Anna's 20th Month

It's been a long year, but this month finally ended.

The Polar Vortex swung through.  That was fun.  I plugged air leaks all over our exterior walls.

And the government started paying their workers again.  And then we narrowly avoided losing our family income again.  Meanwhile, I got a job (you know, just in case we have to go several months without a paycheck next time - I'm good with having a job, but I am not happy about why I need one).  They finally finished our roof.  Plus Valentine's Day.  It's been a big month all around.

This month started off with Anna running after her bouncy ball yelling Kick! Kick! and then actually kicking it!  Unfortunately, that has lately evolved into running after the cat yelling kick! kick! which Mama is working hard to nip in the bud.

She's been throwing her ball, too, with pretty darn good accuracy!  It doesn't always have enough oomph behind it to reach its destination, but the aim is really pretty good.

She was able to put her shapes into the shape sorter this month all by herself!

Amazing...it really is like watching a lightbulb come on.

We like to color together during the day.

One of the few things I can quickly and competently draw is an icthus fish.  So Anna has been demanding that I draw fish for her, and her sketch pads are full of little flat profile fish.  I need to learn to draw more things.

Anna has been working on her fine motor skills.  By coloring, yes, but also by pretending to clip her nails...

...and by peeling the paper off her crayons.

It drives Mama a little crazy, but if I remind myself that she's really working those fingertips with precision, then I don't mind so much.  It's wonderful that she loves to help at this age, so when I ask her to put her crayons away or take the bits of mangled crayon paper to the trash can, she's usually happy to help clean up.

She'll take her books back to the bookcase, too...but she's not really up to getting them back on the shelf on her own yet.

She's been reading to herself a lot this month!

She still asks us to read to her sometimes, but there are whole stretches of time when she goes quiet over there, sitting by her bookcase, slowly taking them out one at a time, and reading them through.

You know how she likes to "count"? Her numbers are two, three, four, six, seven, and sometimes eight.  And she has now begun to recognize when there are two things of the same kind in front of her!  It's great when it's Two spoons! or Two cats! but it's especially funny when it's Two Dadas! Mama and Dada! as if we were both Dadas, but I'm a Mama kind of Dada.

She started calling herself Anna this month.

 If she's looking in a mirror, it's Anna, but then she'll see a picture of herself and still say Baby!

Apparently I tell Monkey to Move it when I push him off the counter.  I didn't realize it, but Anna noticed.

Now when she plays "bye-bye" (the game where she shuts herself in the closet and then pops back out with a big HI!), she tries to shove me into the closet with her while saying Move iT! Move iT!  (Her closet light is motion activated, and she's too short to turn it on herself).  We are working on modifying that move it to a more palatable please come.

She has my chin! Right?!

We have asked Alexa to play "Jingle Bell Rock" so many times at this point that the computer has become sassy about it.  We ask for the song (again) and it replies, "Hm, I'm not sure I heard you...did you mean "Jingle Bell Rock"?"  AS IF THIS IS NOT THE 152ND TIME WE'VE ASKED FOR THAT SONG IN THE LAST MONTH. That's probably an underestimate.

She likes "Tomorrow" from the musical Annie now, too.  So sometimes we get to ask for a different song than JBR.  But usually it's JBR and "Tomorrow."  She loves dancing to them!

Her singing is sounding more and more like a real tune.  I love hearing that little voice singing jingobow, jingobow, jingobow ROOOOOOCK throughout the day.

Just four more months until the big 2!  This year is flying by with you, little sunshine.  We love you, Anna!