Anna now has two teeth! Which would explain why she didn’t magically start sleeping through the night again.
So now she has both bottom front teeth. 2 down, 18 to go…
Month: April 2009
Sheep Thrills
My brother needed to borrow a sheep for a photo shoot, so I lined up all the sheep I could round up in our house in 10 minutes and took a picture so he could decide which one he wanted. This does not count the beanie baby lamb I found moments later, the second Gund baa-ing sheep that was hiding in Carrie’s room, or any of the other fiber-bearing stuffed toys in the house (there are at least two llamas floating around somewhere). Plus there are three more Little People sheep with the Little People nativity set. Oh, and some Lego Duplo ones I completely forgot about…!
I think we have quite a few sheep.
A Tooth!
Anna has her first tooth today! For the past few days, I’ve been certain she was teething, and I kept sticking my finger in her mouth to check, but only found bumps on her bottom gum.
Today, I found a tooth! Her bottom right central incisor, to be exact.
Maybe tonight Anna will remember how to sleep all night again?
4.6 Years Old!
Dear Carolyn,
Today you are officially 4-and-a-half. You’ve made sure that everyone you see knows it, too! When I told you this morning that it was your half birthday, you wanted to know if there would be cake. I thought about it, but instead we settled for ice cream at Friendly’s after lunch. Maybe next year I’ll figure out how to make you a half cake for your half birthday!
You are thrilled that the weather is getting nicer. We’ve spent some time outside lately on your tricycle, blowing bubbles, drawing with chalk…I think you’d live outside all day long if I let you. At the same time, you would probably be willing to watch TV for the entire day if I let you do that, too! You now know how to work the entire setup we have – you can turn the TV on yourself, switch the receiver to the right mode, control the DVD player and the Tivo…so the next time one of your grandparents is over to watch you while Daddy and I go out you can be in charge of helping them use the TV!
Speaking of things you can do yourself, every day you are getting more independent. In many ways, it’s good – I’m glad you’ll be able to use the bathroom entirely without help when you go to kindergarten, and once we figure out where to store some of your cups, plates and bowls so they’re within reach I think you could practically be independent for meals of breakfast cereal and pb & j. In other ways…it’s not so good. I’m terrified of the fact that you can open any (locked or unlocked) door leading out of this house, and that you’ve learned this month how to get around the extensive network of baby gates we have up. You’ve used your new skills to get out of the house more than once without permission, and the scary part is that you really don’t get why that upsets us so much. I think we’re going to have to put hook and eye latches on the outside doors…
You’re an amazingly wonderful big sister. It’s cute (even though I do try to discourage it) to find you in your sister’s crib in the morning, plotting with her about how the two of you can best make me crazy that day. You want so much for her to be your playmate, and can’t quite understand why she won’t do exactly what you want her to do. I predict that in a couple of months you’ll have a little more success with her understanding your directions, though I also predict that she’s got quite the mind of her own and won’t necessarily want to do what you ask!
And even though we’ve had quite a bit of struggle lately, you and I, you are an amazing daugher as well. You are working to gain your independence, and I am working to keep you safe. Those two goals can’t always exist in harmony, and sometimes it feels like entire days are spent arguing over what you can and can’t do, and why you can or can’t do it. I have faith we’ll figure it out, though, and no matter how rough a day we have, I will always, always love you.
Love, Mommy
Too Cute…
My mom had to have her appendix out last night…apparently it was too cute. Hopefully she’ll feel better soon – she’s been in a bit of pain lately and didn’t know why.
Not The Dada!
Conversation at dinner last night:
Me: “Anna, can you say ‘mama’?”
Anna: “Dada!”
Me: “Anna, say, ‘mama’.”
Anna: “Dada!”
Me: “Anna, can you say ‘dada’?”
Anna: “Ah ba ba baba dada baba!”
Strong Museum, Revisited
We went to the Strong Museum again today – this time with my friend Susie and her baby Nikki, who is Anna’s best friend. Seriously, the babies are someday going to be graduating from high school together and we’ll have photographic proof that they were friends before they could even walk or talk!
It was great for Carrie because she was the only kid old enough to have a say in where we went, so she got to do whatever activity she wanted right that minute. I even “cheated” at the mini Wegmans and let her choose 10 items to put in her cart: 5 for her and 5 for Anna. As an aside, this is something I don’t get. We teach our children to about eating healthy at home and at school, and Carrie just naturally enjoys fruits and vegetables. So she always winds up filling up her allotted 5 items from the produce section, and then can’t figure out how she’s going to buy milk, cereal and eggs too. So I’m happy to have found a way to let her pick out more items without technically breaking the rules. It might become a problem when Anna’s old enough to want to pick out her own 5 items, though!
The babies mainly crawled around the baby spaces and looked cute.
And then Carrie finished up the visit with the messiest, meltiest soft-serve ice cream cone ever.
Apple Dress
Here’s my cutie pie in the apple dress that was a gift from my fabulous doula Kim. When she gave it to me, it was a huge 12 month size dress, now it’s a perfect fit!
Nine Months Old!
Dear Anna,
Yesterday you turned 9 months old. As it was Easter Sunday we didn’t get a chance to take your monthly pictures, so we did them today. I can’t believe how quickly this first year is going by!
This has been an amazing month for you! Last month you could sit up if we put you in a sitting position. Now you can get yourself there. And you pull up to your knees so you can play with things while kneeling – that’s a lot more fun than playing with things laying down! You can even stand for a bit while holding on to a piece of furniture or someones hands, and at least a few times you’ve actually gotten up on your feet yourself. And you are an amazingly fast crawler – I can’t take my eyes off you for two seconds or you’re out the door of whatever room we’re in!
You’ve tried many new foods this month, including broccoli, chicken, blueberries, eggs (“hidden” in pancakes and muffins), zucchini, spinach, kale, olives, fish, green beans, cookies (G.G.’s sugar cookies), egg yolk, ham and cantelope. You have continued to only eat table food, and have expanded your repetoire to include things like ravioli and chicken noodle soup. You even eat “real” slow-cooked oatmeal, and drink out of a straw cup.
Yesterday you signed “help”. I’ve been sort of inconsistently signing lots of different words, so I’m surprised you’ve picked anything up besides “more” and “milk”. But you had dropped the toys you were playing with while you were sitting on Grandma’s lap, and you clearly signed “help” – one day last week I had signed it to you in a similar context, and not before or since. I think I’m going to have to start getting more consistent, because I would love to know what else is going on under all that hair!
The babbling continues, and you’re starting to jargon a bit – babble like you’re carrying on a conversation. You don’t really say “mama” or “dada” yet, although you do say “dadada?” and laugh when I say “daddy is at work”.
See? An amazing month. Every day it seems like you’re on the verge of a new skill or a new discovery. I can’t wait to see what this next month brings!
Love, Mommy
9 month well-baby visit
Vital stats:
9 months, 1 day old
18 lbs, 7 oz
27.5 inches
Anna is now in the 50th percentile for height and weight. A little less than last time, but pretty much exactly average. She’s mostly out of 6-9 month clothes, and some 9-12 month clothes are getting a little short…
She only had one shot today, and she wasn’t entirely pleased about it. Poor baby was having fun playing with the paper on the exam table and charming the pants off of everyone in the office, showing off her clapping and standing abilities…and then she got stuck! Much howling commenced.
Oh, and we pretty much have the green light to give her any foods we want at this point. Not that we have much choice in the matter – if it goes in someone’s mouth, she must share too. I think I’m still going to wait until she’s a bit older before we try peanut butter or shellfish, though. There’s plenty of other things to try before then, anyway!