Ice Cream

We are all moved into our new place -- which is one block away from an ice cream shop so we have been eating ice cream a lot more than usual.

To top it off, this is what happened yesterday:

An ice cream truck came down our street. Ani said "MOM! I heard an ice cream truck so I went outside and I stuck my arms out and I jumped up and down and then I knew AT ONCE that it was going to stop in front of out house!"

It did, of course stop in front of our house . . . Does she realize she has the ability to flag down an ice cream truck?

Jonah and Claire

Tonight I was putting Jonah to sleep, and before he drifted off, he signed "Claire." I said "Aunt Claire?" Then he did the love sign :)

We can't wait to see her -- couple more months!

More Anneke. . .

We needed to pick up some pills from the vet the other day for our cat. While we were there, a family was gathered around and old German Shepherd. They were crying and sad, and it was pretty clear that they were there to have the dog put to sleep. After we left, Anneke said "I noticed that those people were very sad. Why were they so sad?" So we had a little conversation about how when pets are in a lot of pain and have a very sad life, that the vet will give them a little shot and they will go to sleep and not wake up.

Ani: Not even for CHRISTMAS?!
Me: No, honey, the dog dies.
Ani: Oh. Hm.
Jonah: ARRRRRRG (sun in eyes in the car)
Ani: Mom, I think JONAH is in a lot of pain right now. . .

Then that night for her snack before bed (almost always nuts and raisins) she pointed up in the cupboard and said "I want one of those GIANT raisins!" I couldn't figure out what she was talking about, but then realized she was pointing to a dried chipotle pepper!

Jonah has been talking more and more -- he found a ball on the playground the other day and was so excited about it. He kept saying "A BALL!!" Then last night he went to sleep clutching a bouncy ball in each fist.

Baby Clothes

I must have mentioned to Anneke at some point that I had once made some baby clothes for one of her babies.

Now she wants me to make more clothes for all of her many, many babies. She says "you can do it in the night-time when I am sleeping!" I kind of wonder if she doesn't realize that I sleep too. . .

Then she got out a huge mound of babies and gave me specific instructions: "This baby already has two clothes, so she only needs one more. This baby has only one clo, though."

Beauty and the Beast

Anneke went to watch my cousin Julia's performance of Beauty and the Beast with Rockford High School. She is now completely obsessed. She has been listening to the music that my mom loaded on a little MP3 player for her.

A few moments:

"Hey! The beast did just what Beauty did! That's such good manners!"'

"AHHH SKIP THIS PART! THIS IS SO SCARY!!"

We only watched about 25% of the movie

Bedtime. . .

"Mommy, sank you for getting me dis milk and honey, but I have a pwoblem."
"What is your problem?"
"Well, every time I take a sip, my eyes open up and then I don't go to sleep."
"Well why don't you try putting your milk and honey down and go to sleep."
"Oh yes! I will twy dat!"

I guess it worked. . .

More Dreams

Ani has been having bad dreams lately -- just when she's drifting off to sleep.

Here are a couple:

"So, it was your birthday? and you were sitting in front of your cake? and you were sitting on one of those roller-chairs, with the wheels on the bottom? and you were going to blow out your candles, AND THE CHAIR ROLLED AND YOU FELL RIGHT INTO THE FIRE ON YOUR CAKE!!!!!"

"So, deah were these two little boys, and one of them was Jonah, and they were out in a little boat on the water. And then, ANOTHER boat, came and went right over the two little boys (and one of them was Jonah), and the two little boys, went RIGHT UNDER THE WATER! AND NO ONE CAME TO HELP THEM! NO ONE!"

She is usually comforted by the thought of puppies.

Ani's Dream

In another phone conversation I recently had with Anneke, she told me of this terrible dream that she had where she and I were at the coffee shop by  her house. All of a sudden, two guys tried to catch her! I was shocked and asked if I ran to save her. She said that I couldn't, however, because I was at the other side of the coffee shop buying a bagel! 

Does that mean something? I wish I could have saved her...

Ani on the phone

Now that I live far away from my family, my form of communication with Ani is snail mail with pictures, skype, and phone. I was talking to her the other day on the phone and said, "I'm glad you didn't forget about me, Ani" and without missing a beat she said "clea, I would nevah fo-get about you". 

that warmed my little heart.

Jonah's First Words

He's been saying "Mama" and "Dada" for a while now, but in the last couple of weeks, he has said "Mo" for more, I assume, "Nana" and just today: "Pop" which sounds a lot like Bop. He's almost 20 months.

Jonah's Signs

so far, in no particular order. . .

Anneke
kitty
Nana
Pop
Claire
Ruth
Uncle B.
Kathy
Rae
Sam
dog
music
food
drink
please
nurse
thank you
i love you
more
elephant
fish
tree
flower
banana
apple
car
book
library
sleep
bird

Sleepovers

Anneke went to her aunt Claire's house for a sleepover last weekend. She had a great time, of course, but told Claire that this time she was going to sleep all by herself. She said "if you peek at me when I am asleep; go sleep somewhere else."

She always goes to sleep listening to music. She told Claire, "sometimes I sing along to the music, but my daddy doesn't want me to do that. But then I sneak-sing when he is gone!"

She's going to Ruth's house this weekend, we'll see how she does!