Fourteen Months

So, I've been meaning to post for QUITE awhile now...Annie and I have been spending much of our time outside, at parks, walking up and down our block, playing in the backyard. This morning we spent about five minutes watching ants crawl up and down the tree in front of our house. Trees. They're one of Annie's great joys--wherever we are outside, she likes to go from tree to tree touching their bark. Last week, while waiting to meet Eric for lunch, she even was kissing the trees.




It seems like there are a gazillion other things to share...

Besides the elephant noise, she now makes a sound for monkey (ho.ha. an abbreviated version of what she's heard), and continues with the dog and fish signs on a very frequent basis.

She loves to watch the school buses and planes go by, and to wave bye-bye to them. (And I guess this applies to every car on the street too.)

Her dolls and stuffed animals now get (in addition to playing pat-a-cake) to rock with her, cuddle with her, and read with her on a frequent basis.

She thinks slides, see-saws (especially elephant shaped ones!) and swings are pretty amazing. She'll go from swing to swing to swing, it makes me a little woozy just thinking about it. Whichever park we are at, all the other little kids seem pretty enamoured by her...they will abandon what they are doing to have a stare down, to try and make her smile, and then try to impress her with their tricks.


We all love that she is eating basically what we eat at meals now. Yesterday for lunch, she loved the beef tamales. She's also enjoyed walleye (freshly caught by our neighbor), various casseroles, any breakfast food except eggs (her mama's girl!) and dessert!

We've started going to the library together, where Annie has been quite happy to do puzzles (especially ones with elephants on them), look through the books, wander the stacks (dreaming of days when she can read chapter books, no doubt), and make friends with librarians and other readers--little and big.

Like all one-year olds, Annie has her share of frustrations, most of them involving attempts at things she'd love to do, but can't quite...She wishes she could climb into the bathtub (we're happy she can't), she wishes she could eat pens, go through the diaper pail, walk in the street...Most of the time she's fairly easily distracted, but there are times (mostly when she's sleepy) when the frustrations are all she seems to be able to focus on. This morning, before nap time, she got a bit angry with a book (not sure why) and couldn't make the ring stacker function upside down, so they both got shoved under the couch, I'm sure they've learned their lesson...

Annie still proves daily that she's the daughter of a fine musician. Dancing, singing, humming, clapping, dancing, spinning, tapping...Noise is fascinating to her. She is quite good at imitating sounds, whether it be a song, an animal, a lawn mower, an engine, daddy's sneezes, she will repeat them again and again. She's started wanting to talk on the phone (not just push the buttons), and will walk around with it cradled between her ear and shoulder, babbling away.



Annie loves her reflection, dancing with it, kissing it, making silly faces at it. She's started wearing barrettes (we're going to try that as opposed to cutting bangs) and as soon as they're in her hair, she wants to go to a mirror to see. She also is loving brushing her teeth. Whenever the bathroom cabinet is opened up, she's there, reaching for her toothbrush.

I could go on and on...As I've said before it's been fascinating watching her personality and independence develop. She is amazingly adorable, and seeming less and less like a baby...