The Merge

So I had originally begun to post updates on the happenings of Miss Ana on her website but now that I'm all about this blog I'm going to transfer those posts here. It'll just be easier to have them all in one place, right? Right. So here are a few...

Welcome Toddlerhood - March 9, 2007
So two and a half months ago Ana made her first sentence. It was, as most of you know, "Dada, go?". And, though I firmly stand that her first sentence was at 15 months, it was her one and only since then - until now. Earlier this week Miss Ana just decided it was time to start putting words together. It began with "hi, duck" and, over the next day, turned into "bye, turtle" and "nye-nye, mama". So this is it. This is where it begins I guess. Her journey into official toddlerhood has commenced. I can't get over how proud I am of her especially when she learns something new. But I'd be fooling myself to deny that it makes me a little bit sad at the same time. This is my baby, my tiny little baby that needed me for everything just a year and a half ago. It feels like just yesterday that she needed me to be her voice and then, what seems like suddenly, she has a voice of her own. Now, don't get me wrong, these are the moments I've worked so hard for since the day we brought her home and to see her accomplish such things brings a pride beyond belief. But I guess it's the reality that from that moment you bring her home from the hospital she'll need you less and less that's bitter sweet. I know I can take comfort at least in knowing that for every moment of sadness I'll feel in the years to come as she slowly needs me that much less, the moments of pride will be so far beyond what I can imagine right now.

To "Buzz" or not to "Buzz"... - March 18, 2007
What a busy week we had! Between finally getting Ana's bathroom finished and getting thinks together for Aunt Maria's birthday party (which, by the way was a HUGE hit) who had time to learn anything, right? WRONG! Anthony and I have been working on the ABC's with Ana and today she decided she'd let us know that yes, she is catching on. So I picked up her little magnadoodle and wrote the letter "A". I showed it to her and asked "what's this?" Now, you can imagine my pride as she enthusiastically exclaimed "A!!!" What a good girl! Ok, let's try the next letter, I thought. So I wrote the letter "B" and again asked "what's this?", to which she enthusically replied "bzzzzzzzzz!!!". Now, to the naive bystander this may simply come across as an error and you may be thinking "well, she'll get it soon enough". But you'd be mistaken to think that. You see, my little girl knows what's she's talking about. She recognized what I wrote as a "B" and, being the smart girl she is, knows that bees go "bzzzzz". So I say, in the world of Ana, can't the alphabet just be "A, Bzzz, C, D...."??? I'd say so :).

And the verdict is... - March 26, 2007
Teeth.Ana is finally getting more teeth! As a mom that used to refer to her "What to Expect in the Toddler Years" book almost daily, little Ana's teething schedule sure did have me stumped. On average, a baby's first tooth appears somewhere around 7 months. Ana's? 11.5 months. On average, after that first tooth pops through, a baby will get about 2 teeth a month until their molars are ready to come in. Ana? Has a total of 6 teeth. 6. From September '05 to now she's only gotten 6. But like I said, I USED to refer to "the experts" on a daily basis and, like the Luvs commercials put it, then I got real. And, while it's fine and dandy that my peanut's teeth are on their own schedule, it does make it a little difficult to spot her signs of teething. I spent the better part of last week accusing her of having a case of the crankies (or as Anthony calls her, "crankity"). But now I know, it must have been the teeth. So, I'd like to take this opportunity to publicly apologize to my sweet pea for accusing her of being just crabby. There. It's on record.

MaNell!!! - April 7, 2007
So, as the "experts" have promised, now that Ana is 18 months old, Anthony and I have been expecting the "language explosion" to happen any day now. And though, according to her doctor and plenty of books, she is well above average in her vocabulary right now, we were still thinking she was going to start engaging us in full-blown conversations on March 30th, the exact day she turned 18 months. What? Wishful, overly positive parent thinking :)? Anyway, it didn't happen but that's ok. She did hit a huge milestone though. After months of acknowledging my parents as Nana and Papa, she finally found her word for Grandma Nell (Anthony's mom) - MaNell! It's so cute and I love it! And Anthony's mom??? She just melts when she hears it. Now we just have to work on Grandpa Gordon. That one might take a while though :).

So Sick - April 21, 2007
So we're well into week 3 of Ana feeling under the weather :(. She had a little head cold a couple of weeks ago and, according to the doc, it turned into a baby sinus infection. I've personally never had a sinus infection but from what I hear, they can make you pretty miserable. So my poor little lady was soooo crabby all this week. She's on some antibiotics and they seem to be working so, at this point, we're just keeping our fingers crossed that she'll soon be back to the sweetpea we know :).