Decision making...

Anya is a child after my own heart. This is her trying to make a very difficult choice.

Very Well Considered Tantrum

Yesterday I came home to a screaming child. It seems mom asked her not to eat a banana too close to dinner or she would ruin her dinner. Of course Anya-being a 4.5 year old-ate a banana any way. Amy, in an attempt to come up with a meaningful but not particularly damaging punishment for her disobedience, decided Anya (and the whole family for that matter) would have banana for dinner, which we ate with knives and forks.
But all of that is only to serve as the context for the funny part.
Anya was *screaming* over and over, "Don't give me banana for dinner!" After a while of that she seemed to pick up the fact that there was some danger in that request, so she started wailing, "Give me something other than bananas for dinner" then, "Give me something that doesn't have onions, or mushrooms for dinner!" Which progressed to, "Give me something I want for dinner that isn't bananas, mushrooms, onions, or any other food I don't like!"
It was all Amy and I could do to not laugh as she so precisely lamented her sorry state.

Anya's First Real Dentist Appointment

Yesterday morning the family got up bright and early (note the pajamas being worn below) and visited our good ol' family dentist, Dr. Terrence Cliney.  Anya is now the 3rd generation of Lodwigs who have been poked prodded by the good doctor and orally assaulted by the hygienists in his office.  

Anya's been to Terry before, we've brought her in on about three previous visits, but those were more of the, "Hi, I'm the good ol' friendly dentist, I just want to count your teeth and see how big you are" kind of visits.  This was the full treatment.  Cliney pushed on all her teeth to make sure none were loose. He poked around with a metal hook to look for soft spots on her teeth.  The hygienist polished her teeth  (fruit cocktail flavor) aggressively and mercilessly flossed her.  Finally Anya opted for the bubble gum flavor paint-on fluoride treatment.  I don't know if Anya has ever had bubble gum in her life so when she heard it was on offer she jumped at the chance.  The whole time she was getting that horrid fluoride treatment she kept asking when she was going to get her bubble gum.  Sort of broke my heart.  

No cavities.  The Dr. Cliney still thinks she'll need braces to correct her underbite (though it does seem to be getting a little better).

We promised her if she was good she would get 2 stars on her star chart and she didn't complain once.  I was very proud of her.

But her crowning achievement was when the hygienist asked her if she wanted to be a princess when she grew up, she said, "No, I want to be a paleontologist."     

Allergies

So it turns out that Anya is allergic to cephalosporins (a class of antibiotics) and probably penicillins too. I'm not terribly surprised, since I am, and I think my mom and uncle are allergic to penicillins too. Fortunately, it's just a big, ugly rash, and not anaphylaxis (not to say it wouldn't be if she ingests it again).

We got to find this out after Anya got a nasty infection under her thumbnail. After a week of soaking it and cleaning it, it wasn't getting better, so we had to take her to the doctor for antibiotics. The infection part is gone now, but, man does the aftermath look gross. And poor bunny is going to lose her thumbnail. This whole ordeal is a very convincing argument against biting one's fingernails. Anya doesn't seem to have learned this lesson, since her fingernails are still constantly in her mouth. I don't know if that bitter nail polish that's meant to stop nailbiting works, but we might give it a try.

Fun stuff.

Cat in a Whirlpool

Anya's masterpiece from today. The only explanation was, "it's a cat in a whirlpool."

Easter

We had (for the most part) a lovely Easter this year. The weather was perfect; a rare sunny and 70 degrees. For the first time since Anya's birth, we didn't have to endure biting cold weather and chattering teeth while egg hunting. We did the usual egg dyeing a few days before (with the now-traditional egg salad sandwiches for dinner and lunch), decorated the big picture window with Easter clings (this seems to be what Anya does for every holiday now). Instead of the Mill Creek Easter Egg hunt, which we've done the last 2 years, we opted for something a little quieter this time. We went to the Laurelhurst Community Center egg hunt. We met up with Anya's PEPS buddy Liam and family and walked over there. It was really pleasant. Plenty of families, but not insanely crowded. Anya scored a decent share of eggs. Even though most of them had chocolate, she still didn't mind - which amazes me every year. I'm always bracing for tears or disappointment, but she's always been very gracious about it. She was very excited when one of her eggs had a Starburst. She just handed me the rest of the chocolate candy and asked me to "donate" it. Unfortunately, the morning ended on a sour note. Miss Anya climbed to the top of the jungle gym and slipped and fell flat on her face from about 6 feet up. We honestly weren't sure she was OK; she was pretty scraped up and her head and teeth hurt, so we had to take her home and watch for signs of concussion, etc. Big tears. Sad. She seems to be OK, though. And a lesson (hopefully) learned to not climb in high places with candy in her hands. The rest of Saturday was filled with gardening. Anya was such a great help. She and I completely weeded the gardening beds together, added compost, and planted tons of snap peas, lettuce, spinach, and carrots (while poor Chris continued to recover from being sick). She really loves gardening. Sunday, the Easter Bunny came, and left her with a basket full of treats. He left her a penguin puppet. necklaces and bracelets, fairy & unicorn figurines, little dinosaur figurines, PEZ, some jellybeans, a few Marshmallow peeps, some gummies, and a few other little toys. Anya was thrilled. Then we headed over to Lynn and Steve's for Easter brunch. The Easter Bunny happened to stop by their house in the early morning and left a few eggs in the yard for Anya. So there was another mini egg hunt with jellybeans as the prize. It was a nice morning spent with family. All in all, a great weekend.

hippie egg dye. It works well, but takes awhile. I love the flowers Anya drew on her eggs.

Anya and Liam waiting for the egg hunt to begin. They were surprisingly patient.

All the 3-4 year olds counting down to the start

aaaaaand they're off!

the egg hunt haul 

Easter morning. She found some necklaces in the eggs.

most of what the Easter Bunny left