Baby leg saver

So, little Anna has been trying to get out of her crib in the morning, but only ends up getting her leg stuck in between the slats. So I have woken up the past few days to a distraught child screaming "stu" (stuck). So yesterday I put my sewing skills to work, and made an anti-stuck panel for the front of her crib. This morning, I found a happy, non- stuck child in her crib waiting for the day to begin.

Thirteen Busy Months

Anna is a busy busy girl.  The only time she is still is when she's asleep, and even then, she rolls and wiggles.  She is also learning so much.  It seems like every day she has a new trick to show me.

When we're upstairs, she always "runs" into her room to climb into the glider.  She is so quick about it  too. Come to think about it, she's really quick in every thing she does.  One thing she is super speedy about is climbing the stairs.  When I'm up in the kitchen, she'll be playing in front of the couch in the family room, and before I know it, she's up in the kitchen clinging to my legs, or emptying the cabinets.

She is obsessed with wearing all her necklaces, and lanyards, and purse all at the same time.  She'll say "pretty" as she puts each of them on.  And then she runs around the house with them all jangling as she toddles.

She is also very caring.  She will hand me her "babies" (baby doll, Raggedy Andy, elephant, bear, or any other stuffed animal that is nearby) and then all of the blankets nearby so baby won't be cold.  Then when my arms are full, she will want me to hold her as well, but I CANNOT put down any of the blankets or babies.  If I attempt that, she will hop off my lap and hand me whatever I just put down, and then climb back up into my overflowing lap.  She also puts baby in her Bumbo seat, and then sits on top of her.

I am really excited about her Halloween costume this year.  I am not going to tell you what it is, you'll have to wait for another post in a few days to see what it is.  But I can tell you that it is going to be pretty epic.

One Year Old

Alright, I'm a few days late, but that's what happens when Grandma and Grandpa come to visit!

We also just went to the doctor today, so there were no statistics to report before.  Little Miss Anna is now 28.5 inches long, landing in the 30th percentile.  She weighs 20 pounds 2 ounces, settling her into the 35th percentile.  Still growing like a champ, according to the doctor.  She was also quite impressed at the toddling Anna was doing around the office when she walked in.

She had a great birthday.  Grandma and Grandpa Nigh came to visit.  We had a great time.  We went shopping, ate out (milk in a fun carton, which was squeezable!), had a doughnut, all kinds of things that were new, fun, and a bit spoilish, but what are grandparents for?!  When Dad got home, we Skyped Nainai and Yeye so they could see the first experience with cake, and the presents being opened.

Anna is walking EVERYWHERE.  A few days after she took her first steps, she figured out that she could get up where ever she was and walk.  She has been doing it ever since.  She does laps around the church building looking for babies.

She talks a lot too, with some words that we can actually recognize.  She says "thank you" when she hands you something, "hi" whenever she feels like it, "kitty" when she sees any small animal, "puppy" for any larger animal, "baby" when she sees her doll or a baby.  When she eats, she will just babble, unless you have a camera.

Eleven Months

It's been quite a month!  Anna has gone from a step here or there, to walking between the coffee table and the couch, to taking ten full steps all by herself.

She is so busy.  She goes through about two dozen different toys in an hour.  She still has her favorites, but she plays with all her toys.  Anna is a whiz at climbing the stairs.  She is even getting down them on her own, but in her own way (of course).  She refuses to scoot down them backwards, because mom and dad don't go backwards so why should she.  She sits down, and scoots down one stair at a time. 

Thursday when Joe came home from work, Anna threw herself into his arms to welcome him home.  Then she decided that she needed me, so she wiggled out of his arms and took a few stutter steps, and then full steps back to me.  It was awesome!  She can walk!

Last week she woke up in the middle of the night every night, and would not go back down easily.  On Saturday, I noticed that there was something sharp on her upper gum-line, so I investigated further.  She has a tooth! No wonder she was miserable.

New Discovery

Anna has discovered that her toys can fit inside other toys.  She has been putting small toys inside bigger lids, boxes, cups and other  containers all week.  My favorite new "game" she thought of this week was the Cupped Binkie.  She played it for quite a long time.  And she played it again yesterday, and Daddy played it with her!

Ten Months

It is so much fun to see Anna grow and learn new things.  I can't believe she is so big, and she is becoming more independent.   She will sit on the floor and talk with her stuffed animals, she will giggle for no reason that I can see.  She is talking more and more.  The other day Joe was home, and Anna was carrying on a conversation with herself, and Joe was shocked that she was putting different tones and emphasis and inflection in her babbling.

Anna is figuring out more words, and Joe and I can actually recognize them.  She now says "kitty", "Andy", and of course "Dada", "Mama", and "nomnomnom."

Last week, Anna decided that she needed to find Dad during the day.  She walked up to the kitchen: "Dada?" no answer, so she went upstairs and banged on the bedroom door: "Dada?" we went into the room: "Dada?"  She was so disappointed that he wasn't anywhere in the house.  She sure does love her daddy.

She is even more mobile now than I think she should be.  She stands all by herself, and doesn't fall very often, she normally slowly squats down.  She is so quick with her odd crawl I can barely keep up with her.  But, when it comes to the stairs, she prefers to hold fingers and "walk" up rather than crawl up all by herself, even though she is more than capable.

The only small problem with her being so mobile, is it is almost impossible to get a picture of her sitting still.  When she sees the camera, she wants to come get it, and she gets pretty close.

This month, Anna got to meet her very first farm animals.  Joe's work had their summer party at Thanksgiving Point.  So we went up and enjoyed the Farm Country exhibit before dinner.  Anna wasn't quite sure what to think of the huge creatures that made loud noises.  The cow's head was bigger than her, I think she was convinced that he was going to eat her.  She was excited to try and touch the goats though.  We ate dinner on a blanket in the gardens at the Point, and Anna quite enjoyed rolling around on it, and onto the grass.  It was a fun day.

Craftiness

So, with the invasion in Pinterest I have been a bit more creative, thanks to other people's pins.  And I thought I'd share a few of my projects, and one that was gifted to me (or Anna rather).

                                                        The tutu my mom made for Anna

                                                           The hooded towel I made

                                                                     Sensory bags