Rarrrr - our little lion

This is a perfect example of the roaring she's been doing recently. I was getting dressed this morning and she was lying on the bed, talking to the ceiling, so I caught this roaring/talking on video. We've been going "rarrr" back to her, and we're realizing that might not be the best way to teach her to speak our language... but we're making her into quite a vocal lion, for now.

Mirror, Mirror, on the wall

Who's the fairest of them all? Annie! I caught our little sweet girl talking to herself in the mirror on the exersaucer this morning. It seems like she thinks the baby in the mirror is pretty interesting.

Somewhat nauseating talking video

If you have a weak stomach, don't watch this one. Anna was telling me a story about her day, talking up a storm, growling her way through the conversation. So I pulled out the camera phone and wanted to get a good shot of her face, so I had to hold her with one hand, standing on my lap. Ergo, this is a little camera-shakey, not in the cool, blair witch way, but in the - "uh, I don't feel so good" way. But even so, she's pretty darn cute, and it's a nice smile in the beginning when I laugh and she smiles back at me.

Stop, Drop and Roll (ok, just roll)

Anna has been elusive about her rolling over skills - she did it one day in early February, and then went on hiatus (much like this season's Alias), thinking that rolling was for babies. Now, our rolling girl is back, and we caught it on film this time. Roll, Jordan ROLL!

Our favorite mimic

I'm so psyched about this one - we wanted to catch this great thing she's been doing today: whenever Ev said "grrrr" she'd repeat it, growling in this really cute way. But this time I think she was a little sick of the game... she's way too smart for us.

Olympic Chewer

So I have to apologize, this one is a little anticlimactic (sp?)... she almost gets the toy in her mouth and then Ev comes in and asks if we want chicken for dinner, which breaks the intensity just a bit... But pretty impressive nonetheless.

Jumping feet (talented toes)

My mother mentioned that the coolest part about watching the jumping in person was her ballet-dancing feet as she leaps into the air - so I thought I'd dedicate a little video time to those talented toes. Not to mention the accompanying squeals, which are really just a bonus.

Darth Vader baby

Courtney calls the style of breathing that you can hear at the end of this video Anna's "Darth breathing". As she intently plays with her toy (do you believe she's playing with things?), her breathing is pretty impressive.

World-class wiggler

Anna's energy only seems to get more impressive every day. Can you imagine lying on your back and lifting and wiggling your legs like this, while chewing your hand and smiling? I know, she's amazing. Meg is always noting Anna's fantastic abs... I think we know where she got them.

Welcome Home, Dad (i.e. Squeal, Grunt, Moan)

In the last week or so, Anna's been talking so much more than before. And by talking, I mean squealing and moaning. Hard to describe, really - but here's the evidence. Soon after Daddy's return from Finland - she welcomed him home with some good thumb chewing and squealing.

Our little scientist

Today we went to Harvard's Auditory Cognition and Development Lab, and Anna was a research study subject. I wish this could have been a more interesting video, but I felt awkward busting out the phone cam during the study, so this is post-study, checking out the fancy-shmancy Harvard waiting room. The study was a rhythm study, and we found that her perception of rhythm is more advanced that ours (adults). Might have something to do with her daddy drummer, I think :)

Anna's Middle Name

So as we're traversing Cambridge and Somerville on one of our epic, 4 hour walks today, we came upon Sedgwick Road. Anna was floored by the coincidence - a street? with my middle name? and we just happened to walk by it? today? You'll see in the video, she's just amazed.

Jumper, Day 5

So Linds, I promise I'll stop posting Jumper videos, but I wanted you to see how much better she's gotten in just 5 days of jumping. She's now obsessed, and crazily adores her jumper. You can see by the grin, and by the fact that she doesn't slow down enough for the video camera to actually capture her.

Cafe snack, or not

On our way home from her grueling 10 minutes of experimenting at the Tufts Behavioral Development Lab (a "peekaboo study"), Anna started yelling from the stroller. So, assuming that she must be starving after 3 hours of not eating, we stopped at a little cafe and convinced the nice manager to let me breastfeed in the back corner. Anna was having none of it, though - the place was way too stimulating, why eat when you can stare at a ceiling fan, after all?

Stroller nap

Took a walk today - 55 degrees out! Anna enjoyed a little lie down time in her stroller, one of the most riveting 15 seconds of cinema you can find out there.

Our little self-soother

What's more amazing than a gorgeous little girl who, after crying for a few minutes in the car, finds her OWN thumb and puts herself to sleep? Not much is more fantastic.

Grocery shopping giggles

This afternoon we went to the grocery store, and from the cart, Anna squealed her way around the store - she looked so funny among the bags of groceries, it had to be immortalized.

Hi Daddy!

And I know you were curious when I mentioned the red dress earlier... here she is, in all her glory. And I do believe she waves at dad in the beginning. Don't laugh. She does. Don't you think?

Quiet Anna explores

And this one's for those of you who are sick to death of hearing my high pitched voice on all these videos - a silent few seconds with Anna, alone, as she explores the fun toys on her exersaucer. It's amazing how much she's able to do on her own now. In fact, she's making some lunch for us now.

Changing table grins

It's Valentine's Day, and Ev is in Finland for a Nokia meeting, so Annie wanted to show her dad the red pants she's gonna wear today. (Of course, with her red dress from the Great GodCilla over the pants... it's very hip these days.)

Partying in the high chair

Tonight we tried out the new high chair. Anna's 4 1/2 months now, and we haven't started solids yet, but they're on the horizon, so we thought the high chair might be a good thing to start getting used to. (Ending a sentence in a preposition... oy... such an expensive education, and yet grammar is still somehow such a challenge...) The best part, which I didn't catch on video, was that the tray is slightly angled toward her, so the rattle kept rolling back to her. Great cinema. The pan to her feet in this video was intentional - her legs were kicking so excitedly that I thought it should be part of the shot.

Jumper, Day 3

So it's only been three days with the jumperoo hanging in the kitchen doorframe, and already Anna is a FANTASTIC jumper. This video is here to prove to AL (Aunt Lindsay) that our girl is an excellent jumper. (Upon seeing the Friday jumper video, Linds said she expected more "bounding multiple feet in the air", so Anna's been working on it.)

Best wrists ever

Ok, there's not very much to this video, except the most amazing wrists in the world, and just the most gorgeous sleeper ever. We were taking a nap together (sorry mum, I promise I won't squish her), and I reached for my phone to take some video because - wow, she's just too gorgeous for words.

An excited exersaucer

The most memorable part of this video is the brainless mother who can't seem to remember the word "exersaucer"... But other than that, this was taken early early on the morning of the February blizzard, and when I mentioned her Aunt Lindsay to her, she was very excited, as you'll see. I also love that her feet don't yet touch the floor of the exersaucer, they just dangle. A little too cute.

Jumper, Day 1

Today we put Anna's Christmas present from her Aunt Lindsay up in the doorway. It's a jumperoo, and at 4 months old, Annie's still a bit tentative about jumping too crazily, but we're sure she'll get into it soon. She already seems to love it, though. (And a note for those people who are going to tell me she's gonna pinch her fingers against the doorframe... I did pad the doorway with towels, aren't I a nice mother?)