Horses, Dogs and Ducks

Horses: This was way back in September of 2010 and though I may have posted about this already, I don’t remember (so sorry if it’s a repost). Anyway, we went to Alamo to go camping and ended up staying in a tent at our friends…We really lucked out…the fun of camping, plus the luxury of electricity and toilets CLOSE by…and an added bonus…horses! This was so much fun, Annaka was so small…only 13 months, I can’t believe how fast she has grown-up! She is now 17 months old and I look at her on the horse and have a hard time thinking she was that small such a short time ago…now she thinks she is such a big girl J.
It took Annaka a bit to warm-up to the horses, but that’s normal for her, totally her personality to observe first, then cautiously go about doing…Let me tell you, as a parent, that has been a wonderful quality for a child to have…

Such a beautiful and calm horse

Dogs: We went to our friends house the beginning of this week and she has a dog that is usually in another room when Annaka is over…but this time a little boy let him out and I told Natalie (my friend) to just keep him out, it would be good for Annaka…She has been around dogs before…our friend Becky has three SUPER cute little ones that we love to go visit (we need to more) and they lick Annaka’s face and she smiles. With Natalie’s dog, Rocky, she would smile and point at him, but once she found out that he would eat the cheerios she dropped on the ground, she was in love. She took all her cheerios one by one and set them on the ground for Rocky to eat, she thought it was great fun (It made me wish Kramer was around still, that’s what he would have done). Since then, every time she sees a dog she makes a point to tell me…This is at Sunset park...Annaka is trying to follow the dog.Her new favorite book, "Im Going on a Bear Hunt" she finds the dog on every page.

Ducks: We went to feed the ducks at Sunset park, our first time, and it was great fun! I CAN’T wait to go again, with Kirby this time.
This lady brought 3 bags full of bird seed and fed it to the ducts...they went crAzy! At first Annaka ate the bread herself



When she realized the ducts would eat it, she couldn't get enough of it.

Potty Training

Not yet...but my mom did say this was blog worthy-so here I go:

Annaka got her very own toilet for Christmas (actually 2, which is great...one upstairs, one down) She as never used the one downstairs (although she has upstairs) I mostly just want her to see what it's for. If she sits on it, she gets a sticker. If we see she is "pushing" we hurry her to the bathroom so she can learn that's where we go to poop or pee. I always tell her when Im going to the bathroom (which is a lot) and she'll follow me in their and sit on her toilet, then I'll give her a sticker...stickers are amazing, by the way :)

So, first story. The past three nights while the tub is filling up I put Annaka on her toilet seat (the ones that fit on the big toilet, thank goodness). The first two nights she didn't like it and got off pretty quickly, and what does she do...PEE on the ground, of course. The third night I got smart and gave her books to look at! She did great, and peed in the toilet!! Yeah! The fourth night: She sat forever on her toilet, but no pee, although she didn’t want to get off the toilet because she enjoyed being read to...the fifth night, Kirby's turn...and success!!

Alright, the BEST story: This happened this morning-I had just changed her diaper and put her in her highchair to fed her breakfast and she points to her bum (which is has done before to tell me she has poop) so I said “oh, did you poop?” and then she points to the bathroom...I was very impressed at this point and so I took her into the bathroom like she told me and set her on her toilet. Me, thinking she had already pooped, clapped for her and said okay lets go get a sticker, but she said no! So, I waited in there with her for a bit and low and behold she poops! Of course I didn’t take her diaper off, so it wasn't in the toilet, but WHAT A GREAT girl to tell me she had to poop and point at the bathroom! AND maybe even the most amazing part...staying their (even after I offered her a sticker) until she pooped! I am in no way "potty training" right now- just trying to get her familiar with the toilet and what it's used for...I think it's a lot more successful than I had anticipated! Yeah Annaka!!! Although my mom said it's probably just a phase and once she realizes she has to use the toilet all the time, she’ll digress...but we'll celebrate the simple things!

Okay, one last story about the toilet (this actually happened awhile before the first two I mentioned above):
Annaka was being quiet...this is always a sign of her mind spinning and she's up to something...I go in the other room and see this:
This is not like my daughter at all really. She rarely gets into things that she knows are not hers, but that roll of toilet paper just sitting there must have got to her. When I saw it, my first reaction was: upset, but I stepped back and decided to ask her, "what are you going to do with it?" She points at the bathroom...I followed her. She points at her toilet. I say, "yes, that's where it should go." She proceeds to pick up every single piece of toilet paper, take it to the bathroom and put it into her toilet. She was very diligent too! What a little smarty pants :)

Beaumont Christmas

Its fun having both sets of parents so close to each other in St. George. Annaka gets to celebrate with everyone on the fun holidays that we make it to St. George for. This was her Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa Bs…
Thank you Grandma and Grandpa (and the Reads for the kitchen)!!

She got a kitchen! It was not on the list but the Reads got a killer deal for it...FREE! So we took it :)

Annaka got a Cozy coupe...and wanted to play in it the moment she saw it...Too bad she had to wait for Dad and Grandpa to put the darn thing together...now I understand why parents stay up until all hours of the night putting together their kids toys! Very smart!

Wahoo! "Finally!"

New Year's 2011

Just 7 months late...better late, then never, right??

This year on New Years my parents came down to Vegas and stayed in a hotel with their friends the Buxtons and we met up with them for the day.

This chair was in the lobby of the hotel my parent's stayed at.

She must have thought it was massive!

We went to Fremont Street (I think that's the name) that afternoon (where the big New Years party is always held) and walked up and down it. The coolest (well, the coolest part was being outside! It was sunny and FREEZING cold! Poor Annaka, all I brought her was a light sweater, it looked beautiful outside...so deceiving!) anyway, the coolest part was this spray paint artist...I didn't even think to take any pictures of the art (only my freezing child getting some grandpa bonding time)...but it was so fun to watch him paint- seriously one picture took him around 5-minutes!


Deb Buxton happened to have a quilt and was so kind to let Annaka have it, or else she would have been sick that night, I'm sure of it.

On the way home (grateful to be back in the car, heat blazing) we saw Goliath...the vehicle version.

For our actual New Year's party we went to a friends house and enjoyed some games and food until we watched the ball drop on TV and we saw some chips of Fremont Street...it was kind of cool to say we were just there that afternoon. Annaka was really good for us, she's always been really good at going down at other peoples houses, so we just brought the pack 'n play and she was out, a little later than we wanted, but it was a party, so you can't blame her.

Hope everyone is having a great 2011!!

"Say Cheese"

When I take a picture of Annaka I tell her to "say cheese" and she makes the funniest face...it's because she knows that this bright light is going to flash into her eyes and she's not so sure she enjoys that very much, but she likes to get her picture taken (because she likes to see herself after on the camera) so she tries really hard to look. Funny goose of ours :)

ONE

Well, we made it to the one year mark! Went fast, but really it seems like this sweet thing has been in our life a lot longer...I look forward to all the new things she will learn and her bright personality coming out along the way.

Happy Birthday- We love you, Annaka!

Her birthday was, in my mind, the perfect 1st birthday...consisting of:

1. Food
2. Presents
3. Cake
4. Family

Before I get started with the party, let me just inform you that this little girl LOVES books. Thus, the book worm theme (of sorts, I only did so much)

The invite:

Food:
Yummy shredded chicken tacos, creamy orange jello/pudding whip, fruit salad, pasta salad, and homemade strawberry lemonade ~yum-yum~

Presents:

She got spoiled: Books, clothes, Dora couch, music CDs, The 3 Little Pigs playset, Jungle bopper, bathtub stickers, doll, toy dog, toy cell phone, orange ball(to be seen later in post) and so much more! Thanks everyone!

Cake:

She took 3 good bites of her cake and then mostly just played in it. That's my girl!

The above mentioned orange ball, from Troy and Becky, she let you know how she felt about it

Family:

Thanks everyone for making the trip, it made for the best birthday! It wouldn't have been the same without you!

Whitehead Family
Beaumont Family

Almost one

So I thought I better update the summer of Annaka before she hit the 1-year mark...wowzers! Here goes nothing:

See that thing in her month? Yeah, that pacifier or binky or whatever you like to call it...well take a good look, because this is the last picture of her with it in her mouth. Yep, it is gone, at 10 1/2 months we weaned her from her pacifier...Dad did a great job and I'm soo happy we took the week or so to do it! She doesn't need it now and has learned to self-sooth to sleep and calm herself down...plus, from this picture you can see that she loves books, those do a great job whenever she needs a little R & R.

While I taught swimming lessons Dad was hard at work all summer long putting down new floors, landscaping the backyard, and organizing all his boxes...Anna loved to "help" him out too...

Good girl Goose, way to take a load off Dad :)

LAKE POWELL TRIP:

Annaka's first time to Lake Powell! SO much fun. Had a few hard times with the schedule of things as we were trying to load up and shop (how do you get around that?) but once we got out on the lake she was great! Loved the sand, the water, being outside, riding on the boat, jetskies, and even wakesurfing...I'll have to get some pictures from my dad (grandpa).

First dip in the lake-half naked of course.

On the trip she found her toes...can you blame her, having to sit in her carseat all the time she found something to entertain herself with.

My sister did this and took pictures on my phone...she thought she was pretty funny, but I'm pretty sure Annaka liked it too...yummy fruit snacks.

The drive Annaka did really well. From Vegas to St. George she did great, I can't even remember what she did, so must have been good. From St. George to Powell and back she (me and Kirb) had it made, Becky and Brady got to sit in the back with her and entertained her the whole time-thanks guys:)