You must bemember this

Tonight Anna was doing some improvisation for an audience of stuffed animals on her bed.  About 15 minutes into a monologue, she began saying, "Bemember not to do that... Bemember what you need to do... Bemember..."  You get the point.  So, Mom has this thing about language.  I don't mean that I'm some perfect-schmerfect Nazi grammarian and spelling bee champion (and let's not even speak of my sloppy punctuation), but I think it's important to be able to speak the King's English and I simply cannot tolerate when people encourage mispronunciations and/or baby talk with children.  I think it's cruel to the baby...and everyone else within earshot.  While I think Anna's mispronunciations are quite cute, I still feel compelled to make sure she understands how the word should be spoken, obviously as a solid stepping stone into reading and writing.  (I know.  I'm taking this way too seriously.)  Example: Anna has a book called "I Ain't Gonna Paint No More."  I admit that it's fun in a singsong kind of way, but every time I have to read it out loud it's like a gut punch.  Psst -- don't tell Anna, but I usually correct a few words when I read it, just so it's not quite SO BAD.  So, I gently tell her the correct way to say the word "remember".  "'R', Honey.  Not 'B'."  (Insert loud toddler protest here.)  "I WANT to say it that way, Mom!  I don't want to say RE-bember!"  So, I'm backing off.  Much like I've temporarily given over to the fact that she calls her coat cubby at school a covey.  And just like I'm ignoring that every doll, stuffed animal and picture she draws is currently named Barbie.  She knows what it is, what it's supposed to be; yet in her own way she is expressing her independence and creativity.  Who am I to squash those qualities?

The Benny Stories

Meet Benny.

Benny came to us via the North Pole at Christmastime.  He is named in honor of our friends' orange cat....Benny.  He's a rather dramatic cat, we've found, putting on all sorts of theatrics every evening at bedtime, often interacting with the neighborhood finger puppets.  Our bedtime routine with Anna is ever evolving, but this is the age of Benny.

Something extraordinary happened the other night...to Benny.
He discovered a magical wishing egg.

Inside the egg was an ordinary looking glob of purple play-dough.










BUT, when you whisper a wish into the egg, the play-dough
magically transforms into your wish!








For example, Anna, having recently lost her snowman
to the warming temperatures, wished for a snowman.

Voila!




The magic egg is now in high demand, and after several nights the play-dough is getting a little dry,
but we're having fun while the magic lasts.


Being the parent of a toddler is the best job in the world, don't you think?

Post-holiday follow-up

The last of the holiday decorations are put away and there's a strange austere look to the house as our eyes adjust to the lack of lights and tinsel and greenery.  It feels like the house has just contracted with a giant sigh.  We have, too.  We're always happy to see the holidays come, and equally satisfied to see them go.  January is a nice, quiet month with very little expectation.  Which is thankful because Mom has been sick for the past week.  But, enough about that.

The weather was crazy around Christmas, with a blizzard slowing things down a bit, and dumped again on us before New Years, and then again last week.  It's been a REAL winter, unlike any I've seen since I was very young.  Anna loves to stomp around in the snow and regularly asks to build more snowmen.  Temperatures just went up for a couple of days, so our latest snowman looks like a witch doctor shrunk his head.

We had a lovely Christmas with both sets of grandparents, and then again with our close friends.  Anna's favorite presents include a painting for her room -- the lyrics from one of her favorite songs -- given to her by Nana and GrandDad, a horse from Grandma and Papa that is the perfect size for her dollies, and a new doll (American Girl) from the Carreno's.  Of course there were a few more gifts - more than I can, or would want to, mention here.  Suffice to say, Anna totally gets the point of Christmas now.  Presents. Perhaps we'll delve into the greater meaning of good will as she gets a bit older.  New Year's Eve is much more straight-forward -- partying with friends to usher in a new year.  We celebrated in our traditional way at the G&D Corral with the McCaskills and Carrenos.  The bonfire was less popular this year because it was too darn cold!  We didn't even hold out long enough to make s'mores.  But we had a great night among friends.

Anna just began a drama class at our local civic theatre.  She goes once a week for 8 weeks, and at the end there will be a stage production.  Other than that info, they are keeping us in the dark.  We aren't allowed to watch the class, which is fine with me.  Anna, at this stage, often does better for other adults when we aren't around.  One of her friends from school is also in the class, which was a nice because she was comfortable from the get-go with Isaiah by her side.

We had a giant icycle growing from the corner of the house.  Alex took it down and gave it to Anna to check out.  Of course it went straight into the mouth.  As I took the pictures, I tried not to inwardly cringe thinking of all of the God-knows-what is contained inside that icycle.  Oh, well.  A couple of licks probably won't kill her.

We end this post, and begin the new year, with thanks, humility and hope.  We are so very blessed.
A very happy New Year to all of you.