Annada Marie Vergo

Annada asked me to take her picture with this statue outside the library.

When we go to the library Annada makes a huge pile of books from a letter section. (It’s only one section because that is one of the rules I made up.) Then we go through the pile and she says “Yes” or “No”. The No books we put back. The Yes books come home.

If it has a turtle, mermaid or butterfly on the cover it is a Yes book.

Watching dance at Lake Eola. Annada was entranced for 3 hours.

“I am dangerous!” Annada told me. “I have a gun.”

“Oh wow,” I replied.

“I have a gun and I keep it outside,” She returned.

Finally catching on, “A water gun?” I asked.

“Yes. I have a water gun and I am DANGEROUS!”

At Animal Kingdom on a Daddy-Daughter date.

I was giving Annada a bath when Marc came upstairs. So I stepped into the hallway just outside the bathroom to hear about his day. I could see her and hear her as Marc and I talked.

After a few minutes I realized Annada was singing, “I am a poor girl… all aloooooooooone in the baaaath tuuuuub. Just a poooooor girl.”

Watching the giraffes at Animal Kingdom after Brett and Christine caught up with Annada and Marc on their date.

Playing with Jillian at Jack's birthday party.

Annada asked me why Meme has worms for pets tonight. I told her that Meme’s worms make Meme’s flowers happy by giving them things to eat and air to grow into.

Annada lit up and said, “The worms make the flowers happy. The flowers make Meme happy. Meme makes Pepe happy. And Pepe makes Annada happy!”

At Asher's birthday party. Asher is in Annada's preschool class.

I broke Annada’s heart tonight. We have been having an on going debate on if crocodiles are nice or mean. Tonight we were guessing animals and Annada gave me the hint, “I am going to find one and bring it home for a pet.”

I guessed a butterfly and she said, “No, Mommy, a crocodile!”

Living in Florida I was a little concerned she really would find one so I told her we will never have a pet crocodile and if she found one to walk away… not realizing I would crush her dreams.

She literally curled up in the fetal position and cried big silent tears. I didn’t know what to do so I just stroked her hair while she grieved. After a few minutes she said quietly, “kisses please.” So I gave her a bunch of kisses and she just laid in bed until it was time for me to leave. – So sad! –

Last night Annada said, “Most three-year-olds can’t spell their name. But I can spell my name.” Then she laughed with glee.

Smart… and humble too!

Annada says, “it tastes like pinkatastic.”

And we are off to Blue Springs :).

Or more accurately, “not napping.”

I realized after posting this, it looks like she is really sleeping. But in reality her eyes are squeezed shut and it only last about 15 seconds.

Annada likes to make a fence with the couch pillows and call it a zoo. She calls it playing “wolf den.” Sometimes I am the Mommy wolf and sometimes I am the zoo keeper.

I took Annada to see Lyle, Lyle the Crocodile on St Patricks Day. (I know, I’m behind. I’m sorry. If your keeping track, this is the morning before her ER trip. Life changes fast sometimes.)

Can't be too serious at a play about a singing crocodile.

We had fun, but it was my least favorite kids play. At least I thought so. During the play Mr Grumps asks why Lyle would like someone like him. The town gossip replies, “Lyle likes everyone just the way they are.

And since then Annada has been randomly coming up to me, giving me a hug and saying, “I love you just the way you are.”

Priceless.

Celebrating Green.

We also ordered all the Lyle books from the library. It’s been fun to read them together.

Putting on a show at the REP.

http://instagr.am/p/JQAq2Ukgmt/

Because in all the playing pictures she is a blur.

Riding home from dinner tonight. As we drove Annada started to whimper, “I’m sad because the sun is going down and I don’t want to go to bed!”

(Notice the new car seat. I used to think cup holders were overkill. Now I wonder how lived without one. This car seat has built in toy storage too. Annada gets out and puts her own toys away! We bought it because it got the highest rating on Consumer Reports. But we love it because the back seat is clean.)

Putting on a Pink Show. She runs around yelling that the show is starting, then gets up and sings about how much she loves pink.

Annada is officially a pink princess. She has decided that each holiday has a corresponding color (St Patricks Day = Green, Christmas = red, etc). Easter’s color is pink. Which makes Easter “the very best holiday” according to Annada.

I’m not revealing Easter photos yet, but needless to say Annada has not worn anything that wasn’t pink all week. This morning she told me I had to change because I was wearing blue. And if ask her why we celebrate Easter she will say, “Pink!” Then I say “Anything else?” And Annada will return, “Jesus rose.”

It’s been a couple of weeks and Annada seems just fine, so I think it is time write about her first ER trip. It scared me a lot, so it’s taken a while for me to want to write about it.

Watching a movie. When the doctor checked her out he put her in this position. She didn't even move a finger for at least another hour.

March 16 Annada came home from school seeming fine. By dinner time her fever was 102, so I decided to take her to the doctor that night. I had the flu the week before and if she had the flu I wanted her on tamiflu right away. We took her to an express care clinic and she didn’t have the flu. They thought she “might be getting an ear infection” and sent us home with a prescription for antibiotics. I didn’t feel great about that, but I knew she didn’t have the flu, so I just figured we would be taking it easy while she fought off some random sickness.

The next morning she woke up with a temp but was happy, so I gave her some ibuprofen and went on like normal. Annada really seemed fine.

In the afternoon Annada and Marc were playing in her room under the stairs when she told Marc she was tired. Marc says she pulled a blanket over herself and went to sleep on the floor. Marc figured sleep would help her feel better and came up stairs. About 10 minutes later he saw me and mentioned she was sleeping. I decided to go check on her.

When I came downstairs my first thought was that she looked so cute sleeping. A half second later it registered that her mouth was doing something strange. I reached out and put my arms on her back. By getting closer I could see her jerking under the blanket. Her eyes were half open and her mouth was shaking around. I called her name loudly and she didn’t respond.

I pulled the blanket off and gently wrapped my arms around her waist. I didn’t know what to do, so I just laid there with her, praying and trying to decide if I should call 911. I was 90% sure she was having a seizure so I was hoping it would pass soon. It felt like whole dynasties rose and fell before she stopped.

Trying to be rational I figured it was probably more like a minute. I called for Marc and passed her to him to get her out of the small room. I sat on the couch and he passed her back to me. She was totally limp – with her eyes half open but rolled back. She wouldn’t respond to me.

I asked Marc to call her doctor. He dialed and passed the phone to me. I talked to a triage nurse who passed me to an on-call nurse. The nurse told me I had to take Annada to a pediatric ER and confirmed that she probably had a febrile seizure. Then she scared me. “Your daughter isn’t breathing right. I can hear her. It is shallow breathing,” she said.

That was the one moment I almost broke down. “Oh God, please protect my baby!” I thought. I took a breath and asked if we needed to call for an ambulance. The nurse said we didn’t. I asked if we could take her to a pediatric urgent care clinic (thinking she might get better care there and may be seen faster) and she told me it had to be a pediatric ER.

Marc and I put Annada in the car and I sat in back with her. It had been about 30 minutes since the seizure and Annada was finally starting to respond to me and her breathing seemed stronger. A few times she even lifted her head in the car. She was still pretty limp though.

I walked into the ER and started to sign her in. I was cradling her and I think carrying a semi-conscince child must be up there with heart pain because the lady at the desk waited me to fill in name and age before telling me it was good enough and started walking me back into the ER. A nurse met us in the hallway and told her what room to put us in.

A minute later a nurse came in and checked Annada’s vitals. After jogging down the hallway with Annada, things practically stopped. Her temp was 102 again so the nurse stripped her down, turned the air conditioning up and gave her a ton of ibuprofen. She told me Annada was stable.

The sign on the door said, “God, bless the child in this room.” I stared at it.

It was great to know Annada was going to be fine. And about an hour and a half later Annada seemed tired but mostly recovered.

We were there 3 hours. It was a little frustrating because we weren’t really sure why. They would come in, check something, 30 minutes later run a test, 30 minutes later check her vitals again, 30 minutes later tell us the test results, etc.

I talked with her pediatrician a few days later and found out they were holding her for observation. That totally makes sense – and even explains why two doctors came in at the end. Annada told them she wanted to go home and they laughed. “That makes me feel great about sending you home,” he said.

I do wish we had understood at the time, though. It was hard to wonder what was going on for 3 hours.

The prognosis is good. Because I didn’t see the whole seizure there is some question about what happened. But I’ve watched her closely and Annada is totally Annada. She’s using both sides of her body and asking questions like, “what is our destination, Mommy?” when we get in the car. As long as it doesn’t happen again we will call it a febrile seizure and a one-time event.

Annada doesn’t seem to remember much of the night. She is deeply bonded with the bear they gave her, though. And she uses her hospital bracelet to play doctor with.

As I walked out the ER with her that night I passed by families of people in the ER huddled in the hallway and walked by a chart full of kids not going home. It gave me a deep sense of gratitude we went to the ER when we didn’t really need to – instead of really needing it.

When Annada was little and scared sometimes she sucked on my arm. She did it a ton in the hospital.

It was 86 degrees today but the water was still cold.

When we got to the pool Annada called me over. “Mommy, what is that?” she asked. “Are there flies in the pool? Can we save them?” She was peering into the pool with a look of concern and anxiety for the “flies.”

Annada cares deeply about bugs and animals. She once spent 2 hours trying to save a moth that drowned. She brought it snacks, moved it into the sun, sang it songs… (Mom confession: I eventually told her it was sleeping and would feel better in the morning.)

“They are flying ants,” I responded. Hundreds of flying ants – yuck.

Annada’s expression changed immediately. “I hope they die!” she yelled out.

I guess a few red ant bites is enough to destroy even Annada’s compassion.

(Oddly enough, she won’t walk on cracks, though. She tells me the cracks are where ants live and she doesn’t want to hurt them. I think she is okay with ants that stay away but not in her pool.)

Pretending to feed the cows at the Omaha Children's Museum.

Playing at the Kissimmee Green Place - an organic farm where we get vegetables.

Today at the grocery store Annada randomly lightly reached out and hit me on the cheek while smiling.

“Annada, what did you just do?” I asked.

“I hit you because I was pretending you were being bad,” she replied.

“Annada, it is not okay to hit even if someone is being bad,” I said. “What should you do?”

“Say, ‘excuse me,'” Annada said softly. “‘Would you please stop being bad?'”

Doing her doll's hair and pretending to let her doll watch a YouTube clip so she will sit still. Annada's favorite video is one of cats doing silly things.

Here are some cute/funny things Annada has said…

Heaven

Her class was talking about heaven. Her teacher asked the kids what they think heaven will be like. “In heaven God will give us bodies that don’t need to go potty,” Annada replied.

Boys

When Marc and I pick Annada up from school she loves to leave the building and sit on a park bench just outside. “Let’s sit and talk, Mommy!” she often says.

One day she told me, “I don’t play with boys, only girls.” I asked her why. “Boys play with different toys and they play different games,” she replied. “But I still play with Daddy. Daddy’s and Pepe’s are a different kind of boy.”

Snuggle

When I put Annada to bed she likes to pull the covers over our heads and giggle saying, “We are the cuddler’s, Mommy.” I usually give her a hug and say, “I love you sooo much!”

To which Annada replies,”I love you more.”

And I say, “I love you more plus one.”

And she says, “I love you more plus two.”

Then I say, “I love you more plus three.”

And Annada says, “I love you more plus three… plus infinity!”

Obey

If my GPS talks a couple of times in a row Annada will say, “Are you obeying your phone, Mommy?”

And if I tell her I am trying a new way she says, “Mom, you need to obey. I worry when you are not obedient.”

Bad Advice

When we were skyping with Pepe and Meme recently Pepe told me that doctor’s say that kids picking their nose helps with allergies (gross, but true). I replied that was true but it is still bad manners. Now when I catch Annada picking her nose Annada says, “Pepe says it is healthy!”

It is Annada's job to decorate our windows and mirrors.

Laughing at a manatee pulling a tracking device. No idea why this is so funny, but it was very, very funny to Annada.

A couple of weeks ago we went with the Butchers to see the Manatees at Blue Springs. I love that park. It is so beautiful it almost feels like we left earth. The water is crystal blue-green, the trees are deep green and there are splashes of color from flowers and birds throughout.

Playing with a palm branch.

Annada likes to “feed the manatees” leaves. Even with wildlife, she is a feeder!

We had a picnic and then wondered around.

We are about 4 feet from the manatee.

Right before we left, we decided to go down to ramp and look again. We had not seen any manatees close up yet. The winter has been very warm, so they don’t need to cluster at the spring as much. As we stood there, a manatee swim right underneath us and stayed there! Then another one (they tend to be in pairs) that was under our feet swam out from the ramp. They just chilled out, blew bubbles and let us watch them.

Ms Katrina calls this death by love. 🙂 3-year-olds seem to have a hard time hugging in sync. I'm guessing Jillian hugged first or is about to.

Between daylight savings time and waking up 1.5 hours earlier because of preschool, we struggled this weekend to get Annada to bed on her new time. Usually Annada and I talk for about 30 minutes before bed, but we’ve been so far behind I’ve been cutting it down to 15. Annada does not like this. (Me either.)

Last night I was trying to give her time to talk about her day while still getting out quickly. (I know – that is impossible.) So when Annada asked to play “night Kindermusik” I tried to make it a transition out.

“Put your hand on your head, on your head..” she started to sing.

I joined in and sang, “And a kiss you will get..” and reached forward and kissed her forehead.

As I pulled back Annada slapped me.

Annada very rarely hits. “Annada, you may not hit me,” I said sternly. “That hurt. You need to apologize.”

“I am sorry,” she said meekly, but still a little angry.

“Use your words, not your hands to tell me how you feel,” I told her. “No matter how you feel, it is not okay to hurt someone.”

“You hurt my LIFE,” Annada burst out.

“I am the teacher. When you tried to be the teacher, you hurt my life,” Annada said, near tears.

Annada and Ms. Katrina, her Kindermusik teacher.

Annada and I's classic theater pose. I don't remember how it got started, but I think it might be a tradition.

Marc and I took Annada to see the youth theater’s Cinderella today. When I realized Cinderella was a 5th grader I began to get worried. But wow, these kids are WAY more talented than anyone I went to high school with. Cinderella sounded eerily like Brandy.

Our poker faces.

Annada hardly breathed through the performance. She inherited my frozen face when watching theater. I am sorry to anyone who has performed for us and thought we hated it. It really means we love it so much we forgot to think about our face!

Cinderella's Stepmom. Annada's outfit is 100% her choosing. Including the boots. It is her Cinderella dress.

Cinderella wanted a picture with Cinderella’s stepmom and Cinderella. NO one else. Annada has a thing for Cinderella’s step-family. At Disney World, she loves to talk with the stepsisters.

“The Step-sisters aren’t mean to Annadas. Only to Cinderellas,” she told us.

Cinderella

After we left Annada asked to get French fries. “It’s a special treat day!” she declared.

Hmmmm, we don’t want her to think she always get a food treat after going somewhere fun, but it was the grand-opening of a frozen yogurt place in our neighborhood….

Twirling for the ice cream cone.

So we went to Menchie’s. Annada was amazed that there was a walking ice cream cone there. She didn’t even finish her frozen yogurt. When the ice cream cone headed outside to wave at cars, she wanted to go too.

“I’ll eat you up, I love you so!” Annada said she wanted to tell him. But after twirling for him, Annada got scared and retreated to her Daddy’s arms.

The best place to be when there is a huge ice cream cone walking about.

It was hard to keep Annada from stealing my pink purse.

I was sick the first time and Annada loved Pinkalicious so much that I decided to take her. We had a blast.

On our best princess behavior.

Since then, if you ask Annada her name, Annada will reply, “Pink.”

She loves to sing at the top of her lungs, “And I won’t be satisfied until the wold wide world is PINKKKKKKK!”

And when we are out shopping she asks for anything pink.

In the play Pinkalicious uses a marker on the walls and furniture to turn them pink (evil script writer). So Annada has lost her pink marker a couple of times for misuse.

As long as it is truly hers, though, I let her color it pink. So when she made a frog puppet she finished it by coloring it pink. She likes to use the marker on her feet, arms and even face. And she used pink food dye to turn the water her flowers are in pink. That was the best because the flowers turned pink!

The weekend we are going to a youth performance of Cinderella. I am curious to see if Cinderella will end the pink phase or if “pink, pink, pink!” as Annada would say, is here to stay.

Annada in Kindermusik with Judah (her nanny's son) and her friend Jillian.

Dear God,

Thank you for me.
Thank you for my life.
Thank you for my water bottle.
Thank you for making me.
Thank you for Kindermusik.
Thank you for letting me go to lots of places.

Mom, your turn to pray.

Annada was jumping waving with Marc when her sunglass fell off and were swept away. She was really sad about it until we made up a story about the sea animals playing with them. Then she said she hopes they float to Africa and Doaa finds them.

Showing off her lunch box before her test day at Montessori.

Today was Annada’s first official day of school. Wednesday she went to Montessori for 3 hours so her teacher could decide if she was a good fit for the classroom. Thursday we met with her teacher and school director. They offered us a spot! :). She did great and literally ran away from Marc into the building when it was time for class to begin. And in the morning, when we told her it was time to go she called out, “Hip hip hooray!”

Playing at Montessori Way Learning Center.

I am really impressed by the Montessori School. The classroom is very calm and the students were being respectful to each other and the teachers. Absolutely everything was thought through and the teachers were very kind. The theory is that if you give children a good environment and follow their lead they will work hard to learn. I was a bit of a skeptic until I went and saw even the young 3-year-olds happily working math puzzles and tracing letters for an hour.

Breakfast on her first day of school.

I love the Montessori classroom. However, it has five drawbacks – it is 5 days a week, it is way more expensive, Annada would have to quit Kindermusik, it is father away and it is not a Christian school.

Last week I found out our church’s preschool did not have room for Annada. That started us on a preschool hunt. Just when it felt like all the preschools were full (or not very good) one of the moms in Kindermusik told the class her son started school the day before. I called the school as soon as class was over and set up a tour for the next morning at Atonement Lutheran, which is the preschool our church recommends once they are full.

Atonement just opened a new classroom this week! They are full for next year, but would give us a spot if we put Annada in this year. Atonement is 3 days a week and close to our home. Plus they choose to have very small classes. There are only 5 kids in Annada’s classroom (there are 6 total but only 5 each day because 3 kids take one day off a week) and her teacher has a bachelor’s in childhood education.

Annada has been begging to go to school since last fall when her friends started school. So I already knew it was time to let her go (sniff sniff).

We have decided to put Annada in Atonement this year and over the summer do summer camp at both schools. Then we can decide where to put her next year. We have paid to reserve a spot in both. We are leaning toward Montessori next year, but it is wonderful to know we have two great options!

Annada's teacher, Mrs. Jamie.

Annada’s teacher at Atonement is fun and kind. Several times yesterday Annada flung her arms around me and said, “Oh, thank you for letting me go to school, Mommy!” This morning I thought I would have to wake her up, but when I walked in her room she was lying on her back with a big smile. I laid out her clothes (Annada’s one requirement was that they HAD to be pink) and she got dressed so fast we had time to spare.

Dropping Annada off.

Annada loves to sing a girl scouts song I taught her about making new friends and keeping old ones. So this morning she asked if she could bring stickers to school to give her new friends. “I’m going to make new friends and then come home to my old ones,” she told me.

Mrs. Jamie let Annada give out her stickers during circle time and then Annada even got to be line leader. When I picked her up, she ran away from me and started in running in circles of joy.

Then Annada came over and motioned between our hearts. “There’s the invisible string of love,” she said. Mrs. Jamie asked Annada what she meant and Annada told her my loves reaches her even when I am far away because of the invisible string between our hearts. (Thank you for the book recommendation, Dr. Nielsen!)

Mrs. Jamie said Annada did great today and fits in the class well.

Ice cream for lunch.

To celebrate Annada’s big day we ate ice cream for lunch and then went to the library. As we were driving Annada asked to call Daddy. When he asked her how school went she happily said – almost in one breath: “There were just kids. No Mommies and No Daddies. No anyones except little children. I made new friends. One of my new friends pushed me. I played on the playground and went in the pink house. A boy told me no you can’t come in, but then he said you can come in. There is a little potty in my classroom and I put holes in my play dough.”

Playing in the Quad with Jess.

Annada makes me laugh or smile every day. Here are some recent quotes:

“That box has princesses in it. I can smell it in my belly.” (Looking at a present I was going to give her.)

“I’ve been looking for this all my morning!” (Upon opening the box and finding a Cinderella playset.)

I just can’t stop loving you!” (While giving me a hug.)

“Would you eat a french fry with ants on it?” (Playing a new game she made up called, Would You Eat?)

“No! Nothing can stop me from dancing!” (Upon being asked to move toward our table while dancing in the lobby.)

“This flower was crying. It wants me to take it home and love it.” (Preempting me telling her not to pick a flower in a garden.)

“I want to read all the Narnia stories. Except don’t read the scary part again. It hurts my head.” (After we finished a shortened version of “The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe” over several days.)

“Please, I need ice cream Mommy. Please OOO Mommy, OOO Mommy.” (Begging for ice cream after running and literally bowing with her head to the ground before me.)

“Do you have crayons here?” Annada asked a preschool teacher we interviewed. “Yes, we have crayons and paint and scissors,” Ms. Jamie replied. “Okay, I want to play with her,” Annada answered.

On a side note, looking into preschools has made me nervous because some of them list being able to get dressed as a requirement. Annada has never dressed herself. She’s great at stripping, but not getting back into clothes. So today I gave her clothes and asked her to dress herself. A minute later she came running by me clothed. Apparently I just never asked before.

Speaking of preschools – it is CRAZY! I’ve been on a waiting list all year but wasn’t too concerned. Now we are 21st on the list for next year. I knew there was only one good preschool in my neighborhood so I started looking around.

It is a literal competition. Wednesday Annada is going to one preschool for 3 hours of testing and evaluation to see if the school will accept her. It has 3 children “competing” (because I really hope the kids don’t understand) for 1 spot and will pick the kid they think best fits their learning environment. At another school we spent an hour interviewing and will find out next week if they will offer us a spot. She just turned 3!! The schools are picky now and then grandfather in the kids already in their programs for VPK (in 2 years for us). VPK money is based on test scores, so having the right kids matters a lot to the schools.

For Superbowl Sunday our church invited everyone to wear clothes representing their favorite sports team. Annada represented Nebraska for us with style.