More Snow

We thought it was over, but today we had heavy snow from 9am until 2pm. It left about 6 or 7 inches all over our yard. Here are some fun pictures of Danny and Randy playing in the snow today. (Did I mention how ready Danny is to go back to school? Keep your fingers crossed for us!)

Annelise is Eleven Months

On Friday, Annelise turned 11 months. She constantly cracks us up. She is getting more and more mobile, and with that comes a lot of mischievousness. Annelise loves Danny's dump truck. She uses it as a walker and pushes her way around the basement. Or sometimes she will crawl into the back and wait for Danny to come by to give her a ride. She also loves to crawl into things. She likes the dishwasher, laundry baskets, and the drawers under Danny's train table. It is funny to watch her figure out how she will get where she wants to go. Our stairs that go down to our basement have a wood railing that block off the stairs from the living room. Today I caught Annelise throwing things between the rails down to the stairs. Every once in a while, Annelise surprises herself and stands on her own... but no steps, yet!

She does other cute things, too. She has been kissing for the last couple of weeks. We ask her to give us a kiss, and she leans forward to plant one on our lips. It is a 50/50 chance whether or not her mouth will be open or closed, though! If we tell her to give her Dolly a kiss, she will also do that and it is so cute! She has been saying no and shaking her head no. We rarely tell Annelise "no" in a single word. Usually it is more of a warning, like "No, no, no, Annelise, you can't have that!" In the last week she has been saying "No, no, no, no, no." She also shakes her head back and forth and looks at us when she is doing something she shouldn't be.

After all of our travels and sickness in December and January, we finally have Annelise sleeping through the night again. The problem is that she now gets up between 4:30 and 5:30 in the morning. If Randy goes in to get her, she yells, "Ma-ma, Ma-ma, Ma-ma!" She definitely knows what she wants! We are once again working on the cup with her, so that Randy and I can go out every once in a while. It is a slow process because I am with her 95% of the time, so she rarely has a need.

I think back to Danny at this time. He had already been walking for 6 weeks. He had been weaned for 4 weeks. They are about the same size, although I think Annelise is a little shorter. Danny used a lot more sign language to communicate, but Annelise seems to be more verbal. Here are some pictures of the eleven-month-old!

Crazy Weather and Times

Last week we had snow (Danny didn't have school for THREE days). This week it has been reaching up into the low 50's. Danny didn't have school this week because of a winter break. It ends up he hasn't been to school since Monday, February 12th. We have been to playgroup, on a shopping trip, a play date visit to the aviation museum, and we have had a couple of cleaning frenzies to occupy our time. Yesterday we had some friends to our house and Danny and their little girl had a fun time playing. It has been crazy adjusting to Danny being around so much! He becomes so preoccupied with what we are doing the next day. I hope, hope, hope that he will have school on Monday!

Another Tooth

On February 20th, Annelise's sixth tooth popped out. Now she has four on top and two on bottom. Nursing has become challenging again, as she doesn't quite know what to do with those extra teeth! This isn't the best picture, but you can see Annelise's little teeth!

A Snow Day

On Valentine's Day we had a lot of snow from the night before. Enough that even the University called a snow day, so Randy got to stay home. We had a great time. Now I understand that the best thing about a snow day is that you don't account for it, so it is like a gift. It was definitely a gift having Randy around to hang out with and help with the snow shoveling! Here are some pictures of the event! Doesn't Annelise look like she's missing out? She just loved watching Randy and Danny outside!

Evening Entertainment

Ever since we returned from our trip, I have found a new kind of evening entertainment. I like to read the weather report (and share it with Randy if he is willing to be tortured). This was our reading tonight... tomorrow's forecast:

Heavy rain and freezing rain...mixing with snow and sleet and becoming light in the afternoon. Windy at times. Significant icing likely. High 33F. Winds NNW at 25 to 35 mph. Chance of precip 90%.

The actual temperature isn't bad. It is all that other stuff. And if we really want to torture each other we read Irvine's weather forecast. (They're predicting 79 degrees on Friday?)

She-Ra

That's what I felt like today. It snowed from 7am to about 2pm today. At 2, it changed to freezing rain (lots of fun!). School was cancelled for Danny, but I did have to get to the shuttle stop to pick up Randy. Remember last week I complained about how long it took to bundle the kids to get them out the door? That was nothing. Today I had to shovel the driveway and the steps. I scraped ice off the windshield (which didn't work very well). Then I had to pour hot water over the doors so that I could open them. Then another bucket over the windshield to melt the ice. I had the kids contained during all this, so then I had to bundle them and get out the door! It was so much work. It makes me glad that we don't have more snow (it also makes me realize how nice a carport or garage would be!).

Words for Annelise

Annelise is experiencing language development of her own, too. I think I mentioned that she says mama and dada with meaning. She also says up. Today during lunch she kept saying a-boo. Danny asked me what she was saying, and I told him that she was just babbling. Then Annelise took her cup, put it in front of her eyes, moved it away and said, "a-boo." She was saying peek-a-boo in her own, Annelise way.

Jad to Sad

to bad to bat to cat to... Last night I made a startling realization. Danny can read basic short-vowelled words! It started at bath time where he has foam bath letters. He likes to put letters together and ask us what they spell. He almost always makes up nonsense words, so Randy or I muddle our way through pronouncing words like jcmo. Last night Annelise had gone to bed early, so I actually sat down with him when he asked what j-a-d spelled. I said, "What are the sounds?" He sounded it out to make jad. I told him that wasn't a real word, but he said it correctly. I then had him replace the j with an s. He sounded it out and read sad. I asked him what the word meant and he said that it was when you weren't happy. It was amazing because I saw two things at that time. 1- I could see a light bulb go off in Danny's head that he understood what he was doing. 2-I could see excitement in his eyes.

What??? The Fifth Tooth?

Today Miss A's fifth tooth made its appearance. Two days in a row with new teeth. It looks like her sixth will be here soon, too!

Fourth Tooth (Finally!)

Today Annelise's fourth tooth broke through. She has had only one side tooth on the top, and with this new one she will have a nice set of fangs. I finally got a picture of Annelise doing this motion with her hand at her forehead. Sometimes she does one hand, but she'll also use two. We haven't figured out why she does it, but we find it very melodramatic.

Brrrrr...

Wow! The last three days have been so cold! Monday and Tuesday were in the teens (and with wind chill the temp hovered around 0). I never thought it could be so cold... and yes, I am totally a California wimp. Last night we got a couple inches of snow. Enough snow for Danny's school district to call a snow day, although I question their decision since I had no problem getting out and about.

While Annelise was napping this morning, Danny and I bundled up to go play in the snow. It was soft and powdery, so I couldn't even teach him how to make a snowball. But we had fun tromping around anyway. After about 40 minutes the wind picked up and Danny decided it was time to go in (I was very glad he noticed that wind!). On our way in the house he said, "Now I know that snow is cold. I also know that it is fun to play in." He was so matter-of-fact, I couldn't help but laugh. I guess that is what this California kid thinks of the snow!

Hat Head

I never understood hat head until recently, when I've had to wear a hat every day. It is so frustrating to be out of the shower, let my hair air-dry curly, and then when I put on my hat to go outside, know that my hair will be as flat as a pancake (and yet curly at the bottom!). I'm certainly not going to blow dry my hair straight just so that I don't have hat head. I now understand the varieties of head coverings that women in Maryland (and other cold climates) wear. There is the scarf over the head and around the neck which is a good solution to the hat hair problem (except Annelise would surely tug it off my head). There is also the headband thing, which I always thought was so funny looking. But now I get it, it keeps your ears warm, but you don't sacrifice on hair style (although a lot of heat is still escaping from the top of your head, but darn it... your hair looks good!). I think I will just have to get used to the idea of hat head during the next couple of months, and I occasionally may wear the scarf over my head. Interesting things to get used to. (And don't even get me started on how long it takes to get both kids bundled to head out the door!)