And, her Daddy was kind enough to teach her to use the camera. Perhaps I should have bought that $50 Fisher Price children's digital camera I saw at Wal-Mart on Tuesday. I'll be sure and post some of Annabelle's pictures from her photo shoots in another blog entry. I first need to figure out how to download them from the camera since they aren't on a memory card.
I honestly don't remember who she was sassing at the moment, but it obviously was not her Daddy because he seems oblivious to her bossiness (in this picture). Perhaps she was sassing the kitty cats?
But, since it wasn't my Canon 30D, I didn't freak out, and I let her play with it, knowing that she could drop it at any time and completely destroy the only camera I have that is small enough to stuff in an already overstuffed diaper bag. I did, however, remove the memory card that was already in there as I didn't want her to drop the camera and cause the memory card to completely self decompose. That sounds crazy, I know, but hubby dropped the camera one day recently, and we actually lost some pictures off of the memory card. 
Hubby, thank you for continuing to show your love to others through your kindness. This is definitely one of the reasons I fell in love with you almost 11 years ago! I am sorry for not supporting you like I should have on this project, but you pulled through for everyone as promised, with little time away from me and Annabelle.
I'm just glad you still have all ten fingers! And, for anyone else who doesn't already know that story, I'll have to blog about that one another day!
And here she is again, not letting go of her Mommy's leg, even for the picture. Honestly, she is holding my leg in that picture, and somehow, I managed to take her picture with the Christmas tree in the background.
We figured that the sound of the chain saw was actually scaring her, but she warmed up to the Christmas trees after awhile, but yet, not as much as she did last year. Last year, she was running, or should I say toddling, all over the place among the Christmas trees.It didn't take us long to decide on the "perfect" Christmas tree. It was actually the first Christmas tree that hubby cut open. And, it was one of the newer Christmas trees, which by the way, was cut on Tuesday, so it was fresh, and the needles weren't falling off all over the place.
Hubby said, "I think this is the shortest Christmas tree we have ever had." I don't agree with him of course. I'll have to pull some pictures out from last year to prove him wrong. Of course, knowing him, he'll still think it is shorter, even if I have pictures to prove otherwise.
And, at last, here is Annabelle standing in hubby's truck, actually excited about the Christmas tree again.
This year, Annabelle loved the chocolate chips more than anything, and she wouldn't stop eating the chocolate chips after we had dumped them into the bowl. We finally had to take the bowl away from her because we were afraid that she was going to eat all of the chocolate chips.
Here she is with a pile of chocolate chips stored in her mouth like a chipmunk. Do you see what I mean about her eating all of the chocolate chips? She loves chocolate!
And here she is licking the peanut butter off of her hand because she attempted to steal another chocolate chip before the bowl was confiscated. Great picture, don't you think?!?! I'm not sure if I took it or if hubby took it.
And, then, she used her chocolate covered spoon that had been used to stir the melted chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter to clean off the powdered sugar I had spilled on the counter. It was hilarious to watch as she kept going back for more and more powdered sugar even though there wasn't much left on the counter.
Verdict: Once again, everyone loved the puppy chow! Score again for Mommy and Annabelle!
I think Annabelle actually liked the puppy chow more than anyone as she kept asking for "Puppy Tow" pronounced more like "towel" with the "el" missing. On our last day at Granny's, the Saturday after Thanksgiving, she grabbed the container with the remaining puppy chow bits and pieces and took it to Granny, who was in the back of the house, for her to get Annabelle yet another helping.
Another time on Saturday at Granny's, I caught her sitting on the floor with the puppy chow container in hand. I just wish I had grabbed the camera!
And I wondered why the child wouldn't nap at all on the Friday after Thanksgiving! Do you think she possibly had a little too much puppy chow?
She later decided that she wanted to help me color my pumpkin mask after I finished cutting out the eyes, nose and mouth. However, she wanted nothing to do with wearing it as she told me that it "hurt me." At a playgroup on Monday, she had pulled the elastic string on a mask she was wearing (with pumpkins for the eyes), and she struck her face hard enough to leave a raised line where the elastic string had hit. So, I think she made the connection between the two masks. Here is Mommy and Annabelle's version of the pumpkin mask. I cut out the eyes, nose and mouth and started with the coloring, but she finished coloring, and she even helped me punch some holes on the sides to hold the orange string to make it a mask.
On Halloween, we drove over to her Daddy's office so that some of his coworkers could see Annabelle dressed up as Piglet for Halloween. I asked her before we left if she wanted to take the finished pumpkin mask to show Daddy. She didn't let me forget it either when we arrived. As I was getting her out of her car seat, she grabbed the pumpkin mask and said, "Show Dattie, show Dattie." So, we carried the pumpkin mask with the eyes, nose and mouth cut out to "show Dattie."
This weekend, Annabelle decided she wanted to use her pumpkin mask plate to eat her lunch or dinner or whatever meal we were eating. Once she finished eating, her Daddy told her that he was going to take her plate and throw it away. She said, "NO!" Then, she proceeded to turn it over to show him her artwork. How dare he even think about throwing away her artwork!
So, after a weekend of "cleaning house," I decided it was time to throw away the greasy plate that Annabelle considers to be her prized artwork. I don't think she'll miss it in the morning. However, I personally do feel like I am letting go of a piece of my baby.
If only I could keep every piece of "artwork" that Annabelle designs! Everything she has scribbled on is artwork in her Mommy's eyes!
By the way, if I can remember, I am going to start posting the dates and times for some of these pictures with the exact date and time that the pictures were taken. This picture was actually taken on October 26, 2008 at 10:03 a.m. This is just one of the many benefits of a digital camera (knowing the exact date and time the photo was taken after it is downloaded to your computer)!
Annabelle had her 2 year well check up on Tuesday. I voiced my concern to the doctor that Annabelle was using some consonants in place of others, such as "dorse" for horse or "durse" for nurse. He said that he would make a recommendation to me on how to assist her with the pronunciation, but if it did not get better in 2-3 months, then he would recommend she see a speech therapist. I have actually been concerned about it, but I actually had not mentioned it to anyone because I didn't want other people to assume that she had a problem (if maybe she didn't). I didn't even mention it to hubby as I didn't want him to worry about her. He (the doctor) recommended that I focus on the consonant sounds that she has trouble with such as "ha ha ha" for "horse." He said that is what a speech therapist would do.
So, all that being said, this is just another thing that makes me feel like the worst mother in the whole wide world. I feel like as a mother I am constantly judged and compared to other mothers. It makes this job that much harder. Why are men not judged and compared as much as fathers? Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how Annabelle turns out), I feel like her intelligence and behavior is a direct result of my parenting since I am the primary caregiver with her the majority of the time.
Before I had Annabelle, I honestly did think that a "late talker" was often a result of the parents not spending enough time with their children. However, I changed my view on that over a year ago! I think I expected Annabelle to start talking shortly after birth or something and when she didn't start talking fluently or clearly by 12-15 months, she was definitely "behind" in my eyes. Of course, no mother wants their child to be "behind" as we all think our child is the smartest.
Maybe I should completely disregard the even tiniest thought of homeschooling! That is scary to think that public schools could do a better job at teaching my child than me. No offense to my best friend who is a teacher in a public school as I know she must be a wonderful teacher because she's a wonderful mom!
So, all of that being said, I'm sure I'll get over this "pity party" tomorrow or the next day or maybe the next and move forward. But, in the mean time, I wanted to document all of the words that I know Annabelle knows as of 2 years of age. I'm hoping it will make me feel better.
I read somewhere that a toddler should have 50 words in their vocabulary at age 2, so it looks like she's right on target (or above target) with her vocabulary. It also said that "late talkers" were considered to be those toddlers who did not have 50 words in their vocabulary at the age of 2. They apparently know more than the 50 words they say, which I know is true with Annabelle because she can find and point out just about anything I ask her to find. She understands everything I say. For those who know her well, please comment and let me know if there are other words I am missing.
Dr. Calk said she should be 80% understandable between 2 - 2.5 years of age by other people. However, I read on the internet that at age 2 she should be between 50-75% understandable, and I think that was only by the primary caregiver. Maybe I misunderstood the doctor?
The above words are not in the order they were learned (by any means)! I just listed them as I could think of them. And, I am sure I have missed some!
Okay, now (after compiling my list) I am trying to understand why I was having a "pity party." Annabelle knows a lot of words (more than the "norm"). She needs to learn to pronounce some of them better, but she is honestly getting much better with her pronunciations. As you can see, I've already noted on some words where I think she has actually improved her previous pronunciation. I think my problem is that I constantly feel that Annabelle is judged and compared to other children. Annabelle is her own self. She succeeds in other areas. And, she is NOT behind on her words even though she needs some assistance with the pronunciation. Most people do not know how much Annabelle actually does talk because they aren't around her on a daily basis, and she tends to be shy and quiet around other people besides her Mommy and Daddy.
I do think we have a VERY independent child, but I think it will serve her very well in the future. Of course, it drives me crazy on some days! She insists on doing almost everything herself (including emptying the pot to her "big girl potty" every single time she tee tees in the potty).
So, here is hoping to hear 10 or more new words every day! That is what the experts say they'll start doing around 2 years of age! Holy cow!
