Twenty-One

Anna is 21 now. Months, that is, though it seems it will be years before we know it. One day a week or so ago we couldn't stop staring at her--has she grown inches and months in one day? Maybe it was what she was wearing or her hair ("six-five, with the afro six-nine..."), but she seemed oh so grown up all of a sudden.




Favorites at 21 months:

• Words: water (pronounced "dowww"), hi, hot, football
• Food: cheese, fruit, pizza
• Clothes: shoes, because they mean going somewhere; half-removed pajamas
  
• Activities: running, dancing/spinning, sitting on dog, looking at pictures of herself
• Sport: "Foobaaaaaall!" (raises arms in touchdown signal)
• Places: Beach, playground, Aaron's office or nursery at church
• Toys: balls, books, Magnadoodle, baby doll, coasters, slammable drawer, food
  
• People: Dadadadadada! (as he's called when he comes home), MAMA! (as I'm summoned downstairs to say goodnight), cheerleaders, teenagers, church ladies, and our friend the big rough redneck Dreamy Lumberjack (go figure)
• Mode of protest: Full body sprawl

She is working on words but seems to be more into motions/actions. For example, she'll strum on her stomach like playing the guitar when she sees one or a picture of one (or a violin) or to indicate where one is, like the front of church where Aaron plays. She can point to lots of body parts but not say them. She does a lot of very insistent pointing and patting and dragging you by the finger to indicate what she wants or where she wants you. I don't know if this means anything about her speech or learning style or not--is she a physical learner, perhaps? But she is slowly increasing her vocabulary too and certainly chatters frequently and sometimes incredibly loudly.

If she's upset she will do the toddler full body sprawl, spinning around if she's holding your hand and throwing herself onto the ground. This was charming when she tried it in the post office, but unfortunately for her didn't embarrass me.

Generally she's very good in public though. She will test us at home and if necessary gets a time-out in a chair in the corner. Recently she got about five in a row because when Aaron told her to put her books on the bookshelf (yes, she knows how) or she'd get another time out, she kept choosing the chair. Literally. She went back to it. Of course when he put her in it she realized that she wouldn't rather be there. She still tried ignoring him, though, so he kept at it. Quite an entertaining show they put on for me, really. SuperNanny would be proud of my man!

She is really into Winnie the Pooh and football. If she sees anything football related--game or commercial on TV, picture of football or helmet, football players on the back of the box of crackers--she says "Foobbaaaaaallll!" and raises her hands like the touchdown signal. She also knows how to push a small football behind her through her legs when I say "hut hut!" (I am training her for the oft-overlooked position of long snapper, since it is an important specialization with relatively low risk of injury, less glory but still plenty of cash to take care of her momma in her old age.)

She loves to go to the school playground and go on the slides, go for walks out behind our house, and help me pick eat the blackberries around our house.

Best of all, she loves hugs, cuddles, tickles, and us.

Is that a teenager scarfing down all our pizza?



Must be. She has the pouty face down.