-The biggest news? She's officially a walker! The weekend prior to Thanksgiving I could tell she was getting more and more comfortable while we were visiting my parents in TN on 11/21. Throughout the week she seemed to WANT to walk and would "ask" to be put down (by demanding down! walk!). We were at Target on 11/24 and she wanted to walk the aisles. Big fits when we tried to pick her up. By Thanksgiving day, she was walking more than crawling. And here we are less than 2 weeks from that and all she is doing is walking now. She has changed from a baby to a toddler right before our very eyes! It is fun to see her exploring in new ways and toddling around like a big girl, too. My back is thanking her as well!:)
-A few other things I want to remember about her transition to walking-while she was still getting the hang of it, she and Henry would hold hands and walk around the house to practice. I couldn't get a good pic of this, but it was so sweet. She also went through a big phase of walking a few steps, then toppling down and immediately patting her head and saying "bonk!" (even though she didn't hit her head at all). She also went through a phase of putting her head down on the ground and her booty up in the air (like the first part of a somersault), then toppling over onto the carpet-over and over! She was so funny doing both of these things.
-She is talking SO much. The nursery workers all comment on how verbal she is and how much she communicates. Some new things she is saying this month are: I love you, Maggie, Mags, good girl, Mags!, up please, chalk, honey, jeep, socks, shoes, toes, side for outside, dink for drink, moe for more, cold (when she touched a cold cup, she said it), thank you mommy (repeating Henry), what's that (about everything!), trash, dirty, mess, yucky, slide, buck for cup, jacket, turkey, cleamup for clean up, right now! (oh yes), sorry mama, oh (after every answer we give her), rain rain! (the beginning of the song-if we walk outside and it's raining), poopoo and pats diaper, where pass go? (for where did my paci go?), I wanna have it, I wanna eat now, whoa! (EVERY time she sees the Christmas tree), big (when I give her a whole banana) and so many more!
-She wants to keep account of ALL the family all the time, so she is constantly asking, "where's dadda? where's bubba? where's mama?" As soon as she wakes up in the morning or from nap, the first thing she says is "where's bubba?" When I say, "bubba's sleeping" (or whatever), she says, "oh". If we are all in the car and Steven jumps out to run in somewhere, she immediately says, "where's dadda?" It is kind of amazing how aware she is of us all at all times. She is also in a phase of just saying all of our names over and over again in her car seat while we are driving like she is making a list of everyone in the family. Mama, dadda, bubba, Maggie. Over and over! She is attached to her blankie and will say "where's blankie", too.
-She loves to write (ie-make lines) with chalk outside, loves to use paper and crayons/pens/markers, etc, and loves to play with playdough. She dances to music when she hears it and tries to sing along to songs she knows-Jesus loves me, old McDonald, twinkle twinkle, etc. It's so cute to hear her baby voice try to say the words.
-She likes to throw trash away and will walk from the living room into the kitchen with some trash to throw away when we ask her to. She is totally obsessed with her toothbrush and goes and gets in the drawer herself and gets it out to "brush" her teeth. When we brush them at night it is a battle because she wants to do it herself, so it usually ends in major fits and serious sadness when teeth brushing time is over.
-She remains an awesome sleeper. She is so sweet and easy to put to sleep, and she NEVER cries when being but down. When we ask her if she wants to go night-night, she ALWAYS says, "uh-uh!" and snuggles right in. She loves her bed and will stay in there a long time once she wakes up just rolling around and playing with her blankie.
-She makes a monkey noise when we ask "what does the monkey say?" and also now knows more body parts-head, back, arms, legs, tongue, mouth. When she doesn't have a bow in her hair, she pushes her bangs back out of her face herself, and she looks like such a big girl. Steven and I both think it's so cute when she does it.:) She also plays with her hair while she goes to sleep in her car seat if we are driving somewhere.
-She knows her name and can say it. When we ask her what her name is, she points to her chest and says "Annie!". She also knows a joke-it is so funny and we don't know where she learned it. When we ask her how old she is, she holds up one finger on each hand and says, "two!". We say, "no! you're ONE!" and she says, "no!" in a teasing way. It is so cute and she laughs and does it over and over. Henry likes to do this with her.
-She's very friendly while we are out and is always waving and saying "hi!". At the grocery store the other day, she held her arms out to FOUR different women for a hug, and of course they ALL came over and gave her one right away. It was hilarious. I don't know what got into her!
-She is still in the baby nursery at church and has a special friend named Mr. Jason who spoils her and gives her all kinds of attention. I didn't realize how sweet their relationship was until some of the workers told me he is recently divorced and his 2 young kids are with his wife up in TN much of the time, so he comes to volunteer in the nursery and wants to be with Annie bc she reminds him of his daughter. They are 2 peas in a pod, and it is so cute! He comes on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights to be with her. So sweet.
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| And she's off! |
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| Rock, rock, rock! |
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| It's hard to get a pic that's not blurry-she's moving all the time! |
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| Had to include this one of her saying night night right before Steven was putting her to bed.:) |
