Long time...

Sorry for the long delay in putting up a new post. Our internet carrier had problems with their main tower for about three days. Then I haven't had a chance to get on the internet long enough to put up anything new. So thank you for not giving up on me.

Before our internet went out, I was reading an article on behavior patterns in toddlers and they said that around their first birthday they begin to throw tantrums. It mentioned something about frustration since they can understand much more than they can communicate. Well, up to that point JoAnn has thrown a few tantrums, but they were never really anything big. I know she can't read, but I am convinced that she knew exactly what the article was saying. Ever since I read it, she has been starting to do this high pitched scream/cry every time she doesn't get what she wants. I know every kid goes through this stage, I just think its ironic that hers started the exact day I read that article.

This morning I had to laugh at her, though. I was brushing my teeth after breakfast and like usual she just stared at me mesmerized. For some reason she loves watching us brush our teeth. So I did what I normally do. I took out her pretty pink toothbrush and her special grape flavored toothpaste and brushed her three teeth. Well this morning she was really loving it, so I took advantage of the situation and proceeded to brush every spot in her mouth that I could get the brush to reach. When there was nothing left for me to clean, I took the toothbrush, rinsed it and put it back in its holder. As soon as I got it out of her mouth, she started screaming and wouldn't stop for about 5 minutes. I think she might just be the only kid I have ever heard of to scream because I stopped brushing her teeth.

The only way I could get her to settle down afterwards was to take her to the kitchen and play with her "letters." For her birthday, I had my mom pick up the magnets that Leap Frog makes to help kids learn phonics. She loves the song that they sing when you press the letters. It was so cute because mid-scream I pressed the letter "P" and it started singing, "P" says p, "P" says p... It got about that far before she stopped screaming, looked at me and started dancing. I tried to capture her dance in a picture and this is about as good as I could get.

I know I am biased, but I just think she is so cute.