Annalise at 15 months

Annalise is now 15 months old. We just celebrated her birthday, right? The past few months truly are a blur. Today we visited Dr. Blank for her well-baby check up. Here she is in all her cuteness.

She is growing and changing so much every day. She is 31.5″ tall (75-90%), 23 lbs. 10 oz. (50-75%) and her head circumference is 46 cm (50%). She has grown into 24m/2T tops and dresses. The waist of 18M pants are still quite loose, but the length of her jeans and cords seem to get shorter with every wear. Her size 6 shoe collection is growing…I really hope she stays this size until the weather turns warm.

She does care much for being cold and she was a pretty upset when I set her on the exam table. If you think she’s mad here, you should’ve seen her when the doctor looked in her mouth. I dread her upcoming dentist’s appointment like you wouldn’t believe.

She learned a new trick today, too. She can now climb onto the kitchen chairs and sat at the table “big girl” style for cereal club. I’m proud of her…until I find her ON the table instead of seated in the chair. ;)

Lied Discovery Children’s Museum

Last week we visited our local children’s museum for some fun with our neighbors, Ryley and Miranda. Tommy still calls is the “mue-zee-EM” and I want to laugh every time he says it.

All four kids had a ton of fun…it’s so great to see how much they’re growing. Tommy really enjoyed exploring the Clifford exhibit, splashing at the water tables and creating a dragon mask in honor of Chinese New Year. Annalise just loved running around touching everything. She got out on the dance floor and twirled while holding a pair of ruby slippers from the dress-up trunk. She also had a great time holding crayons and markers in the art room. It’s amazing to see her becoming a little girl. She’s so active and brave…it’s hard to remember her baby days already!

Lulu’s Adventures

Annalise is a busy girl around the house. She desperately wants to figure out how to crack the code of the baby gates. Brother is more than happy to help her get past them, as he mastered them quite a while ago. She’s very interested in gaining access to the bathrooms, curious about the toilet paper rolls, climbing the stepstool up to the counter, and, ugh, the toilet. I took my eyes off her for one second and found her moments later standing RIGHT NEXT to her brother while he peed. She was just watching, but eww. Perhaps the early interest will translate into fewer months in diapers?
We enjoyed watching the inauguration together (Tommy was at school) and it was a very special moment for me. What an amazing feeling of hope and promise.
She’s become very intrigued with dress-up, shoes, purses, jewelry…anything girly. She slips her feet into my shoes whenever I leave them lying around (frequently!). She has a blast dragging my old purses around in the closet and throws anything resembling a handbag swiftly over her shoulder to haul around a variety of collected items. She tugs on my necklaces and bracelets until I take them off and let her wear them. Anyone know where to get little girl necklaces that aren’t total choking hazards?
And something I’m very excited to announce…she has enough hair that she can wear psuedo-pigtails! I’m able to gather her little wisps up into teeny tails while the back forms in the cutest ringlets (not a mullet, Uncle D!). I need to figure out a way to get her to hold still for the styling sessions, though. Her best cooperation comes during breakfast…being strapped in her booster seat with cereal in front of her is a great distraction.

Tommy Back to School

Tommy started his new preschool after Christmas break. Here are a few pics of the kids on his first day. The new school doesn’t require uniforms, which was a pain at first since a uni really takes the guesswork out of clothing selection. But now that I’m used to it, I find it quite nice that he gets to express himself in what he wears. Tommy is becoming more active in his clothing choices, though if it were up to him he’d wear his Speed Racer underpants, “Top Gun” pants (olive green like the flight suits), a “Cars” t-shirt, ”Bee” socks (gold and dark navy stripes) and brown play shoes every day. I’ll have to snap a photo of him in the aforementioned getup…it’s quite a hodge-podge. Though I know I shouldn’t complain….I could be battling the child who insists on wearing the superhero costume everywhere.

Pony

Grandpa Tom & Ann-ma got Annalise the coolest pony for Christmas, which has been a big hit with both kids since we put it together. Annalise has gained so much confidence in her climbing abilities with constant mount/dismount practice. She’s even grown so bold as to STAND on the saddle while holding the reins of the pony (courtesy of a few demonstrations by Tommy). I wonder if they’ll have any interest in becoming circus equestrians when they get older?