A Conversation with Annabelle

Two weeks from her second birthday, Annabelle is suddenly becoming a little girl.

She pulls up her pants, cleans up after herself, and flies down the "big kid" slide with ease and confidence. She runs, jumps (sort of), and picks herself up whenever she falls down. She smiles, laughs, cries, and asks us to change her diaper.  

And more than anything, Annabelle talks.

She talks at breakfast and she talks when she's falling asleep. She talks in the car and and she talks when she should be brushing her teeth. She talks to her grandparents and she talks to all her friends at school.

For a while now, going back to my journalism roots, I wanted to have a sit-down interview with Annabelle. You know, get something on record. But her schedule and her publicist made things difficult. Just after lunch today, though, before we read a book and took a nap, I snagged three minutes to fire some questions her way. Here's what transpired:

Me: Annabelle, can I interview you? Is that okay?
Annabelle: (Silence)

See, I told you she could be difficult.

Me: Can I please interview you?
Annabelle: Yeah

Me: What did you have for lunch?
Annabelle: Umm, peach.
Me: You had a peach?
Annabelle: Peach.

She actually had yogurt, fruit, and a smoothie. We're off to a bad start.

Me: What color shirt are you wearing today?
Annabelle: Ummm, green.

She adds "umm" at varying lengths before almost everything she says. It's adorable.

Me: Who is your best friend at school?
Annabelle: Ummm, Norvic. And Bonnie. And Amy. JP! Zach. Chloe. Erin. Shiloh.
Me: That's a bunch of people. Can you narrow it down to one?
Annabelle: JP.

A boy. Obviously.

Me: What is your middle name?
Annabelle: Umm, four, five six.
Me: Four, five, six? Are you sure?
Annabelle: Umm, A, B, C, B.
Me: That's your middle name?
Annabelle: Yeah.

For the record, it's Grace.

Me: What's Daddy's favorite food?
Annabelle: Um, apple.
Me: And Mommy's?
Annabelle: Steak.

Neither answer is correct.

Me: Okay, last one. I know you need to get down for a nap. Where do you live?
Annabelle: Mommy!

Maybe not the best interview I've ever done. But certainly entertaining. Plus, I got a big kiss when it ended, so that's always a plus.

Three Videos and a Toddler

I snapped this photo earlier this week. There was nothing remarkable about it. I didn't take my time, check the lighting, or ask Annabelle to pose in any way. I just said, "Hey! Annabelle!" and she looked up at me and my iPhone with those adorable hazel eyes.

Cute, right?

As I smiled at the picture on my phone, I stopped for a moment and thought, Man, it is so easy to capture every moment of this girl's childhood. 

I've written before about the changing value of a baby book (the value is plunging toward zero) and how fortunate we are today to have so much technology at our fingertips. Weekly, Bridget and I get to look back at all the incredible memories we've already made with Annabelle. And in a few years, Annabelle will get to experience them, too. Her early childhood, I hope, will come alive for her.

The problem, I've found, is separating the wheat from the chaff. Is that picture good enough to keep? Is it engaging enough for Facebook? Is it Instagram-worthy? What about that video I recorded last night?

Videos are especially challenging for me because I can't get enough of watching Annabelle grow. I've uploaded, at last count, 108 Annabelle videos to my YouTube channel in the last two years. That's a bit much.

All of them aren't worth sharing, of course. I think these three are, though. So here is the wheat from the last month, the three best recent videos of our "how are you almost already 2?" toddler: