Foot steps, oh little ones

Dearest Castillo Children,

Here we are at the beginning of another week and we need to recap all the crazy activities from the week previous. Well, Nora has been having some difficulties with her potty training. She's totally trained, goes on her own and doesn't really have accidents. However, as of late, everytime she is in Nursery at church she has ANOTHER accident. She peed today in her panties and then pooped in the diaper we put on her because she peed in her big girl pants. It's only in Nursery and it has happened the last three weeks. Is this normal? Everywhere else we don't have a problem. I wonder if it is because she's confined to a space and can't leave to go on her own to the bathroom. That is what she does at home. I can't tell what the problem is and we really have no way to fix it. She still did it while I was subbing in there last Sunday. Bah.

Other than that, and a few moments of brattiness, Nora is a joy to have around. She laughs and plays with me. I feel bad sometimes that all she has is me to play with. I'm fun but I can't always be her little playmate. Her little playgroup that we did weekly has disbanded and now I'm going to have to find others for her to play with. I have mixed feels about the end of the playgroup. On one hand it's nice not to have the obligation of it but on the other hand it was nice to have somewhere to go. I think I'm more on the first hand though. We haven't done it at all this month and I don't really miss it.

Nora also got to go on a daddy date. They usually just run errands with each other (Todd likes to take her to Harbor Freight). She loves going in his truck and I got to have some special one on one time with my sweetie Annalise. We have decided to call her Anna-Panda since we watched Kung Fu Panda 2. There is one part in the movie where the mommy panda has to leave her baby panda and the baby panda looks so much like Annalise at this age! Big eyes and big cheeks. Too cute! Everytime we call Annalise that Nora says that's Nora-Panda, eventhough we call her Nora-Bear (like Polar Bear), I guess they can both be pandas. :)

Annalise is finally getting the hang of walking! She took her first steps the day after Christmas but since then she'd take a few steps then resort to "walking" on her knees. She's finally getting how to move and she'll cross a room to get to either daddy or me. It's so cute to watch her walk. It's also bitter sweet since I know that soon she'll be moving into her toddler years. She is also starting to get her top front tooth, but it is taking it's time to come in. She already has her two bottom teeth.

This week we played in the park (the swings are the girls' favorite), walked the dog, went to the library (where there is a statue of a little boy about Nora's height. I want to take pictures by it so she can see herself grow) and generally played around.

I got to do a childhood wish and I started piano lessons. Soooo excited! I found this awesome lady in my ward that teaches me once a week for $25 dollars a month. That's a screaming deal to me. I have loved practicing and I can't wait to get good enough to start to actually learn how to play songs. My dream is to someday be good enough to play in the primary. I also got to go on a shopping spree to Ross and bought 3 shirts, 3 pairs of heels and then went to Kohl's to buy a belt and necklace. Plus the money I spent online on this amazing deal. It feels nice to be able to buy clothes again.

Also I have some fun new medical issues that came up this week. And by fun, I mean annoying and terrible. I won't know anything until after Monday when I speak with my doc. Here's to hoping all is well, huh?

With Love,
Your Mother