What we've been up to:

Sitting on big girl chairs, drinking from big girl cups

So proud!

Mom says I shouldn't eat this hair elastic, what should I do with it?....

I know!  First I'll lure Bert out with some cat treats...

Hahahaha!  Pony tail for Bert.  Annie was SO happy with this plan.  Bert was less amused.

We spend a lot of time with dolly these days, too.  Annie puts dolly down for naps, as pictured below.  Dolly always sleeps on her tummy, apparently Annie missed the "back to sleep" campaign.  Dolly also changes outfits a lot, and goes for daily walks in her little stroller.  

Debbie, before you even ask, the sweater was hand made by my mom.  I'm sure she'll make one for you, too, if you ask nicely.

18 months

Annie turns 18 months tomorrow, and I'm feeling sentimental.  I'm attaching a photo of her now, and then a few from when she was one day old.  Check them out, and you will feel sentimental, too!  How is it possible that tiny baby is ready for bike riding already?!

We had such a wonderful Christmas week this (last) year!  Aunt Sara, Uncle Mike, cousin Henry and Nana and Granpa were all kind enough to fly out to the rainy west coast for the week and put up with all the crazy chaos of a whole family running around a small California house.  Annie loves her cousins - she gets to see Max and Sierra a lot, and was thrilled to have Henry here and have a buddy her size around.  Here are a bunch of pictures from the visit:

Introducing Henry to Bertie cat

Nana!  Annie still asks me almost every day if we can see Nana today.  

Chirstmas morning.  Santa brought a table and chairs!

Play house at Uncle Dan's house.

Good looking crew in their Christmas outfits!

Where's your Christmas outfit, Uncle Mike?

That's more like it!

The new picnic set was also a hit.  Thanks, Nana and Granpa!

Good sharing, Henry!  Annie was probably yelling "MINE!". Sharing isn't her favorite hobby.

Cute cousins at the San Jose Children's museum

Nice to have a swinging buddy again!

I'm still not sure about you, Uncle Mike!

Come along, little doggy!

Spanish

Annie has her first Spanish word.  Gato!  She's been saying it for a while, but it took me some time to figure out because she pronounces it much more like taco.  She finally got frustrated with me and started pointing at the cat while saying it, or saying "taco, meow! taco, meow!".  She is happy that I finally understand.  It is a fitting first Spanish word, since "cat" was her first English word.  

I don't have any video of her saying it.  We often watch a video on my phone of Uncle Mike, Granpa and Max singing a song about ducks, so now whenever I say I'm taking a video, Annie runs around behind me and tries to watch.  It's a pretty awesome video, it is hard to blame her.  I'll attach some unrelated, low quality photos from my phone, just to make the post complete. And at some point I'll get around to downloading all the Christmas photos off the camera...

Good commitment to the tupperware cupboard reorganization, huh?

She's showing off her boo-boos - she fell while pushing the dolly stroller, and scraped all the skin off a few fingers.  I had the hello-kitty bandaids ready, though!  I felt like a good, prepared mom.

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.