Identity crisis

I'm having a very small identity crisis. :o) Anya Rashi's new fascination has been using the word "mama" for many purposes. Gone are the starry-eyed days of mommy bliss when she used that word for only me! She still very deliberately points to me, gives a kiss and says "Mama." Then, just as deliberately, she points to her father and says, "mama." Same goes for both of her brothers, the hallway, the clock in our living room . . . you get the picture.

And, apparently, she has quite a sense of humor. Today, I was clicking her into her car seat, and she pointed to me with a sweet smile and said, "Dada." Ha! What a little imp. Also, she has developed what Peter and I refer to as "the 'no' that means 'yes'." She says it with a coy little look that we've come to know well . . . then she will laugh and nod her head yes.

A new hobby at the moment is taking the clothes off all her dolls. She insists that they be al fresco, for reasons known only to her. Her other favorite activity, now that we're letting her bangs grow out, is ripping barrettes out of her hair. She really enjoys the putting-in part of the process, and gives a big cheesy smile while I say "pretty!" -- and then, within seconds, out it comes. Maybe she's going to be short hair kind of gal.

In other family news, Nathan just turned six! He will share a birthday party with his friend Jack on Saturday at a local nature center. Frog cupcakes will be the treat of the day -- I had a practice run making them for Nathan's class last week. (I'm sure his teacher loves it when parents send in all that sugar!) You'll have to ignore his age ticker at the top of our blog -- for some reason, it has him living in the past as a five-year-old.

Both Aaron and Nathan are playing in a flag football league this spring. Their team is the Buccaneers, and it's a short 6-week season complete with football jerseys -- very cute! Umm, did I say cute? I meant fierce. They wanted me to write about a new noise Anya Rashi is making. Here's how they spell it: "rrrraahhhhhhh ggglle." She says it in a really low, throaty voice and will keep on doing it if they laugh. (Which they always do.)

So far, it's been too cold, rainy, and windy to have Anya Rashi outside at their football games. In fact, it snowed for a few hours this morning. Sigh. I'm reasonably sure that by the time baseball starts it will be warmer.

An eventful week

Well, this week contained a variety of events, some more pleasant than others! On the down side, all three kids had a stomach bug, and the boys had colds on top of that . . . yuck. The boys have missed a ton of school -- a week and a day last month with influenza, then they went back for two days before spring break . . . and now, the week after spring break they missed another four days! Their teachers probably wonder if I've secretly decided to home school. :o)

On a much happier note, Nathan and Aaron were very excited to get their new glasses yesterday! Nathan is the newest member of the family to join the nearsighted club, and looks quite distinguished in his new glasses. Aaron has had glasses since the week before he began kindergarten, and needed new frames and lenses. It was a fun way to end a yucky sick week.

Anya Rashi is up to many new tricks, and can now climb onto the kitchen table, the couch, and almost anywhere she wants to be. Dinner preparation (or any other job that requires two hands and more than 3 min.) is now a bit of an adventure . . . and I've been using the pack-and-play occasionally as an Anya Rashi-containment device, but not surprisingly, she does not enjoy being caged when there is so much to climb! For some reason, she is much more active in the evenings, when she's starting to get tired. That's when the boys call her by the titles they've given her: "Danger Baby" and "Princess Destructo." :o)

She is trying out some new animal sounds, and says "moo" for cows, "baa" for sheep, and "ooooh aaah" for monkeys. For some reason, she thinks that cats blink their eyes!! It's so funny, and she's completely consistent with it -- we say "meow," and she very deliberately blinks both eyes. Wonder where that came from?! She also sings "woe, woe, woe" for "Row, row, row your boat."

Yesterday was a race day for our family! Peter and Alicia ran a 5K that ended our local baseball stadium. Aaron and Nathan were registered to run the kids 1/2 mile, but given that they'd been so sick, we opted out in favor of them saving their strength. They still got their t-shirts, so they weren't too disappointed. It was beautiful weather, too -- the first day this year that went over 50 degrees -- and it wound up reaching 62 degrees! We went to the park after the race, rode bikes, and spent lots of time outside.

Anya Rashi likes pinecones, sand, rocks, dead leaves, and lots of other things that she discovered in our backyard. Now, to keep her from eating them . . . :o)