Annada Marie Vergo

(Annada has this habit of whispering when she thinks something is important. That’s why she whispers at the beginning – and when people she loves call her!)

I love you, Rona!

Marc liked the Children's Museum too. 🙂

Hiding in the pillows

Getting doggie kisses. Annada loved the doggies.

We went swimming every day.

When our plane started taking off, Annada desperately called for Rona. And Annada tells me that she misses Rona and her doggies every day.

Dinner with our cousins, Andrea, Cober and baby-boy.

I remember looking at Annada crying as an infant and longing for the day she could tell me what she wanted. That day has come! Between gestures and words, Annada has become very good at convincing pure strangers to give her candy, toys, pens… One day at Disney World two separate people gave her a brand new toy spontaneously after she smiled and said, “Hi!” to them. As for me and Marc… well, neither of us are very good at resisting her sweet little “pleeeease Mommy?”

I have a feeling the day is coming soon when Annada is talking like an adult. So I wanted to save a snap shot of where she is now. At 19-months Annada frequently says:

“bug, toy, hot, cold, wet, poop poo, pee pee, potty, undies, diaper, help, more, please, thank you, hot tea, milk, juice, apple, grapes, (ba)nanna, pepper, berries, yogurt, eggs, raisins, cookie, cracker, oatmeal, ice cream, miss, Mommy, Daddy, Grandpa (for both grandparents), Pepe, Meme, Erica, Rona, Kitties, doggie, bird, watch, happy, sad, miss, home, house, go, bounce, pool, book, puppets, draw, markers, nuts, up, down, hug, kiss, bye-bye, no, yes, Marc, phone, call, hi, here-you-go, all-done, watermelon, rainbow, yellow, wash, bath, water, uh-oh, one, two, guys, watch, Elmo, Dora, Buzz, baby, shoes, clothes, off, on, wake up, nap, nose, eyes, arms, feet, hands, boobies (thanks Erica), head, hair, hungry, drops, bib, swim, Jesus, amen, stop, help, naked and love.”

(I’m sure there are more – that is what comes to mind right now.)

Some of the phrases I hear every day are:
No nap, hungry hungry!
Uh-oh, poop poo. (Even if it’s not going to end up an accident, she doesn’t like the feeling.)
Pool please.
No! Miss, miss Daddy. (When he leaves for work.)
Miss _______ (Erica, Rona, Meme, Pepe, Grandpa(ma)). Go ______’s home.
Wake up Mommy! (In the morning when she gets up.)
Clothes off. Naked!

It was hard to get a picture of Annada sitting still 🙂

It was hot last week! It has been a fairly cool summer, but last week Annada and I had to hide inside. Annada was going stir crazy (and missing Daddy!) so I took her to Family Fun Time, an indoor bounce house place.

At first she was nervous and played with toys on the floor for about 30 minutes. But once she got going, she was a bounce-a-holic! I think the best part was this huge orange cat house. It was made for high bounces. Annada would lay down and I would bounce around her causing her to fly up in the air.

Just goofing off, I tried doing a split jump. Annada started laughing so hard, it took her almost a minute to catch her breath. That was it: for about the next half-hour I jumped into the splits and Annada rolled on the floor laughing. It was perfect, Annada was having fun and I got a work out.

Ever since then, about once a day, Annada has started jumping up and down then saying, “bounce, bounce, bounce… please?” She wants to go back

Where Quarters Come From

Once I couldn’t breathe from split jumps, I steered Annada toward a mini-arcade. There was a little car she could ride in that moved when you put in quarters.

I wanted to get quarters for a car but she was acting to strange about it. Like Mom – why?? When I finally pulled her over to the quarters she wouldn’t use mine.

“Ears, ears,” she said, trying to pull quarters out of her ears. In Annada’s world, that is where quarters belong!

I’ve nicknamed Annada “spider monkey” (she loves monkeys, so she likes this) because her arms and legs are so long! And she is climbing everything. Here she is watching her cookies bake. Thank goodness for oven locks!

I love how she jumps to get into my arms. Her legs and arms are long enough to wrap around and cling to me. She can, literally, climb up.

I made Annada “ants on a log” for lunch. I used love it when my mom made them for me. Annada was a little concerned by the word ant. But once she understood she picked off all the raisins, sucked up the peanut butter and gnawed on the celery.

Bedtime is a pretty awesome time. Annada is so sweet. Unbelievably sweet. As in ANYTHING that pushes back bedtime can happen. Long precious cuddles, saying “I love you,” a sudden interest in picking up her toys…

An we eat it up.

Tonight she cracked me up. We had just finished brushing her teeth and sitting on the potty for a very long time – we did every piece of a puzzle book twice and Annada was in no hurry to finish. When she was done I started to pick her up and Annada caught on that it was bedtime.

Me: Let’s go, Annada.
A: Daddy?
M: Daddy is working (out of town). We talked to him on the phone and you kissed him goodnight, remember? (I love my EVO – video phone calls are awesome.)
A: Phone? Daddy hi!
M: Nope. We are done.
Starting to pick her up.
A: Apple!
M: You just ate as much yogurt and blueberries as you can hold. It’s bedtime.
A: Wash. (As is wash hands)
M: Nope, you’re clean.
A: Bath!
M: You’re still clean (starting to laugh)
A: Hungry!
M: Silent
A: Drink!
Pause
A: Baby!
Pause
A: Cook!
Pause
A: Bubbles!
Pause
A: Eye drops.
M: Your eyes look fine (we put drops in when she got some dust in them once)
A: Ear drops.
M: Do your ears hurt?
A: Long pause… yes? Yes. Ear Drops. (With those famous head nods/eye brow moves)
M: Okay.
Pick her up and bringing her in her room.
A: No ears. Puppets.
M: Okay, you can pick out two puppets for your bedtime story. (The puppets interact with the story – Marc started it. He’s amazing.)
Read story then move toward the crib.
A: Poop poo. Apple. Hungry. HUNGRY! DRINK! BABY! PUPPETS!
Pause.
A: Hug. Momma, hug. Love, Mommy.
That worked 🙂

I know I’m biased – but wow… she’s adorable!

At the Lake Hart 4th of July party, we let Annada have half of a sugar cookie. I think she thought this was too good to be true, because she held it in both hands and shoved it directly into her face. She didn’t turn it first, so she sat in my lap for the next 10 minutes slowly sucking the cookie into her mouth and guarding it with both hands. This is the aftermath.

It’s always a good party if you get to leave with balloons!

Annada looks so grown up with her hair in a pony tail.

Annada suddenly has a sense of humor. She finds the craziest things funny. Some of them have us laughing for days. So here are a few of her recent jokes:

Marc, being a brilliant dad, likes to teach Annada opposities. So at night he touches her face and says smooth, then touches his and says scratchy. Annada follows along and says it too.

So a few days ago I was sitting with her as she was going potty. She reached out and touched my face and said, “smooth.” Then she got a big grin, reached under my arm pits and yelled, “scratchy!!”

Peering at me on the playground.

Aunt Erica is not fond of the flax seed Marc puts in our oatmeal. So she found it particularly funny when Annada reached into the bowl, pulled out a seed and proclaimed, “bug!” We all laughed so hard that Annada is still pulling things she doesn’t like out of her food, declaring them bugs and laughing hysterically.

Playing with Daddy in the mornings.

When I came home from Jazzercise, Annada walked into the room, pointed at me and starting exclaiming, “Ick! Ick! Ick!” Marc followed up with, “Please, listen to your daughter and take a shower.” 🙂

Annada's first day at kindermusik.

Annada likes to stick apricot pieces in my eye. Then she laughs so hard she falls over. (I don’t get it either.)

Annada likes to eat the tubes.

Chocolate at midnight 🙂

Aunt Erica has been gone for 4 days and Annada still wanders the house calling for her. Tonight as we got ready to see fireworks Annada got really excited. When it was time to go, she ran to the door, stuck her head out and yelled, “Err-ika!! Err-ika!!”

For some reason Annada thought Erica was coming with us and was disappointed when she didn’t show. We all love you Erica!

Aunt Erica and Annada play princess: that's Erica carrying the Princess' train

At around 4:30 today it dawned on me: Annada hadn’t missed all day!

We stopped setting a timer to make sure she goes too. Not that we aren’t spending a lot of time in the bathroom – Annada has frequent “ghost” poops. I think it is hard for her to tell when she is really ready to go. But the important things is: when she did need to go, she was in the right spot!

She didn’t go as often either. Which I think is good – she is learning to hold it a little. This is cause for major celebration here. We are on our way from official potty training and into fine tuning.

I’m wondering if she may go dry at night soon too. Last night she woke up at 1 a.m. crying. For some reason I thought from the sound she needed to go potty (is that crazy? Can she have a potty cry?). When I went in and picked her up, she asked to go potty.

We went to the bathroom, she leaned on me and… fell asleep. It took less than 60 seconds. I laughed and woke her back up. This time she peed and went back to bed no problem.

I feel like the miss today was my doing. It was around 6 p.m. and we had an hour to kill before bedtime. I’d really like her to learn to tell us when she needs to go (so we can go off potty alert). Being able to leave the house is the next step. So I put shorts on her and took her to the park. We’ve mostly been forgoing pants.

I think she thought she had a diaper on because she was shocked when she got wet. The poor girl walked home with her legs as wide as she could keep them and wanted even her shoes washed. I never want to punish her for missing, but I think she will probably work pretty hard not to repeat that. When we went back outside we were only out about 15 minutes when she asked to go in and use the potty.

I’m very proud of Annada. She has done so well – and all this time she has been mildly sick. I expect it to take a couple of months (or more) for her to be 100% confident, but I think she has the idea.

And so, I’m done keeping a daily log. I’ll update in about a week how its going. The toddler adventure has officially begun.
(Thanks for all the support mom!)

Day 7 Update: No misses!!! Way to go Annada.
Day 8: 3 misses. It’s all about #2.
Day 9: No misses!

Marc is a superhero!! He cared for Annada today while Erica and I went to Discovery Cove (thank you Mom and Dad!). Potty training is beginning to be part of our routine, so we aren’t exactly sure what the hit/miss count is, but Annada used the potty at least 10 times today – including 2 number 2s.

I think the most encouraging moment today was when Annada went pee in the potty after waking in the morning. In the past, the mornings are the hardest part of the day. It was like she forgot every night. But today she knew what to do right away.

Aunt Erica gave Annada a make-over: complete with pink toes and a bra. Annada was so proud. (I figured if these posts are going to mortify Annada in 16 years, I might as well go all the way.)

Today’s highlight was going to the pediatrician. It was Annada’s first trip outside of the house since beginning potty training. There is a toddler-sized potty there and I was hoping it would help Annada go away from home.

And it worked. No problem. We checked in, visited the bathroom, Annada peed. I only gave this whole potty training thing like a 40% chance of success. But this is awesome!

Her doctor walked almost as soon as we got into a room (I love Dr. Nielson!). And as soon as she did, Annada turned to me and said, “Potty, Mommy. Potty.” I didn’t know what to do. Annada pipped up again, “Pee pee!”

Dr. N laughed and told me this sounded serious and to go. We took off for the potty and… she went! We went back to the exam room as fast as we could. 5 minutes later, yep, Annada was asking to go again. And again she went. Oh, I am grateful for a patient doctor!

I do wonder if I had taken my time the first time she asked if the second time would have happened. But, oh well. We are both learning.

Vital stats: Annada is now 33 inches tall and 25.2 pounds. That means she lost some weight and grew 2 inches. Which is healthy and on par for Marc’s family and mine. It does explain why she fits into old clothes again. And is too tall for others. Personally, I think this new look is adorable! She looks more and more like a little girl.

We did have quite a few misses today. Or half-misses. We stopped counting. Annada would pee just a little, stop herself, come tell us and then go the rest on the potty. I am encouraged how aware she is. Hopefully with a little more time she can figure out how to tell us 30 seconds sooner. Meanwhile, I’m doing a lot of laundry. And as far as pooping goes, well Marc is hoping tomorrow goes better.

The proud girl

Lowlight: 3 misses in a row this morning
Highlight: Annada’s first poop!
Strange-light: Our kid officially goes to the bathroom in the pantry

Today was a great day. The morning was rough – it seems like Annada has to relearn how to go potty each morning. But she is getting faster at figuring it out.

The funny story for today is that Annada now likes to go potty in our pantry. This morning she was still trying to hide in the pantry to pee in her panties. So we put her potty in there again. This time she sat on it, said bye bye and shut the door. A minute later she opened the door and she had peed!

I think she likes it because everything is her size – she can take down her panties, sit down, shut the door and then open it when she is done. She is so serious about saying goodbye before shutting the door – its hysterical.

The next highlight was in the afternoon. She was eating lunch when she got that “look.” I pulled her out of her high chair and led her to the pantry (we’ve decided to embrace the strangeness of turning our pantry into a bathroom). She shut the door and was in there a loonnggg time. Finally she opened the door, ran off the potty and gave Marc a big kiss.

Then she ran to Aunt Erica and gave her a kiss. When Annada does something wrong, she often starts passing out kisses. I think it is because I always give her a kiss at the end of a time out. A few months ago Annada started trying to give me a kiss as she went to time out – probably thinking the kiss could get her out of trouble.

I looked at the potty and noticed Annada had pooped. “Annada! You pooped in the potty!!” I yelled.

Annada looked scared. “Oops. Oops,” she said. “Uh, oh.”

Needless to say, we spent the next 10 minutes shouting and praising and trying to convince Annada she had done something wonderful. I think the jelly beans finally convinced her she wasn’t getting in trouble. As for me – I’m still excited. Is this seriously just day 3? This is so much better than I was bracing for.

(Playing outside with the potty timer today.)

By noon, I wanted to give up. But the evening was worth the wait.

After yesterday, I expected Annada to be excited to use the potty. She woke up this morning and thrilled as ever about her Dora panties. (I tried to get ones without characters – Annada dropped them out of the cart in an attempt to put them back on the hook. Then she begged for the Dora ones.) It took 10 minutes for her to pick out which pair to wear.

We went downstairs and sat on the potty. Nothing happened. 5 minutes later Annada went into the pantry and shut the door. The last time she did that there was a major mess to clean up. So we pried her out and put her back on the potty. Nothing. She went back into the pantry and… you guessed it – peed.

This happened 3 times. The third time was so bad she came out to tell us the floor was all wet. Aunt Erica thought to put the portable potty in the pantry. Nope – she threw it out and shut the door.

This bothered me a lot because I thought Annada was upset about having to use the potty. She was starting to cry when we put her on it and everyone was pretty miserable. She looked like she wanted so hard to do it right when she was on the potty, but just didn’t know how. I thought maybe she needed to hide to go.

I left to have lunch with Erica (who is making magazine beads to help women in Ethiopia get out of prostitution – a pretty awesome summer volunteer job). I hoped that Annada would do better with Marc, who she adores. Marc was already having a rough day with pretty much every major computer system at Campus Crusade crashing. When I got back, Annada had 4 misses (in 90 minutes) and Marc was ready to go back to work.

So you can see why I was thinking about pulling out. I had promised myself if we came this far I would hang on until Wednesday. Wednesday it would be, I thought.

When Annada got up from her nap, she had a much better attitude in general. (Unfortunately, she is also popping a new tooth – that is 6 in 3 weeks.) She was fine with sitting on the potty and even stayed if I didn’t have my arm around her. Still no hits, but only one miss.

Then right before dinner we tried again. I think it was an accident, but she peed. We jumped – yelled -danced! Marc was so relieved. Annada gave high fives to everyone and danced in her chair. 2 jelly beans and bonus chunk of brownie.

Annada was eating dinner when she got “that look.” Marc pulled her out of her highchair and into the bathroom. This time Annada looked down concentrated for a moment – and peed again!! We went ballistic.

Without another miss, Marc put her on the potty right before bed. Again, she sat, looked down, concentrated – and (close your eyes if your squeamish) peed so hard it got all over Marc! He was elated. I ran downstairs and again we celebrated. Annada passed out high fives like a pro and took her time carefully selecting the 2 jelly beans she earned.

We let her pick out her sticker and carry her chart around before Marc brought her to bed.

I really hope we turned a corner. But now I have a new goal – I’m hanging with this until Friday. Hold me to it if tomorrow gets worse!

After Annada woke up from her nap this afternoon, I asked her if she wanted to put on a diaper or…. (ta-da!!) big girl panties!! The big girl panties were an immediate hit. As Aunt Erica (who has been a HUGE help) said, it was hard to see her eyes for a great deal of the afternoon, Annada’s smile was so big.

I told Annada I wear panties and Annada had to check to make sure. Then she went downstairs to show Erica her panties. I asked Erica if she wears diapers or panties. Erica said, “diapers.” As retaliation, Aunt Erica then had to show off her panties and Annada was suitably impressed.

Then we walked to the bathroom to sit on the potty. I gave Annada a blueberry (yep – I am shamelessly embracing bribery) for sitting on the potty. We set a timer for five minutes then read books on the potty until the timer went off. At 5 minutes I gave Annada another blueberry for sitting there so long.

After we were done I set a timer to signal the next potty break in 20 minutes. About 10 minutes in Annada came up and told me she was wet. Actually, she was more than wet, but no worries, we cleaned it up and started again.

When the timer went off, Annada sat on the potty and Annada peed!!!! We went ballistic! Annada scarfed her 2 jelly beans. Erica and I screamed and sang for 10 minutes. We all danced together. There was clapping and cheers.

Meanwhile Annada peed in her panties. Again – no worries – but we did have to laugh. Every 10 to 20 minutes this repeated and by 7:30 when Annada went to bed I was exhausted. But there were 2 hits. This just might work…

(Shopping with Aunt Erica)

I have a side story:

When it was time to go to bed, Annada was not happy about it. Marc wasn’t home and he usually puts her to bed. So when he isn’t home she grabs the side of the crib (so it is hard for me to pick her up and read to her) and cries “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!”

We were half-way done with the bedtime routine, when Annada suddenly became complacent. It was a dramatic change. She just sat there, quietly thinking. When I was done, she looked at me, and with her “I’m-so-serious-my-right-eyebrow-is-up” look, she asked to go potty.

We walked over to the potty and she was extremely helpful: taking off her clothes, marching up and sitting on the potty. Normally it is a bit of a struggle. At this point, I was getting suspicous.

“Book,” Annada commanded from her throne. I started reading but checked the time. 5 minutes later Annada was still happy as a clam to sit on the potty.

“Are you done?” I asked. “No, no,” Annada replied, “potty.”

There was no actual using of the potty going on. “Annada, it is time for bed.”

“No,” Annada replied calmly. “Potty, more book.”

She may not have learned how to keep her panties dry today. But she did learn how to stall.

I got serious about trying to potty train Annada on our way home from Omaha. About half a dozen times over the previous 3 months Annada had asked to go potty then done it. That was encouraging. Then, when we landed after 6 hours in a plane from Omaha, Annada looked at me and said potty. I rushed her off to the bathroom where I took off a dry diaper and she let out a serious amount of pee.

This is going to be cake, I thought.

I started talking to other moms about potty training. They made me wonder if I’m crazy. Is potty training awful for everyone? But my mom, who apparently had no plan but a whole lot of amazing toddler intuition, encouraged me on. Apparently I never missed until my brother was born?!

I bought panties, blueberries and jelly beans. I filled the bathroom with books. I had three planned days – then scrapped the plan when I felt overwhelmed. I’m still not entirely sure this is going to work.

But yesterday, Annada’s official 18-month birthday, I began. Going where I have never gone as a mom before. This is my Mommy Log.

(Don’t worry – there are Dora panties down there.)

My neighbor and friend, Carla, asked me a few weeks ago to take pictures of Annada. She is an amazing photographer and needed more child pictures for her portfolio. I love the way she captures Annada.

I’m sorry they are late. Our camera broke and I just got these. But any family pictures with a mermaid deserve to be posted.

Feeding the birds at Gatorland. Erica and Annada have a special place in their hearts for birds.

My mom, however, has a soft spot for scorpions! Ick. They made fun of me for pulling Annada away. This thing really creeped me out. Which is why my mom’s expression is validating :).

We barely survived Ursula’s super soaker attack. But as survivors we had to take a group picture with Ariel.

Classy. Actually, these were probably the most tasteful ones around. Kevin was mortified.

Mother and Daughter matching toe rings

Savor this picture. This coastline is probably much different right now. It was beautiful.

Annada loved the shallow, still water. She was so happy she kept doing her happy dance.

As Sierra would say, “good times.”

Grandma and Grandpa Kennard, Annada’s Great-grandparents. With Great-Aunt Karen in the background.

Nanny and Papa – Annada’s Great-grandparents

Playing in Meme’s pots

Picking up berries that fell from the tree to eat

Playing with chalk

Pepe sneaking Annada a chocolate chip cookie

I have a Pepe story I hope I never forget. We were at Spaghetti Works. Annada has learned how to get out restaurant high chairs, and every 5 minutes or so was standing up. I would put her back in her chair and she would spend the next couple of minutes getting out.

After a few rounds it was time to get salad. So when I turned to see Annada standing up again I said, “Okay, you can get out and come with me.” Annada broke out into a HUGE grin.

So Pepe narrated for her a little song,”I won, I won, I won.” Annada started dancing in her chair, smiling, and singing, “I won, I won, I won, I won.” After about a minute of that, Annada sings, totally unassisted, “Me, Me, Me, Me!” We were laughing so hard we couldn’t see!

(Oh yes… We’ve got trouble. Right here…)

Visiting the zoo

Seeing birds

Spending time with Daddy

Playing with new toys (to her – this was Marc’s!)

Lots of Grandpa time

Learning fashion tips from Grandma

Great food and the freedom to make messes

Lots and lots of LOVE

So proud of you Kevin.

Teasing Kevin after graduation. I love my siblings.

Playing at the playground during the party.

Beautiful Aunt Lucy 🙂

One flight down, one to go. Annada was an angel. We will miss all of our Omaha family and friends!

I had a wonderful Mother’s Day! In the morning “Annada” made me breakfast in bed and gave me a bubble blower and finger-painted picture. Then we stopped by Duncan Donuts for Boston creme donuts and coffee on our way to go shopping (yes – with Marc ). We ate chipolte for lunch and headed to Animal Kingdom. It was beautiful weather and they were even giving flowers to all the moms.

Our first stop was the Lion King Celebration Experience. It is one of my favorite shows – lots of live dancing, singing and acrobats. And fire eating. After we sat down, I noticed that some of the VIP seats were empty. I talked Marc into asking, and found out no one booked them so we got to sit there. The dancers were so close sometimes we touched!

Annada bonded with one the monkey acrobats. Wherever he went, she would point at him. He noticed and kept coming back to say hi – which Annada absolutely loved. Her face was priceless. And when it was over she climbed up on the stage, lifted up her hands to her “audience” and grinned.

A few stops later we went to the bird show. Annada’s face says, “What?! Ice cream? How can she have ice cream and not me?”

Watching the owl talk – the little owl in my lap kept going “whoo…whoo.”

Yep – it’s good to be Annada.

I think Marc’s back is still recovering from all the TLC Annada gave the goats at the “affection station” (because petting zoo is too plain for Disney).

After all that, Annada found a stair case with rails low enough for her. We spent about 20 minutes here and I think it may have been her highlight.

As soon as we put her in the stroller to go home, Annada was sound asleep. It was a wonderful day. (Finished off by dinner with friends and presents from Marc. Thank you!)

Annada had her first ear infection. She was having trouble sleeping, so Marc held her during one of her nap times. I love this picture of her all curled up (and yes, it’s the ear she is holding).

I found out because she woke up from a nap screaming and I tried to check her temperature. As soon as I put the thermometer in her ear, she cried. “OWWW!” I decided to call the doctor while she was still yelling and they got me in immediately. (I love my doctor!)

She cried all the way to the doctor and while walking in. As soon as I opened the door though, she stopped, giggled, and ran off to play with the toys. (She was crying… I swear!) She was happy as could be until her doctor tried to look in her ears.

The great news is: Annada is already feeling well again. She’s caught up on sleep (amen!) and even holds still when I put her drops in. She weights 25.4 pounds and is 32 inches tall.

Annada is Macey’s “favorite girl”. (Anna is her bestfriend.) On the way to Macey’s house Annada chanted, “Macey, Macey!”