Anna's Imaginings

I don't know if it's because she's a girl or just because she's her precious self, but Anna has been tickling me with how imaginative she is. I love listening in as her mind takes her to fun new places. I love even more the sweet, half shy/half proud smile she gets when she realizes I'm paying attention to her. A couple of days ago, Anna was sitting on her little Sesame Street couch just talking away. I asked her what she was doing and she told me, "I'm just talking to my giraffe. But he's not talking back to me because he's just a toy." Then not even ten minutes later I could hear her singing in the dining room (their play room). I peeked around the corner at her and she was sitting in a rocking chair and pretending that their toy vacuum was her microphone.

She enjoys being little which is refreshing since her big brother always wants to talk about getting bigger. This week her new thing is to proudly tell me, "Momma I like being little. I'm going to be your little girl for you. I'm going to stay little forever for you."

She became really interested in Mary (Jesus' mom) at Christmas. The church their preschool is in was doing some sort of play and had signs on all the doors that had a picture of Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus. Every time she walked past one (usually 2-3 times per trip in/out of school) she had to run up to the picture and point and quickly say each of their names. When we came back to school after Christmas break she was quite confused and disappointed when she couldn't find the signs anymore. So now she likes to point out when people look like Mary (when they have a blanket or something wrapped over their head). She was walking around proudly declaring that she looked just Mary while dressed like this......

It's actually a princess cape that I was excited to find for her for Christmas. What I didn't expect is that she would play with it almost everyday but that it would almost never be as a cape. She uses it like she is above, but mostly it's her shadow. If you haven't seen Peter Pan in awhile then you may not understand this. Anna (and Benjamin too to a certain extent) is OBSESSED with Peter Pan right now! I think she could watch it everyday. They pretend like they are the characters in Peter Pan and Anna is always asking everyone who their favorite character is (she likes to joke that Daddy's favorite is either Captain Hook or the crocodile). Anyway, she lovingly carries her cape around throughout the day declaring, "Come on shadow!"

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The weather did not cooperate and we weren't able to drive Collin to the Dr. However, one of their on call nurses took really good care of us and I was able to talk to her two days in a row and together we were able to determine how to take care of him and assess that he was okay and it wasn't worth taking him out in the bad weather. He threw up some more and continued to have diarrhea for a couple more days. Now he just has a bad cough and occasional diarrhea that interferes with his sleeping which makes him cranky for the most part. But he seems so much better today and I couldn't be more grateful and hope I or our kids never have to go through this again! Here he is still feeling pretty bad a few nights ago but starting to enjoy a few bites here and there. He liked having the two bowls to take his snacks in and out of. When we would catch a few playful moments during him being sick (usually late into the night), that was how he always wanted to spend his time....getting two different containers (a bag, purse, his (unused) throw-up bowl, toy containers, etc.) and would gather five or six items and just move them back and forth over and over again. It tickles me that he gets so much enjoyment out of such a simple activity.

Even though he still wasn't feeling good, if you give him the right attention he would reward you with a sweet smile.

When you give him attention right now he also really likes to pretend like he's embarrassed. He'll hide his face or scrunch up his eyes like this while smiling. It's pretty funny!

No Benjamin pictures this post. But I do have some funny stories. I find a Bible verse for the kids each month to be their memory verse and then I make up hand motions to help them remember it and make it more fun. They really get into it and are pretty good at remembering them. I always write the verse on their calendar and as I was changing the calendar to February, I told them I needed to find a new verse for us. Benjamin's response was to make up his own. I was thankful I had a pen in my hand so I could write it down! So here you go, here's Benjamin 1:1 Whatever you do is okay as long as you are making good choices. It doesn't include anything about faith, God, or Jesus but still a good message. :)

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We went out to a restaurant for supper last night. It was beyond time for me to get out of the house (you know other than the doctor's office, hospital, or pharmacy). When we got back I was praising Benjamin for being so good at the restaurant and for eating such a good supper. After I'm done he tells me, "Well Momma I'm not three anymore or four anymore. I'm five and I just want to act like it for you."

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You may have noticed that the kids have almost exclusively been in pajamas for all my posts as of late. I honestly haven't thought it even the slightest bit necessary to dress them while we've been dealing with such sick kids and are just going to be staying home everyday. Benjamin usually loves having jammy days and being in comfy clothes. He surprised me when he told his Grandma who was visiting for the day to help me out, "We wear pajamas a lot now. (with attitude)We wear them everyday!" I figure as long as I'm still bathing them and changing their pajamas, we're good! Oh and no worries, we did all get dressed before heading to the restaurant last night. ;)