Annika at Eleven Months!

As promised, here are some pictures of Annika at eleven months...

It's really hard for us to believe, but our little bundle of joy is getting awfully close to being a year old! Yesterday was Annika's eleven month birthday, and we can't believe how she's grown. I took some pictures of Annika to post on the blog, but Christina deemed them "atrocious" so we will have to wait until a later date to add pictures. Nonetheless, here is the text-only celebration of Annika at eleven months: 

-She loves to talk. All of the time. She has a high-pitched squeal that is really her favorite mode of communication. She does it when she's happy, sad, angry, content, bored, interested--really any time she can. It is unbelievably loud--like we would imagine a baby stegosaurus would sound. As far as regular words go, she will mimic pretty much anything you say, but she doesn't know what the words mean. We're pretty sure she knows what "daddy" and possibly "Ezra" (pronounced "er-uh") mean. Beyond that, we're not entirely sure what she is saying. 

-She blew a kiss the other night, which was a first. We were trying to get her to go back to bed (on the day we posted that they were asleep at 7:30, she woke up around 8:30 and stayed up until just past 11:00) and she clearly had other plans. Instead of being a grouch, she simply put her hand up to her lips and blew both of us the sweetest little kisses. Of course we let her stay up another 1.5 hours afterward, trying to get more kisses blown our way. It never worked, but she knows what she's doing. 

-She is an unbelievable eater. Ezra wasn't super picky, but he mostly liked to eat vegetables by themselves, usually cold, and any kind of fresh fruit. He didn't really like junk food and is only now venturing as far as to try a sandwich. So, when we started feeding Annika food, we were totally unprepared. She will eat ANYTHING. Vegetables, fruits, meat, cheese, carpet pieces, toys, pasta--to this point we've determined only two things she does not like: french toast and tapioca pudding. She's the best eater ever. We just put the food in front of her and let her do her thing. 

-She no longer likes to sit on the floor. Every time we sit her down she finds the nearest prop so she can stand up. She won't even sit in the bathtub anymore. She wants to walk so badly but she doesn't have the leg strength yet. Every time she stands up on something she's so proud of herself. 

-She remains the cutest 11 month old on the planet. Some of you may know (or even have) other 11 month old babies, but Annika is certainly the cutest. She still has blue eyes and she has the cutest little smile. Just adorable!

-She displays uncanny patience--mostly with Ezra. His latest game is to grab some toys, go up to Annika, and say "Hey Annika, you want to play with these?" and then hand them to her. She reaches for them, and Ezra yanks them away, saying "You can't play with those. You're too little." He must think this is the best game on earth (it is a game that allows him to boss someone around, something he happens to enjoy a great deal) but Annika usually just laughs it off. Of course, when she's had enough, she knows how to pull hair to settle the score. 

-She loves music. Anytime she hears music she starts bouncing around like crazy. It's hilarious to watch!

-She likes books a lot more than she used to. She has a particular fondness for books with the faces of other babies on them. She likes to try to poke their eyes out. We can usually sit and read 5 or 6 books before she's had enough, which is pretty good. 

-She loves to go for walks in the stroller to fall asleep. She'll generally fall asleep during the first nightly walk at around 8 o'clock but sometimes will wake up again, making walk number 2 a necessity, usually around 11 or so. She loves to look around at everything and then just collapse backward, falling right asleep. 

-She's a blast to be around, has a hilarious sense of humor, and is more or less the perfect little girl. She's just perfect and we love her so much!!!