Big Girl Bed

Goodbye, crib-turned-toddler bed. Hello, big girl bed!

Last night was Anya's first night on her new (to her) twin bed. She's been ready for one for awhile, but we've been stalling. As some of you may have guessed, Anya is not the most gentle, docile creature - the state of her (and our) furniture is proof of this. So the choices for a new bed were 1) regular kids furniture that she will destroy within a few years 2) top end furniture that she won't break, but it's pricey and I will be annoyed when she inevitably colors on it or "decorates" it in some other fashion 3) old, sturdy furniture that has survived generations of kids. We opted for choice 3.

Lynn thought someone in the family might have something in storage. And we were in luck! Chris' Uncle Rick and Aunt Teri had some old beds stored away in the garage rafters that we checked out while at Anya's great-grandma's 85th birthday party. It turned out that one of the beds was Chris' when he was young. Lynn had purchased it from a grandmother while they were living in Kentucky, so it's been through several kids including Chris' cousins. Score!

Chris cleaned it up and sanded it and I slapped on a few coats of paint. It's not the most feminine bed, but it's sturdy and should last. And now it sits in Anya's room with the quilt that my mom made for me when I was little -- so it truly is a family bed. How cool.

7 Months of Kid Quotes

March 13, 2011    [Crying on the floor] Dad: What's the matter?
Kid: I can't clean my room.
Dad: Why?
Kid: I don't have enough hands!
 
March 15, 2011   
[At the Burke Museum arguing with another Dino-nut kid about the Euoplocephalus]
Kid: ew-OP-lo-SEF-ə-ləs
Other kid: yu-OP-lo-SEF-ə-ləs!
Kid: ew-OP-lo-SEF-ə-ləs!
Rinse. Repeat.
 
March 17, 2011
[Discussing the idea of loss] If I lost Elephant (stuffed animal/lovey) a dandelion and a hammock would make me feel better. I looove hammocks.
 
March 25, 2011
My hair is starting to turn brown. I'm going to be a MAMA!
 
March 26, 2011
[Crying after falling and hurting herself WELL after bed time] This is going to hurt forever.
Dad: Where did you get hurt?
Kid: My breadbasket
Dad: That's not your breadbasket, that's your butt.

April 1, 2011
I bet when Laika (dog) grows up she wants to be a human.
 
April 19, 2011
Mom: What are you doing?
Kid: Sometimes you need to jump on a chair. But only on Fridays.
Mom: It's Monday.
Kid: And Mondays.
 
April 24, 2011
[Apparently apropos of nothing] Mom, saying hasta luego is just like saying au revoir
 
May 1, 2011
[After Rapunzel makes her daring escape in, "Tangled"] Uh oh, she's going to make her mommy very upset by running away.
Mom: Yes. Yes she will.

May 1, 2011
[Regarding a piece of hard candy]
Dad: No honey that's a choking hazard.
Kid: I like choking hazards.
 
May 7, 2011
Dad: What should we get mom for Mother's day?
Kid: A book.
Dad: What type of book?
Kid: One with a princess in it.
Dad: Hummm. Well what makes mom really happy? That's what we should get her.
Kid: Water! Get her water!
 
May 10, 2011
You're beautiful Morgana. You're the king of the cats
 
May 12, 2011
I have to go to the doctor's office because my feelings are hurt.
 
May 23, 2011
When I'm fat, can I go to that McDonalds?
 
May 30, 2011
Teach me how to play this game (Balderdash)
Dad: I don't know, it requires a lot of knowledge.
Kid: I can do knowledge.
 
June 2, 2011
[Regarding iPad] I WANT MY SCREEN TIME!!!
 
June 6, 2011
Let's play "market". I'll be the marketer.

June 13, 2011   
[Playing Plants vs "Mazombies"] Dad, you protected my mushroom! You're my hero.
 
June 16, 2011
[Headed to grandparents]
Parents: Anya where do you think we're going?
Anya: I don't know.
Parents: Guess!
Anya: I give up.
Parents: That's not a very fun game.
Anya: It's an "I give up game"
 
June 18, 2011
[While mom and dad were waking up] Don't get up yet. I'm going to surprise you and I'm not ready. ...Okay come out now and I'll jump out and say "boo!"
 
July 4, 2011
Opposites: Sunny : Cloudy. Lunch : Pie. Water : Milk. Plants : Zombies
 
July 12, 2011
[Pointing at a pilot in the Minneapolis airport] Is that a Nazi!?
 
July 13, 2011
Dad: I thought you said you were full.
Kid: I didn't say I was full of ICE CREAM.
 
July 14, 2011   
Kid:I found a new way to get off the bed. I throw a pillow on the ground and I fall on it.
Dad: How's that working for you?
Kid: Good. My head hurts a bit.
 
July 14, 2011
[Playing with toy bugs]
Kid: The mean dragon fly stole the baby lady bugs!
Dad: What are we going to do!?
Kid: Oh nothing, go to the kid store and get a new one!
 
July 24, 2011
Kid: Are we flying or driving to Portland?
Mom: Driving
Kid: But if we drive, I'm going to keep asking if we're there yet.

July 25, 2011
[Upon waking up on our road trip north]
Kid:I know we're in Seattle because it's raining. (Sadly she was pretty close, we were about in Sea-Tac)
 
July 25, 2011   
Kid: I have an idea, let's have a race![tears off up the hill.] [Once I've caught up to her] I've got another idea. Let's have a tired race. Where the person who's the most tired wins.
 
July 25, 2011   
What a sad little play ground with no one playing on it. I can make it happier!
 
August 2, 2011
[Freaking out in the car and wanting her elephant which we'd accidentally left at home] (rather helplessly and matter-of-factly)
Kid:I can't stop screaming until I get elephant.
Dad: Okay, okay! We'll go home and get him.
Anya: Aaaaaah. But I can't stop until I have him. (and she did, in fact, scream all the way home)
 
August 7, 2011
I didn't like being 3 1/2. I was too small. (she's now a whopping 3/4)
 
August 10, 2011   
Guess what mom!? I saw a small and stingy animal and it wasn't a predatory wasp!
 
August 11, 2011
I'm going to tell you a story. There were three pigs. One had a house made of straw, one made of sticks, and one made of real house.

August 13, 2011
[Playing with an ice pack]
Kid: Can I put this here (on her dresser) until I fall off my bed and hurt myself?
Dad: are you planning on falling off your bed?
Kid: yeah
Dad: won't that hurt?
Kid: Yeah. (proceeding to jump on the bed) Is that the kid quote of the day!? "
 
August 16, 2011
[The moment she woke up] Sqwaaaaarrrrrrck! I'm speaking pteranodon English.
 
August 18, 2011
[Eating flank steak] Is that mastodon? It looks like mastodon skin!

August 25, 2011
[In the PCC parking lot]
Kid: Just leave me in the car.
Dad: I can't. Mommies and Daddies who leave their kids in the car get in trouble.
Kid: And you could go to jail?
Dad: Yep.
Kid: Well the cops won't SEE it.
 
August 27, 2011
[After saving this earwig from drowning] He's so cute!
 
September 5, 2011
[Whispering in my ear conspiratorially] Daddy, I can feel my cells.
 
September 8, 2011
[On vacation with the grandparents]
Dad: How's the pool?
Anya: It's a little bit drowny.
 
September 17, 2011
Laika (the dog) needs a Halloween costume. She should be a cat!

Taking Anya Fishing

On Sept 11th this year my buddy Jeff and I decided to take our kids--Liam and Anya--fishing.  Being fully cognizant of our childrens' attention spans, we decided to do something I swore I would never do: We took the stinkers to a trout farm. Funny how many lame things our parents did make sense to us once we are parents. 

While the kids showed no interest in the fishing poles and bait they loved the nets, and spent the entire time Jeff and I tried to hook fish running around the ponds trying to ensnare each other.  

Here I am pretending Anya is loving the fishing.

Alas Anya didn't actually hook a fish, but she did help me by netting one of mine all by her self. Then again she had practice. She netted several fish from the feeding/growing pond (no fishing allowed). Below you can see her an Liam feeding the very same fish she eventually scooped up.

I don't think our child is normal. 

In our post fishing discussion Jeff informed me he was concerned what he was going to tell Liam when he landed his first fish and had to beat it to death.  The fish was flopping around and Jeff was having a crisis of conscience (albeit minimal). Anya and I walked over and I whacked the fish and no one even raised an eyebrow.


According to Jeff he had to explain for a few days why we had to kill fish to eat them and how farm animals become burgers and all that.  Our friend Maria didn't want me to bring her boy Javier because she felt killing the fish might traumatize him, our buddy Luca still asks his dad, "Do you mean animal chicken or food chicken?"

Know what my kid asked?  "Dad! Can I eat the fish's eyes?!" (Mom said, "No" by the way)

While it is true that Anya is a very empathetic child who always shows concern for others who suffer or cry.  She's also pretty comfortable with guts and gore and bugs and all things icky. 

I think she'll be a doctor or nurse or vet.

Anya's first Husky's Game

Today my good friend Loren invited Anya and I to use two of their Husky season tickets with he and his son Benjamin. For a little background Loren is a friend we met through our parenting group (PEPS) and I also play on a soccer team with him.
It was a lot of fun.  Anya ate her way through the tailgate party and then asked every three minutes for more food. She loved screaming when everyone else screamed (they would yell "Go Huskies" and she's yell, "EEEEEEEEE!" at the top of her voice.  She was also heard to say, "GO HUSKIES WHEN CAN WE GO HOME?!!?"
Eventually both the kids decided that they would rather be at home than at the game so we left at half time and went over to Loren's to watch the rest of the game.

Here's Anya conquering the mighty husky.

Here we are at the game


And here we are on the way home.  We took a Pedi-cab both there and back which was awesome and will be a main stay of our lives from now on.

Bug Bash 2011 at the Burke

My child (and wife apparently) fear no bug.
Here they are wrangling Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches at the Bug Bash at the Burke Museum today.  Very cool place for kids (and dorky adults I must say).  Anya also played with a tarantula, giant walking stick, Hermit Crab and two other giant cockroaches while we were there.

What did you do on your summer vaction?

Anya and the rest of the family just got back from a night's stay at Discovery Bay on the Olympic Peninsula.
This was her take. 

Bouncy House Frenzy At Eloise's Birthday

Anya (of course) pushes ahead, and Javier is the one who can't contain himself and yells "AWESOME".

At the Dentist

Today we were told by Dr. Cliney to start an orthodontist account for Anya.
Honey, when you're an embarrassed and awkward pre-teen, don't blame us, it's your under-bite, and we're no more happy about it than you are.

Anya in the sky (with diamonds)

We went to the Evergreen State Fair a couple weekends ago. Anya has been asking to return to this hallowed ground now for approx 12 months. Last year there were life-sized animatronic dinosaurs (which terrified her and have since been her obsession) along with pony rides. This year neither of those were on offer, but the Power Jump (tm) system had her from word go. She did this twice. Sadly the audio didn't work so the squeals of joy are inaudible. There was also a goat or two that grabbed her attention, and little bit of trivia, we saw about 20 seconds of JP Patches very last public performance.

Anya a Go-Gos

On August 14th, we took Anya to go see what music was like 30 years ago. Here we are are the Go-Gos at Woodland park zoo.
She spent almost the entire time trying to get away from the show and into the Zoo itself to see the animals. This video belies the fact that dad spent most of the time chasing her around and scolding her for throwing grass into the air and annoying those around us.
Ultimately we just got frustrated and went home.

First Day of Preschool, Second Year

Sadly, this is the best picture I could get of Anya today. The only way I could manage it was to physically restrain her in the car seat and then take her by surprise. This way, she couldn't run off or have time to put elephant over her head. This was taken after school. Shame. Before school, she was all dressed up and her hair hadn't been halfway removed from the ponytails yet. But Anya wouldn't allow me to take her picture then because now she "hates having her picture taken". Whatever. I got one. I win :-)

Anya's first day of school went well enough. They divided the classroom into 2 separate ones this year. So now she is a Dragonfly with Miss Emily. The roster looks like a great fit for her -- lots of her friends and without the one kid she didn't get along with last year. She was in a great mood and had a good time, which has been the norm for the past year. Unfortunately, I was spoken to for the second time about Anya's propensity for challenging the teachers and class rules. Apparently, she's been questioning them and trying to renegotiate (in her favor, of course)...which has been disruptive to the class. I'm not really sure how I feel about this. True, she should be respectful to the teachers and not disruptive, but it seems totally developmentally normal/acceptable to me to try to negotiate and challenge things. So, we've had some family discussions about this (namely, when and how it's OK to question the teachers) and we'll keep going from here. Could be worse.

It should be another good year for her, though. Once Anya turns 4 (in less than 2 months. Ack!), she'll get to start Sweet Pea College - a pullout Kindergarten prep class during school and she'll also get to start attending the weekly class field trips, which are just open to kids 4 and up.

And today, we also are revisiting classes at The Little Gym, after a 7 month hiatus.

Minus a mini trip to Discovery Bay as one last summer celebration, unofficial Autumn has started.