Anna's 13th Month

Alrighty, one year down, 11 months to go in this series!

Anna reached 13 months yesterday!
It's just a little thing, but last month when she gave us Kisses, she'd just put her smiling face up close to our cheeks and that was that.  Now she actually makes the little mwah sound all on her own!

I carry her downstairs in the morning, and we wave Hi to Mindy on the way, and Anna leans over to mwah at the kitty as we pass by.  She buries her face in Monkey's flank (when he'll let her) and mwahs all over him until he makes his escape.  Dave says she kisses her little stuffed lamb after naptime and then tells her Bye-bye!

And that's another thing...bye-bye is a good concept that seems to have clicked this month.  She'll say it to all of the cars passing by when we're outside, and she'll say it to strangers when she's feeling less shy (when feeling shy, she'll wait until they're gone, then say it and wave).

Sometimes she'll use it when she's ready to take a nap: she comes over to me and starts waving and saying bye-bye to her daddy or to the kitty, signaling that she's had enough and would like to take a break.

We have slowly moved into the world of walking.  Early in the month, Anna got into practicing walking with an adult holding her two hands.

She would take one or two steps on her own sometimes, but not very often.  In the last two or three days, however, those little steps happened more and more frequently, and then yesterday, she walked all the way across the dining room to hand me a toy!  She's also gotten really good at climbing up and down the stairs without help (she prefers, though, to hold my hands and walk up and down without crawling).

Peek-a-boo was still a big favorite this month.  She'll initiate the game with any piece of cloth, no matter the size, or even a soft toy (toy goes on the head, and she watches you the whole time you're saying Where's Anna? Where's Anna??). When I throw her T-shirt over her face, she shakes her head side to side, pretending to look around...it's ridiculously cute.

Playing in general has gotten more and more interesting this month (for me).  I love watching her little gears turning as she figures things out and tries to answer her own questions, I love showing her things she hasn't tried yet and watching her try to imitate them, and the little darling asks to climb into our laps and be read to, which brings the whole world to a pause.

I hold those moments as some of my very favorites of all.

Anna has been climbing everything she possibly can.

She's kind of ok at getting down again, but not good enough that I'm at ease with all this climbing yet.

I finished building the learning tower, and that's been great for getting her up where she can see the kitchen happenings...it's not finished finished, so no pictures yet, but she really likes being included at the counter.

She's SO ticklish on her thighs and ribs, I just love it.  She's still a big fan of being mildly scared/startled (I growl at her from behind something, then "attack," and she laughs and laughs).

We've moved to preferring fruit to any other food.  She'll still eat other things, if she has to, but she's often just holding out until the fruit comes.

The word ball has become ball-ball, I guess because of bye-bye.  She also says catch and up (sometimes) and help (which sounds exactly like up and might actually be up...hard to say).  On the changing table, she'll repeat all done! when I say it (sounds like daaa-duu with the correct sing-song intonation), but she doesn't say it at the eating table...she just does the sign language.  She says awww to the kitties and to her stuffed animals, too.

We had Mimi and Papa up this month and roadtripped to Niagara Falls.

It was everyone's first time to see it, and Mimi found us a hotel with an AMAZING view of the falls.

(This is why everyone says to stay on the Canadian side...the view from the American side looks like...kind of a bummer.)

It was a fantastic trip, and it was much easier having four adults so I could - well, not relax, but maybe not be quite so up-tight.  (Traveling with baby makes this mama superduperanxious.)

This month has been even better than last month, which was even better than the month before...Anna, your personality and intelligence have us captivated as they emerge day by day.  We love you so very dearly, darling.  You are such a delight!