Last week Anna attended her first ballet/tap class.

Her enthusiasm was awesome. She was so excited to pack up a ballet bag that included slippers and tap shoes and head to class.

There’s no doubt I was really, really excited too. I got to watch her through a window and loved seeing her experience the motions and follow directions and watch the other girls.

She’s totally ready to go again this week.

Love that she’s getting to do something that is just for her.

I’m getting excited about the upcoming Craft & Hobby Association trade show later this month. I’ll be attending for the first time since Anna was born - time is flying.

Today I wanted to share a quick sneak peek of some brads from Elizabeth Kartchner’s Dear Lizzy Neapolitan line for American Crafts. That little fabric brad with the camera is super cute. Her new line features 22 papers, including a darling stitched ruffle paper & three patterned vellum papers. Complementing the papers are a variety of embellishments from painted wood buttons, epoxy stickers, chipboard word banners, embroidered brads & woodgrain chipboard pieces. Other new additions joining in on the fun are Flutterbys (sewn butterfly & pendant banners), a Roller & Phrase Stamp and Paper Pinwheels.

Dear Anna,

Hi sweet girl. Just wanted to capture a couple things about you right now and get them down in a letter.

First thing, we love you so much.

Second thing, you are awesome.

Third thing, you make the best faces.

There’s a million more things of course, but those are the three that are standing out right now.

You are currently two-weeks into your Montessori preschool experience and it’s safe to say that you seem to be happy with it. Each day we drop you off, you give a hug and a kiss at least twice (and the last couple of days you kissed our hands as well) and then you head into the room to see what kind of work you’ll want to do first. You have a very kind, gentle and soft-spoken teacher.

I loved this morning when you walked through the door other kids were saying “Hi Anna!” and “Anna’s here!”

Each night you like to have a couple books read to you and then you like to look at books on your own for quite awhile. Sometimes longer than I’d like you to stay up, but it’s for a good cause.

You “read” them out loud to yourself or whatever baby dolls might be hanging out in your bed. Often you mimic whatever you remember about the story or you pick something in the photo/illustration that spurs you to turn the page. I know this because I often stand outside your door and listen. You yell for me when you’re done looking at books to come back in and turn off the light. Lately you’ve been telling me to “have a good sleep Mama” as I close the door.

You still grab and tug and hold onto our ears when you are very sleepy – either just waking up or just falling asleep.

You are a big fan of playing at the sink. This past weekend you took everything off down to your undies, socks and shoes and played and played. Pouring, scooping, dumping water and asking for more bubbles. More than a little water found it’s way out of the sink and onto the floor. You really, really wanted to get into the sink but I told you that you’re too big for that now.

I love that you’ve got opinions about your clothes. You were pretty particular about wearing the striped green socks with those cute little shoes. Most days I give you a choice between two things. Most days you pick one or the other without too much back and forth.

You are physical. Climbing. Jumping (you love a small personal trampoline we got for your this summer). Hanging. Jumping. Jumping. Jumping.

You are quick to understand and quick to ask another question “why?” or “what’s that?”

Apple juice is your drink of choice. Goldfish your snack. And broccoli is your vegetable (you really and truly love broccoli – it’s the first thing you go for on your plate). Your current favorite choice for breakfast is grapes and cheese.

You want a kiss from Simon before he heads off for school and love to wave at him as the bus drives away.

You are a bundle of goodness sweet Anna girl. We love you so much.

Love, Mama

it’s really fun to draw all over yourself.

This was the scene not once but twice on Sunday.

It first happened while I was on a run and Chris was hanging out. She asked him for some pens and paper, he obliged and then went back to doing the breakfast dishes while she was in the living room. When I came in the door from my run there she was – all lovely and blue hands, legs, feet.

He scooped her up and put her in the bath and scrubbed and scrubbed.

The second time it was the purple pen.

Fast forward a few hours. She and Simon were hanging out in the living room. I had gone upstairs with Chris to check on our phone line (which is having some issues) and when I came back down there she was again with writing all over her legs and her hands.

I scooped her up and put her in the bath and scrubbed and scrubbed.

And you know what my main thought was through this whole thing (besides a bit of annoyance at the scrubbing)? I was thinking how cool it is that her drawing is moving into a different phase. Some of the marks she’s making on paper (and in this case on herself) are looking more like letter forms.

Not that we’re in a hurry for all that…simply an observation on what is around here right now.

Last weekend Chris took some photos of the kids while they were playing in the tent we’d put up in the yard. Simon had actually requested he come out and take some photos of his shadow.

While he was out there Anna started doing a little dance, as she likes to do from time to time, and he took a bunch of shots in a row of her moves.

When I loaded them onto my computer I wondered what they would look like if I added them into iMovie. Here’s the silly, 12 second result:

Dancing In The Light from Ali Edwards on Vimeo.

Hope you have a wonderful light-filled weekend!

Anna had her first swimming lesson yesterday.

The plan was that Katie would take her (Katie’s our nanny).

Because, you know, I work.

And then I was sitting here working and I looked at the clock and it said 9:50am. Her lesson started at 10am.

I said to myself, “What am I thinking? I want to be there.”

So I ran downstairs and grabbed my wallet and looked for my keys in the little blue pot on the windowsill where the keys are supposed to be. Not there. Of course they’re not there when I have only five minutes to make it to Anna’s first swimming lesson.

So I went to the garage, pushed the button to open the door, and jumped on my bike.

I peddled, peddled, peddled my way on over there (it’s not too far) and arrived just as she was getting in the water.

She was mostly smilely and a little scowly at the cold water and the clouds that were blocking the sun. She kept looking over at Katie and I, smiling her big toothy grin. She was shy with the teacher, a big guy, but was happy to take her turn off the steps to do her kicks as he guided her around the shallow end.

I bet today she’ll be blowing bubbles just like those other two little boys in her group.

Towards the end she was looking over at us and saying she was cold. Right about then it was time for a field trip over to the hot tub for an end-of-class warm up.

She was mad when I finally pulled her out of the hot tub to wrap her in a towel. Katie and I looked at each other with a knowing look about this awesome, opinionated, almost two-and-a-half-year-old who is coming into her own.

She changed her attitude when we told her about seeing Mama’s bike out in the parking lot.

“I want to ride.” she said.

So she rode home with me in her new seat on my bike.

“Woo hoo” she yelled and then chattered on as we made our way home. “Mama, I want to tell you about Max and Ruby. Mama, my helmet is too tight. Mama, where is your house? Mama, where is Katie? Mama, I tired. Mama, I love you.”

SHE wakes up happy just about everyday and almost always asks where Simon is first thing.

SHE has started to have opinions about her clothes. We are now hanging clothes in her closet as “outfits” so she can easily pick out one whole package -  skirt, top, sweater or pants, top, sweater, etc. The bottom rod is just the right height for her to choose an outfit. It’s super cute to see her little outfits all in a row and watch her look through them and say “pretty.”

SHE wants to do everything herself. She especially wants to be able to get into the car, sit in her seat, and buckle herself in (she can definitely get in the car and get into her seat on her own but she can’t quite manage the buckle – she gets SO mad). “ANNA DO IT!“

SHE loves imaginative play. If you’ve never had a kid that didn’t do imaginative play you might not recognize how amazingly awesome it is to witness. She bakes cookies in her kitchen while chatting away, she creates scenarios for Dora & Diego and the Playmobile people. Every time I hear her creating a conversation my heart feels good.

SHE says “yes, please” more often than not – two of the best words in the English language.

SHE wants to go with Daddy to visit the Capitol. The other morning she was sitting on my lap for breakfast while I was reading the paper. On the opinion page was an editorial cartoon with a picture of the Capitol. She points to it and says “Capitol.” Yep, things are a little different around here.

SHE cracks up at stuff. She finds lots of things funny and laughs with her whole body.

SHE is starting to pick up some of Simon’s behaviors or at least imitating him. These are not necessarily things we want her to be adopting – upset noises and facial expressions of disappointment and distress at the dinner table most specifically.

SHE loves to look at books and has gotten some of them down. My current favorite to hear her “read” is Brown Bear, Brown Bear.

SHE says “mine” a lot.

SHE still makes that wonderful noise when she eats something she really enjoys. It’s goes something like “mmmmmmmmmmmmmm” and it’s totally involuntary – we always know when she really, really likes something she’s eating because her little “mmmmmm” motor starts running. The other night when eating spaghetti she said, “This is tasty!”

SHE is an awesome little two-year-old.

Just a few shots from last week’s celebrations.

She is such a happy, happy kid. Even happier with all her people around.

We had a couple different gatherings last week including an evening with my parents as they came through town.

She had a good helper to blow out the candles on her cake.

Grandma and Grandpa gave her a new set of legos just for her. Simon was distressed that she was not following the directions.

Gotta love pink legos.

She was definitely into opening presents and gave great excited reactions to each one. Both sets of grandparents gave her an outfit that she needed to immediately put on right there at the table.

It’s always cool to have my parents around as they usually have a camera in hand too.

And on her actual birthday I made cupcakes. Simple, fun, homemade little cakes of goodness with a bunch of different sprinkles.

Simon came home from school and I let him eat one (Anna was at the babysitters). I went upstairs to work for a bit while he was on the computer downstairs and when I came back down I found that he had eaten two more! Three cupcakes in one sitting. Good thing I made a few extra for when Anna got home.

Wishing everyone a Happy Valentine’s Day today and a peaceful week.

July 2009.

February 2011.

Love, love, love this girl.

Love her silly little faces.

Love how much she talks.

Love how she loves to swim, especially to jump in and go all the way under the water.

Love how she gives awesome hugs and says “I love you.”

Love how she loves to eat cereal from Daddy’s cereal bowl.

Love that she likes to wear vests.

Love how she says “Anna do it” and then more often than not she does it and then yells “I did it!!!”

Love the amazing gifts she has brought to each of our lives.

Happy 2nd Birthday Sweet Baby Girl!

Anna on Sunday.

Dear Sweet Anna Girl,

On Sunday morning I took you to one of those local hair places for your very first haircut. We had just a bit of time before heading to the pool for our Sunday swim so I crossed my fingers that there wouldn’t be much of a wait.

I asked you if you wanted to go get your haircut and the first thing you asked was, “Simon go?”

The second thing you said when I asked you again was “yeaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh” in that sweet drawn-out, excited way you say it.

You’ve watched Simon and Daddy get their haircuts a few times in the past since they often go together. It’s definitely not on Simon’s list of favorite things to do but you were genuinely ready to go. Simon and Daddy stayed home (we came back to the house and all went swimming together after your haircut adventure) and you and I headed out together.

We arrived to find the hair place empty except for two workers. We were able to sit right down. You sat on my lap and the stylist put a cape on me and then a cape on you. You sat calmly, let her do a few little snips around the back and in the front for some bangs, and that was it. A simple “bob” cut with bangs – perfect for a very active little girl.

She asked if you wanted a balloon and you said, “purple.”

I love that now you don’t have hair in your eyes all the time (and aren’t pulling out the clips that we’d put in your hair to keep it out of your eyes). You might not be able to have a “pony” for a bit but you know what? It grows back.

We came home and you ran inside to show Simon and Daddy you new cut. “Nice haircut Anna!” was your brother’s enthusiastic response.

Love you Anna!

“Swing. Higher.”