Trucking Along

Why would she want to walk on her feet when she can get around on her knees just fine? Anna can walk when I hold her hands, even if I'm just holding one hand, but don't ask her to walk without holding onto anyone or anything. Some day she'll want to walk and then she'll do it, but until then, crawling and knee-walking seem to be working just fine.

Cake!

Anna ate her first piece of chocolate cake at the family birthday party last week. It wasn't the first time she had tasted chocolate since she managed to grab a chunk of a cupcake I was eating and stuff it in her mouth when she was about eight months old, but she was still a little tentative about trying the cake at first. I thought she'd end up with cake in her hair and all over her face, but she managed to get most of it into her mouth.

I asked my sister to take pictures with my camera, so that I could watch Anna eat her first piece of chocolate cake in person instead of on the digital screen on the back of my camera. Erica did a great job and documented Anna's every move. I think she took about 30 photos of Anna eating cake. Thanks Erica!

Birthday Girl

This sweet little girl turned one yesterday. It's hard to believe that a year has already flown by. Because Anna gets overwhelmed by lots of adults, we decided to keep her birthday party to her aunts and uncles and Dan's parents this year. We'll be celebrating on Saturday, but yesterday Anna got to open her presents from Mom and Dad.

She did a little better at opening her presents than at Christmas, but mostly she just wanted to play with the bows and use the boxes to help her stand up. At one point, one of the bows got stuck to her bum and it was so funny, but I wasn't fast enough with the camera.

These days Anna loves to cruise around, holding onto anything available to keep her on her feet. She especially likes holding onto Mom's legs. She's also become a very speedy crawler and she recently learned to clap and point. We've tried to train her to hold up her pointer finger when we ask her how old she is. If she's already pointing, she'll usually do it. If asked where her tongue is, and if she's in the right mood, she'll stick it out and wiggle it. She has also learned where her head is. Her favorite foods are refried beans, apples, cottage cheese, yogurt, and pasta with spaghetti sauce. I'm excited to see what she'll do with chocolate cake on Saturday. We're so glad she's a part of our family.