Ever since I can remember, Anna has had a fascination with telephone's. She even has 3 telephones of her own - 1 land line phone and 2 mobiles (toy one's of course). I, rather naively, thought that having toy one's would stop her trying to use the real telephone. Ha Ha!
When the real telephone rings, she starts smiling and then continues to look at me fascinated as I talk to myself while holding this grey thing to my ear. She then crawls over and tries to grab the telephone off me, in an attempt to find out who I am talking to. Anna must think it is pure magic that she can hear the voice of a loved one but not actually see them. At one time, she would listen to James' voice and look round the room for him expectantly. She has now grasped the fact that he isn't actually here but, instead, looks at the telephone to try and figure out how Daddy can fit in the telephone! Due to her love of telephones, I often get James (or whoever else is calling) to talk to Anna and, having learnt to say 'Hi', she will talk back to them (albeit only one word!). I tell them to talk to Anna because Anna smiles whenever I put the phone to her ear and they talk to her. Of course, this is true but I am also smiling, knowing that James is going 'Hello Darling. Coochy Coochy Coo. Peepo. What are you doing'. in his high-pitched baby voice while all of his colleagues are probably looking at him with a bemused and amused look on their face.
It was last Saturday morning that I was on the phone to my Nan. It was after this call had ended that the first mistake was made. We have a phone that you can walk about with but, instead of putting the phone back on it's receiver, I threw it onto the sofa. I then walked out of the room, leaving James and Anna playing. Anna then decided to go for a little wander so stands up next to the sofa and picks up the phone. Mistake number 2 is that James doesn't realise that it the actual phone that Anna is playing with. Several minutes later, James realises that Anna has been quiet for much longer than normal, which obviously means that she is playing with something that she shouldn't so goes to investigate. Lo and behold, Anna still has the phone so James takes it off her and tries to distract her by getting over-enthusiastic about her toys. Anna takes one look at her mountain of toys and decides she would much rather play with the remote control.
A minute later, the phone rings. James picks it up and it's my nan, apologising for not getting to the phone quick enough when we called. For a nano-second, James was baffled, 'but we didn't call you'. Then the penny drops as we look over at our angelic daughter who is now tearing up the newspaper. 'Anna... Have you been making phone calls?' and, right on cue, she looks up and gives you that 'butter-wouldn't melt' smile of hers!
Thursday, 13 December 2007
Monday, 10 December 2007
Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree
Since living together, James and I have always spent our birthday weekend (our birthday's are within 2 days of each other) buying our Christmas tree and decorating it. This year was no exception except, instead of going to a forest and buying a real Christmas tree, we have had to settle for a very expensive fake one. My aunt got a needle in her eye when she was young and spent most of the Christmas period going back and forth to hospital to make sure she didn't lose her sight. I had also read horror stories about choking on the needles. Anna insists on putting everything in her mouth and, being the inquisitive baby that she is, there was no way that she was going to stay away from a flashing, tall and very colourful tree (there are no themes on our Christmas tree). Well.... that was what we thought anyway!
Due to James having a huge reluctance to buying a fake tree, I had to prove to him that fake trees can actually look very realistic. Unfortunately, in order to prove my point, it cost rather a lot of money! James does have a point. Our house doesn't smell like Christmas (if you know what I mean) without a real tree, which is something that I really miss. However, as I pointed out to James, we could always go walking in Delamere forest each night to get that smell. He wasn't keen!
So, with our tree purchased, we headed home. Luckily, Anna was due her afternoon nap so we decided to put it up while she was asleep. What a wonderful surprise it would be when Anna come downstairs to find a beautiful tree, adorned with glistening, twinkling and sparkly decorations
After we had erected the tree and hung the many hundreds of decorations (not forgetting it's flashing lights that do a million and one things. James insisted on buying fancy lights as part of his gadget obsession. It was the only way that I could persuade him to have a tree at all!) even James admitted that it did look good. I am sure that we have the most funky tree in the whole of Chester. (We had a Christmas tree last year but Anna was only 4 weeks old so didn't really appreciate it. I can't blame her. Both James and I were so knackered that it looked as though the decorations had just been flung towards it... although it did smell nice!)
We then sat patiently waiting for Anna to wake up. We even contemplated waking her up early but came to our senses quite quickly as we didn't really want a grumpy Anna when showing her the amazing spectacle of our gorgeous tree.
Finally she woke up and we went to get her.
As we walked into the dining room (where the tree was placed), I was so excited, anticipating Anna's beaming smile as she set eyes on her very own Christmas tree...
Anna gave one look at the Christmas tree and headed in the opposite direction. Maybe she hadn't noticed it properly so I picked her up and carried her over to it. 'Look Anna, look at the beautiful fairy and the Gingerbread man and the disco ball (every tree has to have one!) and the snowman and Father Christmas and the bells and...'. Anna was not in the slightest bit interested! Then.... something caught her eye and the beaming smile emerged. Which one of the gorgeous decorations was it? What had Anna fallen in love with?
Anna has become very attached to... the scrappiest, oldest, most worn and tired looking piece of tinsel that you have ever seen! It was actually a piece of tinsel that was used in the nativity play that I did whilst teaching. I think someone in my class had worn it around their waist to hold their costume up! I wasn't even going to put it up but needed the box ,which it was placed in, for something else so I had casually dangled it over one of our picture frames. Now, whenever Anna enters the room, she starts smiling adoringly at this piece of tinsel and stroking it! She loves it!
As for the tree.... what tree???
Due to James having a huge reluctance to buying a fake tree, I had to prove to him that fake trees can actually look very realistic. Unfortunately, in order to prove my point, it cost rather a lot of money! James does have a point. Our house doesn't smell like Christmas (if you know what I mean) without a real tree, which is something that I really miss. However, as I pointed out to James, we could always go walking in Delamere forest each night to get that smell. He wasn't keen!
So, with our tree purchased, we headed home. Luckily, Anna was due her afternoon nap so we decided to put it up while she was asleep. What a wonderful surprise it would be when Anna come downstairs to find a beautiful tree, adorned with glistening, twinkling and sparkly decorations
After we had erected the tree and hung the many hundreds of decorations (not forgetting it's flashing lights that do a million and one things. James insisted on buying fancy lights as part of his gadget obsession. It was the only way that I could persuade him to have a tree at all!) even James admitted that it did look good. I am sure that we have the most funky tree in the whole of Chester. (We had a Christmas tree last year but Anna was only 4 weeks old so didn't really appreciate it. I can't blame her. Both James and I were so knackered that it looked as though the decorations had just been flung towards it... although it did smell nice!)
We then sat patiently waiting for Anna to wake up. We even contemplated waking her up early but came to our senses quite quickly as we didn't really want a grumpy Anna when showing her the amazing spectacle of our gorgeous tree.
Finally she woke up and we went to get her.
As we walked into the dining room (where the tree was placed), I was so excited, anticipating Anna's beaming smile as she set eyes on her very own Christmas tree...
Anna gave one look at the Christmas tree and headed in the opposite direction. Maybe she hadn't noticed it properly so I picked her up and carried her over to it. 'Look Anna, look at the beautiful fairy and the Gingerbread man and the disco ball (every tree has to have one!) and the snowman and Father Christmas and the bells and...'. Anna was not in the slightest bit interested! Then.... something caught her eye and the beaming smile emerged. Which one of the gorgeous decorations was it? What had Anna fallen in love with?
Anna has become very attached to... the scrappiest, oldest, most worn and tired looking piece of tinsel that you have ever seen! It was actually a piece of tinsel that was used in the nativity play that I did whilst teaching. I think someone in my class had worn it around their waist to hold their costume up! I wasn't even going to put it up but needed the box ,which it was placed in, for something else so I had casually dangled it over one of our picture frames. Now, whenever Anna enters the room, she starts smiling adoringly at this piece of tinsel and stroking it! She loves it!
As for the tree.... what tree???
Friday, 7 December 2007
Climb Every Mountain
Regular readers of this blog (if anyone is out there) may remember that Anna is afraid of the hoover. This should have provided me with a great excuse for not doing any hoovering but, with a 12 month old baby, that is impossible. If I didn't do any hoovering, we would be wading through toast crusts and vegetable sticks by now. However, we have had progress with her fear of the hoover. Instead of the crying and general hysterics when I use the hoover, Anna is now following me around clinging onto my leg and staring intently at it. My theory is that she is worried that I will end up in the same state as her toast. As far as Anna is concerned, that piece of toast that she threw on the floor this morning (she was probably saving it for her mid-morning snack), got sucked up by that machine, never to be seen again. Anna doesn't want her Mummy getting sucked up the same way, hence why she clings onto my leg to pull me back in case the hoover makes a grab for me!
So what has mountains got to do with the hoover?
Well... it was while I was hoovering this morning that Anna climbed her very own mountain. Until now, while I hoovered the hall, Anna has wrapped her arm around my leg and took it in turns to stare at the hoover and gaze longingly up the stairs. To Anna, the stairs have always been a mission too far. To get Anna's perspective, I once got down to her eye level and looked up. From Anna's viewpoint, the stairs did seem awfully big and the summit did seem a long way away.
This morning, Anna was on a mission. As soon as it was safe (the hoover had been switched off and Mummy had begun to wind his wire back in), Anna stood up and walked to the bottom step. At this point, I wasn't giving it too much thought as Anna had never attempted to climb it before so I thought that it would take several attempts to even get onto the bottom step, let alone all the way up. I was wrong!
Suddenly, without so much as a second thought, Anna had used her knees to get on to the first step, stood up and climbed onto the second step, stood up and climbed onto the third step and so on. As soon as Anna had reached the second step, I was right behind her with my arms outstretched, ready to stop her. She didn't need my security net though. Within 1 minute, she had zoomed up the stairs and was sat on the landing, looking triumphant and very proud of herself. If only she had a flag.
I suppose this means that we will be buying a second stair gate for the bottom of the stairs, to match the one at the top. Guess where we will be this weekend?
So what has mountains got to do with the hoover?
Well... it was while I was hoovering this morning that Anna climbed her very own mountain. Until now, while I hoovered the hall, Anna has wrapped her arm around my leg and took it in turns to stare at the hoover and gaze longingly up the stairs. To Anna, the stairs have always been a mission too far. To get Anna's perspective, I once got down to her eye level and looked up. From Anna's viewpoint, the stairs did seem awfully big and the summit did seem a long way away.
This morning, Anna was on a mission. As soon as it was safe (the hoover had been switched off and Mummy had begun to wind his wire back in), Anna stood up and walked to the bottom step. At this point, I wasn't giving it too much thought as Anna had never attempted to climb it before so I thought that it would take several attempts to even get onto the bottom step, let alone all the way up. I was wrong!
Suddenly, without so much as a second thought, Anna had used her knees to get on to the first step, stood up and climbed onto the second step, stood up and climbed onto the third step and so on. As soon as Anna had reached the second step, I was right behind her with my arms outstretched, ready to stop her. She didn't need my security net though. Within 1 minute, she had zoomed up the stairs and was sat on the landing, looking triumphant and very proud of herself. If only she had a flag.
I suppose this means that we will be buying a second stair gate for the bottom of the stairs, to match the one at the top. Guess where we will be this weekend?
Thursday, 29 November 2007
Save All Your Kisses For Me
Anna has learnt to give kisses recently and it is wonderful!
If you ask Anna to give you a kiss, she will oblige more than happily by giggling and leaning in to kiss you. There are also occasions when she will volunteer a kiss when you least expect it. She will be occupied playing with her toys when, without any prompting, she will crawl over (or walk over if her trolley, walker or train is near by) and give a spontaneous gesture of affection by leaning in to give you a kiss. Of course, I then smile for the whole day and return the complement by giving Anna 5000 kisses and hugs back!
However, I cannot help but think that Anna is now using this to her advantage.
Since going to Baby Signing classes, I have been using the 'no' sign (move your hand sideways in a firm motion!) when Anna is doing something that she isn't supposed to. Being a baby, she didn't understand for a long while but, with the help of the sign and the word 'no', Anna now has a fair understanding that when Mummy or Daddy say 'No', she really should stop. Up until a few days ago, this was working really well. If Anna decided that she wanted to try grabbing everything off the coffee table, I would say 'No', do the corresponding sign, and Anna would stop. followed by lots of praise, kisses and hugs from me! This would then be followed by Anna moving towards the CD shelf to rearrange them on the floor. Yet again, I would say 'No' and she would move away.... heading straight for the book shelf. This was basically how most of my days were filled, by following Anna around the room. I realise that I could start putting all of it on top shelves but there are only so many top shelves that you can have before you run out of room!
In the past couple of weeks, Anna has not even bothered to go near the coffee table, book shelf and CD cabinet. James was even brave enough to put all his CD's in alphabetical order again!! 'Great'. we thought 'This parenting business is getting easier'. Ha Ha!
However, despite the fact that she has 3 toy boxes over-flowing with toys, the temptation to throw Cd's and books on the floor is just too much after a while so Anna has come up with a cunning plan! Anna has found my weak spot! Anna is fully aware that I love kisses from her (by the song and dance routine, kisses and hugs that she receives when she does it) so, when she wants to do something that will get a 'no' from me, she comes and gives me a kiss. As I am praising her and getting over-excited, Anna casually crawls over to the CD shelf. At this point, I spot her so go to retrieve her thinking that my angelic darling daughter won't possibly throw CD's over the floor after being so wonderful and giving me a kiss. Just as I am about to say 'No', she leans in for another kiss, smiling ever so sweetly and, as I go to kiss her, she grabs the CD's and scatters them to all 4 corners of the room.
They say a kiss makes it all better and it is so very true. I just have to keep reminding myself of that when I am picking 300 CD's off the floor (They are no longer in alphabetical order again)
If you ask Anna to give you a kiss, she will oblige more than happily by giggling and leaning in to kiss you. There are also occasions when she will volunteer a kiss when you least expect it. She will be occupied playing with her toys when, without any prompting, she will crawl over (or walk over if her trolley, walker or train is near by) and give a spontaneous gesture of affection by leaning in to give you a kiss. Of course, I then smile for the whole day and return the complement by giving Anna 5000 kisses and hugs back!
However, I cannot help but think that Anna is now using this to her advantage.
Since going to Baby Signing classes, I have been using the 'no' sign (move your hand sideways in a firm motion!) when Anna is doing something that she isn't supposed to. Being a baby, she didn't understand for a long while but, with the help of the sign and the word 'no', Anna now has a fair understanding that when Mummy or Daddy say 'No', she really should stop. Up until a few days ago, this was working really well. If Anna decided that she wanted to try grabbing everything off the coffee table, I would say 'No', do the corresponding sign, and Anna would stop. followed by lots of praise, kisses and hugs from me! This would then be followed by Anna moving towards the CD shelf to rearrange them on the floor. Yet again, I would say 'No' and she would move away.... heading straight for the book shelf. This was basically how most of my days were filled, by following Anna around the room. I realise that I could start putting all of it on top shelves but there are only so many top shelves that you can have before you run out of room!
In the past couple of weeks, Anna has not even bothered to go near the coffee table, book shelf and CD cabinet. James was even brave enough to put all his CD's in alphabetical order again!! 'Great'. we thought 'This parenting business is getting easier'. Ha Ha!
However, despite the fact that she has 3 toy boxes over-flowing with toys, the temptation to throw Cd's and books on the floor is just too much after a while so Anna has come up with a cunning plan! Anna has found my weak spot! Anna is fully aware that I love kisses from her (by the song and dance routine, kisses and hugs that she receives when she does it) so, when she wants to do something that will get a 'no' from me, she comes and gives me a kiss. As I am praising her and getting over-excited, Anna casually crawls over to the CD shelf. At this point, I spot her so go to retrieve her thinking that my angelic darling daughter won't possibly throw CD's over the floor after being so wonderful and giving me a kiss. Just as I am about to say 'No', she leans in for another kiss, smiling ever so sweetly and, as I go to kiss her, she grabs the CD's and scatters them to all 4 corners of the room.
They say a kiss makes it all better and it is so very true. I just have to keep reminding myself of that when I am picking 300 CD's off the floor (They are no longer in alphabetical order again)
Saturday, 24 November 2007
Swimming Solo
Anna nearly did a whole width of the pool today. Impressive eh? Unfortunately, it wasn't intentional.
The swimming lesson hadn't got off to the greatest starts. Anna had decided that she would test out the swim nappies but this was no ordinary test. She really wanted to see how the nappy would react under immense pressure. The nappy failed! As we entered the pool area, there was an unmistakable aroma followed by leakage! The lesson was starting at that very moment but I had no choice but to get her undressed and dunk her under the shower. I then had to get her dressed in her swimming outfit again (as Anna was trying to wriggle out of it).
We eventually entered the pool with 5 minutes of the lesson already gone so Anna had missed her warm-up. Unfortunately, the teacher then decided to launch straight into the first underwater swim of the day (normally it is, at least, half way through the lesson before any underwater swim takes place). The first underwater swim was one where the teacher would send Anna through a hoop underwater and Anna would then come swimming to me (where I was also underwater). I would then pick her up and we would go swimming off together!
As the teacher explained this, I realised my massive error. I had forgotten my prescription goggles. I could have gone back to the changing room to get them but it would take me hours to find them at the bottom of my bag (which, in my haste to get Anna changed, I had flung to an unknown area of the dressing room). I had no choice but to wear the goggles handed out. I mistakenly thought I would be OK. I would just wear the goggles over my glasses, thus enabling me to see!
We were last in line. Anna and I watched as every other baby got in the position to swim under and through the hoop... before screaming and being handed back to their Mummy. By this point, Lindsay (the teacher) was rather stressed and flustered. She had never had 7 babies in a row who all refused to swim. Now it was Anna's turn. After seeing all of the other babies' reactions, Anna wasn't too sure and gave me a look as if to say 'I'm not doing it if they won't'. Anna's reputation at swimming is one where she is happy ALL the time and gives everything a go so Lindsay hadn't seen the same message as me (I think she was also thinking that Anna wouldn't let her down and would restore her faith in babies swimming underwater!). Therefore, I was caught a little unaware when Lindsay started to put Anna down under the water. Oh God... Anna was going underwater and I wasn't ready. I hastily wrenched the goggles over my eyes and dived in (soaking the spectators as I went). It was then that everything went black. My glasses and the goggles instantly steamed up and all I could see was black! My mind was screaming 'Anna is under this water somewhere, somewhere in this massive pool, and I can't find her'. It seemed like hours that I was under the water. My hands were moving faster than they have ever moved before. I wasn't even aware that I was holding my breath for so long, I was just frantic with terror. By the time that my hands connected with something, I just yanked it up to the surface without thinking. Unfortunately, it wasn't Anna... it was the hoop!! I was stood there holding a hoop tight to my chest and I still had no Anna.
'ANNA SWAM STRAIGHT PAST ME. I HAVEN'T GOT HER' I screamed. At this point, I turned round and there was Anna swimming back from the other side of the pool with Lindsay supporting her. Apparently, Lindsay had seen Anna swim past me so had done an emergency dive to retrieve her. By this time, Anna had swam off and was enjoying the freedom of exploring the pool by herself. So what was Anna doing now? Was she crying because she had lost her Mummy in the big pool? Of course not. Anna, from looking somewhat scared and near to tears before she was dunked, was now looking as though she was the cat who got the cream with the biggest grin on her face. Meanwhile, her Mummy was looking extremely scared and very close to tears as I hugged my daughter, tighter than ever before. I couldn't stop shaking and felt sick! Anna just looked at me as though I had gone mad and didn't know what the big fuss was about.
Afterwards, Lindsay apologised and said that it was her fault as she just assumed Anna would want to do it as she has never once refused a swim and she should have checked that I was ready before she let her go. Although there may be a small element of truth in that, if I had been wearing the goggles that I can actually see with, I would have been fine. I would have caught Anna and we would have swam off into the calm waters.
The lesson didn't get much better (although nothing could have been worse as that!). The babies decided that the day was not a good day for swimming so all cried for the majority of the lesson. They had probably seen Anna do her solo swim across the pool and thought 'There is no way that I am doing that'. Meanwhile Anna decided to become completely over-excited and splash everyone in sight as she continued to giggle for the whole lesson. When it was time to do the second water swim, Anna was practically leaping out of my hands as she was so eager. Fortunately, I stayed above the surface this time and caught her, much to Anna's disgust (I want to go swimming by my own again' thought Anna'.)
At least, a lesson has been learnt from this session. I will never ever forget my goggles again... and Anna can swim very fast when she wants to!
The swimming lesson hadn't got off to the greatest starts. Anna had decided that she would test out the swim nappies but this was no ordinary test. She really wanted to see how the nappy would react under immense pressure. The nappy failed! As we entered the pool area, there was an unmistakable aroma followed by leakage! The lesson was starting at that very moment but I had no choice but to get her undressed and dunk her under the shower. I then had to get her dressed in her swimming outfit again (as Anna was trying to wriggle out of it).
We eventually entered the pool with 5 minutes of the lesson already gone so Anna had missed her warm-up. Unfortunately, the teacher then decided to launch straight into the first underwater swim of the day (normally it is, at least, half way through the lesson before any underwater swim takes place). The first underwater swim was one where the teacher would send Anna through a hoop underwater and Anna would then come swimming to me (where I was also underwater). I would then pick her up and we would go swimming off together!
As the teacher explained this, I realised my massive error. I had forgotten my prescription goggles. I could have gone back to the changing room to get them but it would take me hours to find them at the bottom of my bag (which, in my haste to get Anna changed, I had flung to an unknown area of the dressing room). I had no choice but to wear the goggles handed out. I mistakenly thought I would be OK. I would just wear the goggles over my glasses, thus enabling me to see!
We were last in line. Anna and I watched as every other baby got in the position to swim under and through the hoop... before screaming and being handed back to their Mummy. By this point, Lindsay (the teacher) was rather stressed and flustered. She had never had 7 babies in a row who all refused to swim. Now it was Anna's turn. After seeing all of the other babies' reactions, Anna wasn't too sure and gave me a look as if to say 'I'm not doing it if they won't'. Anna's reputation at swimming is one where she is happy ALL the time and gives everything a go so Lindsay hadn't seen the same message as me (I think she was also thinking that Anna wouldn't let her down and would restore her faith in babies swimming underwater!). Therefore, I was caught a little unaware when Lindsay started to put Anna down under the water. Oh God... Anna was going underwater and I wasn't ready. I hastily wrenched the goggles over my eyes and dived in (soaking the spectators as I went). It was then that everything went black. My glasses and the goggles instantly steamed up and all I could see was black! My mind was screaming 'Anna is under this water somewhere, somewhere in this massive pool, and I can't find her'. It seemed like hours that I was under the water. My hands were moving faster than they have ever moved before. I wasn't even aware that I was holding my breath for so long, I was just frantic with terror. By the time that my hands connected with something, I just yanked it up to the surface without thinking. Unfortunately, it wasn't Anna... it was the hoop!! I was stood there holding a hoop tight to my chest and I still had no Anna.
'ANNA SWAM STRAIGHT PAST ME. I HAVEN'T GOT HER' I screamed. At this point, I turned round and there was Anna swimming back from the other side of the pool with Lindsay supporting her. Apparently, Lindsay had seen Anna swim past me so had done an emergency dive to retrieve her. By this time, Anna had swam off and was enjoying the freedom of exploring the pool by herself. So what was Anna doing now? Was she crying because she had lost her Mummy in the big pool? Of course not. Anna, from looking somewhat scared and near to tears before she was dunked, was now looking as though she was the cat who got the cream with the biggest grin on her face. Meanwhile, her Mummy was looking extremely scared and very close to tears as I hugged my daughter, tighter than ever before. I couldn't stop shaking and felt sick! Anna just looked at me as though I had gone mad and didn't know what the big fuss was about.
Afterwards, Lindsay apologised and said that it was her fault as she just assumed Anna would want to do it as she has never once refused a swim and she should have checked that I was ready before she let her go. Although there may be a small element of truth in that, if I had been wearing the goggles that I can actually see with, I would have been fine. I would have caught Anna and we would have swam off into the calm waters.
The lesson didn't get much better (although nothing could have been worse as that!). The babies decided that the day was not a good day for swimming so all cried for the majority of the lesson. They had probably seen Anna do her solo swim across the pool and thought 'There is no way that I am doing that'. Meanwhile Anna decided to become completely over-excited and splash everyone in sight as she continued to giggle for the whole lesson. When it was time to do the second water swim, Anna was practically leaping out of my hands as she was so eager. Fortunately, I stayed above the surface this time and caught her, much to Anna's disgust (I want to go swimming by my own again' thought Anna'.)
At least, a lesson has been learnt from this session. I will never ever forget my goggles again... and Anna can swim very fast when she wants to!
Wednesday, 21 November 2007
What's in a Name?
Welcome to Anna's new blog.
Basically, it is exactly the same as the blog that told all about her first 12 months of adventures! However, it needed a new title as there are no 2 blogs that can be called the same!
It was going to be called 'Simply Anna' but I thought that it might be miss-read as Anna being called simple which she most certainly isn't. In fact, she is far too clever sometimes and outwits her Mummy and Daddy regularly! Then I had the brainwave that it could be called 'All About Anna'. Unfortunately, someone has already beaten me to it. Then I played around with a million other names but they were all far too geeky, sad, strange or embarrassing to even mention.
Finally, my inspiration came after Anna's bath. Anna decided, very early on in life, that she didn't like a towel wrapped around her after bath time. The problem was that she obviously needed a towel around her, in order to keep warm so, in order to distract her, I play Peekaboo. It has now been going on for so long that Anna looks at me expectantly as soon as she is picked up out of the bath. I would love to say that Anna loves playing Peekaboo for the thrill of seeing her Mummy's gorgeous face pop up from behind a towel but I think it has more to do with the fact that, as I hide behind the towel, Anna and her Daddy sneak off to hide from me. There I am, singing Peekaboo all to myself before shouting Boo as I emerge from behind the towel, to find there is no one there. Luckily, I instantly know where Anna and James are hiding as I can hear Anna giggling from their hiding spot! Anna hasn't quite got the hang of Hide and Seek yet!
So this is where the name 'Peekaboo Anna' comes from.
I had almost as much trouble deciding on a name for this new blog as we did when we were choosing Anna' name before she was born. Anna wasn't actually going to be called Anna until a few days before she was born. In fact, throughout most of the pregnancy, she was actually Alice.
As soon as I was 12 weeks pregnant, James and I had devised a list of possible names. Molly, Alice, Elizabeth (possibly shortened to Libby) and Grace were the top 4. James had suggested Anna too but I instantly dismissed it, thinking that I didn't like it. As my pregnancy progressed, Alice was becoming the favourite so we started to mention it to family and friends. Everyone was very supportive and didn't want to sway us by saying their opinion but there are certain family members who gave it away by their facial expressions (without even realising that they did it). With hindsight, I'm really pleased they did as I'm not sure that our baby girl looks like an Alice.
I'm not even sure why I suddenly changed my mind about the name 'Anna'. I remember it clearly though. We were driving to James' dad's and I heard the name 'Anna' on the radio. I thought it stood out. I think I must have repeated over and over again 100 times while driving to James' parents and , by the time that we reached Liverpool, it seemed perfect!
The perfect name for a perfect little girl!
Basically, it is exactly the same as the blog that told all about her first 12 months of adventures! However, it needed a new title as there are no 2 blogs that can be called the same!
It was going to be called 'Simply Anna' but I thought that it might be miss-read as Anna being called simple which she most certainly isn't. In fact, she is far too clever sometimes and outwits her Mummy and Daddy regularly! Then I had the brainwave that it could be called 'All About Anna'. Unfortunately, someone has already beaten me to it. Then I played around with a million other names but they were all far too geeky, sad, strange or embarrassing to even mention.
Finally, my inspiration came after Anna's bath. Anna decided, very early on in life, that she didn't like a towel wrapped around her after bath time. The problem was that she obviously needed a towel around her, in order to keep warm so, in order to distract her, I play Peekaboo. It has now been going on for so long that Anna looks at me expectantly as soon as she is picked up out of the bath. I would love to say that Anna loves playing Peekaboo for the thrill of seeing her Mummy's gorgeous face pop up from behind a towel but I think it has more to do with the fact that, as I hide behind the towel, Anna and her Daddy sneak off to hide from me. There I am, singing Peekaboo all to myself before shouting Boo as I emerge from behind the towel, to find there is no one there. Luckily, I instantly know where Anna and James are hiding as I can hear Anna giggling from their hiding spot! Anna hasn't quite got the hang of Hide and Seek yet!
So this is where the name 'Peekaboo Anna' comes from.
I had almost as much trouble deciding on a name for this new blog as we did when we were choosing Anna' name before she was born. Anna wasn't actually going to be called Anna until a few days before she was born. In fact, throughout most of the pregnancy, she was actually Alice.
As soon as I was 12 weeks pregnant, James and I had devised a list of possible names. Molly, Alice, Elizabeth (possibly shortened to Libby) and Grace were the top 4. James had suggested Anna too but I instantly dismissed it, thinking that I didn't like it. As my pregnancy progressed, Alice was becoming the favourite so we started to mention it to family and friends. Everyone was very supportive and didn't want to sway us by saying their opinion but there are certain family members who gave it away by their facial expressions (without even realising that they did it). With hindsight, I'm really pleased they did as I'm not sure that our baby girl looks like an Alice.
I'm not even sure why I suddenly changed my mind about the name 'Anna'. I remember it clearly though. We were driving to James' dad's and I heard the name 'Anna' on the radio. I thought it stood out. I think I must have repeated over and over again 100 times while driving to James' parents and , by the time that we reached Liverpool, it seemed perfect!
The perfect name for a perfect little girl!
Tuesday, 20 November 2007
Anna's 1st Birthday Party
Anna must have known something was going on when she awoke on Sunday morning. It is not every day that your Mummy comes skipping into your room singing 'Happy Birthday' quite loudly and dancing around the nursery with you. Imagine Anna's even greater surprise when we went downstairs to find rooms filled with balloons, shiny banners and a huge pile of parcels. She kept looking around thinking 'This isn't how I left it last night'. Feeding Anna her breakfast took ages because she kept having to look round to check she as still in her house.
Eventually, we got to the presents. Now, I think it is fair to say that I went completely overboard on presents. (The photograph is just the presents that James and I gave to Anna). 
There were 12 parcels all together (I wrapped up her 7 musical instruments separately). By present number 3, Anna was bored as my voice tried to sound more and more enthusiastic until I was very high-pitched and incomprehensible! I'm not even sure if Anna saw what the 3 opened presents were. Predictably, she was far more interested in the wrapping paper and boxes. We decided to leave the other presents until later!
At 10.00am, my parents (Anna's Nanny and Grandad), nan (Anna's great-nan) and Uncle Phil came which Anna loved. There were more presents to unwrap and I'm pleased to say that Anna did take a little more interest in those. The boxes were bigger so Anna thought it was great fun to climb on top of them! I then went into panic mode about cooking the buffet so mum calmly guided me into the kitchen and, thankfully, took control of everything. All I could do was read my little spreadsheet that I had devised showing cooking times and temperature settings. Luckily, after 28 years of having to put up with me, my mum is used to this so just let me get on with it while she did the important stuff. (Thank you so much Mum - I couldn't have done it without you!)
At 11.30am, Anna started to rub her eyes so it was time to get her party dress on. As I was still wandering around like a lost sheep, James got her dressed (on the condition that I would lay everything out for him in the correct order of how it should be put on). I almost cried (not for the first time that day) when Anna came back downstairs. She looked even more beautiful than normal. I thought it would be a good idea to try and get Anna to have a nap at this point. Anna was having none of it. If there was fun to be had downstairs, there was no way that she was going to sleep. In fact, at 4 different points during the day, I thought she looked tired and tried to get her to take a nap. All 4 times saw me going upstairs after 2 minutes to retrieve Anna who was jumping up and down in her cot.
At 12pm onwards, everyone started to arrive and the house quickly filled with people. It was a little mad! Of course, Anna was loving every second of it. This was her idea of heaven.
Another moment that saw some tears was when Grandma Lynn and Grandad Flob arrived with the cake. I was lost for words. Thanks to this blog, Grandma Lynn had read that Anna loves Kipper stories and so, the cake was Kipper! It was amazing and I am not exaggerating when I say that I have never seen such a fantastic birthday cake. The hours spent on it must have been incredible as everything was iced. Kipper's basket looked perfectly weaved and every fine detail was 100% accurate, right down to his old slipper! (Grandma Lynn also did our wedding cake. To give you some idea of how perfectly everything is done when Lynn decorates cakes, the staff at our reception thought that the roses made from icing were actually real roses). Thank you Grandma Lynn (and Grandad Flob for having the brave job of carrying it!), Anna is so lucky to have such a talented, and creative Grandma.
The buffet went down well I think. I would love to say that it tasted wonderful but I actually never got a chance to sample most of it! I was too busy racing around like a headless chicken. The problem is that there really was no need as everyone seemed to be enjoying it and have everything they wanted but I did it anyway! My nan's (Anna's Great-nan) sherry trifle's went down very well and they tasted lovely. My nan said that she had cut back on the sherry to make them this time but I'm not convinced. We had to warn everyone who had it, in case they found themselves over the drink-drive limit. Thank you Nan B!
As it turned out, we did have enough food for the buffet (surprise surprise). In fact, most guests went home with a doggy bag (or tray in this case) with a 10-pack of sandwiches and various other goodies. Even if they didn't want it, it was handed to them as they walked out of the door (it was too late to protest by then as they were walking away!)
One of my favourite moments of the party was everyone singing Happy Birthday to Anna and blowing her candle out on the cake. I had to swallow back the tears again. I suddenly realised that my baby girl is growing up as she looked around her at everyone singing Happy Birthday and basking in the attention. This was Anna having a true Diva moment!
At 9pm, the last guests were leaving and the tidy-up operation began. Thankfully, my brother and his girlfriend (Uncle Steve and Auntie Carolyne) had bagged the spare bed so they helped with the washing up and packing away. If they were not here, I think James and I would still have been doing it now. Thank you!
I am just completely over-whelmed with how everyone was so generous towards Anna. We now have a living room full of toys as well as money to deposit in her savings (one kind friend said it was to put towards her future dreams, which is just a wonderful thought!) James and I are now contemplating an extension, just to store some of these toys although the tent, that was amongst her gifts, is big enough to house a family of 4!
Thank you so much to everybody who was so kind and who made Anna's 1st birthday so wonderful for her.
Anna is so fortunate to have such lovely family and friends and she sends you all a big kiss (she has learnt to give kisses in the past week so she is more than happy to give you all a kiss any time you wish!)
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