My geriatric 2 year old

Anabelle tries her very darndest each day to consume all of her calories via sipping from a cup. If she is forced to eat, and she is, she mostly insists on her basic three staples: yogurt, applesauce, and cottage cheese. It's as if she has already made the full circle of life in two years and already struggles with nutrition through a straw and bowel control.

We went to Wal-Mart yesterday because there was not much in our fridge besides condiments, cilantro and heavy whipping cream. I find myself waiting until things get that bleak because I consider grocery shopping with kids as much fun as salmonella-survivable, but crappy. I arm myself with 5 different snacks, drinks, toys, and I do not talk on the phone because I have found that when I walk through those doors, I am in the war zone, and I must have all my wits about me.

However, yesterday we happened to have a highly successful trip. By that I mean no screaming, no demanding, no angling my 3 mile long cart into the bathroom so that Anabelle can sit there for 4 seconds and say, "Never mind".

There she is sitting in the big part of the basket and she says to me:

AB: Mom, we need ogurt
She is right. I go to the yogurt aisle.
Me: Peach or strawberry?
AB: Stawberry. Can I have some please?
Me: No, I need to pay for it first
AB: Okay. Let's get some cottage cheese.
I get some.
AB: We needa get some abblesauce too.
I get the appleasuce
AB: Yeeeeeesssssssss! We got some abblesauce!

The rest of the trip was spent quietly eating pretzels and chatting about Christmas decorations. And we visited the lobster tank quite a few times. When it was time to check out, she stands up and begins putting items on the conveyor belt.

Me: Oh, are you gonna help?
AB: Yeah, I need to do it all myself. I need to exercise my muscles.

So this morning she asked me if she could have some abblesauce. Then she says, "No, I need to have some ogurt first". She eats the yogurt. "Now I can have my abblesauce". She eats the applesauce. Can I have my cottage cheese please"?
The girl knows what she wants and she will make it happen. I can respect that.

I consider myself highly blessed and downright lucky to get to hang out with that girl all day. I just put her down for a "nap" (I hear whistles blowing and ducks quacking) and as I did she hugged me, kissed me, and said, "Mom, I love you. We are cute together".

Last week she had an accident in the bathtub and as I was draining and cleaning the tub I heard Braden in the next room gently chastising her. She came in to where I was scrubbing and put her arms around my neck and said, "Mom, you're doing a great job! I'm so proud of you! Dad's grumpy".



Coloring her sister