Little Things: Anna 29 Months

Anna is finally getting the "I, me, & my" stuff down. She is not always "you" anymore. Anna is also finally able to jump properly. She has been basically galloping for a while and saying she was jumping but this week she just started really doing it well.

Anna is a great big sister and has really warmed up to Sarah. She wants to play with Sarah, give her kisses, and talks and sings to Sarah in the car when we're out and about. I can tell she's a little jealous of my having to split my attention between them and she is having a hard time learning to share Sarah's toys, but for the most part, I'd say Anna has adjusted very well to her little sister. The only difficult parts of my day are trying to get Sarah down for a nap with as little "help" from Anna as possible. I've resorted to letting her watch one of her "movies" (soft-animation books on video) while I put Sarah down twice per day. The other nap(s) are either when Anna is in Quiet Time or while Anna is having a snack. Once Sarah is a little easier to put down, I will be cutting out the morning movie for sure so Anna's screen-time is only 20 minutes per day instead of 40. I'll work on getting rid of it most days later on.

Anna gets frustrated more easily lately ("want to cry noisy!") but she is doing better than when we were in Colorado. Basically, she is acting like I have seen all of my friends kids act but just a little later than they all did. I know it's a phase and I'm sure it's because of all of the changes in her life and her age, but it doesn't make it any less annoying to deal with!

Anna is physically read to be potty-trained and has been for a while. She's been waking up dry for almost a year now but the timing has never been right. Maybe this fall or winter she'll finally be interested. Right now she still says she wants to use diapers but freaks out whenever she pees or poops so I know it is just a matter of time (and maybe the right inspirational underwear?).

Everyone is still a mouse (Anna-mouse, mommy-mouse, daddy-mouse, Sarah-mouse, etc.) and she is obsessed with strawberries and the color pink (although I got her two pair of red shoes and they are loved). Anything pink or red is deemed to be "strawberry." As a result, she only has about three outfits she will actually wear and all of her non-pink clothing is still packed up from our trip (there's no point in even trying right now).

Anna has officially given up napping. She didn't even take a nap when we arrived in Korea last week (strangely, I didn't really experience jet lag this time, either). She goes to Quiet Time for one hour and that has been working out well (especially when I can get Sarah down for a nap at the same time so I have a little time to myself during the day as well!).

I am trying to get her a spot in the Playschool here in town. We will try 2 days per week from 9 AM to 12 PM. I think she'll love it if she gives it a fair try. I plan to have her try for at least one month. If she gets in, she will start mid-September after we move into our permanent housing (we expect to move down to the terrace home the first week of September and I didn't want to start school that same week). If she doesn't like it we might try again in the spring or just wait until next year when she can go to the International School's preschool program.