Anya Update

My friend Sharon said I needed an Anya update with lots of pictures.  This one is for you Sharon :).

Oh Anya, Anya, Anya.  How do you begin to explain such a child?!  I recently looked back on my blog to the day we met her and found this quote from the social worker of the orphanage "You have kind of a naughty one.  She runs and she probably won't listen to you."  That's pretty much the most accurate description of her!  They warned me that there was stubbornness on that extra chromosome but I had no idea that I would get the queen of stubborn!

If she can't touch it...she does.

If she can't open it....she does.

If she can't put it in her mouth....she does.

She knows she can't kick people....so she does.

 

I could make that list a mile long but I think you get the point.  She is a runner too.  We lost her on the playground once.  I literally took my eyes off of her for a quarter of a second and she was GONE.  Insert insane mother running through the park like a lunatic.  We found her...in a tunnel on a playground on the other side of some shrubbery.  I don't even give her a quarter of a second anymore. 

Pouting

 

So what I've just described is only a small part of the reason that Anya is nicknamed "the rascally one".  You have to be "on" at all times around this child. 

 

That is half of who Anya is.  Let me tell you about the other half.  She is the most loveable, precious, funny, sweet girl I've ever met.  I adore her.  It took us a good solid year to get past the constant behaviors and annoying habits and be able to really fall in love with her.....and fall in love we have.  Oh  how we love this kid.  She still drives us insane, don't get me wrong, but she's ours.  In the deepest sense of the word, she is ours, and every member of our family appreciates both sides of who she is because she is one spunky chick!

 

 

She is thriving in school.  She is picking things up like crazy.  She knows her alphabet inside and out.  She is counting.  She is starting to learn letter sounds and the next step will be early reading.  Amazing.  She is so loved by her teacher and her amazing para.  They also know the other side of her.  ;)  She has given them a run for their money!  My favorite story to illustrate Miss Anya at school is the time that she took her hummus, spread it up her arms, and then hid under the table so they couldn't reach her! 

 

Her verbal skills are exploding and her sign vocabulary is getting beyond me!  She loves to sing and if it were up to her she would have music on 24/7.  When her favorite songs come on the radio she screams with joy.  We learned quickly that Anya loves to touch things and make them make noise or music.  Because of that she became obsessed with electronics.  At Christmas time we wanted to really eliminate the constant obsession with the ipad, iphones, etc., but still meet that need.  I found these Leap Frog items and she loves them!  She can touch her little heart out and it sings songs and makes noises.  It also teaches her to count!

 

Anya still adores Elmo.  She now has 4 of them.  She usually has 2 every single place she goes.  They go in the car, in grocery carts, they sit on the table while we eat, and then they rest on her bookshelf when she goes to bed.  It's not uncommon for those Elmos to be accompanied by a variety of toys as well.  There are times she's trying to get to the car and her arms are so full she can hardly walk!  This morning she gathered all 4 Elmos plus a book and a play phone to have breakfast.  This can only happen when the whole family isn't there at the same time! 

 







Anya is so polite.  She says thank you every time you give her something and even when she gives you something!  I think I'm going to teach her to say "It's my pleasure" and see if I can get her a job at Chick Fil A when she turns 16!

 

She still loves all things Signing Time.  There are few other things she will watch.  She is also in a naked phase.  When she is home she is rarely seen with more than a diaper on.  She is great about keeping her clothes on everywhere else.  She understands she needs them outside of the house but the second she walks in the door the clothes start coming off! 

Getting ready to play in the snow!

 

I finally beat her in the "take my shoes off EVERY SINGLE TIME I GET IN THE CAR" game.  It was driving me insane.  She would take off her shoes and socks and throw them.  Whenever we got somewhere I had to dig through the car for them.  If I was lucky I found all 4 pieces, if I was unlucky I was already running behind and now needed to add the time to get her put back together.  In the summer when it's just sandals and it's warm it's not a big deal.  Winter is another story.  I solved that problem with a pair of pink high top Converse tennis shoes!  That took care of that!

 

Some day she might actually potty train.  I haven't been pushing it.  I'm going to really go at it this summer when I have her for an extended period of time.  The way I see it at this point, the longer we wait the closer she will be to being ready.  Potty training the queen of stubborn is not exactly high on my list of desired activities!!

 

Anya still grinds her teeth quite a bit.  She loves to chew on toothbrushes and we have a variety of other chew toys to keep her mouth occupied but it rarely stops the grinding.  I'm to the point where I tune it out.  When I can't tune it out it is like nails on a chalkboard!

In my suitcase with her Elmos, Leap Frog toys, and a toothbrush in her mouth.  This is pretty much  how you can find her most times!

OK here are a few more pictures and then some videos of her.  I assure you she will likely be in a diaper in both of the videos!

She lost her second front tooth this week!

The girls were in 2 calendars this year!  This one is from the hospital where they get their private therapy.

Action shots in therapy.

This calendar is for Landon's Helping Paws which is an organization my friend founded to help fund service dogs for kids with special needs.

 This is Anya singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

We were watching Cake Boss and they were making a Sesame Street Cake.  This was Anya's response when she saw Elmo on TV :)