Happy Birthday, Anna!

Anna turned 2! We had a fun little family party--Ella was in charge of most of it. It was a pink themed party. Pink balloons, pink streamers, pink cake and pink attire. We had a bean bag toss which was fun for all ages.  Grandpa Paul was having a bit of a tricky time with his curve ball, and Ella kept gently (and not so gently) encouraging him to just get a little closer.  Chris wowed us all with his hidden talent--maybe it's the long arms, but he's got skills! The above video is perhaps the most disharmonious version of Happy Birthday you've ever heard. We Harman's are not known for our singing ability. But Anna's unscripted "I blow out the candles" makes up for it.

Some fun facts about our Anna bug:

• She thinks her name is Anna Bug Elise Packer
• Her vocab is serious. On the day of her party she said, "Grandma this is.......those are the candles." Grammer girl??
• She went from being happy go lucky eat anything 18-month-old to an "I don't like that" type of gal
• The other day Kimmy was watching the girls and told Ella that she should work on her manners...and reminded her that Anna was really good at saying please and thank you (she is!) Ella was floored as it sunk in that Anna was good at something that she wasn't. "Where do you think she learned that??" she asked. When I asked Ella about it she explained to me her amazement--"Anna learns everything from me--how did she learn that?!?"
• Anna loves her binkies. I don't ask her if she wants to take a nap, but if she wants to go get her binkies. And she usually happily says yes. (She only gets them when she is in her crib...or if I am being a softy)
•  She is starting to really pretend and play jokes. "I am Sophia. You are Eliza. Ella is our mommy."
• She is happy most of the time.
• When she is upset she says, "I want my mommy/daddy"--mommy if she's with Ryan and daddy if she's with me.
• She is surprisingly good at understanding connections between people. If we are talking about an adult, she will ask about their children, even if she doesn't know them well. "Who were you talking to on the phone?" "Dana" "With Gabby?"
• She says "really really" and "tiny tiny"
• We really really love her.