Sleepy

There was a lot of sadness in the world yesterday (school shooting in CT, death of a friend's beloved dog), so I let Annie sleep in my bed so I could hold her close all night.  It was comforting, but I don't think either of us sleep very well that way.  She fell asleep repeatedly during her lunch today, her little eyes just kept rolling back into her head mid bite.  I was laughing at her, but then I fell asleep twice while reading her pre-bedtime stories tonight.  I guess we'll each stick to our own beds tonight.

Two other pictures from my phone, while I'm at it...

Peekaboo!

New coat from Nana.  It came just in time - it's COLD here this weekend!

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Today's pictures from my phone

This is Annie modelling her sleep sack.  It solves the problem of babies always kicking their blankets off and then getting cold during the night.  It is essentially a sleeping bag with arm and feet holes.  I'm a little sad they don't come in my size.

Fun with the kitchen timer

I'm trying out a new way to load photos, let me know if anyone has trouble seeing these...

This plastic tomato looks interesting...

Whoa!  That makes a noise when it goes off.

Hahaha! That's hilarious!

Do it again

I said more!

HAHAHA!  Funny every time.

More frequent posts

I'm trying to put stuff up on here more frequently, even if it just means uploading whatever picture I happen to take with my phone during the day.  I'm already sentimental about how big Annie has gotten - she's really not a baby anymore!  I want to make sure I document the journey.

Today's pictures share the secret to baby-soft skin: apply a generous amount of whole milk yogurt to the face and hands daily.

Kitchen Helper

Annie is obsessed with helping out in the kitchen, and cries if she notices I am doing dishes without her, or if she thinks we are leaving the house with dishes left undone.  I often hold her with one arm and work with the other, but by the end of the long weekend, my arm was getting tired, so today I let her stand on this step stool.  Don't worry, Nana, she promised not to fall off!

First real hike

Annie took her first "real" hike yesterday, meaning she walked the entire way herself - no stroller or Ergo.  I'm proud of my little hiker!  She had a good time saying hi to all the other hikers we saw, and stopping on each bench to drink water and eat some apples and goldfish crackers.  We did a 1/2 mile hike, it took about 2 hours.  Here are a few blurry shots from my phone to document the occasion.  She'll be ready for Half Dome in no time!

Favorite new trick

The pictures down at the bottom show Annie's favorite new trick.  It involves climbing from the recliner onto the end table, then diving onto the couch.  You can judge for yourself whether you think it is a good idea or not.  I didn't think it was a good idea at first, but she has convinced me that it is so much fun it is worth the risk.  Look how happy she is up there on the table! 

I've also thrown in some belated Halloween photos, and a few other random pictures.  

Annie's naps are getting shorter and shorter, which leaves less time for blogging. We are constantly on the go!  When she's awake she loves riding on our bike, going to the park, pushing her dolly in the baby stroller, and helping me with stuff around the house.  She loves helping load or unload the dishwasher.  I've tried to explain that it is less helpful when she licks each clean spoon as she carries it from the dishwasher to the drawer, but she is unconvinced. 

Annie talks all the time, and had 30 words at last count.  Her favorite words recently are "MINE!" (used for anything and everything she finds), and "GO!", usually directed at me when she thinks I'm being too slow getting ready to go outside.  She also recently starting using the sign for "more", which I think is funny because she's been saying "more" for a few weeks.  Isn't is supposed to work the other way?

The other developmental thing going on is story telling.  Annie now does re-enactments any time she stumbles and falls.  She thinks falling, or bumping her head, or stumbling is hilarious, and almost always does a slow motion re-enactment.  Uncle Dan thinks she might like to start watching the tv show "Jack-A**".  

sad little owl, not so sure about Halloween yet

Annie enjoyed handing out candy with Nana and Grandpa much more then she like the actual trick-or-treating

This is from Fremont park, which is a few blocks further away than our usual park, but it has better equipment for kids Annie's size.  Look how happy she is to be going down the slide by herself!

Baby's first Duke tshirt.  I like to think she is doing some sort of anti-tar heel chant in this photo

Happy Thanksgiving!

Giants Race

My first race with a jogging stroller!  I was a little frustrated by the slow pace of the jogging stroller crowd, but Annie loved watching all the people as we ran, and at the end of the race they let all the finishers hang out on the baseball field in Giants stadium.  So cool!

Back to Monterey

Annie and I had a really great trip to Monterey a few weeks ago with friends Carrie and Zinny.  Annie loved running around on the beach and taking bike rides on the coastal trail.  She had just learned how to say woof-woof, so she proudly pointed out every dog we saw along the trail.  Turns out there are a lot of dogs in Monterey!  Woof woof!

Words

Sorry for the delay in postings here - my internet was down for a few weeks, and now my hard drive has been wiped and I can't get to my pictures very easily.

But I don't need pictures to share Annie's latest achievement: words!  She has lots to say all the time, and finally some of it is starting to make sense.  Here is a list of words that she definitely says:

-Mama

-cat

-Bertie-cat

-truck

-woof woof

-hi

-Elsa (one of her teachers)

-baba (her lovey)

She also sometimes (but not consistently yet) has been heard saying:

-hat

-ice

-Nana

-Grampa

-up

Hmm, now that I write it out, that doesn't seem like so many words.  I think it feels like she has more words because she's become VERY good at letting me know what she wants.  When she wants to go outside (which is almost all the time), she will bring me items we need to go out (her shoes, my shoes, keys, hat).  If she wants to go for a bike ride she runs and gets both our bike helmets. She also has a few non-English words that she uses consistently:

-an-nya (not a real word, but she says this more than anything - it means "I WANT!"  It is usually repeated until she gets whatever she's pointing at. 

-om (also not a real word, but it means she wants something in her mouth.  It is used for pacifer, food, or milk).

We've had a good month.  The weather has been beautiful and it is still light enough after work that we can go for a bike ride almost every night and get a few minutes of playing at the park.  Annie's favorite things these days are playing at the park, going to school, getting tossed high in the air by Uncle Dan, playing with her cousins and reading stories. She's been super snuggly the past week or two, which is nice for me.  I love getting lots of hugs and kisses from my girl!  Our cat does not feel the same way, though, and he's moved out to the backyard for the past week or two.  He only comes in at night when Annie's asleep.  

The first two pictures below show Annie reading to her dolly.  She reads to dolly occasionally, and also feeds her pretend milk from a little bottle.  The pictures after that remind me that I should have included one more activity on Annie's favorites list: climbing!