Anna is Two!

Our adorable baby girl is a baby no longer. Anna turned two last week and today, we celebrated with a loud, unorganized party at Chuck E Cheese!

Here are a few things that I want to remember about Anna at this age:

1. Anna has started asking "why?" to a few things. This makes me chuckle. I usually keep answering the questions until she moves on to something else. Tonight in the car, though, I answered her a few times and then tried to move on and talk about something else. This tactic did not work. I tried ignoring her and she said, "MOMMY! I said, 'WHY?'" Very cute. Slightly annoying, also...but mostly just cute.

2. Anna is very specific about what she wants and when she wants it. She has a good memory about what she has asked for and will check to see if we delivered on our promises. I asked her last week what she wanted for her birthday and she told me she wanted some puzzles. So, every time I mentioned her birthday, she would remind me of the puzzles. Today, before her party, I let her open one of the gifts we bought for her. She opened it up and nodded up and down and said, "Yep. Puzzles. That's right. Puzzles." Oh, she makes me laugh.

3. Anna is very snuggly. I love this about her. She snuggles in tight every afternoon before her nap and asks for songs. She has a funny little obsession with one of my freckles and asks to see it so she can touch it during these snuggly times. I find this to be both odd and extremely sweet at the same time. At night, before bed, Anna also likes to play with my face and hair and put her fingers in my mouth. She hugs and kisses all of us on a daily basis and I hope it never ends.

4. Anna is demanding. I know most two year-olds are...but she seems to take it to a level I had not expected. Today, she was helping me make cupcakes for her birthday party. She yelled, "It's MY turn, Mommy!" when I was frosting and decorating. I told her that it was nicer to say, "Please can I have a turn, Mommy?" She mimicked me the first time and from then on it came out something like, "PLEASE HAVE TURN!" in a curt little, demanding tone. I couldn't help but chuckle at this as well.

5. Anna is a fantastic little singer. She has well over twenty songs memorized and can often be heard belting them out. Her favorites lately are the Veggie Tales theme song, Jingle Bells, Jesus Loves the Little Children, and of course, her ABC's. I finally managed to videotape her singing the Veggie Tales song at the top of her lungs. Good stuff.

6. Anna loves to categorize things. She likes to know the names of all of our friends and family (middle names included sometimes) and who goes with which family. She says, "What's Ben's daddy's name? Jake. Yep, sure is." "What's Mommy's name? Sarah Jane. Yep, that's right."
This amazes me.

7. Anna likes to pray. This is my favorite new thing that she has started doing. At mealtimes or at bedtime lately, she has started saying the prayer for us every few nights. Her prayer last night was my most recent favorite:
"Thank you God my birthday tomorrow. Thank you God my party tomorrow. Anna go doctor tomorrow. Amen."

Anna is such a precious gift to us and I am so thankful for her presence in our lives. I have opted to postpone grad school for two years so that I can focus on nurturing my two children and be more involved in their lives while they are still young. I don't want to miss out on these days that I will never get back. Praise God for the gift of my children!