Anika at Eight Months

Last week was Anika's 8-month milestone. The last month has really been a fun one for her as she now finds herself spending most of her time trying to crawl and/or walk to keep up with Ezra. She can't crawl yet, but she's getting pretty close and will probably have it down in the next few weeks. She can go backwards, which is probably more frustrating than not moving at all. 

As we mentioned, she also got her first tooth. The second tooth is coming in too, but it is taking its sweet time. Anika has been a real trooper and we have only had one hard night from teething. She's a pretty tough kid!

Last week Anika also got her first haircut! Christina cut the sides for her while she was in the bath and she looks so cute! Her hair always curls at the end, so there's not much you can do about that. It looks a lot better now, however. 

Just recently Anika has become a real "talker." She usually says "Dadada" all day long, but she also said "mamama" tonight and generally uses a sort of moan to get her point across. She loves to talk and always laughs when Ezra tries to get her to say things. 

This morning Anika woke at her usual time (around 6:15) to a wonderful new present! Sarah brought Dylan's old play-table for Anika to use and she had a blast! It has a piano with keys that light up and a lot of other fun noise-makers. Anika played with the piano and always hit the key she was supposed to. When she would hit it, it would make a noise and she would howl in laughter! 

Also, she is becoming quite opinionated as of late. She never wants to do anything but stand up (which she can't really do unassisted) and walk around (which she also can't do unassisted). So she spends a lot of the time cajoling one of us into holding her up or holding her hands while she walks around. These things make her very, very happy.

She's really growing up right before our eyes! We can't believe what a big girl she's become!