Color Coordinating

Watching A-chan color coordinate is an interesting if baffling pasttime. There are certain rules that apply to toys but apparently not to clothing or anything else. But colored toys must match. Pink cup with pink plate with pink spoon. All the red shapes together, all the green shapes together. Princesses in pink dresses on the right, princesses in blue dresses in the middle, princesses in yellow dresses on the left. We occassionally try to mix things up a little by going wild and putting a blue block in with the yellow ones. It generally ends up backfiring on us.

The very interesting part is watching her color on a computer game. There is a picture and beside it a palette of 15 colors to choose from. You click on a color and then click on the picture in the place that you want that color. A-chan's philosphy is that colors don't mix, so she ends up with the entire picture one color. The she moves on to redo the same picture in the next color on the palette and so on until she has painted that picture all the colors. It is only then that she can move on to the next picture to repeat the procedure. It is always done in order of the colors in the palette and if she happens to leave the computer during the process of painting, she will pick up where she left off, going to the next color. Although usually she only comes away from the computer when she has 'finished' a picture, she won't leave until she has completed each of the palette colors. She will invite me to sit and paint with her, then offer me the use of the next color in the palette. I do try to be a wild child and paint the picture with many colors but she then goes back to the color I was supposed to have stuck to and paint the picture entirely of that color.

I must admit to being a bit worried over this behaviour. It seems so stifling to me. I'm not sure how to get her to use different colors together and I feel that it's important for her to do so. But maybe it's nothing to worry about. She seems to be in a phase of categorization lately and perhaps the color coordination is a part of that. We've been hearing a lot of "this is not lemonade, it's punch" and "it's not morning, it's evening" lately.

Another phenomenon that we've been pelted with today was the "But, why?" question about a thousand times. (Okay, so it was only about 10, but it still seemed like a thousand) It's very cute how she will ask, "But why, Mata?"

The Hat, for S!

Hats, according to our vast accumulated scientific findings, are the best toys in the world, ever, ever, ever. Ever.

A Pretty Dress Makes All the Difference

Ketu and A-chan have been feeling under the weather today in a big, cranky, evil day sort of way, poor things. We've had lots of toddler tantrums and yelling and general stubborness all day. It's amazing how much better one can feel when dressed up, though. She decided that she wanted to wear a dress that had been hanging in her room for a couple of weeks. It used to be my dress when I was just a little older than she is now.

With the new "pretty dress" on she pranced around beaming a smile and asking that we take her picture not only with the standard camera but with the camcorder as well. She suddenly felt like playing! We played for a while until she got hot with the long sleeves and asked to change back to summer clothes. We couldn't believe that it got up to 85 here today already!

It's interesting to me how things change when one has a child. I think when my mother asked me what I wanted to do with my old clothes a few years back I had said to just throw them out. Now I'm really glad that she didn't do it. It was just too sweet to have my baby girl dress up to play in much the same way that I once did. How sappy, but true. :) And just a few years ago I could never have imagined this feeling. One might note the amount of her clothes that I am putting away in the attic instead of donating to Goodwill...

Swim class

We've been going swimming every other wednesday for about 2 months, getting A-chan used to the water and just plain having fun. Tonight was the first night of actual toddler swim instruction and it was very interesting. A-chan was the oldest child by far, the closest was 20 months old and the youngest was 8 months old. She didn't seem interested in the other kids at all, and since tonight was the 'get the kids used to being in the water' part there really wasn't all that much to do in terms of teaching. Wednesday's class will be a little more involved, we think :) Today she decided to wear the swimsuit we got for her around this time last year instead of the one that actually fits. Gotta love the belly!

Sleeping is happening a lot more lately. Again, we have no idea what the change was that made her go from all-night zombie child to happy sleepy girl but we are soooo intensely grateful.

A-chan taught me how to sing "Wheels on the Bus" today. She had asked me to sing it with her and was totally perplexed that I didn't know the words. It's a song that she learned by watching a Baby Einstein video. Later in the afternoon she agreed to teach me the song and was so cute! She would sing a little bit, being somewhat shy and embarrassed about it and then I would repeat what she'd sung and she'd go on. It was very neat for me!

Words of the week #10

Baby elephant got born like A-chan got born.
I get mad. I sorry I get mad.
I can speak Japanese like Ana did.
Ohayo.
But why?
On Wednesday we go swim class, but first you go your dance class.
Mata, come pla-a-a-ay. (She draws it out for about a minute...)
Whatever.

MomoCon!

Yay, MomoCon!!! It's a smallish, completely free anime convention held at Georgia Tech. We didn't get to spend much time there cause we're always late leaving the house, but we still had lots of fun. Our overall impression was: Crowded! There were lots of people there and not enough space for them. Great costumes were everywhere. A-chan was especially impressed with some of the more intricate dresses, though the first words she said about the con itself were, "where stormtroopers, mata?". The troupe of young girls all wearing bunny hats also made a big impression on her.

She had asked to wear her "pretty pink Mei dress" so I got her all dressed up as Mei (Yay!!) and she got several complements and some 'soo cute!' comments. It was unexpectedly frigid so she wore some pants underneath the dress and her Totoro turtleneck onesie to keep warm. To complete the outfit she carried around Chu and Sho Totoros (that her godmother L made for her for christmas) in a purple backpack. I think the thrill of wearing a backpack like a big kid was a huge thing for her. And because I go overboard like a crazi-woman we all had really pretty bentos, but A-chan's was a Totoro and soot sprites! For pictures of the bentos go to http://bentoanarchy.blogspot.com

The squeaky shoes were only half squeaky cause I'd broken one the day before, so she didn't make as much noise as usual. But we also didn't have to worry about her walking into the video rooms or panels and disturbing everyone, so the half squeaky was okay. The Anime Music Video room was quite a hit, we spent probably an hour in there watching these awesome videos. The best part was that A-chan loved them. (We had tried to watch some at AWA last year and she drug us from the room, screaming at the top of her lungs) She recognized several of her favorite characters in some and enjoyed it, did a lot of giggling.

The Dealer's room was pretty small at MomoCon, but it was awesome all the same. We thought about getting A-chan a soft Mei doll, but didn't want to spend $75 on it. I did get to meet the artist who draws one of my favorite addicting web manga, Red String, which was too cool! I bought her manga and the guy at the booth next door recommended I get her to sign it, which she was sooo nice to do, w00t! A-chan wanted the first Strawberry Marshmallow manga (her current favorite anime series) which the really nice guy gave her for free when we bought 2 manga for me (Imadoki #4 & 5) and one for Ketu.

And last, but not least she has a new mascot! Meet Purple Mochi, an incredibly cute little bean bag that the guy at the Stubbychubby booth offered to let her have. She was sooo cute! When he said she could have it, she started pulling more off the table saying "mata needs, dada needs" lol. We put ours back, but will probably buy some soon from there website. She even did a little bow and said 'thank you'! They also had awesome pillows that I wanted. We definately met some very nice people and learned that the cute toddlers are the rulers of the world.

Time is no where to be seen.

A-chan won't sleep. She used to go to sleep around 10:30 or 11 at night (as I've mentioned before we have a strange schedule, we get up around 10 am) but lately has been finally falling asleep around 1:30 maybe 2 am even. We can't figure out why and nothing we do seems to have any effect on it whatsoever.

It's driving me nuts. I usually do tons of stuff in that couple to three hours every night between her falling asleep and me doing the same. But I'm having to be extra quiet to try and get her to sleep instead, I can't even type! So, very little blogging is going on right now. There is tons of stuff to say and that I want to post, but I never can :(

We're going to MomoCon tomorrow, a small anime convention in atlanta. It should be a blast! We will get mochi, strawberry mochi. I can't wait!!!

Here are some lovely pictures of A-chan being a gypsy. (I was trying to put away the clean laundry and she kept pulling out random bits of clothes saying, "I put this on now." and piling them on top of each other.)

Words of the week #9

You, you, I, go outside.
Watch Strawberry Marshmallow now, watch Star Wars later.
Oh, it's medicine for A-chan...poor A-chan.
Don't worry about it.
I draw a space ship. I draw a mountain. Biiig mountain.
Hurry, dada, hurry!
Please I help you dishes?
These clean dishes.
Ocean is a type of water. Volcano is a type of mountain. (we were perusing a picture book about Earth)
Cloud is a type of bird. Fish is a type of water. (classification not quite down pat yet, lol)
Listen, mata, birds are singing ABC song! Danny boy, did you hear that? Birds singing ABC song! (The second line was copying me when I relayed her first line to Ketu)
Hi computer, good morning.
I put in microwave.
Mata, which flashcards do you want?
Moon is a type of planet.
I saw bumblebee out there, want to come see him?
Ketu: what color is the bumblebee? A-chan: It have stripes.
Ketu: What color are the stripes? A-chan: stripes half yellow, half black
(Blaze) watching bumblebee with us. We are watching bumblebee all together.
I not sleep, pink paci, without it.
Hello, snuggle bed.
No, I'm fine, my head's okay.
Doctor, what's wrong with dada?

Anime girl!

A-chan perusing my Digicharat art book. She loves Digiko, particularly her bell earrings.

One of the things that I have always loved about anime merchandise was the wonderfully cute plushies. We have collected many of them over our years of anime fandom and they grace the tops of our bookshelves in the dining room and bedroom. But even more awesome is watching A-chan fall in love with the same things I did and enjoy playing with the plushies that we have. There is absolutely nothing cuter than seeing her collect pretend acorns with totoro (although that is a recent addition to our menagerie) and giving Ryo-ohki a wooden carrot to eat. There is also P-chan from Ranma 1/2 who she loves and Kirara from Inu Yasha which she hasn't seen yet (and won't for some time to come).