Anne in Her Natural Environment

Today Anne fell and hit her mouth on the crosspiece of a kitchen chair.  She started wailing immediately and when she looked up there was blood everywhere.  It was traumatising probably more for me than for her.  It turns out she just cut the inside of her top lip.  After a little bit of loving and soother-sucking, she was soon back to her usual self.  

Last night was Anne's fourth swimming lesson and she had a blast.  She is really becoming comfortable in the water.  This week she was kicking and splashing the water with her hands and generally having a great time.  She even went under a couple of times.  She was rather confused, but didn't cry at all.  

A couple of weeks ago Anne's third tooth came in.  Rather than it being one of her top-front teeth like normal babies, Anne got one of the teeth beside the front teeth.  I looked it up online and apparently sometimes it does happen and it's nothing to worry about.  I guess Anne just likes to be different!

Anne has been getting much better at pulling herself up to standing and now she can finally sit down by herself.  As a result Anne is a lean, mean, travelling machine.  She crawls all over the place, pulls herself up on things, plays with whatever is in reach, sits down, and explores like a mad woman.  She is starting to do some cruising, like moving herself down the edge of the coffee table.  She can even go from the coffee table to the couch and back, as long as it is within reach.  She loves to walk holding your hands and she is getting better and better at maintaining her balance by herself.

Here are some of the latest photos of Anne:

Season's Greetings with Gandma and Grandpa B.

Anne refuses to give us a smile.

Anne in her Steelers shirt with Grandpa G.

My pretty baby.

I have been trying to get a good video that illustrates Anne's current capabilities, but have failed at getting anything superb.  Instead, here are some average videos of Anne playing.

Anne often gets distracted by the video camera and must have it.  She particularly loves cell phones, cameras, remote controls, and regular cordless phones.  Pretty much anything that lights up, has buttons, and is in your hands:

Here I have contained Anne in her exersaucer so she cannot get the camera.  She has not yet figured out that she can drink from the sippy-cup.  She thinks the straw is a chew-toy:

Here is Anne exploring and getting into trouble: