LaPlanderson.com

Potty training in 24 hours is BS.

noreply@blogger.com (JLA) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:33:00 +0000

Twins

noreply@blogger.com (JLA) — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 03:55:00 +0000

His feet are officially bigger. He wears bigger diapers. And he's weighed more for quite a while.

He's also super super close to figuring out that he can shove back.

It's going to be trouble.

Special Day

noreply@blogger.com (JLA) — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 06:35:00 +0000

Me: It's your first day of school honey. It's a big day. Can I interview you and ask you some questions about your favorite things and how you're feeling?

AJA: Sure

Me: What's your favorite TV show?

AJA: DIEGO!

Me: What's your favorite song?

AJA: (Grinning) Twinkle Twinkle!

Me: What's your favorite Toy?

AJA: Friendly Bear

Me: What do you like to do? What do you like to play with?

AJA: Piano

Me: What's your favorite food?

AJA: Pepperoni!

Me: Really?

AJA: No! Celery!

Me: OK. Not sure about that. How about your favorite treat?

AJA: Oh! COOKIES!

Me: That's my girl. What about your favorite book?

AJA: Ok. Courduroy. And Leonardo the Terrible Monster. And Three Wolves and the Big Bad Pig. And Three Little Cajun Pigs. And what else...

Me: I think that's enough. What was your favorite part about school today?

AJA: All the shapes

Me: Nice. Is there anything else you want me to write down?

AJA: I don't like snow peas. And can you write down that I love Henry?

Me: (Heart melts)

My baby. My boy. My mad love.

noreply@blogger.com (JLA) — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 12:20:00 +0000

15 months

Loves: Eating (apples are his fav), his sister, big kids, running, and being held (and at nearly 30 lbs, this is becoming an issue!), baths, and dancing.

Hates: Sleeping in.

Teeth: 12. He's constantly teething. And drooling.

Words we're hearing regularly: Mama, Daddy, Aud-de, Up, Bath, Mine, Milk, Ball, Birdie, Plane, Side (for "outside"), No, Yes, Kitty, Bye Bye.

Favorite Animal Sounds: Sssssss! (for snake), Roaaaar! (for Lion), Quaag Quaag (for duck)

New Tricks: Climbing furniture. "Reading" books. (He loves them!)

Mr. Giggles is a cuddly ball of joy and smiles. I'm so deeply in love with him it's impossible to describe.

My dear, wonderful , adorable birthday boy

noreply@blogger.com (JLA) — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 05:54:00 +0000

I'm worried you'll someday read this blog and wonder about the drop in posts in the last few months. You may feel disappointed in the lack of equal coverage for you and your first year. You'd be right. Your mom hasn't been keeping things fair online. I've been pretty overwhelmed with all the changes in our life since we've moved and I've struggled to keep up with things like this blog. And personal correspondence, and personal grooming... Sigh... I ramble...

Anyway.

Know this - my neglect of you has only been limited to this blog. At home, I'm deeply devoted -- in la la love, really -- with you.

You're so wonderfully happy, Henry. An amazingly perfect baby. You're incredibly kissable. I come home from work and can't keep my lips off your cheeks - so perfectly soft and round. You'll lift your arms and grunt UP UP UP and I dive into to full kiss mode. Or I'll cover you with raspberries instead, which instantly sends you up into the best fit of giggles.

You're developing personality traits that make your dad and I smile a mile wide. You eat like a 20 year-old, you're incredibly physically strong, ridiculously independent (At the park last week you wandered away from me and out of curiosity I let you go a while. I wanted to see how far you'd go without looking back. You ended up hightailing it 70 yards to the parking lot!) and you love love love puppies.

You have a few words: up, dada, Aud-de, wa wa, hi, bye, plane, birdie, all done, and mama (although sadly for me you throw it around at everything.) You love to dance (bouncing up and down with one arm in the air is your signature move) and you're a fearless flirt with new people - you cast your chin down and smile up at them and they're yours.

You get called handsome a lot. It's an interesting compliment for a baby, but people consistently say it. You're a big boy, which I suspect is part of it (you've never for one minute been a squishy little tiny "cute" baby) but with your pale skin, your sort of a blue/brown hazel eyes, and your hair being so dark, you just come across so grown up and so... handsome. The best part of this? Your big sister will occasionally refer to you as her "handsome man" which just makes my heart burst.

This brings me to my next point. When I feel guilty about the time I don't get to spend with you, or I doubt the balance of time I give to both you and your sister, I comfort myself with this:

Oh man, do you love your big sis. Whatever I'm worried about depriving you, I'm seeing it more than made up for in sibling wrestling, tea parties, ball kicking, and just general giggling. It's so gratifying.

You're barely a baby anymore, my sweet boy. You walk, run, and just a few weeks ago you passed your sister in weight, which I think qualifies you for official toddler status. I'm holding on to your last days of babyhood as long as I can but honestly I can't wait to see who you're going to become, too. I can tell there are going to be great stories in that big boy future of yours.

All my love,
Mama

This morning

noreply@blogger.com (JLA) — Wed, 11 May 2011 19:04:00 +0000

Last night at 2 am we woke up to H shrieking bloody murder. Like, "oh my god, I'm being stabbed" shrieks and howls. I ran down the hall and burst into the room to find A reaching into to H's crib grabbing at his face. She was crying too, and saying, "I need that paci! I need that paci!" Seems that she lost hers in the middle of the night and decided to grab one out of H's mouth. Poor baby was just lying there sleeping when his sister's predatory little arm comes through the crib and grabs at him trying to get his paci. Meanwhile I jumped out of bed so quickly, and my heart was racing so fast I thought I was going to pass out.

In more funny news: this morning A was screaming "No!" about something with such force that she farted. This cracked her up so she experimented for the next few minutes by screaming "No!" over and over and trying to push a fart out. So imagine my sweet little girl yelling a big "No!" while half squatting, making a poop face and then falling into a fit of giggles. Over and over and over again. Awesome, right?

Future Vet

noreply@blogger.com (JLA) — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 20:32:00 +0000

Audball's babysitter happens to be one of our neighbors, and she often takes Aud to visit her chickens and dogs. (Yep. She's got chickens. It's a bit of a hipster trend these days to have backyard chickens, actually.) She loves loves loves the visits and will talk about the chickens endlessly afterward.

Last weekend a friend had a birthday party for her daughter and lo and behold Aud found chickens in her backyard too. Along with goats and bunnies. It was a petting zoo our friend had arranged for the party, but now Aud is pretty convinced that everyone has chickens their backyard. Everyone except mama and daddy.

This is one disappointment she's going to have to get used to.

Bam Bam @ 8 months

noreply@blogger.com (JLA) — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 16:21:00 +0000

Two teeth and fantastic giggle.
He's already pulling himself up, babbling, and cruising.
Our feelings? A mix of pride and, "hey, slow down, mister!"

Warm and Happy

noreply@blogger.com (JLA) — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 06:31:00 +0000

In case you're wondering

noreply@blogger.com (JLA) — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 06:27:00 +0000

My online mom’s group has been a big support to me over the last two years. And perhaps like you, they’ve been wondering how I’ve been doing lately. In particular have been curious about how we survived the move. Tonight I finally updated them and realized it felt good to document the story a bit. So for you too, a copy of my response to “Hey, how are you guys doing?”

Answer = Doing pretty well considering!

The move out was ridiculously hard and stressful, I'm not going to lie. Purging the house, putting it on the market, scrambling for showings, packing, coordinating and moving in 30 days was a joke. I don’t recommend it.

The hubby quit his job early to handle all the moving stuff while I started to wind down my client work, and ramp up for the new job. That ended up being awesome and hard all at the same time. Awesome because my husband kicks ass for the most part and plowed through his to dos, and really worked like a dog to make shit happen etc. Hard because I'm a type A and I had to bite my tongue left and right and try to trust him and not tell him what to do. F’ing hard. Which brings me to my next point - moving your family across the country (and in our case, switching our household/worker roles at the same time) will test your marriage like nuthin' else. Wooo doogie.

So here's what I learned about that - I'm really glad I bit my tongue and let go. There were a few flare ups here and there, and things definitely didn't get run with the brilliant efficiency I would have run them with (hahaha!), but you know what, the move went pretty damn well on the whole, and when we got here in one piece, he was pretty damn triumphant. Deservedly so. So good for us.

Ok, as I type, here's a good story I just thought of - So the night before the packers came I had a mini breakdown because I thought Justin would understand that we needed to be involved in the packing too and would allow for that during the packing process. Like we would be able to do some labeling and prioritizing certain boxes etc. He disagreed, and felt like there was only so much we could reasonably do, we were hiring guys and we needed to let go. ("You just need to let go" is not a good phrase for me in general, but certainly not during that kind of chaos, so you can imagine how that went. Hahahhaha.) Anyway, long story short, I had to let go. And the boxes all got packed and moved and when we got to the new house we realized all 32 of our kitchen boxes were labeled "kitchen". That was it. No way to know where the plates were, etc. Hahahaah. I thought about saying I told you so, but instead we managed to have a good laugh.

The kids have adjusted pretty well, although H hasn't consistently slept through the night since the move really and we've both been too tired to deal with CIO. In prep for the flight, Audrey was told that we were flying to California, and that soon after we arrived she would meet Santa so now every time she hears a plane, she'll look up and say, "The plane is going to California to visit Santa!" Ha.

The rental house is pretty crappy but we're less than a mile from the beach and have gone a lot. In fact, in our first week here (before I went to work) we went every morning, which was wonderful.

The job is great (it’s the reason we moved, so you’d hope so, right?) but I really miss working from home and it scares me how easily I fall back into working like a drone. The full time working mom guilt has set in too. I definitely miss them all day and feel like I won't know H the way I know A. A got so much more attention from me every day of her first two years.

I have no idea how I'm going to make time for myself, although two girlfriends/colleagues of mine took me out to lunch yesterday which was awesome on a lot of levels, but perhaps most importantly gave me a glimpse into the fact that I may be able to get a little girlfriend time in every once in a while. Maybe. Oh, and we saw Courtney Cox which was fun. (She's had some work done, that one. Yowza.)

The house in Oak Park sits empty. Our little surveys come back from viewings with feedback that it IS priced right, so I don't think we need to come down. It's just a terrible market. I'm crossing my fingers for a Christmas miracle renter because paying our mortgage and my rent and a new car payment is killing me.

Audrey isn’t in preschool yet either. The waiting list game out here is brutal and she is the worst age for it. Too young to just jump into a random empty spot and too old to actually get a decent spot on a waiting list. So I actually need two Christmas miracles.

On a bright note, Mr. Anderson is kicking ass at being a dad at home. He's great with the kids and has been all over the preschool thing. He's cooking dinner, and doing the grocery shopping with great gusto. He's got a baby group already and found classes for music and gym, etc.

Hmmmm... What else?

LA is like an old shoe for me. But not quite a comfy one, maybe? I've slipped back into everything very easily, and love it, but on occasion the old little blisters are rubbing up against the sides a bit. I love the weather, love being near my family, and my best friend, and I love the familiarity of the landscape and the great lifestyle. Hate the traffic and the douchebaggery. Hate the fact that while I was just carrying a little bit of extra weight in Oak Park, I'm downright fat here. And i hate the cost of housing.

But did I mention I live less than a mile from the beach? And we go there a lot? And I get to see my nephews?

Anyway, I'm definitely rambling at this point. My short answer is, we're good.

JA

PPS - It took 436 boxes to move us. OmG.

The song Ms. A serenaded us with this evening...

noreply@blogger.com (JLA) — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 05:14:00 +0000

Let's clap hello for vagina.
Let's clap hello for penis.
We're here to sing and clap and play.
So let's get started right away.
Hello
Hello
Hello

Huge News

noreply@blogger.com (JLA) — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 05:12:00 +0000

1) Ms. A will be two this week.
2) Mr. Giggles is 6 months.
3) We have moved back to California
4) J is experimenting with a new bourbon.

Those of us who know us well are only be stunned by 4.

Mr. Giggle's Monthly Chair Pics

noreply@blogger.com (JLA) — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 03:46:00 +0000

Two Months:

One Month:

Feeling Good About Weaning

noreply@blogger.com (JLA) — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 01:27:00 +0000

To say I had a difficult time breastfeeding Aud is an huge understatement. For her first six weeks we struggled to get a good latch, I didn't have much milk, it was physically really painful, she got the infamous stomach virus (that we later learned was probably thrush), then my mom died, and well... I just didn't have it in me to fight through it all.

With H though, things were a lot easier. I knew what I was doing more, he latched well, he put up with my low volume, and no thrush meant no crazy pain.

It still wasn't easy though. And I knew I wouldn't be able to do it for very long. So I gave myself a goal: just get to 12 weeks.

Well this week the big guy is 12 weeks. He got his last feeding yesterday and I'm celebrating the accomplishment. Check it out:

The Business Case for a Mother's Room

noreply@blogger.com (JLA) — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 02:29:00 +0000

Of course I'd suddenly need to go on a business trip when Henry was teeny tiny. Of course.

So yeah, not long ago I hauled my hormonal post-partem butt out to LA for two days and faced something I've never had to deal with before: pumping breast milk at work.

Holy crap, what a pain in the ass.

And holy crap, do businesses *not get it.*

On the first day, not wanting to make a fuss (and, as an only-in-town-for-two-days-consultant, not really knowing anyone I could fuss to) I thought I could find a quiet room, sneak in, and do my business. So I took a lap around the office and looked for a room with a door that locked and found nothing. Instead I ended up ducking into the bathroom. But I had to do it a couple times during the day. This was problematic in a couple of ways: for one, the bathroom experience was just plain gross and awkward, and more importantly, it completely shut down my productivity. For a good 15-20 minutes I couldn't do anything except stand there (eeewwwh, I wasn't going to sit!) and pump.

My type A brain couldn't take it. Thanks to fancy pumping technology, if I had a decent set up, I could be checking email! I could be making phone calls! I could be WORKING.

So I went to my primary contact at the company (who happened to be the President) and I made my case. I explained that he was paying me by the hour, and when I had to duck away to the bathroom to pump he was losing time and money. If I had a room with a lock, and, even better - a computer, I could work while pumping. And doesn't he want that?

Once we got past the initial two minutes of awkwardness he actually listened, and get this -- seemed interested. We discussed the number of minutes it took and how many times a day I needed to do it, and then he asked me to guess how many women at the company were probably pumping in any given year. (With 60% of women breastfeeding these days, and much of his workforce in childbearing years, it was a decent amount.) You could see the numbers cranking away in his head.

There's a business case for everything, people.

They found me a room, and I worked and pumped. And I suspect (or at least hope) in the future other women at the company will now be encouraged to do the same thing.

By the way - hats off to you ladies who pump at work regularly. Warrior women, I tell you.

Sweetness

noreply@blogger.com (JLA) — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 21:22:00 +0000

No wonder she was so tired.

noreply@blogger.com (JLA) — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 12:41:00 +0000

I haven't posted much lately because I'm getting my ass kicked by this whole two-kids-while-working thing. Or, to be more specific, the toddler-and-newborn-while-working thing. I remind myself all the time that many women do it, and do it without help. Like my mom.

I wish she was here so I could call and tell her how much I understand now. And how thankful I am.

Healthy, Happy, and Huge

noreply@blogger.com (JLA) — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 13:53:00 +0000

Henry Harlan Anderson
Born 5/22/10
5:23 am
10 lbs, 10 oz
23 inches

Yes, you read that right. 10 lbs, 10 oz. And yes, I delivered him the old fashioned way.

Yes, I'm OK.

His size is the fault of my lovely in-laws, the Anderson family. They're ~~cursed~~ blessed with giant, healthy babies.

He's named after his daddy's great grandfather, Henry, and his maternal family line, Harlan.

Those circles under my eyes are all thanks to bad genes on my side of the family. And an eleven hour labor that started at 4 pm the night before. If you think they're impressive in this pic, you should see them now.

No baby

noreply@blogger.com (JLA) — Thu, 20 May 2010 11:42:00 +0000

Me: not sleeping, not comfortable, worrying about how big this baby is getting, then feeling terrible because I should be grateful to have a big healthy baby boy.
Hubby: asking me, every time I grunt, cough, or move awkwardly, "What's going on? You OK?"

So I don't forget...

noreply@blogger.com (JLA) — Tue, 18 May 2010 15:56:00 +0000

I'm overdue by 4 days.

This morning I woke up and had the passing thought that I've actually been pregnant 19 of the last 26 months.

Whew.

If you had bet me this would be the case three years ago, that I would take out 26 months of my life, in the prime of my career, to dedicate myself to breeding. I would have laughed at you in a completely impolite way. In a way that said, "you don't know anything about me do you?"

Yet, here I sit, about to have my second child in just over two years. And JHA and I have become four. And my perspective on work and life has shifted dramatically. And I'm awed that I'm so at peace with it.

I'm sure my mom's death has had a lot to do with my new outlook. (My transformation into motherhood will always be intertwined and colored heavily by the loss of my mother.) But on the whole, I'm stunned by how natural its all been. I see that my heart has held spaces for these babies this whole time.

What has *not* been natural and lovely is pregnancy. Hoooo no. I am just fine saying goodbye to the heartburn, the aching, the sleeplessness, the swollen feet, the stretching skin, the nausea, and the waddle. (Oh lord do I waddle.) And even though this second pregnancy has been quite tolerable compared to my first (pleasant even!) I just can't say I'm one of those girls who loves being "with child".

So as I say a not-so-fond farewell, I want to make sure I take stock of the things I've liked about pregnancy. Here's my list:

The way my husband has treated me. And looks at me. And loves me. Despite the complainer and the whale I've become.
The feeling of having the baby move. With Audball is was a lot more poking (which I'll admit I didn't love as much in the later months) but she was amazingly consistent. Nearly every morning I'd wake to her nudges and smile. With baby boy, he rolls peacefully and sweetly inside all the time. No poking, no jabbing. Just a happy reminder of what rollie pollie cuteness is to come.
Eating. Ice cream. Milkshakes. Fries. Cake. Cookies. Potatoes. Yum. With Aud, I craved bourbon and carrot cake. With baby boy I've craved burgers. And more recently, root beer.
When my husband sings to the belly.
My hair is so strong and shiny.
Smiles from strangers.
Bigger boobs. (Although they never quite got to the level of "big" I was hoping for.)
Connecting in quiet moments and talking to the baby one-on-one. There were moments in Denver when I was alone in the apartment and it would occur to me that, actually, I wasn't alone at all. That we were on a crazy journey together. And I'd settle into bed and rub the belly and just chat with her.
Being in awe that I can actually do this. Especially with this pregnancy. Without the back pain, I'm much more aware of how incredible it is that I'm growing another beautiful human being *inside me* right now. Cell by cell.
Ice cream. It's so great it warrants another bullet, don't you think?

Ok, there it is. I've sent my reverence and awe out in the universe. Now can I have the baby, please?

When it's this good, you don't want to jinx it.

noreply@blogger.com (JLA) — Thu, 13 May 2010 10:32:00 +0000

I don't have a good excuse as to why I haven't been posting updates lately. It just got away from me, I guess.

It's been gnawing at me that I need to jump back on blogging. After all, I started this online journal because I wanted to document our journey as we started a new life here in Chicago together -- and, well, it doesn't get more momentous than having a baby. If there's anything you want to remember later, it's this, right?

So I'm here at 4:48 am the day before baby #2 is due thinking two things:

1) I'm nuts. It's FOUR FORTY EIGHT AM.
2) How the hell do I catch up?

Hmmmm.... No good answer for either of those questions, so I guess I'll just type...

It's a BOY! It's fun to think we'll have one of each and get to experience all the magic of little girlhood *and* boyhood as they grow. It's also fun to think how Audrey will boss her little brother around. (We can already see she's got my gift for bossiness, and her daddy's stubborn instinct to figure out, and immediately conquer, any challenge in front of him. She's cursed.) We're hoping it will be good for him.
Baby #2 was planned. We realize it may be a little nuts to have a two babies only 17 months apart (and that's 17 months only by a few days) but the opportunity I have right now to work from home while the babies are young is something we wanted to maximize while we could. Also, as my sweet and tactful husband likes to say, "we ain't gettin' any younger."
Thanks to a furious spurt of nesting in the last few months the house is looking quite spiffy. We've stripped paint from the trim on the first floor and stained it to match the fireplace and kitchen woodwork. We've done some electrical work. We've painted. We've got some new furniture. We've hung blinds. It's actually starting to look like real people live here, full time. Not a construction crew that oddly leaves baby toys lying around. I'll post pics soon.
Audrey is doing BEAUTIFULLY. I could go on and on about her, naturally, but I don't want to watch as your eyes roll to the back of your head. She's growing well, she's healthy, she's happy and she's smart. Soooo smart. Like, 'watch your back' smart. If we weren't so proud we'd be scared as all hell frankly.
Work is going really well. I've signed another client and I actually managed to have my biggest billing month in my work-from-home history last month while I was 8 months pregnant. (That's always the way, right?) I'm tired, but mostly I'm grateful. This was the dream -- to work from home while the babies were little. And I'm making it happen. And that ain't nothing to sneeze at.
The pregnancy is going really really well. (Another thing to be grateful for.) It's been generally so much easier than when I was pregnant with Audrey. The most monumental difference is that my back is holding up well. I keep telling my dear husband (ironically, usually between complaints about aches or swelling, or my general discomfort) that really, I had no idea how bad I was with Audrey until this baby. With her, I was always paranoid about hurting myself by moving the wrong way, or stressed out about pills or how to manage pain, or frankly, I was just trying to breathe, and walk and sleep without losing it. With this pregnancy, I've been able to enjoy the simple things, like... nesting, feeling the indescribably unique sensation of the baby rolling around, and eating yummy treats because I'm pregnant dammit. Luxuries I tell you. Luxuries.

OK, there's a ton more to write of course, but it's 5:30 am right now. (Wait - let's just think about that -- It's FIVE THIRTY AM the day before my baby is due. And I'm blogging. I am INSANE.) But right now I must obey the warm, happy, insulin-induced sleepy feeling I'm getting (from the large apple juice and bowl of cereal I just ate) and head back to bed while I still can.

More later.

Nothing, and everything

noreply@blogger.com (JLA) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 20:55:00 +0000

Here's how you know its been way too long since I posted:

12 months

13 months

14 months

I've been completely distracted and enchanted by her cuteness lately, and as she's hit toddlerhood it suddenly seems as if I have less and less time, so writing has hit the back burner. There's lots to talk about though. Including the fact that little Audball is going to be a big sister this May!

WHOA!

More later...

Happy Birthday to my baby girl

noreply@blogger.com (JLA) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 02:35:00 +0000

Even though today's officially the day, we had a party for Ms. A at Thanksgiving with my family. I'm not sure when we'll get a chance to be together like this again, so it was special all the way around.

Everyone helped make the awesome Kermit cake you see below. I made the cake itself, her Aunts mixed the frosting colors, and Justin did the actual Kermit icing. There was a ridiculous amount of love baked into that thing, and get this -- the girl didn't eat it! She just played with it instead. What's that about? My sister and I were stunned. Women in our family never ever ever turn down cake. Obviously she must have inherited this trait from the crazy Swedes in her family. Nutty Swedes.

Aud @ 11 months

noreply@blogger.com (JLA) — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 18:37:00 +0000

Audrey is in a period of phenomenal growth right now. In just the last three or four weeks, she's picked up the following tricks:

Says "more", "wa wa", and "nie" (no in Polish)
Identifies, and points to, her hair, teeth, lights, bubbles, and Ringo
Continues to love books. Her favorites include Kiss Goodnight and I am a Bunny (In fact, she can point to the bunny in every page.)
Can hold a small cup independently (I'll post a funny pic of this later.)
Loves music
Has a thing about copying sounds and noises. Last week she did a pretty good impression of the neighbor's leaf blower.
Shows pride when she accomplishes things. She'll often clap for herself, which of course prompts us to join her in praise.
She's ready to walk any minute. In fact, her determination was on big display at Thanksgiving where she spent the entire trip studying her 2 year-old cousin Hunter's moves.

We still continue to struggle with separation and stranger anxiety, but I'm fine with it. She can keep that up until about 21, don't you think?

Aud @ 10 (+) Mos

noreply@blogger.com (JLA) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:45:00 +0000

I'm obviously a little late with this one (hence the (+)) but here goes:

Ms. Audrey's active. In fact, getting this picture is quite an ordeal. Every time we stick her in the chair she lunges head first right off it. Truth be told, 3 seconds after I snapped this pic she was on the floor in tears. And that was with two of us trying to keep her safe. Poor, quick, fearless little thing.
Aud continues to work on her cruising skills but often gets impatient, drops to her hands and knees and just crawls (fast as lightening) wherever she wants to go. When she does practice walking she prefers to get help with two hands. Rarely though, she'll stand up for a second on her own. This leads me to believe she's saving her walking for her Grandpa at Thanksgiving, or her Granna at Christmas.
She's said her first words! A couple of weeks ago she started saying "Hi!" complete with a wave. She's also experimenting with "Bye" but isn't sure which one is appropriate for coming or going, which is pretty cute.
Her interactive board books are quickly becoming a big favorite. She sits by herself and carefully turns each page. She'll touch the bunny, scratch the sand, lift the flap, etc with complete focus and concentration.
She loves her baby music class, hates her baby gym class.
She's developed a deep bond with her lovey blankie.
Seperation anxiety is still an issue. We're begining to wonder if its just her personality. It could be that she just doesn't trust new environments and new people until she's figured them out. Just like her daddy.