Anya is growing faster than ever. Here are some updates
The bottle is GONE! Praise be to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost! Ok, maybe I'm over-reacting a bit, but I am certainly not sad to see this in the past. She hasn't had one since July 29th am. I think that the disruption in schedule by going to Chicago made it easy to change her home schedule to eliminate it altogether. Whatever. It's over.
Anya can communicate! She can say Dad(a), Ally (Aya!!!), Woof (fff), moo (oooo), elephant sound (I don't think so. How exactly would you spell that one?), and uh-oh (that one's very clear). The little shit won't say momma though. She says mm-mm-mm but mostly it means more and she doesn't even do it that often. brat. She's starting to point at me more often when she's asked where I am though. She signs more, please, eat, drink, fish, all done, and just this weekend started with thank you. She shakes her head yes and no, and at this point, she mostly gets it right. The always saying no will come soon, I expect. On the ride down to Darra's she was fussing. I asked her if she was hungry, and she shook "no". Do you need a diaper? no. What's wrong then? And she signed "all done". haha. Poor kid gets stuck in the car too much lately.
She can identify her feet, her hair, her ears, anyone else's nose (but not her own), her belly, and if I am changing her diaper, I can say let me see your butt and she sticks her legs as high as she can into the air. She knows her toes and shoes (this kid loves shoes!) and cooperates with me to get dressed and undressed. For any body part that she doesn't know, she will point to her head.
She is in the Guided Missile age. I love this time. She is open to suggestion. The merest whisper of "Where's Daddy?" will send her off running on a mission to find and smack him silly. (This comes in especially handy when I can tell she needs a diaper and I think he might be inclined to change it for me. Nothing like a stinky baby loving on you to overcome a reluctance to change diapers. This has backfired on me in the past though.) She wakes Ally up in the mornings for me. She can be distracted at the very beginnings of a tantrum most of the time by simply singing the first line of "If you're happy and you know it" This will make her forget whatever injustice she has imagined and go running off to find the Little People minivan and push the button to hear the song and clap along. She will find and retrieve anyones shoes if you ask. Most often, though, she will get EVERY shoe in sight and you have to sort through them to find your own. She is so proud of herself for being able to complete the smallest tasks. And I am too.
| Her hair is getting longer and wild. Some days after she wakes up, she looks like Jack Nicholson in the Witches of Eastwick when he's losing it and his hair's all crazy. I tried barrettes the other day and she screamed bloody murder until I took them out. So most of the time I just try to smooth it down as best as I can. |
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I took her to Knight's Action Park the other day and she had a fabulous time. For those of you not in the area, Knights is a local water park. They have 3 different Anya sized splash pools, and many many slides (along with a bunch of older stuff too). We slid and slid for a couple hours and then went home and she crashed. HARD. She loves the water and is fearless. But at least she keeps her mouth shut when she goes under (unlike another child in my household who will remain nameless).
Anya still only has 2 teeth, but she can and will eat almost anything, regardless. She understands the kitchen well enough that she is trying to insist that I give her what she wants to eat rather than what I want to give her. Anywhere else, she doesn't know what's available, but she knows exactly which cabinets hold the breakfast bars and Capn Crunch cereal at home. This has resulted in many a tantrum.
Sometimes tantrums spiral out of control and there's nothing I can do about it. This is what happened yesterday after her nap. The only way to calm her down then is to put her back in her crib with her blanket. She will most likely cry some more (although sometimes, this alone is enough to give her enough space to settle herself), but will settle down for some cuddling after she's been there for a couple minutes. She is starting to get comfortable in her crib. She has stuffed animals, and hanging music thingys, and her mobile. She can keep herself occupied for a good long time if she chooses. If.
My little non-sleeper has gone. Anya is now goes to bed like a champ. She loves her crib and usually rolls around playing and talking for a good 20 minutes at bedtime. She rarely cries in the night, and it's usually because she has kicked off her blanket and the a/c has made her cold. She still wakes up at the ass-crack of dawn though. urgh. I wish that would change. Lately, we have hit a few rough times at night, but they aren't really too bad, and I think they are caused by the possible emergence of a third tooth.
She loves to dance. She has a number of different "dance routines" She will shake her butt on command. She will lean from side to side. She will bounce a little and wave her hands around like she's trying to snap her fingers. Just this morning she was wildly thrashing in her car seat on the way to work. She was smiling though and I figured out that she just liked the song on the radio (but I can't remember now what it was).
She went on the Ferris Wheel at Navy Pier with Darra and Ally and was the bravest one there. She stood on the seat and looked around and loved the wind blowing around her. She is a daredevil. She's ornery. She's loud. She's not a baby anymore. She's full on toddler. And I love it her.
