Annada Marie Vergo

Playing with flowers at Epcot.

Meme (blessed-be-she) is here watching Annada during the day while Marc and I take a class. They have made the coolest pumpkins! (Pics to come)

Meme also brought Annada a kit to decorate a princess mirror. Annada loves it. She’s been running around holding it up to us and chanting…

“Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the best Mommy of them all? It’s Mommy!”

Or

“Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the greatest Daddy of them all? It’s Daddy!”

Or

“Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the best Meme of them all? It’s Meme!”

But when she points it at her she says, “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the most beautiful of them all? It’s Annada!”

Going Trunk or Treating with our neighbors Oct 30.

I had just finished praying with Annada before bed last night when she said, “God gave you an excellent baby. You loved your baby. She got bigger and now she is Annada.”

All I could say was, “You are right.”

Annada drew us a mural. She was so clueless that drawing on the wall was a bad idea, she even showed it to me. And… we now have to repaint the wall. I can’t help but laugh whenever I come up the stairs.

The mural day was a particularly busy one – Annada filled the toliet with so much paper it wouldn’t flush, put tissues down the sink (hours later, different bathroom) to it wouldn’t drain and broke a few toys. (She really wants to go potty “all by herself” but I may have to keep the tp with me.)

It was a rainy day and we were stuck inside – I am grateful to live in Florida where she can run off energy most days. And I love having a healthy, curious girl.

Annada wanted to do use face paint to make scary butterflies. I did her make-up, she did mine.

Today Annada, Hannah and I went to Epcot. On our way back the ferry was so full I had to stand next to our stroller. As we were moving Annada got out of her stroller and started roaming the very full boat.

I grabbed her hand to keep her close and she tried to pull it out. So I leaned over and told her, “You have to stay with me when the boat is moving. You can hold my hand or sit in the stroller. Which option do you pick?”

“I want to stand here all by myself,” Annada replied.

I looked at her with my that-is-not-one-of-the-options eyes.

“That is my option,” she said. “And it is a good one!”

Our house is holiday-confused. Annada is convinced that she will go trick-or-treating to find eggs filled with candy at people’s homes. Then we will come home and open presents from Santa. Yes, I have tried to explain it.

So Marc laughed at me when I came home with a nativity set. “This isn’t going to help her understand that Christmas comes in Decemeber,” he said.

I saw one on sale and Annada and I made a special Mommy-daughter date to go get it. We had dinner out together and then went to buy it. Buying a kid-friendly nativity is special to me because I loved playing with the nativity when I was little.

When we bought it I asked Annada whose birth was on the picture. “It’s Isaiah!” she said with glee, referring to her cousin.

When we brought it home we read the the story of Jesus’ birth together. Then I read it again and Marc and Annada acted out the story while I read a short version from children’s book.

Annada has spent about an hour every day since then acting out Jesus’ birth. She pulls out the kid’s book and sets up the scenes. Jesus is often born on the roof. But she and I both love it.

Petting the lobster.

Friday Annada’s playgroup toured Publix, our local grocery store. Annada and I were excited to go. A few weeks ago Annada noticed there was a door at the store she was not allowed to open. It went up stairs to a glassed in level of the store where the offices are. She decided she wanted to go up there badly. I told her only employees could go up there, “I will work here, Mommy,” she said. “I will. They will have jazzercise and I will kiss you goodbye and go to work.”

So when I told her we got to go behind the door the next day, she was so excited she kept squealing with happiness after I tucked her in bed.

The next morning I had to wake her up to get there in time. She was groggy and cuddly at first, then suddenly stopped. She broke out into a huge smile. “Let’s go to Publix!,” she yelled.

Ahh. The cookie.

They took us upstairs first thing and Annada was clearly impressed. We could look out over the whole store. After that, though, she and the other toddlers were pretty focused on making sure we got a cookie before we left.

We finished up by going to “Old McDonald’s” as Annada would say. Cookies, a balloon, friends, halloween candy and french fries. Annada was a happy girl.

Belle is coming!

Wednesday Marc took Annada to see the princesses at WDW. Since then, every night before bed Annada wants to talk about that day with me – where the princesses were sitting, which ones were there and …

Notice her feet are literally off the ground.

She always recounts the moment she was walking away from Cinderella, turned and ran into her arms. Marc said Cinderella and Annada were beaming. “Cinderella hugged me, Mommy! She really did.”

The Merry-Go-Round is no longer scary.

Annada likes to imagine what the princesses are doing while she lays in bed and we talk. Right now she thinks they are in their beds outside looking at the stars with their princes. Until the mosquitoes come. Then, like everyone else in Florida, they have to flee inside.

Hayrack ride

No one celebrates the seasons as much as Floridians. Multiple times I have seen people cover their entire lawns with white foam pretending it is snow. And Fall is as good as Christmas in Nebraska. There are Fall Festivals everyday in October ending with Halloween parties.

It’s almost getting hard to pick which event to go to. Fortunately, Annada is fond of bounce houses, firetrucks and horse rides.

Just last weekend, we went to 3 free festivals in a row. (Marc and I tag teamed the first two, then went together for the third.) That totals: 3 firetrucks, 4 bounce houses, more sugar than I want to think about, face painting, a pony ride, 2 new pumpkins, Daddy and Annada getting kicked off one inflatable obstacle course for some “cheating” (he carried her up the climbing wall), 2 hayrack rides, UCF cheerleaders, dancing troops, making a stain glass pumpkin, bookmark and pumpkin card and (I’m ashamed to admit it) 2 hot dogs.

In Florida, we may not have weather changes, but we know how to party. (And Marc and I aren’t even counting the half-a-dozen Octoberfests every weekend this month.)

The last truck burned up. I'm not kidding. The fire chief showed us the video on his phone. It had a gas leak. We are talking a huge ball of burning fire truck.

Annada followed these women around. She was in awe of their stunts.

Do NOT mess with this butterfly.

And now, the cutest new dancer for the REP:

Creating airplanes and heliocopters

Annada loves art. It started with coloring. Then a few months ago she began asking to paint with watercolors. She would paint for about two hours everyday. Recently she has begun branching out into mixed media. Everything is fair game.

Drawing stars

Today alone she has: drawn with marker on napkins, drawn on her chalkboard, painted two pumpkins, used stickers, glue and glitter on a foam pumpkin, finger painted Daddy and I both a card, created “mail” for mommy complete with drawn-on envelope and tiny pieces of paper inside and “pottery.”

“Pottery” was my favorite part. We had the Butchers over for dinner. After dinner we talked while Annada went into her room. When she came back she began pulling my hands telling me, “It’s time to do pottery, Mommy!”

I explained to Annada I was talking with my friends and she stood there a moment. Then she went to Daddy and, starting to cry, she pleaded with him, “Daddy, I am all ready for pottery. Please, have Mommy come do pottery with me.”

At that point I realized this was important to her. So I asked her if we could do pottery downstairs. “Please Mommy, pottery is upstairs,” she replied.

Annada held my hand and led me into her bedroom. There on the floor she had made stations like in her art and music class. There were two smocks (bibs) laid out for her baby and I. The baby was propped up and ready to do “pottery.” I sat down in front of a pile of stickers and a whiteboard.

Annada then explained step-by-step how to make pottery. First she drew a design on the board to make the pottery. Then she let me try. Then her baby tried. Then we used the stickers and our fingers, along with some imagination, to paint the boards/pottery.

Annada was so intent and careful. She even held my hand to help me sometimes. When she was done she sang the clean-up song and we put everything away. Then she happily went downstairs to be with our friends (where I let her paint pumpkin #2 while we talked). Ms. Katrina (her Kindermusik teacher) will be proud when I tell her.

Last weekend (before Annada got sick) I decided to take Annada to paint Christmas ornaments. When we got there, I found out that the studio I choose distinguishes its self by having you make the products you paint. This was not an activity for a 2.5-year-old. For the first hour it was a lot of, “Annada, please wait. Not yet…”

She was a trooper though. When we finally got to the painting part, Annada was ready to go. All I did was hold the paint – Annada came up with all kinds of creative ideas. I wasn’t sure painting made up for the waiting, but when we left Annada asked to do pottery again.

Then we went to Panera for dinner. I love this stage. Annada sits or moves around and just talks and talks. We talk for an hour or two every day. She seems so happy to grab a snack or drink and tell me about everything from heaven to her favorite toys. Its wonderful!

Annada is super sick :(. I left Monday for an intern conference on Monday in Valley Forge. That morning Annada was extra cuddly and sad to see me go, but it never crossed my mind or Marc’s that she might be sick.

In fact when I walked away at the airport, Annada covered her eyes with her hands so she couldn’t see me go. It was heartbreaking.

That night, around 6 she started laying down as she played. At 6:30 she asked Marc to put her to bed (NOT normal). He thought she was playing and didn’t even put a diaper on her. By 7 she was asleep in her crib. A few hours later she threw up.

Watching Bambi with Daddy. One of the receptionists, our friend Lori, at Dr. Nielsen's brought over 15 DVDs of kids movies. Marc's skipping the scary parts.

It scared me how fast she got sick. In the morning she threw up again and her temp was 104, so I asked Marc to take her to the doctor. That is when we found out just how sick she is. Dr. Nielsen predicted a temp of 104-105 for 10 days.

Marc is a hero. This is the first time he has cared for her when she was significantly sick. He is sleeping next to her crib at night and putting 5ccs of gatorade in her mouth every 2-3 minutes. After napping she perks up a little and he is playing with her. He’s hardly getting sleep and loving on her 24/7. I get home Thursday and I can’t wait to get there. But meanwhile, I am so grateful Annada is with the best Daddy ever.

Costumes and Streaking

Annada hit a milestone today – she streaked down the street for the first time.

Lately Annada has wanted to either wear a costume or be naked. I found some great dress-up clothes on craigslist and Annada now spends most of her time in clothes from Africa, in tutus or dressed as a princess or fairy. It’s like John Eldridge wrote, “When you are kid, costumes are not clothes. They are an identity.”

Annada and I have talked about how sometimes we have to wear clothes. Because Annada is smart enough to look for loop holes, I have told her we have to wear clothes when we leave the house unless it is a special event. So, once we step through the door to come home, Annada often begins stripping. Tonight, she made it back outside and was laughing and running in circles before I caught her and wrangled a shirt on.

I can hear my mom saying, “payback!” from here.

Dancing with the Lion

Marc and I took Annada to Animal Kingdom yesterday. My favorite part is the Festival of the Lion King. My guess it is was staged by whoever staged the Lion King Musical – so yeah, it is amazing. I’ve seen it many times and I am still enthralled every time.

When we walked in, Annada was scared. She was afraid the lion would bite her. We explained she was safe and she relaxed. Until the music started. Then Annada tensed up and stared. Her heart was beating so hard I could feel it through my arm around her. She hardly moved. Her mouth was partly open.

Marc pointed at her and mouthed through the noise, “she looks like you!”

When I am watching dance or theater I focus so hard sometimes I realize I stopped breathing. After a performance of Annie Get Your Gun I once walked up to thank the actors when a couple of them gasped. “It’s you!” they exclaimed. “You sat in the front row and had the most terrible expression. We were betting to see if anyone could make you smile.”

Instead of hating it, I had loved the performance so much I was tense trying to take it all in. In fact, there were nail marks in my arm. And there was no mistaking it, Annada now does the same thing.

Toward the end, it seemed like her little body couldn’t take it anymore. Without taking her eyes off the stage she stood up and began copying some of the dancers. A cast member ran over and pulled her back toward her seat, but she didn’t stop dancing. Marc and I put our legs up and created a little boxed in space for her, which satisfied the cast member. (I think he was legitimately concerned she was going to take off for the dance line.)

Later Annada told me her favorite part of the day was dancing with the lion.

Meme is Dead

Several days ago Annada was laying on the futon wrapped up in a blanket when she called me to come over.

“Let me hold you Mommy,” she said. “Lay down on me.”

“I’ll squish you, Annada!” I replied laughing.

Annada sat up and pulled my head down on her tummy. She wrapped her arms around my head and gave me a big hug. We laid there for a moment enjoying the hug.

“Meme is dead” Annada said.

I was caught totally off guard. “What?” I asked.

“Meme is dead,” Annada said again.

“No, Annada, I think Meme is alive,” I said back. I had a sudden shot of fear. I didn’t know for sure my mom was alive, but I had no reason to think she was dead.

“No, Meme is dead,” Annada said matter-of-factly. “You don’t have a mommy. I will be your mommy.”

“Annada, I really think Meme is alive,” I said again. “Would you like to call her and talk to her?”

“Yes,” Annada replied. “Meme is your mommy. She is dead. So you need a new mommy. I will take care of you.”

I got up and called my mom. She didn’t answer so I left a message.

Annada seemed to have moved on when I got off the phone. She asked to go to the big playground about a mile away, so we drove there.

Just as we got there, my mom called back. It was great to hear her voice. I told her why I called and she offered to talk with Annada.

“Are you dead?” Annada asked right away.

“Nope, I am alive,” my Mom replied. “Really, totally alive.”

“Okay,” Annada said. “I am at the playground.”

Meme, Pepe, Uncle Kevin, Annada and I went apple picking. Annada must have eaten at least three whole apples as we picked. They are soooo good!

Annada and Uncle Kevin pretended to be birds in the metal nest.

Meme and Pepe took Annada to see “Ferdinand the Bull” at the Rose. It is the story of a bull who would rather smell flowers under a tree than fight. The play embellished the book a lot and my favorite part was when Ferdinand and the bull fighter decide to dance instead of fight. Annada stood up as high as she could in her chair and danced too.

A week later Annada and I were walking to get the mail. I give Annada all the junk mail as “hers” to play with. As we walked back Annada held up one of her envelopes.

“This is my money, Mommy,” she said.

“What are you going to do with your money?” I replied.

Annada stopped walking and thought. Then, very slowly, she said, “I am not going to buy ice cream.”

Annada paused again. “I am going to buy a tree. And with my imagination I will put Ferdinand and Cochina (Ferdinand’s pig friend) under the tree!”

Marc, Annada and I went back to Omaha recently to visit our families. Ron, Marc’s dad, just had surgery for cancer and Marc wanted to be there to help when Ron got out of the hospital. Actually, Marc thought he would be there while Ron was in the hospital, but Ron is doing so well he was let out early and hardly looks like he had surgery at all!

Annada and I went over to the Vergos one day to visit Grandpa. Annada decided to put a bandaid on her and grandpa’s head so grandpa would feel better 🙂 (above).

Then a few days later Marc and I drove our new car home (the old one was stolen in May) while my parents watched Annada. Thursday Grandma (Marc’s mom) flew Annada back to Orlando and went to a math conference. I think Annada really bonded with Marcia on the plane because Annada has been asking why Grandma and Grandpa can’t live in Orlando.

Cancer

Marc and I weren’t sure how to broach the whole cancer thing with Annada, so we told her Grandpa was sick but not much more. Leading up to Grandpa’s surgery she often prayed for him before bed but I figured it was no different than when she prays for herself or us when we have colds.

When we were in Omaha one day, out of the blue, Annada said, “Mommy, Grandpa is sick.”

“Yes, Annada,” I replied. “He is getting lots of sleep so his body will heal.” (We had told her our body heals when we sleep.)

“He has cancer,” she said.

Oh… I thought. What do I say? “That is true,” I replied. Annada didn’t say anything more so we went back to playing.

About 10 minutes later, I said, “Okay Annada, let’s go kill the bed.” (Killing the bed is what my family calls taking off the sheets and washing them.

Annada followed me upstairs and started helping me pull off the sheets.

“The bed has cancer,” Annada said resolutely.

It dawned on me she was connecting “killing” the bed with cancer. I stopped and swooped down to pick her up. I realized we both had tears in our eyes. How does she know these things?

I didn’t know what to say, so we just hugged.

Stalling Songs

At night before I leave Annada’s room I ask her if there are any more songs she wants me to sing or anything she wants to talk about. Until recently she was all about the songs and I usually had to put a limit on the number of “last songs.”

She would dictate elaborate stories and then ask me to turn them into a song. Usually the stories end with her pushing cousin Isaiah in the grocery cart to get sprinkle cookies at Publix. The baker gives her both cookies, but she decides to share with Isaiah.

A few days ago I was helping Annada put her baby dolls to bed. I started singing to one and Annada stopped me.

“She’s already sleeping,” Annada told me.

“Oh, I was singing her a goodnight song,” I replied.

“No mommy, there are no goodnight songs, only stalling ones,” she said.

Annada is flying around the room as Princess Stellaluna. It is a combination of Cinderella and a baby bat separated from its mommy.

Let’s Talk About You

Recently, though Annada has started telling me “we need to talk” or “there is something I need to talk with you about, Mommy” when it is time for bed.

A few nights ago Annada and I had talked for about 20 minutes when I told her I would “see her in the morning light” (From Tot Fox).

“No, mommy. Mommy, I need to talk with you. Talk with me Mommy!” Annada called out desperately.

“What do you want to talk about?” I replied.

“Let’s talk about… let’s talk about… let’s talk about…” Annada was clearly searching for something worth keeping me there. “Let’s talk about.. let’s talk about YOU Mommy!”

Meeting My Husband

Tonight Annada said, “Let’s talk about Grandpa.” She’s been asking to talk about Grandma or Grandpa the last few nights.

“Why do you want to talk about Grandpa?” I asked.

“Because he is my husband,” Annada replied.

“Grandpa is not your husband, he is your grandpa,” I answered (brilliant logic, I know).

“Daddy is your husband, so Grandpa is my husband,” Annada replied.

“You haven’t met your husband yet, Annada. You will meet him when you are bigger,” I said.

“Who is my husband, Mommy?”

“I don’t know, Annada. We can pray for him.” (We stopped and prayed for God to bless Annada’s husband.)

When we finished, Annada stood up in bed, “He is waiting for me!” she exclaimed. “He is waiting at the airport. But I won’t go now. I need to be bigger.”

Annada paused.

“He is excited to see me. I will drive to go see him. I will drive and then ride in a plane.”

Annada laid down. My heart was aching, both because of the beauty of Annada’s happy innocence and knowing the journey to her husband may not be smooth.

“Mommy, tomorrow can we go visit my husband? Not so he can be my husband. We can just play together.”

Marc is visiting his parents. (His dad is doing great – he even got released early from the hospital today!)

While we would rather have Marc home, Annada and I are taking advantage of the time we have together. Today we went to Epcot.

It was a great day to go. There were very few people there, it was about 90 degrees and it was “bonus” character day (I made that title up). Throughout the park there were a bunch of forgotten Disney characters. Like Tarzan’s ape friend, the penguin from Mary Poppins and a cat from The Aristocrats.

I think Annada’s animal highlight was dancing with the penguin. Tonight she wanted to sleep in her penguin pjs.

Annada loved it. And it was so much fun to be there with her. She has grown up since spring when I took her last. She knows what she wants to ride and she is very helpful with our stuff. She gets in and out of the stroller on her own and walks holding my hand most of the time.

Figment is out, tasting soda at Club Cool is in. And so is visiting Africa. In fact Annada wanted to spend most of our time wandering the Africa part, talking to people and looking at the buildings. She spoke in Arabic and did a little belly dancing. On the way home she asked if we could fly to Africa tomorrow.

I have to admit, I almost started crying when we walked into the area. There is something about these people I love. I invited one woman over to our house for dinner. I hope she comes, I would be very blessed by it.

Tonight as I was rocking Annada before bed she said, “Mommy, I think God likes ice cream.”

“In heaven I will get two ice creams! And they will have bubbly candy eyes. I will get one for God and one for you and one for Daddy. I will hold it for God. (Annada sat up and pretended to hold up an ice cream for God way above her head.) In heaven there will be lots and lots of ice cream!”

NCO Smoothie Day!

All of this talk about ice cream may have started because today is smoothie day! I told Annada that instead of breakfast we were going to work to get smoothies. When she got up this morning she literally ran for the door yelling, “Smoothie Day!”

When we got to work we found a feather on the ground on the way in. Annada used it to tickle herself and the YearOners we talked with. But mostly she very seriously picked out her smoothie then sucked it down as fast as she could. About 5 minutes after we got there she had full body shivers, so I let her wear the jacket I keep at my desk.

We wondered around work together for a while and then started toward home. On the way to the car she realized she had lost her feather.

“Mommy, we need to find the feather!” She cried.

We looked around on our way back to car. We find a feather about once a week, so it was worth a shot but I didn’t think we would find one. There weren’t any at our house when we left. As we drove home she kept trying to convince me that we really did need a feather.

“Annada I can’t make you a feather. The birds leave them behind. Only God can give you a feather,” I said. I regretted it immediately. There are no Bible verses promising feathers. I felt like I set Annada up to think God failed.

Sure enough, Annada stopped arguing and prayed, “Dear God, may I please have another feather?”

She opened her eyes and started looking all over the car. She was confident there was going to be a feather.

“Annada, God can say yes or no. We ask for what we want and then God has freedom to answer how He wants,” I said.

I stopped the car in our driveway and opened the door.

There were 6 feathers on the ground right by Annada’s door.

Here are a few more stories that show how Annada views the world.

A couple of mornings ago Marc pulled out several boxes of cereal for Annada to choose from. She grabbed the one pictured and exclaimed, “I want the one with the spoon about to make the girls all wet!”

She started laughing. Marc was a little confused so he asked her what she meant. She pointed to the box and said, “The giant spoon is going to pour milk all over them. They are hugging because they are scared!” And she burst into giggles again.

Chinese Buffet dinner with the YearOners to celebrate Aaron's birthday.

Isn’t this supposed to start in junior high?

2 days ago Annada and I were driving to pick up vegetables at a farm when she suddenly yelled out, “I want pink hair!”

“Why do you want pink hair?” I asked her.

“So I can dance loud! Please, please, please, please Mommy can I have pink hair?” Annada replied. A couple of the YearOne interns have streaks of color in their hair.

“Annada you can dance loudly or softly with any hair color you have,” I said. “You have beautiful blonde hair.”

“But I want Hannah pink hair,” Annada started to cry (not a whiny cry, but a real sad cry), “So I can dance. I don’t like blonde hair. I need pink hair!”

(Already she doesn’t like her hair?!)

Celebrating Marc's birthday with breakfast in bed.

Adult Earrings

I was singing to Annada before bed tonight and she was playing with my earrings in a sleepy self-soothing way when she suddenly sat up.

“You have adult earrings,” she said. “My earrings pull off. Do your earrings pull off, Mommy?”

“No, my earrings go in a hole in my ear,” I replied.

“My earrings clip on and pull off. They are kid earrings. I want adult earrings,” she said. (Annada has started objecting to the word kid. She wants to be called a big girl. NOT a little girl.)

“When you are older, if you want to, you can get a hole in your ear and get adult earrings,” I told her.

She was silent and grabbed her ears and she thought about what that meant.

“Okay Mommy, tomorrow I will be big and I can get adult earrings.”

Annada's favorite part of our birthdays.

Be Respectful

I have been trying to teach Annada not to talk when people are praying. When she was an infant, the YearOne interns nicknamed her Holy Spirit baby because whenever someone started praying she would begin babbling loudly.

Now that she uses words like “dehydrated (May I have some water? I am so dehydrated!), douse (I am going to douse you with water, Mommy) and catapult (I catapulted my toys out of my bed!), it is no longer so cute when she decides to give personal speeches when others pray. There is no mistaking it for praying along.

So when I pray with her before bed I say, “Are you ready to be respectful while I pray for you?” Sometimes she says yes. Sometimes there is one more thing she wants to talk about first, so we talk.

Tonight when I asked her, she put her hands up and grabbed mine to hold them together. “Mommy, are you going to be respectful while I pray for you?” she asked.

Of course I was. So Annada began, “Dear God, thank you for Mommy. And… thank you for me!”

She paused. “Okay, Mommy, are you ready to be respectful while you pray? I will do your hands. Be patient.” (She likes to fold my hands for prayer.)

I prayed.

“Now, be respectful and pray for Doaa and Daddy,” She said. 4 times she told me people to pray for and each time she reminded me to “be respectful Mommy!”

Marc took Annada to the petting zoo with Daniela and Dayanara (her “sisters”) and their mom and dad. Annada loved it! I didn’t go, so I can’t fill you in on the details, but I can let you see some cute pictures. 🙂

Since the petting zoo, Annada has been sick. I thought it was just a cold that held on, but it turns out she has strep! Really badly. So badly the coughing was because her throat was swollen. And her feet were blistering and peeling in an awful way. I had no idea blistering and peeling feet were a sign of strep, but her doctor knew right away. So now you know!

With that knowledge you can avoid the guilt of waiting to take your kiddo to the doctor until the strep is so bad you think she has pink eye (yeah, seriously, I did that). I feel terrible about it, but Annada has been happy and sweet the whole time.

However, now that she is feeling better, we can tell the difference. In fact, she seems to have a destructive streak now. I have been told I was that way on antibiotics too.

Tonight as we were putting her to bed she looked right at me, smiled, then deliberately poured a cup of water over her toy chest. I asked her, “Did you know that was not a good thing to do?”

“Yes, I did!” she squealed and ran laughing down the hallway.

It was so “wild thingish” Marc and I laughed a little before catching her. She sat on Marc’s lap in time-out with a distinctive air that said “you may have captured me, but I am not subdued!”.

Everyday Annada says something that makes me laugh or think. Here are a few recent thoughts from her:

Pet Chicken

Annada and I were riding home from church yesterday when she asked for French fries. Admittedly, Marc and I are usually starving when we get out of church and stop at McD’s on the way home. Last night, however, we had gone out to dinner first so I had more will power than normal.

I told Annada she could not have French fries, but she could pick out a snack when we got home.

Annada paused. “I don’t want a snack,” she said. “I want a pet.”

Uh oh, I thought. Annada paused for another minute.

“And not a worm, Mommy!” Annada chastised me. (She had asked me for a pet a week ago and I cut up a straw and told her they were worm babies. She made them a little bed and played with them for hours. However, I guess worms were not going to cut it this time.)

Then she burst out, “I want a chicken pet, Mommy! I want a chicken pet so I can touch it. A chicken pet will run with me. Not a normal one. A touching chicken. Please Mommy, please can I have a chicken pet?”

Stunned (and trying not to laugh) I didn’t answer Annada.

“Please, Mommy. Please, please, pleeeeeeaaaaaasssseeee. May I have a touching chicken?”

I still did not know what to say. So Annada changed tactics and began singing.

“I want a touching chicken to run with me, to tooouuuccch,” She sang. “Please give me a chicken, Mommy.”

The plee for a pet chicken song went on until we got home.

(In case you are wondering, we are not getting a pet. No family that is away from home 3+ months a year should have a pet. That is what Meme’s cats are for.)

That Would Not Be Awesome

Annada has a new phrase, “That would not be awesome.”

She uses it to describe a situation that seems like a good idea, but she knows is not as great as it could be.

For example, tonight as we walked home from the playground she stuck her head through the pool gate and said, “I could go swimming by myself Mommy. That would not be awesome.”

Or another time, “I can run down the stairs! But when I fall, that would not be awesome.”

I Let the Pain Out of My Heart

At the pool I asked Annada if she was happy or sad.

“I am happy,” she said. I asked her why.

“I cried,” she replied. Confused I asked why she cried if she was happy.

“I washed the pain out of my heart, Mommy,” she said. “Now I am happy.”

Will You Die, Mommy?

A few days ago Annada crawled into my lap looking very serious.

“Mommy, did Nemo’s mommy die?” she asked. There was something about the way she asked that made it more of a statement than a question.

We don’t let her watch PG movies for this reason – she doesn’t miss anything. But I vaguely remembered Nemo being on without sound at frozen yogurt place we went to weeks ago.

“Yes, Annada, in the movie, Nemo’s mommy died.”

Annada didn’t even pause.

“Will you die, Mommy?”

(Oh God, please help me, I prayed.)

“Yes Annada, everyone dies.”

“What is it like to die?” Annada asked.

“Well, it is like when we went to Africa. God calls you and you leave Orlando to move to heaven to live with Him,” I said.

“Will you and Daddy come with me to heaven?” she replied.

(I was thinking, can this be normal for a 2-year-old? I thought I had years before this conversation.)

“Well, we will either be waiting for you or will come meet you there,” I said.

Annada broke out into a smile and hugged me, no longer serious. “We will live in our heaven home!” she said.

It was like a spell broke and Annada went back to being a 2-year-old. But I don’t think she forgot.

In fact, a couple of days ago we let her watch Rango (minus some scary parts) with her friend Diego and his family. When the movie was over I asked her if she liked it.

“No, because people were mean to each other and some of them died,” she said.

After being at Meme and Pepe’s house, we moved to Grandma and Grandpa’s house. We went boating, ate outside a lot and made s’mores around a fire.

I think one of Annada’s highlights was wearing matching dresses with Grandma. Annada was so proud!

Tonight Annada and I were playing on the playground. Part of the playground has a steering wheel and often becomes a boat or car in Annada’s imagination. Tonight she told me to come in and sit down.

“We are going to Grandma and Grandpa’s house,” She said.

I waited a while. “Are we there yet, Annada?”

“I can’t find them!” she yelled and began running around our ship. “There they are! I see them. They are eating dinner over there.”

Annada ran down the stairs and over to some stools she uses as a kitchen. “I need to bring them some food Mommy. You watch.”

Annada scooped up some wood chips, brought them to an empty picnic bench and set them down. Then she ran back up to me, leaned through the playground bars and blew a kiss to the bench.

At the beginning of August we squeezed in a trip home to Omaha. We really wanted Annada to see her Grandpa before he has surgery Sept. 8. We spent a few days with my parents and a few with Marc’s before flying home.

Face painting with her hero, Aunt Erica. Happy birthday Erica!

Pepe teaching Annada how to ride a bike.

Showing off her socks to Great-grandpa Kennard.

Great-grandma Kennard. For some reason, just today Annada started telling me the story of getting to sit on Grandma Kennard's lap from this night.

Visiting Tommy the Turtle at the Omaha Zoo.

Last December we took Annada to have dinner with Santa Claus at the Omaha Zoo to celebrate her birthday. While we were there, Annada was able to pet a turtle which happened to poop. “The turtle pooped!” Annada would tell us with utter awe for months.

We named the turtle “Tommy” (who is really a tortoise). Annada considers him a close friend and Pepe sends her letters from Tommy and his girlfriend Teresa. Every time we go to Omaha, Annada wants to visit Tommy.

If you look closely, you can see Tommy right next to Annada with Teresa climbing toward her. I don’t know why these turtles came over, but it made Annada’s day. Now when I read her a letter from Tommy she says, “Tommy came to me, Mommy. He did!”

Wondering why I haven’t posted? YearOne.3 starts today!!

We’ve taken 6 trips in 2 months and the last one was our staff planning retreat. Check out our awesome new team:

Our staff team. Annada is convinced it would be fun to throw herself off the pier and drop 30 feet to go into the ocean after seeing a group of rays swim by.

As the retreat was winding down, we saw a huge rainbow stretch across the sky. It’s nice to be reminded how big God is.

The night the retreat ended we let Annada stay up late and took her to the pool. We missed her. She was amazed that she was allowed to be outside in the dark. We had a lot of fun together.

And the next day we went to the beach before heading home. Annada is not scared of the ocean anymore. Instead of staying far away from the waves, Annada would run straight into the ocean and not stop until we grabbed her! Needless to say, we were on high alert. It was fun to see her laugh with joy as the waves came. And she still yells, “Thank you Jesus!” when it is time to leave. (To thank Jesus for making “God’s pool.”)

Actors from the REP

Marc, Annada and I went to the Target Family Festival together last weekend. They had a ton of fun things to do. We took Annada to magic show, a concert and a puppet show. During the concert she would alternate jumping up and down with full body head banging – she’s a natural!

Princess face paint

Lauren has been Annada’s awesome nanny for the last year (and two more days before becoming a YearOne intern!).

Lauren is a woman of many talents including journalism, photography and cutting hair. So when we heard Lauren was cutting hair at our church’s community market, we decided to take Annada to get a haircut that would be cooler in the heat.

At first Annada was all about it. But when she was done and saw her hair on the ground she started to cry.

“Why, Mommy? Why would you do that to me?” she cried.

I could see that the situation was going to get worse as people started coming over to check out what was happening (Annada’s haircut had attracted onlookers). So I took her inside to go to the bathroom.

She cried all the way to the restroom and then continued to shake her head and ask me, “Why mommy? Why did you do this?!” as she looked in the mirror. I was beginning to have some major guilt for cutting her hair.

Suddenly she stopped. She shook her head again and watched it whirl around her cheeks. She paused. She shook her head again. “I like it!” she exclaimed.

From that moment on, Annada was all smiles about her new haircut.

We went on to have a blast at the market. We danced together to the band, checked out the artisan booths and ate from a local food truck.

The market had a community art project inviting people write about something in their life that broke them and invited them to ask God to redeem it. I pulled out a tile and write a note about the pain of infertility. Then Annada came up behind me and wanted to write something on my tile too. She took out a black marker and started scribbling. She covered over every word I had written.

The moment hit me as profound. Here I was honoring pain of my barrenness and my daughter was drawing over it. I wept, thanking God for his graciousness to me. Then Annada and I took a hammer and smashed the tile. A piece flew up and cut the back of my hand. I think that is fitting too.

The pieces we broke were then picked up by artists and placed into a beautiful mural.

Our church changed service times for the summer, but we missed the announcement. So we showed up for church almost an hour early (this has never happened before). The kids director told us we could play in Annada’s classroom until other people showed up.

Annada is in a new room now, so she had new toys to explore. Right away she gathered all the babies and took them potty (feeding babies, patting them on the back, taking them potty and putting them to sleep is Annada’s take on motherhood). Then she saw a play motorcycle. Right away she knew what to do. “Come on baby! We need to go shopping,” she said as she picked one up.

She held the baby in one arm and play food in the other and began zooming around the room and honking. It was a perfect imitation of Africa!

Annada is blessed to be surrounded by older girls in our neighborhood who adore her! Daniela and Dayanara are her favorites. They made a “sisters” club and asked Annada to be in it. Annada takes her new status very seriously. Many times she wakes up in the morning and tells us, “I miss my sisters! I want to go play with my sisters.”

We visited my brother William, Lucy and 4-month-old Isaiah (pics when I get them!) recently. While we were gone Annada talked for 4 days about how she was excited to go and see her sisters when we got home. The first morning we were home, she ate breakfast and hurried to get ready to go see them. I heard Marc leave with her and smiled knowing how happy she was…

A few minutes later I heard Annada crying in pain. I rushed downstairs to see if Marc needed help. I found Annada in his arms, head buried in his shoulder crying like her heart was broken. It wasn’t angry or manipulative or rebellious, just a soul jarring cry. Marc had tears in his eyes too.

Annada had rushed over to find out Daniela and Dayanara were grounded. He said she walked away, got about 10 feet and then broke down. Marc and I held her together and let her sort through her disappointment. Every day Annada checked back until at last they were free to come over again.

Playing outside together.

When we got back from Africa, Marc and I were so grateful for America, we had two 4th of July parties! One on July 4th and one on July 5th.

Annada was not a firework fan. Sparklers and the ash snakes were her favorites. She decided all on her own she needed sunglasses to protect her eyes.

Annada showing off her Africa moves 🙂

Today Annada and I left home around 3 pm for WDW’s boardwalk. The parking guard waved us through then glanced back at Annada and stopped us. “Can I get her some stickers?” she asked.

Armed with Mickey Mouse stickers we parked and started walking. We had 3 hours to make it to dinner and I was excited to go the whole way at Annada’s pace.

It paid off right away. We stopped to admire a bush and a family of white birds walked out. They were beautiful and Annada was in awe. A couple of yards later we checked out a spider’s web. And then the reeds in the water. It was the way Annada has always wanted to do WDW, but we normally don’t have the time.

Then we caught a boat and took it the long way around to the Swan and Dolphin resort. Annada and I spent the 20 minutes chatting about everything she saw. She is in full “why” mode and she had a zillion questions about the lighthouse, the flower sculptures, the people, the boats…

When we got to the resort, we went to the Dolphin side first. Again, we checked out everything on the way: the dead worm, ants, different leaves… It was sublime to walk with her with absolutely nothing to hurry for. We threw pennies in the fountain and rode the escalator until she wanted to stop.

Then we went to a self-serve restaurant and got drinks (it was 99 degrees!). Since it was a special day I let Annada get chocolate milk. I want to treasure these days – when I can be a hero for a $1 carton of milk.

Then we went to the game room. We had just walked in and were standing in the entrance while Annada took it all in when a mom came rushing in behind us. “We have to go now,” she firmly told a boy and picked up his pile of coins.

“Here, we are leaving,” she said as she dumped them in my hands.

So Annada ran around picking out cars to drive together. We aren’t very good at car racing games, but we had a lot of fun.

Then we headed to the Swan side and played kitty, doggy and tag by a fountain in a garden.

It was time for dinner, so Annada I headed to the bathroom and she dressed up in her princess dress. As soon as it went on she started singing “10 Minutes Ago” and dancing. Everywhere we walked we heard the buzz about how adorable she looked. One little boy stopped in amazement, “Mom, there is a princess here!” he yelled.

We walked to the restaurant and a man at the door bowed low and said, “Welcome, your majesty.” Annada and I were both beaming.

Annada didn’t eat much because she was too in awe of the characters (although she loved my lobster). Chip and Dale were there and she spent most of the hour watching their every move. When they got close she would suddenly grab her fork and start focusing on her food, causing them to give her space. I knew something was off so I tried to figure it out. “Do you want to feed the chipmunks, Annada?” “Yes, I do,” she seriously replied.

Fortunately, Dale overheard her and came back. Annada “fed” him some mac n cheese. This is so classic Annada, she loves to feed people and animals! She gets upset if she thinks someone or something is hungry.

Star struck

After dinner we went to the playground on the resort beach. It was shaped like a boat and Annada directed us on grand adventures to new lands (one with a pretend carousel). Then she “cooked” soup for me in the sand.

Finally I scooped her up and we started walking home. “Did you have a good day?” I asked her as she rode on my shoulders. “I did!” she replied.

(As a bonus, Groupon plus WDW knowledge = $11.12 for the evening including chocolate milk.)

On the way home, she came up with other ideas of things we could do. “I don’t want to go to bed!” she cried. “There is lots and lots to do!”

A little after 10 pm I rocked and sang to her as I always do before bed. She was asleep before the first song was ended, so I sat there and rocked a few minutes longer and thanked God. This is a day I dreamed about when having a daughter seemed like an impossibility. And it is even sweeter than I hoped.