Such a better month this month! No disease, no jury duty and no teething in conjunction with Anna finally becoming a reliable night sleeper have left me very, very happy! (She still is not a good napper but we will get there. Or maybe not.)
Some big events this month include Anna's first word - "Dadada" which means both "I see Daddy!" and "I am very happy!" (meanings which often coincide), learning to move forward (though still not crawling - she can scoot in a sitting position), and learning to clap (which she is very proud of!) She has also figured out how to smile for the camera which is very cute. Anna also became a cousin! and has had lots of fun examining baby Blake. Anna loves, loves, loves her sister and watches her intently whenever they are in the same room. I heard her sigh in such a contented adult little way the other night when Sarah Jane walked over to say good night, it was very cute. She is often told she looks just like the Gerber baby, and I have to agree. She is very happy (except when she is not) but generally, she has a huge smile plastered on her little face. Happiness seems to be her natural resting position. She is just starting to get wary of people other than Mommy, Daddy, Elizabeth and Sarah Jane. Not scared of them yet but aware they are different. She is a very good eater, consuming a whooping 32 oz of formula a day plus three meals of veggie/fruit/oatmeal puree. She is moving out of her 6-12 month clothing and into her 12-18 month set and I think her feet finally caught up to the rest of her making me think she will be a tall Hoverman after all. Still no hair but I think her head is actually fully covered by fuzz now so there is progress on that front as well.
A typical Anna day begins promptly at 5:45 when she comes into Mommy and Daddy's bed to snuggle and sort of eat. Sarah Jane often joins us. Mommy entertains while Daddy manages to ignore the chaos and continue to sleep except for interludes when he communes with his Blackberry which amazes all of us. Anna then gets a bottle while everyone else showers and gets ready for work/school and she plays with the basket of toys on the floor, often backing herself into a corner or under the bed in her efforts to move forward. At 7:45 we all go downstairs and Anna gets a breakfast of bananas, blueberries and oatmeal which Elizabeth, who arrives at 8 feeds her. At 8:20 they say good bye to Mommy and jump into the car to take Sarah Jane to school. Between 9 and 1:30 when Sarah Jane comes home, she eats, snoozes in the stroller and plays at the park with Owen and Elizabeth. When Sarah Jane gets home, they hang out at the house until nap time around 2:30. Anna has no regular schedule and usually either has a good one in the morning in the stroller or a good one in the afternoon in her crib but almost never both. She gets dinner from Elizabeth at 5:30 and Mommy comes home at 5:45 to make dinner for Sarah Jane. Anna sits with us at the table while we eat and then we head "Up the Wooden Hill" at 6:30 for bath time with Sarah Jane. Anna still loves the bath and thinks the toys that squirt water are particularly funny. Sarah Jane does not like to share toys with Anna but can usually be convinced (after several squawks) to "trade" a new toy for the toy she wants. So far, Anna doesn't mind what she has, as long as she has something. After bath Anna gets into her PJs, has part of her bottle (but is usually too distracted by Sarah Jane to finish it), reads a book (either Good Night Moon or Jamberry) and then, after two songs (Mr. Moon and Wise Man), is put to bed where she finishes her bottle and 9 times out of 10, goes to sleep happily. She likes to sleep with her lamb lovie and her purple blanket and usually flips over on to her stomach. She is very particular about being covered with the blanket and likes to hold on to it with her left hand.
Daily updates below...
Mon, Apr 19, 2010
Anna has suddenly gotten very, very talkative. She has a LOT to say. All the time. It is very endearing and she is very proud of all her noise.
Tue, Apr 20, 2010
Anna can make it up in to the correct crawling position pretty consistently now but she can't go anywhere still. She's rolling around much more and has become a more active sleeper. I used to be able to tuck her in under her big soft purple blankie and find her in the exact same place the next morning but now she is starting to roll all over and today she went to sleep on her side which is a first.
Wed, Apr 21, 2010
Anna went to Studio Grow with Elizabeth and Sarah Jane today (Owen is at home with his grandmother.) Sarah Jane had a ball but Anna was NOT happy. Elizabeth said she cried and cried. We are attempting to get her to drink more milk as opposed to eating more food. My guess is she is eating too much and then getting hungry at night.
Thu, Apr 22, 2010
Anna is nursing less and less. The weaning may be coming faster than expected. She has a hard time concentrating and it's tough to know if she is getting enough to eat when I feed her. Have started supplementing her evening nursing with a bottle which she definitely seems to want.
Fri, Apr 23, 2010
Anna seems to be rolling over more in her crib and is maybe more comfortable sleeping belly down.
Sat, Apr 24, 2010
Anna spent her first night away from her mother who was celebrating Jenny's bachelorette (and Blake's arrival.) Anna was very good and slept for her Daddy. Funny how it works that way.
Sun, Apr 25, 2010
Anna visited her new cousin Blake in the hospital today. Unfortunately she still has a runny nose so there were no photos of Anna and Blake, just Sarah Jane (who was very quiet, baby crying seems to be a bit disturbing still.)
Mon, Apr 26, 2010
Anna is always very happy to see Elizabeth when she shows up. There is lots of big smiles, hand banging, cooing and head nuzzling. Her sister takes a bit longer to warm up.
Tue, Apr 27, 2010
Anna is hugely excited to go to bed now that she can turn over and snuggle her head down on top of her little lamb lovey. After I put her down she pops her head up every now and then to give me a huge smile (tongue out of course) and then pops back down. No crying, straight to sleep and has a two night track record of all the way through the night, definitely a record for us...
Wed, Apr 28, 2010
…and the end of the record. Up from 4:30 to 5:30, waking everyone up, I caved and gave her a bottle of water which put her back to sleep until (amazingly) 7:45. Her sister followed suite and we all slept in which didn't work out well for my work schedule.
Thu, Apr 29, 2010
Anna is still working very hard on crawling, and not getting anywhere but backwards. She can push herself up to the correct position fairly reliably and then rocks back and forth (and makes frustrated grunting sounds) but she can't seem to put it together that she needs to lift one of her hands up to move. We are very close though!
Fri, Apr 30, 2010
Anna and Sarah Jane visited with Cousin Blake today. All three were very well behaved (though Sarah Jane is still working the attention she gets from being scared of Bentley. Quite exhausting.)
Sat, May 01, 2010
Anna said "Dada" today in clear reference to Dada and I'm not sure which of them was more pleased!
Sun, May 02, 2010
Anna hosted brunch this morning with Lucy and Loie James though she slept through most of it with a stunning 2 and a half hour morning nap (followed of course by zero afternoon nap and a very grumpy evening baby.)
Mon, May 03, 2010
Still working on crawling, not getting very far (except behind where she started) and doing a lot of roaring as a result. She CAN stand up holding on to something for a pretty long time but she isn't showing any interest in pulling herself up.
Tue, May 04, 2010
Anna still has no teeth. Where are those teeth? Fingers crossed we get them all at the same time.
Wed, May 05, 2010
Anna is doing great at night! She nearly always goes down around 7:15 and sleeps until sometime between 5:30 and 6:15 which is very nice. Now we just have to get to 6 consistently and I will be happy!
Thu, May 06, 2010
Anna has learned to clap! She is so proud of herself. She spent all day happy as a result.
Fri, May 07, 2010
Anna seems to be weaning herself. Her attention span for nursing is about 1.4 seconds. It takes a lot of 1.4 seconds put together to get her filled up. She can focus on a bottle for a lot longer.
Sat, May 08, 2010
Today was Jenny's shower and Anna got to spend the lunch hour with Daddy, Sarah Jane and Zeke at the little train.
Sun, May 09, 2010
Anna celebrated Mother's Day at the Discovery Museum with the Chuns, followed by dinner at Gramma and Zeke's. She wore her first barrette which made her look very pretty (or, according to Zeke, like she had a screw top on her head…)
Mon, May 10, 2010
Anna gets VERY excited when she is read to. She pounds her feet and does a little head banging. She's pretty much moved on from the frantic opening and closing of hands (except when very tired.)
Tue, May 11, 2010
Anna loves to stand up holding on to things. She thinks it's hilarious. She hasn't tried to pull herself up yet and she has a hard time getting from sitting to crawling position without crashing. From crawling to sitting has not yet happened.
Wed, May 12, 2010
I *think* Anna has turned the corner on sleep. Easy to go down at 7:15 and seems to be sleeping straight through to 6:15ish. She even napped successfully today. Such progress!
Thu, May 13, 2010
Still working very hard on crawling. She seems to be able to move forward while sitting, just not while in the crawling position.
Fri, May 14, 2010
Anna seems to be going through a growth spurt. She is no longer fitting into her PJs and I think we are due for a clothing clean-out.
Sat, May 15, 2010
Anna went for a hike this afternoon in Tilden with Aunt Kiki, Uncle Geoff, Cousin Blake and Benty (and Daddy and Sarah Jane.) She rode in the Ergo with mommy and was a very good sport, even at the end when she got pretty hungry.
Sun, May 16, 2010
Anna spent the morning at Lily's third birthday party (SJ's friend from school.) She was highly cooperative (as usual) and snoozed in her stroller while the party zoomed around her.
Mon, May 17, 2010
Poor Anna (and poor mommy) had a very rough night last night. Something was bothering our little one and she cried and cried and cried from 10 until 1:30 and then back at it at 4:30. Maybe teeth finally?
Tue, May 18, 2010
Lovely full night of sleep again! Good job Anna. We are very glad as Aunt Julia and Uncle Mike are visiting and sleeping right down the hall and we didn't want to scare them away for ever! And from Gramma after the Sarah Jane Pickup: I flung myself down on the carpet next to Anna and she reached right over for my bracelet . It wasn’t obvious (half way under a sleeve) but she knew it was there.
Wed, May 19, 2010
Anna has demonstrated the ability to go from crawling position to sitting, but it hasn't happened consistently yet.
