Favorite Things

Annika’s absolute favorite thing is to be outside. She will stand by the door all day long saying “ide?” “ide?” just begging to go out of doors and do something. She doesn’t seem to care, or even notice if it is pouring rain or freezing cold. However, as the weather has turned sour in the last few weeks, my desire to venture out in the cold and rain has decreased significantly, and I am trying to be more creative in finding things to do with Annika inside. So, as winter approaches (or perhaps it has already arrived), here are some of Annika’s favorite things:

1. Her Opa. My Dad spent last weekend with us on the front end of a business trip in Europe. We were afraid that Annika would take a while to warm up to him, but this was not the case. Within minutes of arrival, she was insistent that he never leave her side. Even when he had to use the bathroom, she would pound on the door yelling “Opa!” “Opa!” She learned that Opa had the good snacks and she knew exactly where in his bag to find them. Just today when I wouldn’t give her a snack she gave me a sly look and said “Opa? Snack?” Lucky for her, he will be back in just another week and a half to visit again before he flies home.

2. The presents that Opa brought. Since my Mom couldn’t join Dad on this trip, I think she decided to compensate by sending Annika a bit of an early Christmas. Annika loves her new bouncy ball, and the set of Winnie-the-Pooh stuffed animals that used to be Nathan’s. She insists on taking all four of them, along with her classic Winnie-the-Pooh and her two plush baby dolls all to bed. It is a zoo in there. But her favorite is the classic set of Tinker-toys. It is hard to find things that hold Anni’s attention, but she will sit for 30 minutes at a time putting the sticks into the holes. Brad and I don’t think it is too bad either, as we are equally entertained building right along with her.

3. Her halloween costume. Halloween has come and gone, but the novelty of dressing up like a dog hasn’t. I tried to get her dressed the morning I took these pictures, but she had seen her costume in the closet and wouldn’t wear anything else. She doesn’t even mind the hood. We are going to get our money’s worth out of that costume!

4. Bathtime. The last time we tried taking her to a pool she freaked out, but maybe we should try again. Pouring water in and out of cups in the bath is the best part of the day.

5. Playdough. I made some playdough for the first time the other day. I was a little worried that it would be a huge mess, but it was a just a big hit. I made a snowman and put eyes on it when we were playing together and now she just pulls off little balls and sticks them on all the other dough and says “eyes!” Fake cookies are also a big hit, and I wish I had taken a picture of the face she made when she tried to eat the pretend cookie.

6. Reading books. I am so glad that Annika loves to read, because I have a serious addiction to buying books for her. If she didn’t ever read them, it would feel like a huge waste of money. As it is, I can continue to indulge myself in children’s books guilt free. Sometimes she wants me to read them, and to do this I must be sitting cross-legged on the floor. No other way will do. This is getting increasingly harder as I get bigger and as my joints get looser. Sometimes she wants to read them herself. I love listening to her babble and occasionally make sense when she points out things she sees. With this particular book she repeated “Go!” and “Dog!” a lot, punctuated by an occasional “hat” and “tree” and “home.”

7. The hat that Oma sent. We like to call this picture “Mildred.” Annika usually hates hats, but for some reason, she seems attached to this one and wants to wear it whenever we leave the house. I am certainly not going to stop her.

Annika has a lot of favorite things to keep her busy, but my favorite thing is getting to hang out with her all day. I am so glad that I get to be a Mom.