What I've Learned - 18 months - Anna

What I have learned in Anna’s first 18 months of life:

1.   Toddlers mimic EVERYTHING. Makes you pay great attention to whether or not your behavior is appropriate to be copied.

2.    It can be quite entertaining, and inappropriate, when toddlers are learning to talk. Sometimes words like “sit”, do not come out very clear. This is especially entertaining when you are changing her diaper (and friends are over visiting) and Anna says, “Oh sit” in the midst of changing the poopy diaper.

3.   
Each night before dinner, as a family, we all grab hands and say a blessing. Nothing warms a parent’s heart more than when after the prayer; your child reaches out her hand to do it again. After the 50th time however, the warming in your heart starts to cool a bit.

4.   Toddlers are amazing at teaching adults the game “fetch”. 


5.   Routine is important for babies, but becomes especially important for toddlers. However, it is okay to sometimes break from that routine. 


6.   There is no guessing a toddler’s emotions. Their anger is pure. Their frustration is pure. Their love is pure. Luckily, those emotions often pass quickly. Along with this, their forgiveness is genuine.


7.   Repetition, a toddler can take their shoe off and put it back on for hours on end. The determination to learn is an amazing gift that adults would do well to not lose. 


8.   Some traits and characteristics are inherited, but many are learned. Our children can be a really great mirror into our own behavior. 


9.   It is amazing the size of a parent’s bladder, when their child has finally fallen asleep on a long road trip. 


10.                 Our Facebook friends are twisted. Cute videos of Anna may get 200-300 views, but videos of her tantrums get well over 1,000 views. 


11.                 Apparently it is a thing for strangers to give kids money for being cute. Anna has now “earned” $2.00. I believe any stranger that will just give a kid money for being cute should not be trusted. 


12.                 It is amazing, that even at 18 months, Anna can be in a pink skirt, a pink shirt, and pink shoes… and someone will STILL say, “What is HIS name”.

What I’ve Learned – 2 and ½ years: Special Vacation Edition - Anna

What I’ve Learned – 2 and ½ years: Special Vacation Edition

1.     Taking a long road trip with a two and a half-year-old by oneself needs to be an Olympic sport. 

2.     When taking a long road trip solo, have lots of snacks and toys in the passenger seat ready to hand off.

3.     The two and a half-year-old will only ask to go potty 2 miles after the last rest area, and there will be no sign of civilization for miles to come. 

4.     If while changing a stinky diaper (due to not making it to the requested “potty” after passing last rest area for miles) the two and a half-year-old ask to go “pee-pee”, ALWAYS finish putting on the diaper before going in to find a restroom.  Just wrapping a cloth diaper around the child is not a good idea. 

5.     Have a change of clothes handy for Daddy as well as the two and a half-year-old. (Yes, this is directly related to the above lesson learned)

6.     Just because a gas station has a diner, do not assume it will have a public restroom.  (Also related to the two lessons learned above)

7.     Daddy having to use a porta-potty that hasn’t been cleaned in months, while holding the two and a half-year-old (who wants to touch EVERYTHING in the porta-potty), should also be an Olympic sport.  (Also related to the three lessons learned above…that one stop gave daddy a wealth of experience and lessons learned).

8.     If the above two proposed events above were actual Olympic events, I would most certainly be a gold medalist. 

9.     Playing peek-a-boo with passing traffic can be entertainment for hours.  It apparently doesn’t matter that the traffic passing by has no idea they are playing.

10. While I am not knocking KC and the Sunshine band, the two and a half-year-old requesting “Shake, Shake, Shake” be played repeatedly for hours gets very very very very old. 

11. It is possible for a two and a half-year-old that is completely and utterly worn out, to not nap at all in the car for a seven-eight hour car ride. 

12. It never fails that when said exhausted and worn out two and a half-year-old is FINALLY asleep, someone will call to check in and wake her back up.  Apparently a 5-minute power nap in the car is the equivalent of a 2-hour nap in a bed. 

13. If you forget the diaper bag, DO NOT assume that because your child has had 3 stinky diapers a day for 3 days, that they will not have another on this short trip out. 

14. If you happened to have assumed that your child would not have a bowel movement, and they proved you wrong…a swim diaper and wet paper towels is a great improvisation.  

15. If a swim diaper was used because regular diapers were not handy, DO NOT forget to change into a regular diaper before laying the two and a half-year-old down for a nap. 

16. All in all, Amy and I are luck and have a child that travels amazingly well. 

What I have learned - 2 years - Anna

Here is my "What I have learned" post from Anna's 2nd birthday!

What I have learned - 2 Year old edition (a few days early)

24 things learned for Anna's 24 months on earth:

1. Sometimes Anna can be such a care taker with other kids... Sometimes she is just a bulldozer

2. I love Anna very much, but sometimes the introvert in me just needs some space

3. No greater thing to hear than "da-ye" (Anna's version of daddy)

4. Finding Nemo is a great movie, but after the first 100 times it gets a bit old. (since writing this one down a few months ago, I can now add Toy Story 1 & 2, Cars, Monsters, Inc., Frozen, and Despicable Me 1 &2 to the list).

5. When you have a toddler, alarm clocks become obsolete, unless of course you have an important early appointment...and she will sleep later than she ever has before.

6. Sometimes having to put on a shirt can be a totally life shattering event for a toddler.

7. Sometimes you hold and rock your child because they had a long hard day and sometimes you hold and rock your child because you had a long hard day.

8. With Anna around, I need to create a "find my drink coaster" app. They are by far one of her favorite things to play with and hide.

9. If we are having green peas for dinner, there is a strong possibility Anna will eat all of hers AND all of the ones on Daddy's plate.

10. Rain boots go with EVERYTHING!

11. When Anna sleeps in till 7, I feel as if I won the lottery.

12. When putting Anna in time out you must take her socks off for time out to have any impact on her. Otherwise she just plays with her socks and has a good ole time.

13. Deciphering what a toddler is trying to say is an art form.

14. Teething can take the sweetest and happiest child and make them a monster.

15. It is often said that allowing children to watch videos on phones/tablets out in public is lazy parenting, but sometimes it just feels like the only option left. (to keep the parents and children sane)

16. If something goes missing, ALWAYS check the play microwave first.

17. Taking your child's "favorite toy" away to teach a lesson doesn't do much good if your child inherits your stubbornness and never mentions said toy again.

18. You can never predict what Anna will like for dinner. Favorite foods one night become the subject of meltdowns on another night.

19. My favorite thing every day is waking up and listening to Anna playing in her crib. My favorite is when she is playing peek-a-boo with something in her crib and laughing hysterically.

20. Daddy may be her favorite person in the world, but if he shows his face before outside playtime and lunch, death stares are sure to come. (Have we really already hit the teenage years?)

21. Seeing news stories (or movies) of children either sick, missing, or hurting on the news has an entirely new impact on me. This also applies to news stories/movies of mothers/spouses sick, missing, or hurting.

22. Gold fish crackers make everything better.

23. We cannot "threaten" bedtime as punishment for Anna, because she will happily go to bed any time.

24. There are days that I love looking at Time Hop. However, there are days I think Time Hop is a total jerk and rubbing it in my face how fast 2 years really goes by.

What I have learned - 3 year - Anna

Since I have been off of Facebook for a while, I am posting my things I have learned here on my blog.  I plan to also post the old things I have learned post on here as well.

Enjoy!

• Don't jokingly promise purple yogurt before bedtime.  She WILL remember.
• I know nothing. I thought this was something that would come later, but my knowledge of the world is clearly inferior to Anna's.  Example conversations: "daddy, I want fruit snacks". "Sorry bean, I don't have any". "Yes you doooooo." (Repeat the entire ride to church).     "Daddy, the trees are coming out of the ground and flying away." "No anna, that is just the wind.  They are not flying away,". "Yes they aaarrrrreeee."
• Waking up to "daddy, my nose not working," (in a really sad voice) is both the cutest and saddest thing I have ever heard.
• Starting an hour long dance class for three year olds at 6:45 is cruel and unusual punishment for parents (when your child turns into a pumpkin at 7:30 and takes her sleep VERY seriously).
• Hide and seek is fun, until you are sent to hide and the "seeker" just crawls in bed, counts, says "ready or not here I come," and then just stays in bed.
• Children are complete sponges and get more and more "absorbent" the older they get. They also are listening even when you don’t think they are listening.  
• Anna apparently has a brother named Rick.  As well as a few siblings named "sick" and "cries."
• Potty training isn't about know how or ability, it is about power and control.
• Anna is tall, like off the charts tall.  Literally.  At her 3 year check up she was so tall she wasn’t even on the growth chart for the 3 year check up.  
• Popsicles fix everything.
• Anna appears to be a very outgoing and social kid, but I believe she is like her parents and actually an introvert.  You can tell groups wear her out and when too many people start looking at her she can crawl in her shell just like daddy and mama.  
• I have always heard it is called the “terrible twos,” but the last year with Anna was not terrible at all, it was actually a lot of fun and very entertaining.  However, I hear many people say it really is the “terrible threes,” so we will see what the next year holds. :-) 

A fan's guide to a sports rivalry.

Rivalries can be fun, but  can also get old and annoying very fast.  Typically, it isn't the game itself that is annoying, but the fans sitting on either side of the rivalry.  Here is your fan's guide to keeping a sports rivalry fun for everyone.

1. Passionately cheer for your team to do well.
2. Do not cheer for the injuries, penalties, or other bad things to happen to the opposing team.  (The game is always more fun when it is close, clean, hard fought, and has both teams at full strength).
3. Do not be a fair weather fan...Win or lose, always support your team fully. 
4. Do not blame a loss on the refs, there are/were plenty of opportunities that your team likely did not take advantage of. 
5. Always spell your rival's team name correctly.
6. If your team loses, congratulate the rival team, acknowledge they played better, and move on.
7. If your team wins, do not seek out rival fans just to rub it in.
8. If your team loses, acknowledge that it was likely because the rival team played well, and not because your team "had an off night".
9. Never storm the court or field.  It is dangerous for players, coaches, and refs...and should never be done in a rival game (or any game for that matter).
10. Acknowledge that rivalries typically have a long history...but it is bad sportsmanship to throw out "we may have lost today, but we still have more overall wins"...or statements of that nature. 
11. Remember it is possible to support your team, without bad mouthing or using derogatory nicknames for opposing players and coaches. 
12. On social media, support your team before, during, and after the game...but do not just "appear" after your team wins acting like you have been supporting the team the whole time.
13. Keep the sports teams and the academic institution separate.  Attacks on the academic institution are childish and pointless. 
14. Remember, ultimately it is only a game.  The individuals involved are human beings who have feelings, make mistakes, and when it comes down to it are way better than any of us are at the sport we are watching (even when they are making mistakes).
15. Trash talking can be fun, as long as it stays lighthearted and does not become personal attacks.



This is not an exclusive list (and is strictly my opinion)...but if we all follow these guidelines, the rivalry should continue to be fun for all fans, players, and coaches.