Anne seems to be growing up before our eyes. Each day she learns something new and gets a bit bigger. She is starting to look a lot more like a little girl and a lot less like a baby.
On Halloween we went to Daddy's work to trick-or-treat around the office. Anne was dressed as a horse and would neigh whenever you asked her what she was dressed as. (She will still tell you to this day, even though it has been nearly a month.) Later that evening we went trick-or-treating around the court and met many of our new neighbours.
A couple weeks ago Anne spontaneously started following along with the actions in songs. Previously, she might touch her head, shoulders, knees, and toes only when prompted for each one, or maybe once in a while she would do one on her own. Now, however, she follows along with the actions from almost any song. It can even be a song she has never heard before and she is just following the instructor at our library program, or at the Early Years Centre.
Last week, on November 23, Anne became self-aware. She all of a sudden started referring to herself as Annie. For example, she will point at my drink and say, "Mama" and then at her own drink and say, "Annie." When she looks in a mirror she points and says, "Annie."
Two days ago Anne "counted" for the first time (this is different from previous attempts, which consisted of randomly pointing her finger all over the page of a book as we count things). This is what happened: Anne brought me a doll bed with a baby in it and I said, "Is there a baby in that bed?" Anne said, "Doo!" (her T's sound like D's). She excitedly ran into the other room to get a second baby, put it in the bed and said, "Doo!" I said, "Oh, you have TWO babies in the bed!" and she squealed with delight. If we were not convinced by this episode, we were surely convinced the next day when we were talking about all of the people who have elbows and I said, "Does Darwyn have an elbow?" Anne said, "Doo!" and waved her finger in the air as she does when we count things in books. She also likes to count her babies, although there are always exactly two the way she counts.
Anne is constantly surprising me with new words I've never heard her say, or with understanding something a little bit obscure. Today she said "happy" while pointing to a happy baby in one of her books. She has also learned to say "I love you" although it sounds more like "I luvee".
Anne is quite obsessed with the vacuum cleaner. She follows me around demanding, "More, more, more!" whenever I turn it off, then runs away in terror/delight when I turn it on. Finally one day she agreed to help me and vacuumed one of the tiles in the front hallway all by herself. See video below.
The other thing Anne is obsessed with is Boo. This means that I run away and hide, and Anne runs after me. When she gets close, I jump out and yell, "Boo!" Anne squeals in delight. Repeat. Over and over. The more she is scared/startled, the better she likes it.
Anne likes to give lots of hugs and kisses these days. We like it.
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| Anne with a clean face |
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| Anne helps Dad work the elevator at work on Halloween |
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| Anne trick-or-treating at Daddy's work |
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| Ditto |
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| Anne and Mommy all ready for trick-or-treating |
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| Anne with Aunt Laura during her visit to Ontario |
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| Anne feeding her babies at a tea party |
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| Fashion diva |
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| Anne feeds batteries to the rocking horse Grampa B bought her |
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| And kisses |
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| Nice hat |
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| Anne and Max experience the massage chair |
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| The first snow of the year |
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| Tastes cold |
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| These snowball things are awesome |
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| Happy as a clam |
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| Anne vacuums |
Anne vacuums
Anne feeds the ducks (an older video from the summer)
A lesson learned
On Noodles
