"The Face" 11/15/06

In the tradition of Emma and Calvin Pruitt, Anna's been doing "The Face", which is this crazy wide grin that makes everybody laugh. Unfortunately, this video is a very subtle example of "The Face". But if you watch it a few times you can see she does it twice. She's becoming quite the comedian.

Pushy birthday 10/7/06

Anna and her friend Ava having fun at the birthday party.

Rattle the car 10/7/06

Ha ha ha! Ava is so funny, it makes me want to rattle her car :)

Olives and conversation 10/1/06

As we approach Anna's first birthday, this very knowing, responsive grunting has become her primary communication. It's cool because we really can tell what she's saying, and most of the time it's starting to seem like she knows what we're saying. The ouch on her forehead comes from an adventure standing in a mixing bowl, falling, and landing head-first in a 2nd mixing bowl. Hence the curve-shaped bruise, poor lamb.

Gasp! 9/25/06

When you blow in Anna's face, she thinks it's pretty funny, and she also gasps this sharp intake of breath - it feels like she's truly shocked every time. And at the end she's pointing at the ceiling fan - she adores ceiling fans. When she walks into a room with a fan, she insists on it being turned on. She just stands there and points at it until you turn it on. Very determined.

Well, they kinda rock, except when there are new toys 9/22/06

Pull Toys ROCK 9/25/06

Given the choice, Anna would like to drag toys on strings around behind her all day every day.

Smack Dab in the DaDaDaDa Phase 9/22/06

This is the kind of communication that we had for most of September. Dadadadadada sung over and over, and note the deliberate "More" sign language... although she can do the "More" sign, it rarely actually means "More"... oh well. Ahhh chooo!

Bubble popping 9/22/06

These bubbles are made of glycerin instead of soap, so they're incredibly long-lasting. Anna loves popping them; we call her "Destructo".

The ability to turn machinery on and off 9/20/06

As the fan season came to a close, Anna had a blast walking her cute little self over to the window fan in our room and turning it on and off, on and off. The quick intake of breath as the fan blows in her face is pretty hilarious. That and Daddy coming over to do our normal unplugging task... (Aw, Dad!)

Amateur Baby Proofing 9/5/06

Ah, mum - I'm totally 11 months old and your AMATEUR job of babyproofing this cabinet is laughable. I laugh at you. Ha.

Nothing gets in her way 9/4/06

She is constantly in motion, and no matter what's in her way, she gets by.

More banana

Because one video of this isn't enough.

Monkey 9/3/06

Anna has at least one banana a day, and she bites it like an adult - it's amazing. And here she is holding it herself, I don't know why I think this looks so funny.

Eating real dinner 9/3/06

She eats real food these days, even though she only has two teeth (and one new tooth nub).

Walking 8/30/06

Just in the past few days, she's really started to walk places - taking tons of steps, and just looking so stable. Most walking stints are about twice as long as the one I filmed here.

Chasing game 8/30/06

She loves being chased now.

Annie Get Your Gun 8/27/06

She brought back the machine-gun laugh. So fantastic...

Boppin' to the tunes

She loves to sit by this little song thing on the side of the washing machine and push the button to play the different songs over and over again. I hope she has her father's sense of rhythm. So far so good, I think?

Taming the monster kitty

Anna has somehow consipired with Pocheen, our formerly evil cat, and they are now friends. Pocheen lets her pull her tail, laugh loudly in her face, bang on her back, pull her hair... and has not (yet) given her a swipe. I know it'll happen eventually, but I'm shocked every time I look over and Anna has a handful of Pocheen's fur, and Pocheen is just looking at me wistfully, remembering the days before this little hellion arrived.