Me: Ana, today is Halloween. Do you remember what we get on Halloween?
Ana: Candy!!
Me: That’s right. And what do we have to say on Halloween so people give you the candy?
Ana: Hello?
Me: Noooo…
Ana: Boo!
Me, laughing: Nope. Remember that we are suppose to knock on the door, then we say “trick or treat!” and people give you candy.
Ana: Umm… Candy please?
Me: Well, that will work too.
Happy Halloween! Have fun and be safe. Oh and Ana says, RAWR!
Ana and I are just finishing up our breakfast and this conversation ensues:
Me: Ana, what do you wanna do today?
Ana: Watch a movie!
Me: Ok. You wanna watch Cars?
Ana: No…
Me: Um. You wanna watch Sleeping Beauty?
Ana: S’eepin’ Booty?
Me: Well, it’s Sleeping BEAUTY. It has fairies in it!
Ana: Fairies? I hear ’em!
Me: You hear them?
Ana: Yeah.
Me: What do they say?
Ana: SQUEAK!
Me: Oh really?!
Ana: Yeah!
She then proceeds to run off shouting, “S’eepin’ Booty! S’eepin’ Booty!”
Dear Ana,
Yesterday you turned twenty-two months old. We’ve been pretty busy lately so the date actually snuck up on me. In fact I didn’t even realize it was the 9th until I opened my weekly email from Baby Center and they announced, “Your child is 22 months old.” But even more shocking was the little postscript at the bottom of the email informing me, “In two months, your toddler will turn 2 and you’ll graduate to the ParentCenter newsletter, My Preschooler This Month!” Preschooler? PRESCHOOLER?!
One of the things that has been keeping us so busy is the sheer fact that it’s fall. My favorite time of year. Very soon you will discover all the wonderful things that come with fall: pumpkins, the leaves changing color, Halloween, crisp autumn air, burning candles, wearing sweaters. I digress; I just love it all. The other day I decided we would go out and plant some allium bulbs. I thought it would be fun to be outdoors, get our hands dirty, and several months from now I could share with you the softball size purple and white blooms that would surely delight you. I explained what we were going to do and you seemed pretty excited, particularly about getting to have your very own shovel. You were having a great time until about five minutes in you leaned over a little too far and fell into the (barely six inch deep) trench I just dug. You stood up, decided gardening was not for you and insisted, “Wanna go inside now.”
I am consistently amazed at what a person you are becoming. Complete with your very own thoughts and opinions on just about every matter. In the last month you have really started expressing your emotions. You are always telling me, “I wuv you Mama” and wanting to give your Daddy and I hugs and kisses. When you’ve been crying and I ask you what’s the matter you simply say, “I sad…need a tissue.”
You got sick a couple days ago while your babysitter, Steph, was watching you. Luckily Daddy was home and rushed down to help: stripping you out of the soiled clothes and cleaning you up. He later told me that as he was cleaning you, you looked up at him and said, “Juice come out mouth….make me sad.”
With learning how to express emotions, you are also learning how to manipulate them. Playing to our weaknesses and turning on the sweet, innocent charm to get the things you want. Anytime you’ve just gotten in trouble or done something bad you shrink down a little and softly whisper, “Hi Mommy.” I’m sure you would even bat your eyelashes at me if you only knew how.
More than just sharing your feelings and getting yourself out of trouble, you are always keeping us entertained with the things you say. For example today at lunch you took a bite of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and declared, “It my favorite!” Totally out of no where. In fact, in the past you were less than impressed with the childhood staple. These are some of your more frequent expressions lately:
“Where are you, Mommy?”
“Hi friends!”
“I wan’ choca’ milk. Choca’ milk p’ease?”
“I did that!”
“I hold you, Mommy.”
“Shhh! What that?”
“I hear kids!”
“Wanna watcha movie?”
“Daddy workin’…office!”
Several of your playgroup friends started preschool this year and as a result there has been a lot of discussion involving school. A couple weeks ago you asked me to help you put on your tiny back-pack and you climbed on your bike and informed me, “I go school!” Soon enough, my dear, soon enough.
In lieu of school, we are taking another class through the parks & rec. This particular class, “Creating Together,” is a parent participation art class. I wanted a way to let you be artistic and messy, but not necessarily in OUR own home. This was the perfect solution. I was a little worried when you walked up to the homemade play dough, touched it and promptly walked away proclaiming, “it yucky!” But you came around when you spotted the paint and even let me help you to finger paint…once you realized it would wash off of course.
All in all, I would have to conclude that this has been another amazing month. As we get closer and closer to you becoming a preschooler (a chill went down my spine as I wrote that!), I feel like our time–just YOU and ME time–is slipping away. You are growing up faster than I could have imagined. I want to spend every minute with you, filling our days with fun outings and exciting adventures. I love that fact that you have truly taught me to live in the moment and never take anything for granted. I can promise you right now, I will never waste an opportunity to wrap my arms around you and remind you that you are the most important thing in my world.
All my love,
Mama
When I looked out the window and saw Abby curled up out in the rain, I knew something was wrong. Abby has always been our fair-weather cat, only venturing outside to bask in the sun on our porch. She didn’t even move when I called her to come inside. Finally I ran out into the rain and scooped her up, instantly shocked at how thin she was. Despite being dirty, wet, and miserable, she purred in my arms. I brought her inside, cleaned her up and brought her some food and water. While I knew she wasn’t quite herself, I was happy to see her eating and vowed to keep an eye on her. She spent the entire day resting on our window seat. Ana would periodically walk up to her and say, “Wake up, Abby!” I kept having to tell her that Abby wasn’t feeling well and she needed to rest. To which Ana replied, “Abby hurt…make me sad.”
She hardly moved the following day, only going upstairs to rest in front of the water bowl. When she started getting sick and could no longer keep down the little bit of food and water I had seen her consume, I finally admitted it was out of my hands and took her to the vet. Upon seeing her the vet said she was severely dehydrated, but would need to run some tests to find out why. They hooked her up to an IV to get her some fluids and I sat in the waiting room while they ran some blood tests. When the vet called me back into the room I knew it wasn’t good. She told me Abby was having problems with her kidneys, among other things. They would need to hospitalize her, keep her on the IV, and run some more tests.
For awhile things were looking promising, as she was eating and drinking (the same mistake I made!) and had a very happy attitude, purring and loving on anyone who came near her. But when they ran the tests the following day, the numbers were worse rather than better. It was obvious that she was in end stage kidney failure. Her body couldn’t fight anymore. It came on hard and fast, but we kept her comfortable and did everything we could do. It just wasn’t enough. On Saturday afternoon we loaded up into the car, and went to the vet’s office to say good-bye to Abby.
When we walked in she was happy to see us. Purring instantly. But she didn’t have the strength to move, so we just petted her and told her we loved her. Ana crawled into the cage, laid her head on Abby and said, “Bye-bye Abby. Love you.” Ana is doing ok with the whole thing, because she obviously doesn’t understand what happened. Every time she asks for Abby it breaks my heart to try and explain that Abby was really sick and that she won’t be coming home.
Simeon and I have had Abby for over nine years. She was the very first pet we had together. Abby made us a family. We took her in when she was abandoned on our doorstep because some neighbor kids in our apartment found her in a dumpster. That very first night we met her, could have been her last. I find comfort in the fact that the short life she had was exponentially longer than it could have been, if she hadn’t come into our lives. We loved her and she will be sorely missed.
Simeon: Ana, what should we have for lunch today?
Ana: Noodles.
Simeon: You want noodles for lunch?
Ana: No.
Simeon: Oh. Then what do you want for lunch?
Ana: Ice cream.
Simeon: Um. Maybe after lunch. What else?
Ana: Yogurt.
Simeon: Oh ok. Do you want anything else?
Ana: On the yogurt.
Simeon: You want yogurt…on your yogurt?
Ana: Yeah.
Simeon: And ice cream for dessert?
Ana: Mmm hmm.