrugged and took him to her room for nap time. Crisis averted!

Now to remember to switch them out once new Elephant starts getting threadbare.

Anniversary Weekend

Chris and I celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary over the weekend. I can't believe how quickly five years has gone by! But I guess as they say, time passes quickly when you're having fun.


Chris' parents graciously offered to take Anya overnight (and - bonus - extended it another day!) and we eagerly accepted. Being the total foodie that I am, can I tell you how awesome my husband is that he got us reservations at the Herbfarm and a night at the Willows Lodge Herbfarm suite next door?? Awesome indeed.


If you don't know what the Herbfarm is, click here and then you have my permission to drool on your keyboard.


All in all, the food was as good, creative, and expertly prepared as expected. But I think what made it more special was the overall experience. We sat at a communal table and had great conversation (one older couple that got married the day before, a younger couple celebrating a birthday, and a hedge fund guy from NJ checking off the list from the book 100 Things to Do Before You Die. Apparently the Herbfarm is part of the list). The atmosphere was casual, yet....special. We loved the tour of the garden and meeting the pigs. They introduced the entire kitchen and wait staff and the resumes were pretty impressive (Iron chef was mentioned). And there were all sorts of little touches that made it a wonderful experience. After 4 hours, honestly, we weren't really ready to leave. I could have stayed another hour chatting with the people at our table. I think the 6 glasses of wine had some involvement in that, though.

this is what we were served

The Willows Lodge was also great. They had fondue waiting for us in our room and it was a lovely place overall. Apparently they have a few other locations around the country, so I take it as a challenge to compare them all.


Anya also had a good time with grandma and grandpa. According to them, it was her best behavior on a visit with them to date. Thank you again for taking her for the weekend!



It was a very special weekend for us and a lovely way to spend our anniversary.

anya quote

Cute (or at least I think so) quote from a minute ago.

Anya was holdering her magnifying glass over her hand.

"Look, mama! My hands are big. I'm now a grownup since my hands are big now!"

Life Lesson From The Kid

Anya just gave me my first life lesson. Sure, sure she taught me how to love as only a father can and all that. But I mean really actually taught me something.

Right before bed she wanted a snack. I gave her a whole banana, which incidentally, I said was a bananananana and was therefore twice as big in hopes that she'd call it good. No such luck. A few minutes after downing the bananananana she came into the room with a carton of blue berries, and asked for some. I said, "No" and put them back.
She had a tantrum and cried. I said I was sorry and asked what was wrong, but she just cried.
A few minutes later she was brushing her teeth. When she was done, she said, out of the blue, "You took the blueberries out of my hands."
"I'm sorry honey, I had to put them away." Then I asked, "How could I do that in the future so I don't make you sad?"
"You could ask me if you can have them."
"Would you have given them to me?"
"Uh Huh."

Which brings me to a stunning if rather obvious revelation. My kid has real feelings and daddy needs to start being considerate, even when I'm saying "No."

Sorry about that kid.

Zoo Baby

Jumping on the Hipstamatic for iPhone app bandwagon. I do love the aesthetic.

Yesterday had perfect morning weather to be out and about, so I took Anya to the zoo. I was very brave, since I decided against taking the stroller...even knowing it would be my luck that she'd poop out on the opposite side of the zoo from our parking lot and I'd have to carry her all the way back. I'm semi-surprised to say that she ran the loop (no, not walked...she never walks) without stopping and asking to be picked up. It was one of our most fun zoo outings I think. Of course it didn't hurt that the weather was perfect and it wasn't crowded yet. I love going right when it opens.

Scooby Snacks

I just had one of those moments when it becomes clear that your child knows more than you give them credit for.

Anya: Can I give Laika a treat?
Dad: Sure. But listen to me, you need to tell Laika to do something before you give her a treat.
Anya: Why?
Dad: Because, the whole reason we give dogs treats is to teach them how to behave, how to be good dogs.
Anya: Okay.
Dad: (Laughing a little) we do the same thing to you, you just don't know it.
Anya: I get Jelly Beans when I go potty.

Kid Quotes of the day, With color commentary

I post quick “Kid Quotes of the Day” on Facebook all the time, but from time to time I feel the need to move them here for posterity. Here are a few months of them, in chronological order:

April 19th 2010:
"Daddy, could you turn it all the way up please?" There’s no accounting for taste as this was regarding the "Free to be You and Me" theme song. That being said, I can appreciate her desire to rock out to something despite how dated it is. I guess we rocked out to Zeppelin which was a bit before our time.

April 20th 2010:
“I need 50 dollars.” As heard while she was digging around in my wallet. I hope that doesn’t stick. The thing that really got me was the specificity of her statement. Not, “some money,” or “some of those”, but “I need $50”. Which really made me wonder does she owe a bookie?”

April 26th 2010:
This was one of her first attempts at deception. “My doll wants to watch Babies. Can she watch Babies?” Note: Anya calls cartoons “Babies”. Probably the only word she uses for something that isn’t technically correct. This is because her shows when she was very little were all real babies crawling and playing and doing educational things. So we called her TV “watching babies”. Once we transitioned to Dora the Explorer, we never told her that all TV wasn’t “Babies”.

May 5th 2010:
As heard while eating my salmon wasabi wrap at World Wraps) “It’s a little bit spicy but I like it!” Two things to point out here. First she eats spicy food, which is pretty cool. Second is her use of the term “Little bit”. She uses this all the time. “I fell, just a little bit.” “I got hurt just a little bit.” “I want to do that for a little bit of whiles.”

May 10th 2010:
As overheard in a conversation with her buddy Liam whom we were babysitting: "You can stay in the guest room tonight." Maybe you had to be there. It's just a very weird thing to hear a two 1/2 year old say. I expected her to say, “Here’s your key, help yourself to anything in the fridge…”

May 17th 2010:
Said while playing with 3 balls at the local trampoline. “That's a daddy ball. It goes to work. That's a baby ball it rans (sic). That's a momma ball, it eats chocolate.” A couple things to point out: 1. My kid is hilarious 2. She loves playing on Brian and Monica’s trampoline down the street. 3. She has taken to a Goldie Locks-esque method of classifying the world. When I put her down at night and wrap her up tight, I used to ask, “Do you want me to wrap you up like a big burrito or a little burrito?” Now she says, “Wrap me up like a Daddy burrito…no. Like a Sister burrito!”.

May 22nd 2010:
Uttered whilst spitting out a strawberry at the Odievich’s home: "Ick. That had some cake on it." A couple things: The kid is consistently thumbs down on the chocolate. Prefers fruits. We’re very proud.

May 28th 2010:
Upon waking up from her nap she exclaimed: “I fell awake.”

May 30th 2010:
Remembering how cool I thought the experience as a child, I decide to take Anya through a car wash. After paying for the supreme wash package, I come to find the thing’s broken. I proceeded to get rather annoyed. Anya said, “Daddy, sometimes car washes don't work. Because people use them. And then they run out. Maybe we can go to the story and buy some more and fix the car wash.”
I think my favorite part of the conversation was that was talking down to me...that sort of parental tone one takes when explaining why it rains on birthdays or something.

Making Daddy Proud: Animal Taxonomy

Every weekend, Anya, Laika and I go to the dog park. Even on days when some overzealous puppy knocks her down and she skins her knee (like today) she has a great time. She names all the dogs and the birds that she sees. Today was particularly impressive.

Upon hearing one bird she said, “I hear, ‘Cheerily-cheerily. Cheer-UP! Cheer-UP!’” Which is what Robins say. Of course I misidentified the bird (because I’m sort of dumb that way) and said, “I think that’s a black-capped…um…finch? Anya, what is that bird again?” “It’s a black-capped Chick-a-dee, daddy.”

Then she asked me what a particular dog was…and I drew a blank. I said, “It’s a…I forget honey.” To which she replied, “It’s a Bernese Mountain Dog, daddy”

She also pointed out Vizslas and Weimaraners (it’s always fun to see the look on owners faces when a 2 ½ year old says “Weimaraner”) and when she saw an old beagle she asked if it was a type of hound dog. Which of course it is.

Then we got some laughs from people at the park when Anya saw a woman with a tiny Italian Gray Hound in her jacket, and Anya said, “She had a little dog in her pouch, like a joey.” (Baby kangaroo for those of you who don’t know as much about marsupials as my little girl.)

I was explaining to Amy today how I like messing with Anya by talking way above her head. I like using words like Chlorophyll and Centripetal Force around her. But the funny thing is that she picks up on more of it then you might imagine. I’d like to think this is the reason my 2 ½ year old knows what a stethoscope is.

She just fills me with glee.

Daddy’s alright, he just seems a little weird

I use terrible psychological tricks on my daughter. Whenever she falls I check her out and make sure she’s not actually hurt. If she’s just scared, I look her square in the face and say very calmly, “You’re alright, honey.” I do this because I’ve been told that if you freak out when a kid is freaking out it tends to escalate. Plus kids figure out that they can get your goat if they just fall and freak out, and frankly the kid hasn’t left me with many goats for the getting.

This calming tactic has lead Anya to two very funny behaviors.

1. As those of you who know Anya or read this blog know, she’s pretty active. So she falls a fair amount. Nothing serious (though I did catch her today as she free-fell head first from the couch to the coffee table). Now, even on some pretty tough, head smacking falls, she’ll jump up, often with tears in her eyes and say, “I’m alright, daddy!” So she’s learned that if she’s hurt, she’s probably alright.

2. When I’m upset she approaches me the same way I do her. “It’s alright daddy, you’re alright.” It’s pretty frustrating when your daughter is doing something bad, like, oh I don’t know, pushing her bed across the room, and using it to climb her dresser in an attempt to make it to her window (yes she did that today) and you walk in on her and say, “Anya, get down from there” and she says, “It’s okay daddy” and walks over and pats you on the back. “You’re okay”.

Report Card for Our Kid

Anya, if you're any thing like us you'll some day wonder what you were like as a kid. We'll do our best to capture your personality for posterity so you can see how you change over the years.

We took a Meyers-Briggs Test for you just for fun. Based on our guesses gleaned from observing your behavior, you are an ENFP...or an ESFP (we both took the same test)

Here are some of our other observations of you.

You're very empathetic. You're always worrying about whether or not a kid in a book is sad, and why. If you make anyone mad, you instantly walk over and try to soothe them.

You show little or no respect for altitude, you're a bit of a daredevil. But interestingly enough you almost never get hurt. You're very careful in the very dangerous things you do. You look both ways before crossing the street (usually), and criticize those who don't.

You march to the beat of your own drummer. When you're in group play you are often the only child running around by yourself, doing your own thing, climbing the monkey bars when all the other kids are listening to a teacher. But you're not anti-social. Quite the contrary. If, for instance a circle forms for a lesson you will jump in the middle like it's your own personal theater-in-the-round.

You're very well behaved for a a 2 1/2 year old. Sure you're a pain, but so far your terrible twos have been pretty wonderful (mom edit: that's because you're at work all day, Chris ;-) ). You play by yourself very well. Just this morning you work up early and mom and dad didn't want to get up. So you went back into your room where you "read" books and sang to yourself for another 1/2 hour.

Your favorite things to do are climbing and jumping on Brian and Monica's trampoline down the street. You love the zoo and the farm that Grandma and Grandpa Lodwig take you to. You often talk about feeding the ducks up there.

Every night you want to talk about animals (for some reason you almost always talk about eels, elephants, and Tico the Squirrel from Dora the Explorer.) Although you like mom to make up special naptime stories, usually about going to Don-Don & Grangie's, Grandma & Grandpa B's, Cousin Mia & Cole's, or Cousin Alivia's house (since you don't get to see them very often).

You love Beatrix Potter stories (though your parents-I must say-do not. I've read the ethically dubious "Ms. Tittlemouse" some many times now I want to scream, but you'll never know that until you read this when you're older).

You sing all the time, and you are already making songs up. Often they narrate your day, or are non-sense words you make by replacing letters in words from other songs you know: "Hair Fuzz a barmer nad a hog and Mingo was her game-o"

You're contrary but not in the I'm-2-stomp-my-foot-and-yell-No! sort of way. You will say, "No it's not" and chuckle when ever we tell you something. Example: Be careful honey that knife is really sharp!. "No it's not," you'll laugh.

That's all I can think of for now. Mom's calling me to dinner and you're at Grandma and Grandpa's tonight.

If I can't see you, you can't see me

This is one of those funny things that Anya will grow out of (or so we hope) and we'll never remember if we don't write it down.
Anya is getting a conscience: She knows when she's doing something wrong, and doesn't want to get into trouble. So if you catch her, the first thing she does is hide her eyes in hopes that you won't notice her doing it.
She usually laughs nervously just a little while doing it. An "It's so crazy it just might work!" sort of chuckle, so I'm not sure if she really believes in the techniques effectiveness. But she sure tries it a lot.

kid quote of the evening

Anya: what's this?
Mom: It's a teething ring. You haven't had one since you were a baby.
Anya: and my teeth hurt?
Mom: yeah
Anya: and I was crying?
Mom: yeah
Anya: And you shaked me?
Mom: umm...

First day of music class

My daughter (or rather my mother's granddaughter) is a bad influence. As you can tell Amy and I have decided the Scheuer genes from Grandma Lodwig are to blame.

Today Amy took Anya to her first day of music class.
As the instructor was walking around the room and doing things (getting music, talking, etc) There was Anya: chasing the poor woman around with a musical instrument shaped like an alligator, bellowing "rawwr!" and having the alligator bit the woman on the butt.
Then she (that would be Anya) kept going upside down on the ballet bars and half the kids followed suit. She was basically causing a rug rat riot.

Later she proceeded to strip down in the middle of the circle, saying "I don't need my shirt!"

Not shy, that one.

Kid quote of the day

our dirty hippie in training :-)

Anya: mama, I found some cheese on the floor
me: Oh, yuck! Please throw it in the garbage.
Anya: No, mom. You compost it.

It's nice to know some things I say sink into her brain. Just today, she chided a little girl for not pretend-washing her hands before cooking at a play kitchen (even though getting Anya to wash her hands is a struggle more than half the time).

Oh the stories they tell...

One of the reasons I wanted to make this blog was so that Anya would know what she was like when she was a kid. She should, by now know that she is adored, but here are some of the reasons why...

Every night we read her two stories, then we talk about friends or her day or 3 animals. Tonight she took a different approach and wanted to tell me a story. Here's a rough example of the types of things I talk to my 2 1/2 year old about on a pretty regular basis.

Anya: "Let's talk about the goat at the party who ate my cupcake".
Dad: "Whose party was that?"
Anya: "The snakes!"
Dad: "Why was the snake having a party?"
Anya: "Because I have two teeth."
Dad: "Wow. Who else was there?
Anya: "The rabbit. I gave him a carrot"
Dad: "And what did the goat do?"
Anya: "He ate my cupcake."
Dad: "What flavor cupcake was it?"
Anya: "Blue Berry!"
Dad: "Did you give him the cupcake or did he just take it?"
Anya: "He took it."
Dad: "Then what did you do?"
Anya: "I got some balls."
Dad: "What did you do with the balls?"
Anya: "I threw them around."
Dad: "Who did you throw them around with?"
Anya: "The snake. Daddy, talk to me about toads..."

I just think it's very cool that I can have these types of imaginative...if surreal conversations with my kid at 2 1/2.

Fun with words and thoughts

Anya’s been saying a lot of very funny things lately. For example she just walked into the bathroom when I had asked mom for something and she said, “I’ll take care of you daddy.” Which was pretty funny. She was very earnest. Generally I post all these things to facebook, but facebook is so fleeting.

Anya's first impersonations:

[Doing a Dad Impersonation]"Hello Anya, I'm going to the dog park, then I'm going to work"

Mom: What do I say Anya?

Anya: “Roaaar!"

Funny Kid Quote #1:

Dad: Honey, I would like some privacy.

Anya: [Following me into the bathroom] You can have some of my privacy!

Funny Kid Quote #2:

Anya: [At dinner] Can you feed me?

Dad: Are you a baby?

Anya: Yeah!

Dad: I thought you were a big girl.

Anya: I will be a big girl, but I'm a baby.

Funny Kid Quote #3:

Anya: [At the Zoo referring to the hand rail in the reptile room] I just licked that!

A trip to the Arboritum

Today the weather was fine, and seeing as how I'm between jobs I thought I would take my little 'un to the arboretum. My hopes were that she would see real turtles and beavers in their natural habitat. And while we didn't actually see any beavers beavering, we did see beaver dams and ducks and big turtles and ants and geese. She also got to learn about blackberry brambles and nettles...though she managed to stir clear of business end of both.
Here are some highlights:

Anya, scanning the horizon for ducks, turtles and beavers.

Checking out the little green buds on the trees.

Spying some gooses in the distance eating grass
My kid's a tree hugger...

Attacking daddy in the tall grass

(For full images please see my picasa web album.)