Words to live by

As we approached the 1 year visit with the pediatrician, we prepared as though we were taking an exam.  We remembered the general questions, knew Anna had grown and gained and was walking around her 9 month visit so... no worries.  Well, except for that one question, "Does she say any real words yet?"  Now, for the third time we've been in a quandary.  Do they count if we know what she's saying?  or.... if she uses the same "words" for the same things consistently?  or... does the doctor, with all her expertise and trained ear, need to understand her?  Well, we could have a dozen more and never remember the answer or resolve the issue.  Ultimately the doctor wants to be sure she is building her language and developing social and communication skills.  In the event that Mom and Dad hem and haw too much or glance at each other for help without getting anywhere near a definite answer, the doctor reverts to "Does she babble and make sounds, show emotion/respond to faces, etc.  Our dear doctor knows us well enough now that she laughs as we transform to schoolchildren searching to give only the CORRECT answer and mercifully cuts us some slack.

Eventually we came up with some version of this report.  Anna says "Hi", "Dada" and "Bye bye" (which she also says at the door OR when one of us puts our shoes on and grabs the keys).  She says "Baby" clear as a bell and says "wawa" for anything to drink.  This includes our giant cups of Coke and Iced Tea but of course she only drinks milk and water (doesn't care about juice).  She says something that sounds remarkably like "Hallie" and it is always directed at her sister.  As previously mentioned, she doesn't use her baby signs - she just opens her book and says the names of the object on the page. Well, except for dog and cat that is, as she pants and mews respectively.  It should also be mentioned that she clearly says "No" in an incredibly charming, albeit forceful, way.  

Alas, though hat and head sound virtually identical to the ear and the difference between ball, box and block are subtle to the point of genius, with the help of gestures and faces, Anna gets her needs met and expresses herself to us and a few select others who are worthy of her attention (hang in there, she might like the rest of you someday)  If you were 1 and had to wait for someone to feed you and open the doors for you these few words would be those you lived by too.

Where has the year gone?

As always, we are amazed that where once lay a small peanut of human being, now stands (or runs) a sturdy little toddler with her own agenda.  And, as always, that agenda rarely coincides with that of her parents.  Confident and keenly aware of her charm (devilish as it may be) she has continued to move forward and hasn't paused to look back.  To some degree, things are easier for Mom and Dad as they have weathered this latest round of immunizations, food introductions and adjustment to daycare.  The car seat is turned, the bottles were quit cold turkey (by the way, why is everyone stunned by the fact that we just stop giving them one day?) and the exersaucer has been gathering dust for three months now. Likely, having a pre-schooler in the house made the year go by more quickly but we are still stunned. Time doesn't march on... it rolls right over you!  {This is particularly true for Mom who is headed back to the classroom but we'll save that for another time}
Anna is gloriously unaware that she is unable to do everything her sister does (which can be tricky since her sister doesn't know she can't do them either) and is incredibly aware of what she wants to do NOW. She only wants real food, thank you, or we'll hear about it. She tries to put on her shoes and likes to carry ours around. She reaches through her sleeves, raises her feet to step into her pants and is constantly walking around pulling on hats so low over her eyes that she narrowly misses every piece of furniture or wall in the place. She likes pickles, egg salad and is a tomato fiend (she gets that from Mom) and would eat yogurt and tortillas all day if allowed. She loves her bath and water in general as evidenced by her seeing something as brief as a commercial and telling us about the water. She uses some of her baby signs but mostly reads the little board books aloud instead of signing. She loves to play and climb over her big sister just as easily as she will climb in her lap. She comes when her sister calls her and, at top speed. She runs low to the ground, head down (that comes from Dad the football player) and strikes out in front of her to move anything in her path. Powderpuff, here we come. Hallie will be cheering in pink and Anna will be mowing down the other team. The sisters continue to build their incredible bond and, though that does not bode well for our future, we relish those moments with the joy that only parents can feel at seeing the two together and laughing as we've never laughed before.

So, just about a year ago, Anna joined our family and has done nothing less than make it a better one. Though we can't believe that 12 months have passed, we can't imagine our lives without her. It won't always be as easy as taking her to Denny's for her birthday dinner (we expect her palate to improve with each passing year) but we will happily weather the next bout of chicken nuggets as a food group, bigger and better teeth coming in and the inevitable creeping crud that prefers a toddler as a means of transportation as we make our way to 2!

Birthdays are coming

We just discovered that we could add a link to the girls' wish lists to our blog. They must want us to shop - it couldn't be any easier!