Party in the Park

Anna Scott loves the park.  It is one of her favorite places.  She is crazy about the Wee Sing Together video of Sally's birthday in the park.  Therefore, I planned a party in the park for her 2nd birthday.  I used a lot of the decor from her 1st birthday party but took a more casual approach.  It was a great change of pace from all the stress of the big number ONE.  :)  Anna Scott had a great time celebrating her birthday with friends and family.  Here are the pictures from her special day.  

If you have no interest in the pictures (or you get tired while scrolling through), that is ok, but do skip down to the end to read a little about Anna Scott at two years old.  That is the best part of the post anyway.  :)

Looks like fun was had by all!  

I also want to share some things Anna Scott is saying/doing at two years old.  Actually, she has been doing a lot of this for about a month now, but I just can't keep up.  There is no way to share it all (as all mothers out there know) but here are a few things:

-She says "ummmmmm......"  when she is asked a question now, while she thinks of her response.

-She loves saying her prayers at night and before each meal.  I love hearing her say who she wants to pray for each night.  Most of the time, it is her school friends, but every now and then she will pray for a family member.  :) 

-I turned around and looked at her while sitting at a traffic light a few days ago and she said these exact words, "Turn around, Mommy.  Don't look at me."  :)  She is two, alright!    

-She says, "Play Mommy" or "Play Daddy" one million times a day.  She is always wanting someone to  play with now.

-While we were at the beach, she looked at me while sitting at the dinner table and said (out of nowhere), "I love you Mommy.  We are best friends."  Made my night, weekend, year, life.  I have been on cloud 9 ever since!  :)

-She loves caring for her baby dolls now.  She is their mommy and their doctor.  She'll say, "Open my doctor stuff.  I want to doctor my babies."  She had macaroni for dinner one night last week.  I let her eat upstairs while she watched a movie.  Later that night after she had gone to bed, I was straightening up the playroom and she had put a macaroni noodle inside her baby doll's mouth.  I just smiled.

-We asked her what she wanted for dinner at the beach one night (just to make small talk), and without missing a beat she said, "Hamburger steak, please!"

-She loves loves loves to read.  She wants me to read to her, then she will read the book back to me.  I am always amazed at how much she remembers from me reading it to her just once.  She has a couple of her books memorized and it is so fun to watch her pretend to read them and know exactly what to say on each page.  Her favorite books are Itchy Itchy Chicken Pox, The Friendly Book, Grandma and Grandpa Smith, Best Friends Wear Pink Tutus, A Funny Man (and many more but these are the ones she has been ready lots lately). 

-Her favorite videos right now are Wee Sing Together and The Big Rock Candy Mountains.  We have watched them sooooo many times over the past month.  I love hearing her sing along and watching her do all of the hand motions/dancing with the characters.

-If you ask her where she lives, she says "Homewood."  If you ask her where daddy works she says, "Bank."  If you ask her where mommy works she says, "Hospital."  She can tell you who the coach, quarterback, and running backs are for Alabama, and if you ask her what she is going to tell our quarterback, she says, "Come here AJ and give me a kiss."  We really do not know where that came from.  So funny. 

-When she wants to be held, she says, "Mommy (or Daddy), let me hold you." 

-We are trying to get rid of the paci (doing and saying anything we can).  If you ask her why she needs to drop the paci, she will tell you, "It will mess my teeth up."  :)  She has heard me say that one too many times.

-She knows family member names.  She called Scott's dad Phillip several times while we were at the beach.  She is starting to learn that there can be two names for one person.  It has to be confusing!  I don't know how they put it all together.

-I was folding a quilt to put back in the closet the other day, she pointed to it and said, "Granny made that."  I was amazed that she even knew, much less remembered.  She is so good with associations.  I will often wonder how in the world she remembers certain things. 

-She is always singing.  It seems like she carries a song in her little heart.  Every night before she falls asleep I sing "Stay Awake" from Mary Poppins.  My dad used to sing it to my sister and me each night.  She can sing most songs all the way through and has very good pitch.  I think she may be a little performer!  :)

-One funny thing she does is talk like a robot.  There is a robot on one of the shows she watches and she is fascinated with how he talks.  She tickles us imitating him and talking like a robot herself.  She will say, "My. name. is. Anna. Scott. Laney.  I. am. a. robot." in that robot tone (you know what I mean).  So cute.

-She says the word "too" a lot.  She wants to do it too!  For instance...  "Mommy you read this book.  I read this book too!"

-She loves airplanes, and a quite a few fly over our house each day.  One day, we were in the back yard and saw an airplane.  Once it had passed, she said, "Let's find another one."  I said, well we will have to wait until one comes by."  She said, "Come on Mommy.  I know where the airplanes are."  :)

-When we tell her to do something, she says, "Okay"  with a serious look on her face, like she is really about to get the job done.  :)  

-When she is having a good time or has had a good day is school, she will say, "I've had a great day!"  Or "I had fun day at school (or wherever she has been)!"  So sweet.

-She knows who made the sun and moon and stars etc etc... "God made them."

-We were leaving Target after buying some groceries a few weeks ago.  She looked back as we were walking to the car and said, "Thank you Target for the food!"  :)

-When she wants something to eat but I tell her we don't have any, she tells me it's at the store.  :)

-She says "What's that?" or "What's that over here?" many many times a day.  So inquisitive.  Many times, she will ask me "What's that Mommy?" although I know she already knows what it is.  I will just answer as if she didn't, and she will say, "Yep" like she approves.  :)

-One morning recently, she said "Wake up Mommy.  I hear the birds.  The birds eat worms.  I eat worms too!"  That was the first thing out of her mouth.  

-She says "Poof!" and waves her hand like she is doing magic when she wants something to happen (like a movie to load that is taking forever or a toy to sing/dance that has no batteries).  She thinks the "Poof!" and hand motion will work like a charm.

-She says, "On no, not again!"  Got that from one of her videos.  It always catches me off guard when she says it in context.  I laugh every time.

-She pronounces her "-er" sound "-ore" I always think it is cute when kids have trouble with that particular sound.  I know I will miss the way she says it now after she learns the correct pronunciation.

-She loves ice cream and calls it "ice creaned."

-In the car with my parents yesterday, we were coming home from Allison's house.  Anna Scott looked at Sadie (my parents' dog) and said, "Sadie, we're goin to Disney World!"  Came out of nowhere.  We all just looked at each other and smiled.  Then in a few minutes, she said, "Sadie, we not goin to Disney World."  :)  I guess she realized she had better tell the truth! 

I could go on and on.  Anna Scott is a funny girl, and she is so very bright.  She amazes us every day and keeps us laughing.  She has a lot of her Daddy's personality, and I wouldn't change that for the world.  She is my everything, and I am blessed beyond words to be her Mommy.  What did I do before Anna Scott was born?  What did I talk about/think about?  I don't know;  but what I do know is that now, it is all about her. We have lots more to share, so I will try to keep the posts coming.  So long for now!