Anna learned a new trick - telling me what Santa says. Enjoy!
Anna also learned how to take the lid off a cookie jar and spill the contents all over the kitchen floor, which explains the abrupt ending of the video ... have I mentioned how much I love our almost 16-month-old?! She NEVER stops. NEVER.
Thursday night we played and had dinner with Nichole, Josiah and Addy (who Anna now remembers and says "Siah" and "Addy" when asked to identify them). Nichole had these two cute superhero capes she made, and Anna and Josiah had fun wearing them around!
Anna found these hilarious glasses to complete her superhero persona ... I think the glasses, water all over her shirt, and bloated post-dinner belly really make her a force to be reckoned with :-)
Looking forward to a weekend of playing and getting ready for Christmas!
She gave Frosty a high five!
Yeah ... she wanted nothing to do with Santa without Mommy close by. She was pointing to his nose and glasses and smiling with him when I was holding her. Don't worry - I whisked her away the moment after the camera snapped this!
Here's a quick video of Anna dancing to Kidmo's Preschool Worship dvd ... she's been dancing more and more these days! When I picked her up from school on Friday, she and I danced to some music that was playing on the radio in her classroom. One of her buddies from class came up and wanted to hold my hand, and when I held it, Anna took her other hand and started dancing away. It was the cutest thing!
I took Anna to a breakfast with Santa this morning and hope to have pictures to post tomorrow. Anna wasn't a huge fan of Santa, but she loved everything else!
Our friends Kelly and Emily had fun doing a photoshoot with Anna last week while Jimmy and I did some work around the house. What a sweet (and drooly, and snotty, and dirty) face!
I love this last picture - how precious! Josiah was making Anna "grass soup" as an "appetizer."
Notice the new outfit?! Oh yeah ... it was her THIRD of the day. Thank you, explosive poo and spaghetti for lunch, I LOVE doing laundry!
Today Anna let me put her hair in pigtails for the first time - I about died, she looked so cute! Here she is eating her lunch, showing off her mad spoon-using skills. Listen closely and you'll hear her say applesauce (or her version of it), cup, Hi Baby, and bye-bye. She's also started saying bowl, ball, nose, and puppy, but those will have to wait for another video. Truth be told, she's also started saying the dreaded no, but I'm going to pretend she hasn't for a little while longer. Ignorance is bliss, right?!?! Where did our baby go? Who is this smart, spunky kid running around our house? She sure is a hoot!
Followed by play time. These days, play time consists of lots of "chasing" Mommy and Daddy!
Notice the new ponytail?!?! I'm trying my hardest to try and tame her mane!
We enjoyed a picnic lunch, followed by much swinging, sliding (by herself!), and climbing around on the jungle gym. Jimmy and I were following Anna around the whole playground ... she knew just what she wanted to do! It's so fun (and terribly frightening) to watch her feel brave and excited over the freedom her increased mobility gives her. She was EXHAUSTED by the time we left and took a second nap in the afternoon (giving Mommy and Daddy time to work on sealing the driveway --- something we'll share photos of in another post).
What could be a better way to end a fun day than with her first cookie?!?!
Here she is tossing back her milk at her picnic table this morning before church.
This is the pumpkin Anna painted at Nichole's house on Friday. Nichole had asked to keep Anna on Friday so Josiah could have someone to play with. They had so much fun! Nichole was so sweet to have planned a fun art project for the kids. Anna likes to point at the pumpkin's nose (which she knows how to say and identify now!).
Finally, here's a cute picture of Anna and Jimmy from this afternoon. She's been in the habit of taking Jimmy's hat off and putting it on herself. Today Jimmy got her Reds hat and put it on her; she thought it was so cool to match Daddy. She wore her hat during our trip to the grocery store and kept it on the whole time (that's unprecedented for our girl!). She got lots of smiles at the store ... pretty cute.
All that to say, we've been loving our low-key weekends. It's been so fun to really have some consecutive weeks of good, solid family time. I feel like Anna's blossoming into this really fun "kid" --- she's hilarious and loves to get laughs out of whatever crowd she's around. It's nice to have these quiet weekends to soak up every second of what I know will be another fast year!It's been busy at the Leitsch household this month. Between traveling to Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, Jimmy being out of town for work, and my bad choice to assign lots of writing to my loveable students, I've been doing my best to keep my head above water. Please forgive my absence from the blogging world!
There are lots of pictures from Anna's first birthday party on Facebook, compliments of Aunt Jess, and I hope to have some cute pictures from Erin and Anissa soon that chronicle our big Mish get-together in Cincinnati last weekend.
For today, this video will have to suffice. Nichole and I were both husband-less tonight, so she suggested we take the kids to Chick-fil-a for dinner. Who am I to pass up waffle fries?!?! Watching Anna play in the kids' area after dinner, I was struck by the huge change I see in her --- she's no longer a baby, but a mobile little kid with a mind of her own! She's been talking, walking, and responding so much more intentionally than before. Even in the last week I've noticed changes in her awareness of her surroundings. She's hilarious, sweet, and spunky - just the way I like her!
Jimmy and I bought this stroller for Anna months ago ... we gave it to her on Saturday so we could enjoy watching her play with it all weekend. So far, it's a success! She still doesn't get the concept of turning or backing up, but she's having fun walking in straight lines around our kitchen and family room!
Enjoying her birthday brownie:
Oops - forgot to flip this one!
Aunika, Derek, and Emily surprised us by coming over to wish Anna a happy day. Aunika helped Anna open her present:
Check out these two adorable superhero shirts (from Old Navy, in case you're interested)!
More steps towards Nichole:
