Show Me the Money!

For Mother's Day, Anne and Jeff and I went on a short hike in Gatineau Park.  Unfortunately we forgot her carrier and then had a mix-up in the directions, so a half-hour drive turned into an hour-and-a-half drive.  We did eventually make it though and had a lovely, short hike to a beautiful waterfall.  The path was easy and turned out great for our first hike with Anne.  Anne particularly enjoyed sitting on a rock in the stream and throwing stones into the water.  

Anne has really picked up on the "more" sign.  However, instead of squishing her fingers together and tapping them together, she just taps one hand with her index finger as if to say, "Show me the money!"  It is very effective.  :)  It has been a huge help in trying to decipher what she wants and having her ask for what she wants is so much more pleasant than whining.  With our next baby I think I will try sign language from the beginning.

Anne hasn't really progressed in her vocabulary, although she does use her four words a lot ("dada", "mama", "baabaa" meaning baby, and "baba" meaning boom).  If you ask her to say a word she will try really hard, but it always comes out as some combination of "ba", "da", and "ma".  

Anne has started to like filling up containers and dumping them out again.  She always liked the dumping out, but now all of a sudden she likes to fill them back up too.  

I let Anne outside after it rained and the first thing she did was sat down in the only puddle on the driveway.

Nice white pants.

Happy as a clam.

Anne kissing her bunny.

Anne trying to put her socks on her feet.

Anne is very excited to sit on things these days.

Happy baby!

Mother's Day hike: 

Anne throwing stones in the stream.

Anne does the "more" sign.

Master of the Spoon

Anne mastered the spoon this morning.  For a while she was shoveling yogurt into her mouth at breakneck speed, thrilled that she had finally gotten the hang of it.  By the time I got the video camera out she had slowed down a bit.

Also recently, Anne learned how to do the "more" sign.  Combined with the "all done" sign, this makes life a LOT easier with Anne.  She uses the "all done" sign all the time.  For example, when she is done being in the swing, or when she is just sick of whatever we are doing.  Now we just have to get her using the "more" sign consistently.

Churning Butter

Last weekend Grandpa and Grandma B came to visit.  We took them to the Museum of Agriculture since Anne seemed to enjoy it the first time.  Anne seemed to like it just as much this time, if not more so since I allowed her to pet the animals more.  A cow almost ate her mitten.  

Also, Grandma B brought a pile of goodies, including two new outfits for Anne and a beautiful dress that she made herself (see photo below).  Thanks Grandma B!  

One day Anne clasped her hands together and sort of moved them around as if she were churning butter.  Grandma and Grandpa immediately started churning butter too and Anne got all excited.  Now she starts churning butter randomly all day long with a huge grin on her face (see video below).

Anne definitely says four words now: "Dada", "Mama", "Baba" (meaning "boom" - she often says this after throwing something on the floor), and "Baba" (meaning "baby" and with different inflection than when she means "boom").  We are looking into introducing her to other vowels.  

Anne in the beautiful new dress that Grandma B made her.

Anne pets a goat.  The goat is extremely interested in her sippy cup.

Anne and Grandpa B play on the play structure at the Museum of Agriculture.

Anne pets a cow.  The cow tries to eat Anne's mitten.

Anne pets a donkey.

Anne watches as a cow licks Mom's jacket.

Anne says "Dada" and "baba" ("boom").

Anne does the all-done sign (the only official sign language she knows).

Anne churns some butter.