When I was only 2 years old my parents bought a house in a brand new neighborhood, and it was soon full of new families that had kids my age. There was always someone to play with and we spent most daylight hours playing games in the street, riding bikes, or getting grass stains in someone else’s yard.

Our street seems to mostly have older kids, which is fine for now since Annie isn’t exactly at the age where I would be OK with her disappearing for hours at a time. Instead, we spend lots of time in our back yard where Rigby can join us. It’s not the big expansive back yard with the lawn like we almost bought, but we like it a lot. It’s enclosed with lots of trees, and when Annie is older we’ll be able to hike up our back hill all the way to the top.

Annie and I are enjoying all the fun things we can do in the backyard. She loves following Rigby around.

Rigby loves the backyard the most of all of us. I think it’s because she gets to be in the sun without being on a leash. Dogfriend loves her freedom. And it’s funny, but Rigby is a million times more likely to stay close to Annie when we’re outside vs inside.

I’m never sure what Annie will want to do when we’re outside. There are some days when she wants to stand in front of the sliding glass door and stare at her own reflection:

Then there are other days when she’s finding tiny stones and bugs and sticks and talking to them in whispers:

Or she wants to look at flowers:

As much as I like watching her explore, I laugh when she wants to play my favorite game, “Southern California Valley Girl Gets A Tan.”

That was my favorite game in my teenaged years.

As she grows up I’m hoping she won’t mind the lack of grass in the backyard. I’ve been trying to think of all the fun things we can do back there – sidewalk chalk, riding two-wheelers, roller skating, learning how to tap dance. She’s probably going to stop wanting me to play with her…pretty much any day now:

…so I’d best enjoy it while I can, right?

© COPYRIGHT HEATHER SPOHR 2011 All rights reserved. This content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means, without the prior written permission of the author.

Annabel has been obsessed with bicycles ever since she saw a clip of one of the muppets riding one on Sesame Street. When Mike’s parents asked us what they could get Annie for her birthday, we told them a tricycle would be perfect. We went online and found one that could grow with her. When she opened it she freeeeaaaaked out. “BICYCLE BICYCLE BICYCLE!!!” Since she got a bunch of other toys, we put the trike off to the side, and then we got sick, and yadda yadda I finally put it together a couple of days ago during her nap time.

It was love at first ride:

She is looking in the mirror, her favorite pastime.

We explained to her that she always has to wear her bike helmet when she’s on the trike. I’ve been putting it on her for short bursts of time for the last week, slowly tightening the chip strap so she gets used to it. She’s done surprisingly well with her “bicycle hat,” as she calls it. Yesterday afternoon, she walked over to me and said, “go on bicycle?” She’d put her helmet on, backwards. I couldn’t say no to that so into the backyard we went.

She doesn’t really understand the pedals yet, so Mike spent some time pushing her around (yay for an adjustable handle).

They started slow at first, and then he started going a little faster:

Mike stopped pushing at one point to take a breath, and Annie discovered the play phone attached to the handlebars. Nothing like sending the message that talking on the phone while operating a moving vehicle is ok!

I got a new bicycle!

I did NOT see that episode of Sesame Street!

This is extremely troubling news.

I put my camera down so I could take a turn pushing her, and Annie pointed at me and said, “Mama! NO! Annie PEEKSHURES.” I said back, “You want me to take your picture?” “Yes mama. Annie peekshures.” So I told her to smile and she gave me this:

I’ll take it.

Since I was appointed the peekshure taker, Mike had to continue pushing her around the backyard.

Every now and then we would stop and put her feet on the pedals to try to teach her how to make the trike go on her own power. She’d leave her feet there for a second, then turn to Mike and say, “Daddy push.” After doing this seven or eight times, she started to get cranky. I don’t know what her deal was, Mike was doing all the work. I decided it was nap time, and told Annie we were going inside. She JUMPED off the trike, but instead of going toward the back door she ran in the opposite direction.

Nonononononononononononononononono!

No go insiiiiiiiiiiide!

How did I get so unlucky to get the two of you as parents?

Of course, she immediately fell asleep for a nap. So did Mike. I love this tricycle.

© COPYRIGHT HEATHER SPOHR 2011 All rights reserved. This content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means, without the prior written permission of the author.

Last week Annie was a little sniffly, then BAM full-blown sick with a cold. She’s not one of those kids that gets sick and just wants to snuggle and be mellow. Nope, she wants to run all over the house like any other day, coughing and sneezing on every surface while yelling, “Mama, come ‘errrrre!” Annabel with a cold is like having Healthy Annabel, but with more grumpiness and 1,000 pounds more snot.

Mike and I got sick two days after Annie started coughing. I was not pleased. We were all JUST sick, and no one is going to day care or preschool around here, so I am calling shenanigans. My parents also came down with colds last week. We had no back up! Of course, Annie didn’t care that Mike and I were sick, and our coughs and sweats and shivering bodies garnered no sympathy from her this time around. I spent many hours laying on the cool floor in the kitchen, coloring paper and probably the tile. But, it kept Annie happy and in one place, so it was a victory for me.

What is it about illness that completely messes up sleep patterns? I have jacked sleeping habits anyway, so of course I am locked in another battle with insomnia. Annabel is even worse. Like I said earlier, she doesn’t slow down at all when she’s sick. She still  barely takes one nap each day, yet she is WIRED in the evening. Mike and I have spent the last four nights re-training her to sleep. When we start her nighttime routine she immediately starts screaming. She screams through teeth, pajamas, book reading, song singing, and then she screams from her crib. It’s just been so super fun.

Don’t even get me started on the random three am wake up.

“Mama, I tie tie.” “Do you want to go to sleep?” “NO!”

She eventually falls asleep so it’s not a horrible problem, but I really thought we were past the battle-for-bed phase (at least until she’s old enough to realize all the good TV comes on after bedtime). Last night during one of her screaming jags, I walked in to discover her trying to figure out how to climb out of her crib. She was doing this jumping maneuver where she would kick out one of her legs, as if she were trying to get it up over the railing (she wasn’t even coming close). But, the climbing out of the crib thing is something I’m really surprised she hasn’t figured out yet, and it looks like she’s starting to realize it’s something she can attempt. So, do we wait for her to actually climb out of the crib before we switch her into a toddler bed, or do we bite the bullet and do it sooner? I really don’t want to do it sooner…but I don’t want her to hurt herself, either.

UGH she is going to be IMPOSSIBLE to keep in a toddler bed. I can tie her to the bed, right? Just kidding.

© COPYRIGHT HEATHER SPOHR 2011 All rights reserved. This content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means, without the prior written permission of the author.

Dr. Looove is out of town all this week and next, so Annie won’t have her two-year well-baby visit until the second week of February. The nerve of Dr. Looove to go on vacation right now! I can’t wait that long to do Annie’s 24-month round up so, as Annie would say, “I DO IT MYSELF!!!”

weight: 30 pounds 8 ounces
height: 36 inches
head: 20 inches
hair: borderline dreadlocks

(month one, month two, month three, month four, month five, month six, month seven, month eight, month nine, month ten, month eleven, month twelve, month fifteen, month eighteen)

According to my handy app that I use to keep track of Annie’s growth, she is in the 89th percentile for weight, the 94th percentile for height, and the 97th for head size. She gained a little more than a pound in six months, but she grew two and a half inches. She’s losing all that delicious baby chub! It makes me a little sad. Annie really isn’t a baby anymore.

My mom subscribes to those emails, “My Toddler This Week” and she loves telling us that Annie is right on target with her behaviors. There are some things I wish she was more advanced in. Like…sleeping through the night (she still wakes up screaming sometimes) or…conflict resolution (yelling at the dog solves nothing).

This was our first green chair photoshoot in our new house. She now can climb into the chair herself, and knows how to make it spin and rock. I’d readjust the chair, only to have her start wiggling and moving it around again. Instead of grabbing the blocks, she very carefully made sure they were lined up properly.

The lens on my camera also started acting funny about halfway through the shoot, but I didn’t know the extent until after (fuzzy out-of-focus pictures, boo). I think for a belated birthday present Annie needs a new camera lens, don’t you agree, Mike?

I went back through her old monthly shots and was unsurprisingly blown away by how much she’s changed.

four days old

six months old

twelve months old

eighteen months old

twenty four months old

We’re at the point now where these green chair photos will only be taken once a year, on her birthday. She really isn’t a baby anymore (I have to keep reminding myself).

© COPYRIGHT HEATHER SPOHR 2011 All rights reserved. This content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means, without the prior written permission of the author.

I woke up on Sunday, Annie’s actual birthday, and snuck into her room to leave her a present on the floor:

Her face when she woke up and saw the balloons was awesome:

Balloon war!

Next it was time to eat, so we had birthday cake for breakfast. Obviously.

We wanted to do something fun, so we called my parents and then we all drove up the coast to the Santa Barbara Zoo. The SB Zoo is much smaller than its Los Angeles counterpart – it’s the perfect size for a child to walk through without getting over-tired. It’s also a stone’s throw from the beach, so the weather is much nicer and the whole place has a relaxed vibe. I hadn’t been there in years, easily since an elementary school field trip. If my mom were writing this blog she’d now stop to tell you the story about how I got lost at the Santa Barbara Zoo on one of these field trips, but I will swear until my dying day it was my brother who got lost. *I* have an excellent sense of direction.

Anyway. On the drive up, Mike told Annie we were going to the zoo to see animal houses. Those two words stuck in her head, and over the course of the next few hours she ran around screaming, “ANIMAL HOOOOOOOOUSE!” like a tiny belligerent fraternity boy.

ANIMAL HOOOOOOOOOOOUSE!!!!!

We saw the otters at feeding time, and the penguins, which Annie was pissed she couldn’t pet.

Want PET peng-in!!!

Then we came to the elephant area and you guys. I legit thought this elephant was dead:

So I tell my dad, “yo, that elephant is toast,” and he pulls out his phone to google, “Do elephants sleep laying down?” Meanwhile, Annie is imitating an elephant’s trunk and yelling, “El-phant sleeeeping! ANIMAL HOOOOOOOUSE!!!” and it’s chaos.

my elephant imitation: let me show it to you

Fact: Elephants can sleep standing up OR laying down. Something else I have in common with elephants.

We all got to feed a giraffe, which was really cool. I thought Annie would be scared but she was totally into it.

The giraffe was totally into licking all of us, which made me be totally into disinfecting everything.

Annie couldn’t stop talking about the giraffe, which was super-cute.

When we’d had enough of the Animal Hoooooooooouse we went to the beach. It was the magic hour:

Annie was not a fan of the pier. She couldn’t verbalize it, but I could see the confusion on her face. She could see light between the wood beams, and was afraid to fall. I understood because I used to be afraid of the same thing (or maybe I’m projecting).

We left as the sun was setting, and as we loaded Annie into the car I could tell she was going to fall asleep on the drive home. Before I got in the car I looked at the sunset, it was so pretty.

Then we all listened to Annie scream herself to sleep for the next hour. Let the Terrible Twos begin!

© COPYRIGHT HEATHER SPOHR 2011 All rights reserved. This content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means, without the prior written permission of the author.

Annie’s birthday party was this past Saturday and I went all-out. I did something totally out of character and planned everything I wanted way in advance, and then I did a little bit of prep every night in the weeks leading up to the party. I am a lazy procrastinator when it comes to a lot of things, but when it comes to parties for my kids, mama don’t mess. The Yo Gabba Gabba theme was pretty fun and versatile; I took a lot of inspiration from songs from the show and used lyrics all over the place. Annie didn’t mind listening to the songs on repeat so I could get ideas.

I hope you are ready for a mega-post. My awesome cousin Leah and her boyfriend Ted took turns with my camera, and they took five hundred photos. Literally. Thanks, you two!

Guests were greeted with this wreath on the door (I found the instructions here, and I added the paper characters for personalization):

When guests walked in, they were prompted to take a hat and/or a pair of glasses. I bought the DJ Lance glasses from a party store, and I made the hats myself. Well, I bought the hats already made, but I pasted on the faces from a template I bought from an awesome etsy seller, ThePartyProject. I printed out her template onto large label paper, and then cut each face out by hand.

The balloon wall was Annie’s favorite thing. I recruited my parents and Mike to blow up all these balloons (100 total) and then my dad and I tied them together into long strands. Mike hung them up on the wall while I put together the cardboard Plex and Foofa characters. When Annie walked out the morning of her party, she squealed with delight.

I put together photobooth props (also from a template from ThePartyProject) so the guests could take pictures in front of the balloon wall. I set up my printer so anyone who took a picture with their camera phone could email it directly to the printer. Lots of people went home with pictures from the party!

(Edit: This is a picture-heavy post and it was taking forever for the blog to load, so I’m putting in a jump to speed up loading times!)

I put faces on the balloons, too. Of course I did.

I printed off tons of stuff from the Nick Jr website to decorate the house, plus some of the other templates ThePartyPlace sent me. I cut out so many things. My hands don’t want to use scissors for a while.

I also did this to a bunch of my framed photos:

You probably want to see the birthday girl. Annie Foofa!

And of course, Brobee Heather and DJ Mike Rock in the house tonight!

All the food had a YGG tie-in, and my mom made the awesome cucumber-Brobee (click the image to enlarge):

I went to the Nick Jr. website and printed up a bunch of YGG coloring sheets. I set up Annie’s table in the corner of her playroom and hung some ribbon on the wall with clothes pins so the kids could hang up their art. There was always at least two or three kids (big and small) coloring.

We hired a balloon twister. This turned out to be a GREAT thing because it rained so the kids couldn’t run around outside. He made whatever the kids wanted – animals, hearts, flowers, and swords. Lots of swords.

After an hour of ballon-twisting fun, it was time to sing happy birthday. Guess who didn’t cry?

You can’t tell, but the 18 little kids behind me all helped Annie blow out her candles.

There is nothing like the silence of a gaggle of children eating cake.

Annie is still talking about the party. Yeah, I know it was only a few days ago, but it makes me happy to know that the hours of cutting and stringing and taping and pasting made an impact on her.

After the party she said to me, “Mama! Gabba birthday SO FUN. Again?” Luckily for her, I am back to my lazy procrastinating ways, and the decorations are still on the walls. It’s Gabba birthday every day around here. Maybe that’s why she’s still talking about it?

© COPYRIGHT HEATHER SPOHR 2011 All rights reserved. This content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means, without the prior written permission of the author.

Dear Annabel,

At midnight yesterday, you turned two years old – but you already know that because you were still awake. Granted, it was after your birthday party and you were especially amped, but child, your ability to function on almost zero sleep baffles me. Don’t you know how wonderful and amazing sleep is? You are just too worried that you’ll miss something. If we let you, you’d do your best to stay awake for 24 hours. I will let you attempt it someday – when you go to college.

This has been such an amazing year. You went on trips and saw new places and made lots of friends. We moved into a new house and you hit the ground running – literally! You were so happy to be freed from the gated community we’d constructed in our old apartment. You have free-range in the house and you know every nook and cranny. I love hearing the sound of your feet slap the wood floors as you come running to find me. Running, running, always running, gotta get everywhere so fast. Will you ever slow down? I think I already know the answer to that.

I cannot say enough about how smart you are. Last week I started a tally of how many words you know, and I stopped counting when I filled up three notebook pages in an hour. I jokingly started saying that you know ALL THE WORDS, but sometimes when I’m talking to you I’m pretty convinced you understand every single word I’m saying. You know your ABCs and can count to ten, you know your name is “Annie Annabel Spohr,” and you know the words to dozens of songs (which is more than your father can say!). I am staggered by how much you’ve changed in one year:

same expression, 80 pounds more hair

You are a girlie-girl who loves airplanes, bicycles, and cars. You are currently on a massive princess kick, which I *might*  use to my advantage every now and then (Annie, eat this apple, it’s a princess apple). You have five baby dolls that you adore, and you named them all – Lola, Other Lola, Lolita, Baby Heidi, and Kayla, and if anyone calls them by the wrong names you are indignant. You love to kiss and cuddle them, and put them in your large pram for rides around the house. You think Rigby is “sooooo cuuuuuute” and when she gives you a kiss you squeal from the attention. I’m pretty sure this upcoming year will be when you finally steal Rigby’s loyalties away from me.

Speaking of me, you have finally come around to liking your mama. You were a pretty hardcore Daddy’s Girl this year, and sometimes that made me really sad. I loved the relationship the two of you had, but I wanted one with you, too. One day a switch went off in your head and you realized I could be pretty cool and fun, too. Now you ask me to play dress-up and pick out clothes and do your hair every morning. The best, though, is at night, when you climb up next to me on the couch and slowly scoot closer and closer, until we are smushed together in an ultimate snuggle. We’ll hug and kiss and sometimes you’ll say, “tickle?” and of course I oblige. I love your laugh so much.

I worked hard this year to be a present, patient, and engaging parent and I hope I succeeded. You make me work hard, but like I said to your daddy the other day, I don’t know how anyone can stand not being near you. You are vivacious and clever and so very funny, and even when you’re inexplicably awake at 4am, there’s no one else I’d rather be awake with.

Thank you for making me love and live and learn, little girl. I love you to the moon and back. Happy birthday TWO you. I am so honored to be your mama.

Rigby photobomb!

© COPYRIGHT HEATHER SPOHR 2011 All rights reserved. This content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means, without the prior written permission of the author.

Annie was invited to a birthday party this past weekend at one of those cool all-indoor kid play zones. It had a bounce house in one corner, train sets in another, tons of ride on cars, and a giant two-story clubhouse. The clubhouse had a ball pit, obstacle courses, swinging ropes, two slides, and several ways to climb to the top. It was so huge even adults could play inside. I’m not gonna lie, I wanted to go in it. Kid stuff these days is way cooler than it was when I was young.

At first Annie just wanted to climb the foam shapes.

Then she ventured over to where a bunch of toy cars were parked, and took each one for a test drive.

Her friend Meghan came over and persuaded Annie to join her in the ball pit.

The ball pit was pretty much the greatest thing that had ever happened to Annabel, and she put all her trust into Meghan.

She followed Meghan all over the play zone, which allowed Meghan’s mom Diane and me to drink coffee and talk.

Eventually, Meghan wanted to climb to the top of the clubhouse. Meghan called for her mom to climb to the top with her, and off they went. Annie watched them go, then grabbed my hand and said, “C’mon mama, let’s go!” YES! FINALLY we were going to play in the club house! Woo hoo!

We slowly made our way to the top, Annie wanting to do the climb unassisted except for those times when she wanted my help and how dare I not anticipate that! When we finally made it to the top, we discovered Diane and Meghan had waited for us. The girls played a little until Meghan announced it was time to slide. Annie and I watched Diane pull Meghan into her lap, and then they disappeared down the twisty tube slide. I knew there was NO WAY Annie was going to want to do that, so I started to plot our climb back to the bottom.

“Mama! Annie slide!”

“Annie, are you sure, it might be a little scar-”

“ANNIE SLIDE ANNIE SLIDE!!”

“Ooooookay!”

I sat at the top of the slide and lifted Annie into my lap.  I pulled my phone out of my back pocket so I wouldn’t break it. I then realized I could take a video of Annie’s face as we slid so Mike could see it. I hit record  and pushed off to let gravity do its thing.

This is probably one of my favorite videos of Annie ever (other than this one, which makes me laugh every single time). She goes from excitement to fear to TERROR to happiness in about five seconds. (Turn the sound down because I am shouting, “wheeeeee!” like a complete dork.)

When we got to the bottom Annie ran over to where Mike was sitting with Diane’s husband and said excitedly, “Dada! Annie slide, look!!” I then showed the guys the video I took and they cracked up. For the rest of the party, Annie would point to the clubhouse and talk about the slide.

Finally I said, “Annie, do you want to go on the slide again?”

She looked at me and her eyes got wide. She shook her head, then sat down on the floor.

“No mama. Annie sit.“

© COPYRIGHT HEATHER SPOHR 2011 All rights reserved. This content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means, without the prior written permission of the author.

Our house has these wonderful vaulted ceilings that make everything bright and airy. 95% of the time, this is a good thing. The other 5% is when it’s cold. And I know some of you will say “BAH it’s not cold in California” and to you I say BAH back because your homes were probably built with fancy insulation. Mine was not. It’s lovely on hot days but during the colder months it’s drafty and all the heater warmth rises to the tops of those lovely vaulted ceilings.

(I just looked at my weather app and it’s 36° (2°C) outside and there’s a snowflake icon! WTFBBQ this is LA!)

Mike sleeps in, no joke, two pairs of socks, sweat pants, a long sleeved shirt, and a hooded sweatshirt. I sleep in a tank top and shorts. So, clearly we have very different internal temperatures. I think he’s a wuss and he thinks I’m crazy. I can’t handle layers like that when I’m sleeping, the sheets and comforter are enough to keep me warm.

I have no idea what Annie’s body temperature is. I remember reading once that you should dress your baby in one layer warmer than what you wear. I think she needs more layers than what I wear, but certainly less than Mike “could I BE wearing any more clothes?” Spohr. So on these cold nights I’ve been dressing her in fleece footie pajamas, but she’s woken up crying at three a.m. the last few days in a row saying, “Annie cold! Annie cold!”

I’m not sure what to do to combat this other than bring her in to snuggle with me, which is not gonna happen – Mike is taking up all of the bed with all his layers of clothing. And I can’t afford to crank the heater up to 80° every night. Should I put her in another layer, so she’s sleeping in TWO fleece onesies? Should I give her a blanket (although she always kicks them off)? Is she even old enough for a blanket/comforter thing?

These are the things I think about while she’s keeping me up at night. Cold weather mamas, any suggestions?

© COPYRIGHT HEATHER SPOHR 2011 All rights reserved. This content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means, without the prior written permission of the author.

Even though it’s winter, my backyard is in bloom. We have a large green bush with a group of non-edible red berries on it. The berries are only growing in one spot, and it happens to be right in front of my bedroom window.

Annie loves to go out and look at the fruit trees, and so do I. We had limes when we moved in, and now we have lemons, too. To Annie they’re all “balls” and she just wants to throw them.

There are a few random white daisies growing near the kaffir lime tree, maybe three or four total, seeds brought in by a gust of wind. Annie and I leaned over to smell one when I noticed its dazzling center.

Annie was quickly distracted by fallen fruit, so I sat on the wall and watched her play. After a bit she came over to me and said, “Mama, look!” and pointed behind me. I was 99% certain there was a bear, or a large spider. Instead, I saw greenery. “What am I looking at, Annie?” I asked.

“Maddie flower.”

In a sea of green, a lone purple flower is tall and strong. I don’t know how long it’s been there or how long it will stay, but I really don’t know how Annie came to call it a Maddie Flower. We’ve been very careful to not single out purple as something that is Maddie’s – after all, Annie’s middle name is Violet. Maybe Mike or my parents came across the flower first and named it that. I haven’t asked. I haven’t wanted to.

We stared at it for a while, until Annie said, “Flower pretty, mama,” and blew it a kiss. I blew it a kiss, too. It felt right.

© COPYRIGHT HEATHER SPOHR 2011 All rights reserved. This content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means, without the prior written permission of the author.