Anna's stats

Anna survived her visit to the pediatrician this morning (barely). Due to some noncooperation on her part, we could not get a good weight, but she weighs at least 22 pounds (65th percentile). That's a drop from her 9-month spot on the curve, but apparently is not enough to worry. She is 31" long (above the 90th percentile), and her head is above the 90th percentile too. She's big boned.

She had to get 2 shots (MMR and chicken pox), and a fingerstick to check her hemoglobin. The fingerstick was the worst with all that squeezing! Anyway, she checked out great and I got approval to continue my "aggressive weaning"...she is not happy about it, but I am! She is a big girl now and can drink from a cup, and I am a big girl too and can't wait to drink caffeine and alcohol again, that I have missed so much! It will be nice to have the hour a day back that I have spent feeding her.

Let's see, she can now wave at people, and has recently really been imitating us a lot, like pointing at pictures in books when Erin does, and copying our hand motions to Raffi songs at lunch. She also has a lot to say! She cruises like crazy and can stand alone for up to about 30 seconds, but is not really taking any steps yet, unless you count 1 step and a lunge towards us. She is thinking about it! She still eats baby food and some table food, but is not as adventurous of an eater that Erin was at this age. Of course, they seem to like different foods. She still takes 2 naps, but has been in a weird pattern the past couple of weeks, so she may be thinking about dropping the morning nap (I hope). She loves her little baby doll (and her new big baby doll from Grandma and Grandpa A.) and must have her in bed with her. She is always on Erin's tail, wanting to do the same thing as her. Erin is starting to get a tiny bit more tolerant of that, thankfully!

Anna is just a sweet, happy, lovable, laid-back, active, friendly, wild little girl, and we love her so much! We are excited to keep watching her as she grows and changes.

Anna's birthday weekend!

Happy early birthday to sweet, wild, lovable little Anna! We had a very fun weekend in Concord for her birthday celebration. The birthday girl is definitely letting all this attention go to her head...she ate it up, but had to crash yesterday back at home with 2 long naps! She had a blast playing with her cousins, eating cake, and opening her presents. She is very excited about her very own little armchair! Thanks to everyone for a fun time! She will go to the pediatrician on Thursday morning, so we'll get her official stats, and I'll report them here. Happy early birthday, Anna!

The Saga of the Big Girl Bed

Erin has decided that she is now 2-1/2 and a big girl, and big girls do not sleep in cribs. Here is the story of how it went down:

1. We went to the beach over Easter, and brought our pack and play. She has not slept in one since we moved in November, but we really didn't think anything of it since she has always slept in it fine. Wrong. The first night there, she screamed as if she had just seen a snake and proceeded to climb out of the pack and play. Bob put her back in, and repeat. So, for the 3 nights and 2 naps at the beach, she slept on a queen bed with pillows around her and one of us in bed with her or in the twin bed next to her. She loved it, but we did not love it at 2am, 3am, etc...

2. We come home, all is well in the crib for 3 nights at home. We go to Concord last Friday, and she again screams and climbs out of my parents' crib at naptime. The weird thing is that she has slept in that crib about once every 3 weeks for her entire life without any problem. So now we figure that this is not an isolated pack and play incident, or perhaps the pack and play incident has gotten her little wheels turning. We move her to another bedroom with a twin bed and bedrail and she does not like it, but does sleep by herself in the bed the second nap and night.

3. We decide that Erin has spoken and we might as well make "the change" at home too. We come home, move her crib to Anna's room, and return Oliver's crib to him (thanks, guys!). Now, after 2 nights, she is doing ok. She wants to sleep in her little armchair instead of in her bed (which is actually a twin mattress and box spring with a bedrail since we were caught off-guard and did not have a bed frame yet), but she is not crying *as much* when it's time to go to sleep. There were LOTS of screaming and tears over the weekend. Last night and for nap today, she even stayed in the bed when we told her to and fell asleep on her own...but woke up later and got out. Oh well, she will get it.

Our baby is growing up! Next up...The Saga of the Potty...which looks to be much more challenging from what we have seen so far!