Pig

Anna was finally willing to wear the tights I got for her last month now that it might be getting a bit warm to be in such thick tights. She also loved her new alphabet puzzle and sat down and did it the first time like she'd been doing it her whole life.

Giving the momma cat and baby cats a hug.

A portrait with Piggy (sometimes also known as "Mary").

For a couple of weeks Anna was sticking her fingers in her mouth and I wasn't sure if it was because she was teething or if it was a comfort thing (she has never really stuck her fingers, or anything but the pacifier, in her mouth and I think ultimately she didn't like that her fingers were wet. So when I repeatedly explained as I wiped them off that if she didn't stick them in her mouth, they would stay dry, she finally made the connection why her fingers were getting wet!). Then she started having to have her pig with her everywhere. She has slept with a pig and a duck since about last year at this time and has really bonded with the pig. Craig & I have been wondering if we are offending Muslims as we are out and about as she carries her pig with her on the carousel, to Starbucks, shopping at the grocery store and Carrefour, etc.

This afternoon Anna was playing with her momma cat & baby cats for quite some time when she started calling an orange cat I had gotten her from Target a long time ago the "daddy cat." Suddenly the orange cat (he is bigger than the momma & babies) was part of the cat family and needed to be with them as they got in and out of the basket repeatedly. Then she had the momma & daddy cat hug and she even stopped carrying her pig around for about two hours and just stuck to the daddy cat. Maybe Craig needs to get home earlier in the evenings?

Today at music class Anna was a shy lump for the first ten minutes or so (we didn't have class last week so I was prepared for a bit of a relapse). What I wasn't prepared for was for Anna to dump her pig in my lap and stand out on her own and dance with a scarf for an entire song. She was truly enjoying herself! (I know she likes the class because she talks about it fondly during the week, but this was the first time she's exhibited this outwardly during class.) It was so cute to see her relax a bit and have some fun. Our last class isn't until April 1 but I might need to consider signing her up for the next session so she can continue even when Baby Girl arrives (if she is still enjoying it at the end of this session).

Anna has been absolutely great about the pacifiers. They get mentioned from time to time (she said today after her nap "good job sleeping without pacifiers!") but she has not cried since that Friday's nap and the crying she did do for the three times she did was much less than I had anticipated.

Anna & I dropped off her application to the nursery school near us this morning. We won't find out until April/May if she gets in but I'm under the impression there aren't a lot of new kids on the list for fall right now (current students take priority, obviously) so she should be a the top of that list.

The only other thing I wanted to mention in this post is that Anna is loving her Richard Scarry books finally. She loves Lowly Worm and we sat down for at least 45 minutes straight reading The Best First Book Ever! today and the past three days. We have two more Richard Scarry books in the sea shipment so, of course, that adds to my impatience for it to get here (those and the rest of her library). I am so ready for some new books (even if they are our old books)!