Santa Claus' Whistle

Annabelle is still not real fond of the mall Santa Claus. She loves seeing pictures of Santa Claus in books, online and on television, but the thought of actually sitting in Santa Claus' lap has just recently in the last month brought on near meltdowns and tears.

So, for lunch today, Grandmama, Granddaddy, Annabelle and Mommy drove over to Northlake Mall for lunch. As soon as we walked into the mall, Annabelle said, "Ont go see San-ta Cause." I told her we could go and see Santa Claus as soon as we finished eating our lunch.

And we did go see Santa Claus. Of course, Annabelle kept her distance once again. I asked her yet again if she wanted to sit in Santa Claus' lap, and she said, "Nooo." So, this year I didn't (and haven't) forced the issue.

Santa Claus pulled out a toy whistle he had in his sleigh and offered it to Annabelle. She didn't hesitate long (if even at all). She snuck quickly over to Santa, grabbed that whistle, and then turned around and walked away. And, here is a picture of the prized Santa Claus whistle.



She reminded me quite a bit about how she quickly took the necklace from the Easter Bunny back in March. She wanted nothing to do with the Easter Bunny, but she sure wanted his necklace!

She did speak to Santa Claus from a distance though. I told Annabelle to tell Santa Claus what she wanted for Christmas, and she looked at Santa from behind the rope to enter (after she had gotten her prized whistle) and said, "Baby Attie." I told her that he couldn't hear her, so she'd try to yell out (more like whisper out) a little louder each time.

Translation: Baby Doll. Annabelle refers to all baby dolls as "Baby Atties" since she has one baby doll named Baby Adie after Miss Kelley's little girl, Adie.

I guess "Santa" will be buying Annabelle a baby doll for Christmas again this year. Like she doesn't already have enough!

She held on to her prized whistle all day. She even wanted to take it to nap with her, but I told her that it needed to stay outside of the crib. When asked who gave her that whistle, she would say, "San-ta Cause" with a "yes" nod of her head and a smile on her face.

Do you think that just maybe she'll always have the same love for Santa Claus as she does now?

Dank Apple Juice Furst

Annabelle and I were reading "The Gingerbread Man" together this morning. As I pointed out pictures and asked Annabelle, "What is this?," she said, "Dank Apple Juice Furst Mommy."

Translation: Drink Apple Juice First Mommy.

Then, she would proceed to take a very long sip of apple juice from her sipee cup. When she was finished drinking, she would answer my question instantly. "Scarecow." "Fox." Etc.

It cracked me up as it took her longer and more energy to say "Dank Apple Juice Furst Mommy" than it did to just name the object. This went on during the entire book, and I laughed every single time she did it.

She's obviously learning her way of controlling the situation, and she's pretty good at it!

Santa Pajamas

This afternoon, we met up with Uncle Matt, Aunt Meredith and Cousins Adam and Molly for a Christmas photo shoot at McDaniel Farm Park in Duluth, Georgia. We had planned to meet at 4:30 p.m., and naturally, Annabelle fell asleep for her afternoon nap at 3:00 p.m. after laying in the crib for an hour. So, I woke her up at 3:45 to get her dressed.

She was quite a grump, and she cried until we offered her animal crackers and Daddy brought her the new Scratch and Sniff books he bought for her from Target while gone to Minneapolis this past week. So, we thought she'd wake up by the time we got to the park. Boy were we wrong!

She wanted nothing to do with holding her cousins hands or even walking for that matter. "Hold you Mama! Hold you Mama!" was all I heard as I tried to snap pictures of Adam and Molly.

By the time we walked halfway around the trail only to realize that we couldn't access the front porch to the heritage house, Annabelle was literally shivering. It was 47 degree F! And, we had coats on absolutely no one as we were hoping to capture some great shots in their Christmas attire.

After dinner at our house (white chili and broccoli cheese cornbread muffins), we took one more shot at getting a great picture with the cousins together in Christmas pajamas. Once again, Annabelle did not crack a smile! Well, maybe one smile, but it didn't last long enough.

She was so quiet all evening, and she didn't open up to her jolly, talkative self until after Uncle Matt, Aunt Meredith, Adam and Molly had left for the evening.

After everyone had left, I decided to change Annabelle out of her Christmas pajamas. My theory is that "it isn't even Thanksgiving yet," as I told hubby. Annabelle obviously had other plans, but her Mommy won this time!

As I was attempting to change her, she pulled down on the pajama shirt, and said, "NO! San-ta Cause!" Apparently, her Daddy had told her earlier that she had on her "Santa Claus" pajamas, and she didn't want to take them off!

Of course, I'm not quite sure why since she is currently afraid of Santa Claus, and I don't suspect we are going to get a Santa Claus picture this year.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from this evening:

Pumpkin Mask or Paper Plate?

If you are not a Mommy, the following picture is probably just a paper plate with scribbles on the back. However, if you are a Mommy, you know that the first picture is truly a beautiful piece of artwork, and your heart would ache at the even simple thought of disposing of the "artwork" because it has your child's mark. Your child's mark which will change every day as new concepts are learned. A mark that will never be the same again. It is just another sign that your "baby" is growing up. If only they could stay little forever. However, if they did, we as Mommies and Daddies would miss out on so many more joys to come!

On Halloween, I decided that Annabelle and I needed to be artistic, and we needed to celebrate the holiday. So, I quickly found instructions to create a pumpkin mask using a paper plate. I was out of plain white paper plates, so we settled for "Happy Birthday" plates from hubby's 30th birthday party, and we instead used the back of the plates to design our own jack-o-lanterns.

I left the laptop open to the web page with the sample of the pumpkin mask we were designing so that Annabelle could design her pumpkin mask accordingly. Following is Annabelle's try at her pumpkin mask.

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!

McDonald's Baby Dolls

Annabelle loves the "baby dolls" that come in the McDonald's Happy Meals. It first started with the Wizard of Oz Madame Alexander dolls back in September. And now, it is the Barbie collection.

If we tell Annabelle that we are having McDonald's for lunch or dinner, she will immediately say, "baby dolls," as she nods her head yes. Then, constantly during dinner, she will say "baby dolls" over and over again.

On her birthday, we took her for dinner to McDonald's since she loves the "baby dolls" so very much. She gets so very excited.

When asked what she wants for dinner from McDonald's, she will say, "Chicken Nuggets, Fench Fies." Then, "Baby dolls?"

Well, as we were leaving McDonald's on Annabelle's birthday, we stopped and asked her if she wanted to look at the "baby dolls" in the showcase they have standing with all of the Barbies and Hot Wheels. Of course, she did! And, after she stood there for just a few seconds looking at them, she turned to me and said, "Pictur Mama," and then posed perfectly in front of the showcase of Barbie dolls and Hot Wheels. Naturally, I didn't have my camera with me, so I asked hubby to take a picture with his camera phone. He did, but he has not downloaded a copy as of yet.

We both laughed a lot that night at how silly we must have looked trying to take a picture of our daughter in front of the showcase of Barbies and Hot Wheels. And, it was even all that more funny when she decided she needed to stand in other spots around McDonald's (such as in front of the front counter) to have her "pictur" taken. Do you think Annabelle has any pictures of herself?

This evening, we took Annabelle to McDonald's yet again. It seems we have taken Annabelle to McDonald's quite a bit lately, but it is mostly because of the "baby dolls" and special occasions. I promise that my child does not eat fast food all of the time!

So, as we were leaving again this evening, Annabelle stopped to look at the showcase of "baby dolls." And yet again, she turned to me and posed in front of the showcase and said, "Pictur Mama, Pictur." This time, I had my camera, and I captured the cutest shot ever. Enjoy!

What do you see?

We visited some old college friends in Clayton, Georgia this weekend, some that we haven't seen since we got married in July 2000. Most all of us have children now, and the children are all very close in age, so everyone had a blast, including the children.

Hubby, Annabelle and I spent the night at the cabin. After Annabelle was dressed on Sunday morning, we caught her peeking out the bedroom window right next to another little girl. This other little girl just happened to be one of those baby dolls without facial features that props against windows. I guess Annabelle was just curious about what that baby doll might have seen.

So, here is a picture of Annabelle following her lead! Is this not precious? She stood there long enough for hubby to say, "Are you not going to take a picture," and for me to then pull the camera out of the diaper bag and camera case. I was lucky enough to actually capture a great shot!

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)!

Buttermilk?

I spent Monday running all of my errands so that I could stay home and officially start the potty training on Wednesday (worked out to be Tuesday afternoon though).

So, Annabelle still won't drink whole milk, so when I went to the grocery store Monday afternoon, I bought some vanilla soy milk as my best friend recommended it because it was the only milk she could get her son to drink (while breastfeeding).

Well, Monday night, we stayed for dinner with Grandmama and Granddaddy. Grandmama had bought herself some buttermilk while we were grocery shopping at Wal-Mart. Keep in mind, Grandmama is the only one I know that actually drinks buttermilk because she likes it (or in her case, she loves it)! Granddaddy does not like it, Uncle Ken does not like it, and I definitely do not like it!

So, after dinner, Grandmama asked Annabelle if she wanted to try some buttermilk. "Uh huh!" she said. So, Grandmama gets a spoon out, and she spoons Annabelle some buttermilk into her mouth one spoonful at a time. I completely expected her to turn her nose up to it completely. I am pretty sure that Grandmama had given her a taste of buttermilk as a baby, and I don't think she liked it then.

Granddaddy and I were watching with disgust. I turned my nose up in complete disgust every spoonful she took. That stuff is disgusting!

I suspect that this defiant little girl actually knew that it disgusted me. Maybe she saw my disgusted looks, I don't know. But, she continued to take the spoonfuls one at a time, and she would just look at me and smile. I think I actually remember her licking her chops too.

Grandmama finally offered her a cup of buttermilk, and she took it all too willingly! Then, she proceeded to offer both me and Granddaddy some of her supposedly yummy buttermilk. I acted like I was taking a sip, and I said, "Oooo, yummy!" Granddaddy wouldn't even play her game. Grandmama said, "Don't you want to try some of Annabelle's buttermilk Granddaddy?" "No!" he said.

So, what do you think? Do you think she only liked it because she knew I was completely disgusted or did she really enjoy herself some buttermilk?

Perhaps breast milk tastes like buttermilk? Uuuwww! Gag! That's disgusting!