Big Girl Eyes and Baby Girl Toes

Carrie woke up with her eyes “glued” shut with gunk this morning.  The pediatrician thankfully has walk-in hours, and she has a mild case of conjunctivitis…aka pink eye.  Sigh.  We skipped dance this afternoon, even though the pediatrician thought it would probably be fine, because I’d feel terrible if any of the other kids came down with it any closer to the recital.  But since we got four doses of drops in her eyes today, she should be good to go for school tomorrow.

Anyway, we spent the afternoon playing outside instead – well, Carrie played, Anna hung out in her stroller, and I played with camera lenses again.  Baby toes look really adorable in the sun!

20090514_baby_toes

And big girls look adorable in the green, green grass!

20090514_in_the_grass

I really wish I could take photos this good on purpose, but luckily since I have a digital camera I can take as many as I want to increase the chances that I’ll get a few winners!

Ten Months Old!

Dear Anna,

Today you are 10 months old.  Now it is most definitely time to start planning that birthday party of yours.  As far as you’re concerned, as long as it involves chocolate cake you’ll be happy – we went to another baby’s birthday party last week and you were desperately trying to get that cake off my plate!20090511_sillybaby

Big news this month: you have two brand new teeth!  And now you’re fascinated with all teeth, especially mine.  You’re starting to figure out body parts a little bit – at least noses.  And you like to play the “eyes, nose, mouth, kiss!” game just like your sister used to.

You play “how big is Anna?” and peek-a-boo a lot.  And you’ve learned to wave bye-bye.  You have signs now for “all done” and “water” – that one looks nothing like the ASL sign, instead you clap your hands together and then clasp them and rock them back and forth.  No idea where you came up with that, but we all know what it means now.  You don’t really have any words yet, but you say “Ma!” a lot when you’ve run out of food on your high chair tray – I’m not sure if it’s suppose to mean “Mommy!”, “More!” or “Yo, lady who dispenses the food! You’re not doing your job very well here!”20090511_standing

You’ve tried lots and lots of new foods this month: strawberries, cauliflower, mandarin oranges, Lima beans, kamut (a grain in puffed cereal form), tomatoes (in salsa!), corn, ice cream (of the mint chocolate chip variety), eggs (whole, scrambled), Brussels sprouts, watermelon, ground beef, honeydew melon, red peppers and pea butter.  Phew!  That’s almost as many foods as the hungry, hungry caterpillar ate!  You’re still nursing 5 or 6 times a day, but you do love your solid food.  I can’t eat anything without you wanting to share it with me.

Naps.  Baby, we have to have a little talk about naps.  You’re supposed to take them.  At least every now and then.  If for no other reason than that Mommy gets tired and needs a little break.  You know, to do things like, oh, fold laundry.  Or use the bathroom.  So, could we maybe work on that this next month?  I’d settle for one nap, and it doesn’t even need to be a terribly long one…20090511_withbear

It’s hard to keep up with you, my little monkey.  You have become danger-baby to the extreme.  I’m not sure what compels babies your age to try to kill themselves several times a day, but really, trying to climb head first over the changing table?  Not the best idea you’ve ever had.  Neither is trying to fling yourself backwards out of my arms, or, in fact, pulling up on any object in the house that has wheels, like your sister’s doll stroller.

So this month, do Mommy a favor and try and get a few naps in and keep the gray-hair-inducing danger-baby exploits to a minimum, okay?

Love, Mommy

Baby’s First Toothbrush

Now that she has two teeth, it’s time to start introducing Anna to the wonders of toothbrushing.  Carrie was so excited about Anna getting to brush her teeth that she wanted to be the first one to do it.

So she was.20090502_toothbrushing

Anna really likes this new chewy thing…20090502_toothbrushing120090502_toothbrushing220090502_toothbrushing3

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?

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.

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!

20090413_pigtails

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!

20090413_withbear

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.

20090413_silly_baby

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!

20090413_withdaddy

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”.

20090413_withcarolyn

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