1.25

Dear Annie,
Yesterday marked 15 months with you, my sweet girl. You are one and one quarter years old. You are so much. You are more than I think either of us could have ever imagined. You are so bright and have such a fun personality. You have no concept of strangers and find nothing more entertaining than engaging in "discussions" with new people. The ladies at the deli counter at the grocery store know you and seem to be disappointed when I don't have you with me. You really know how to work a room and it's hilarious to watch. Even more so when you reach your "I'm just about to lose my shiz I am so tired" phase, because in those 10 minutes, you are a 25 pound physical comedian, falling, flapping, head wagging, babbling maniac whose sole purpose is to capture the attention of anyone that dare step in your wake.

You have started to repeat more words now, but still in your sweet, high, unsure voice. You will say "peese" more and more, sometimes unprompted. Of course, you now think that by saying peese you should get anything you want, which resulted in a not-so-minor melt down over me refusing you pedialyte pops at 7:15 one morning. I guess that's an equally important lesson you will need to learn. And believe me, it's not easy for me to tell you no when I hear that sweet peese come from you.

You walk or run all the time now. You have no concept of danger and refuse to play on the "baby" section of the playground. The bigger the slide, the better. Though you still just prefer to climb up them. You are very tough and very rarely cry. You are on the move constantly. You still use your binkie, but really only right when you lay down to sleep. You love bunny more than ever. You sleep with a blanket. You now have 6 teeth (I think there are 6 up there, you don't ever let me look) on top and are getting 2 new teeth on bottom, for a grand total of 10. You have an adorable little gap in your top teeth, which is one of the few things that seems to be from me, though mine was a little less adorable. Let's all pray that's the only dental trait you inherited from your mother.

Showing everyone your cheez-its at the pool.

Playing in GB and Big's school bus in your super-girl PJs.

Learning that while also a tasty treat, Crayons also serve a secondary purpose!

Playing in the aforementioned school bus, but this time with Parker and Chloe. The squealing that ensued was likely to result in a noise complaint.

Getting ice cream with Dad on your 1.25 year old birthday. The strawberries make it healthy.

In 20 years I want to remember how independent you are and refuse to hold my hand, until you realize that you need help and your arm shoots up, knowing one of us is right there to help you out. I want to remember how funny you think it is when I blink really quickly with my face up close to yours, and how you love to stick your fingers veeeerrrrryyyy close to my eyes to feel my eye lashes. I want to remember how much you love reading about puppies and kittens. I want to remember how while you love the puppy and kitten books, your favorite thing to do with books is not to read them, but rather to carry them from room to room and unpack them from various shelves. I want to remember how you shake and your eyes get really big when you see something you really want, like mac and cheese or your Dad's iPhone.

I want to remember it all.

I love you, sweet girl.

Mom

The Dog Days

Today is Parker and Chloe's first day of school. Fifth and third grades, respectively. Unthinkable. One on the verge of middle school. I can remember those transition times so vividly. Trying to sleep the night before school started. Picking out our first day outfits with Mom. Getting all those fabulous new school supplies. It was all so exciting.

Rick and I made the mistake of going to Target this past weekend and fought the throes of people shopping for last-minute supplies to stock their desks and dorm rooms. Annie loved the bustle of it all and only tried to steal my keys once. I made a sideways glance at Rick and commented that in a few years it will be us buying all this stuff for our girl (though we both know he would NEVER allow it to be a last minute purchase). His response, "I don't even want to talk about it." And so we didn't and we hit the dollar bin for a pretend microphone and went about our day.

But I still couldn't stop thinking about Annie and summers and school. So yesterday, on what is for most in our area, the last day of summer break, Annie and I celebrated with a special breakfast out in our PJs (hers more obvious than mine).

We've got five years until our girl starts real school, but I am thinking it will take every one of those five years for me to ready for it. And even then, I doubt we will be. But hopefully we'll still grab breakfast in our PJs the day before, and I am sure that will help.

Chatterbox

Annie is getting more and more vocal these days. Most of the time it's just babbling, but now we are babbling with inflection. There's a difference.To me. She has also started repeating the last syllable/few letters of some things we say to her:

Me: Balloon
Annie: ooooon!
Me: Kitty Cat
Annie: AT!

I thought she had started calling her binkie "mimi" because that's what she would say when she would be reaching/looking for it. I thought that was pretty cute. Then we went into the back yard and she spotted the neighbor's jungle gym and Annie started lurching towards it and screaming "MEEEMEEEEMEEEEMEEEE!". So it's not a sweet nickname for her binkie (that was also the name we had for my grandmother). It's a demand. At least she knows what she wants!