Anna at 17 Months

-Anna is attempting to say more words than I can keep track of to write down.  She's also attempting more double-syllable words all the time (ie noodle= "no-no").
-A lot of Anna's words she'll say the beginning portion, but not the end... for example "tie" for tiger, "die" for diaper, "mil" for milk, "buh" for book.
-Anna can say a few people's names.  She'll attempt Grandma and Grandpa, but the first actual name she has been saying is "Don" (Uncle John).  Her second name she's been able to say (not including her own, or titles like mama and dada) is Amy (my friend who we've been seeing about every week).
-When we say "bath", she knows exactly what that entails-- say "baa", wait to be undressed, walk to the bathtub and wait to be helped in.  She enjoys bathtime.

Wearing an outfit from when her mom was little.

Having fun "hiding" together.

Anna enjoyed playing in the leaves.

Celebrating their Grandma's birthday.

Multi-tasking-- helping mom test lighting, while brushing her teeth.

Anna at 16 Months

Things Anna is doing:

-Running

-Getting about every cold she is exposed to (and then passing it on to others).  Due to this reason, we are cracking down on her finger-sucking. (Putting all germs she is exposed to in her mouth and then passing on her own germs to everything she touches).  Her finger-sucking is mostly associated with when she is holding her knitted blankets from Grandma (which are also her chosen "comfort objects")... so therefore we have also been confining her blankets to her crib (which has not been a popular idea for her).  And then we've just been more diligent about pulling her fingers out of her mouth, on the occasional time she would suck them without holding her blanket.  We've also been trying to wash or de-sanitize her hands before and/or after crib-time (knowing that she will probably be still sucking her fingers then).

-Anna is saying a new word almost daily... some of the most recently added are doll, bottle, "weeee" (when going down stairs or bouncing), "na-ma" (Grandma), "die" (tiger), no (and usually using this in the appropriate context),  "ba" (bath), "wa-wa" (water), eye, "beh" (bear), "eeese" (this can mean keys or cheese), "melmo" (Elmo, whom Anna has developed a recent love for), "aside" (outside... which she loves).

-While hanging out in the waiting room at Anna's most recent well-baby doctor appointment (which is decorated in murals of tigers), Anna kept running in different directions, pointing and saying "die!  die!"... (even though she was meaning "tiger!  tiger!").

-Anna is also saying or repeating a few animal sounds-- "baa" (sheep), "rawr" (lion/tiger/bear), moo, and my favorite "duck-a-duck-a-doo" (her interpretation of a rooster's cock-a-doodle-doo)

-Anna is good at pointing out the boys... pretty much any kid she sees (girl or boy), she will point to and say "boy!"

-Anna is now also using sign-language to say "drink".

-She is enjoying playing with toys more (and is able to push different buttons, etc, that used to be too hard for her).

-She can now show you her nose, foot and hand (in addition to mouth, hair, ear, head, tummy).

-Ryan was reading a book to Anna, and asked her to point out different barnyard animals, and she was able to point to the different ones!  I didn't know she could do that!

At the MU Homecoming parade.

Anna at 15 Months

Things Anna is doing:

-Trying to say quite a few words (and generally knowing what she's referring to when she says them)... some of her new words are:

toy= "doy"

snack= "nack"
uh-oh

shoe= "choo"

water= "wa-wa"
duck

banana= "anana"

Bible= "bie-ba"

(along with the words she has been previously saying such as mama, dada, bow, ball, book, bird, woah, wow)

-Consistently doing sign language for "all done", "more", "eat", and sometimes "thank you".

-When Anna hears the garage door, she now starts saying "dada", unprompted... she knows that means he's home.

-Walking pretty well, and pretty fast... we moved her up to the "walkers" class at church.

-The open dishwasher and the open refrigerator are like a magnet to Anna... she comes quickly out of nowhere to start climbing in.

-Still very interested in books.  She would like you to read to her all day long, if possible.  She's much more interested in books than toys.

-Able to point to her ears, hair, head and mouth.  We're still working on the nose.

-She likes to pat her belly (she learned this from her Grandma, who also likes to pat Anna's belly).

Anna's hand kept finding its way to Matthew's head, in several different photos.

Anna at 14 Months

Things Anna is doing:
-Repeating several words when she hears them, such as "uh-oh" and "Dora" (although she usually won't to show off)
-Able to identify and say (when she wants to) bow, bird, book.
-She can do sign language for "all done" and "more".
-When you ask Anna where her ears are, she can grab them, or their general vicinity.
-When you ask her how old she is, she can sometimes hold up a "1".
-Walking!  Still kind of unsteady, but getting better all the time.  This serves her well, because now she can carry around her books with a lot more ease (compared to crawling).
-Anna will toddle into her room, reach through the crib rails to grab her blanket (at this point it can either her purple one or yellow one).  She likes to carry it with her through the house.
-More engaged in books... we seem to spend quite a bit of the day reading books together.  She knows where to reach for the "touch and feel" component of her books.  She's also now into books with lift-a-flaps.
-She was just introduced to Spaghetti-O's by her Grandma, and she loves them... she would like to eat a whole can, if she could.  Same goes for mandarin oranges.  And she would like to eat a whole lot more banana than is probably healthy for a 22 lb. person.

Fun at the sprayground.

Anna attended the Mizzou vs Toledo game on a 98 degree day.

Apple-picking to benefit the Food Bank.

Anna enjoys playing with our ladybug and bumble-bee yard decorations.

Anna at 13 Months

Anna's stats (belated 1-year-old doctor's appointment):

Height= 29 inches;  50th percentile

Weight= 21 lbs, 8 oz;  60th percentile

Head circumference= 46 inches;  75th percentile

Tooth count=  still 4

Things Anna is saying: 

-Anna (aka annana, nanna, or anna);  Mama, Dada,  duck-a-yuck-a-duck,  a lot of various other made-up words/sentences

-She's repeated me saying "bird, bow, and la-la-la"

Things Anna likes:

-Going outside.. she will crawl to the door, look at you, and if you don't understand and take her outside, she will fuss.  She especially enjoys crawling around on the rocks in front of our house, and picking them up one at a time to examine them.

-Being read to...  She can now bring a book to you (crawl, clunk, crawl, clunk, crawl, clunk) and then thrust it towards your face, while making direct eye contact.  Her favorite books to read are those with a touch-and-feel component, and without very many words per page.  Anna enjoys turning the pages herself.  She also prefers to read the same book approximately 10 times, and will keep picking it back up and giving it to you.

-Being tossed up into the air, and caught :)

-The pat-a-cake song.. she enjoys being able to clap along

Other information

-Anna is adding a different waving technique... opening and closing her hand..

-She is now waving hello (not just to wave).

-Nursing has been discontinued.  It seems like she has a lactose intolerance (only when drinking milk, not with cheese, etc.), so we are currently giving her soy milk.

-Taking her first steps... at 13 months and 1 week, Anna is now taking up to 5 little steps at a time.  She currently thinks that walking involves clapping... this is because any time she is walking, we are clapping, so she claps too.

Anna sat on a horse for the first time.

Anna cuddling with her Grandpa at the parade.

Watching the parade at the Cheyenne, WY Frontier Days (outfits made by their Grandma)

Anna playing with her friend Ayla.

At the St Louis Zoo

Anna at 1 Year!

Information about Anna at 1 year:

-Teeth count= still 4.  She has been drooling more and biting things lately, so I think she is working on some more.  Her top two front teeth are coming in with a big gap in between... so cute!

-Starting now, Anna is going to be gradually transitioning to cow's milk... I'm just planning to switch out one feeding every couple of weeks.  A little sad, but her teething/biting is a good incentive, lol.

-Anna is generally sleeping through the night (11 hours), after some successful sleep training :)

-So far, we haven't been as successful with eliminating her daytime finger-sucking, although this is still a work in progress.

-Anna is starting to do high-fives.  She likes to do approximately 10 to 20 in a row.

-Anna is "cruising" along different surfaces, and can stay standing for a little bit after letting go.

-She is now waving!  This is a fun new development :)

-We have colorful refrigerator number magnets where Anna can reach, and Anna has a favorite-- the number 1.  She will choose it almost every time, and will carry it with her when crawling around.  Another thing she likes to carry around these days, is her little laughing stuffed caterpillar.

-Anna is climbing.  She can climb up onto our fireplace, and also climbed out of our jogging stroller (when it was stopped)... I will be strapping her in from now on!

-Anna enjoys snuggling up to stuffed animals, blankets or pillows.  She cuddles up with the purple blanket her Grandma Burkle knitted for her, at night.

-Anna is without a doubt associating "ma-ma" with me and "da-da" with Ryan.

-She got to celebrate her birthday with three different celebrations and three different cupcakes.  Turns out, she LOVES cupcakes!

 

Celebrating Anna's birthday

                    

Opening presents!

 

Showing how she can wave...

 

Biking on the MKT trail



Fourth of July Parade



Cruising...

Climbing...

 .

Anna giving high-fives

Anna showing off her two front teeth!

 

Anna makes special efforts to seek out the #1 off of the fridge, and then carries it around with her.

 



 Cupcakes #1, #2 and #3!


 

Before...

After...

Anna loves cupcakes!