Monkey Girl

Up until last summer, Vivian was the least monkey-like and risk-taking one of her friends. I kind of liked it that way. This has definitely changed this summer. Suddenly, she's climbing and jumping and sliding, mostly by herself (she used to ask for a lot of help). Occasionally, though, she will still ask for help. Almost always, she will ask someone (anyone, even strangers on the playground :) ) to watch what she is doing.

It took me a bit to adapt to that new normal. I still often hold my breath (I'm a chicken, what can I say), but I've also gotten quite good at saying "no, you climbed up there, you need to figure out how to get down". She usually does!

Today, Vivian asked that we go to Dormont Playground. It's probably one of my favorites just because it is so different from your standard play equipment (a slide, a climbing structure and one or two sets of swings). Instead, the playground is one huge wooden structures with opportunities for climbing, running, balancing and sliding all over the place. I posted pictures of it before, you can find them here in my post from November 2009 (and while you are at it ... look at how small our kids were then!).

Today, Vivian proudly showed me her latest monkey-skill. And of course I had to document it.  And post it for all of you to see :)

Shopping? Done!

This was the first time that Annelee rode in the front with Vivian. It went remarkably well. Two happy girls, lots of shoppers oohing and aahing over them and I got my shopping done.

At the big grocery store, I tend to have only Annelee with me these days, as they have a supervised play area and Vivian loves to go there.  In fact, mention that we need to go shopping and she'll immediately ask about the Eagle's Nest ...

old, but classic motion picture...

when bambinos attack, oh no!!!

Dormont Pool

I think I've posted earlier that we have a membership to the pool this summer.  It's a nice pool ... kiddie pool, big kid/adult pool with dedicated section for kids, grass all around.  It has one drawback.  We don't drive past it every time we go somewhere.  We do drive past Dormont pool ever time we  go somewhere.  Dormont is an old long sloping pool, surrounded by concrete and struggling to scrape together enough funding to stay open every year.

The ONLY thing Vivian wanted for this summer was to go to Dormont pool.  On Saturday, Will and I relented and we took the kids there.  It was perfect pool weather, high 70s, it had been overcast all day (so the pool was pretty empty) but the sun came out literally as we walked out of the front door.  Because the pools is so shallow, I was able to snap a couple of pictures of the girls with my cell phone.

After the pool, Annelee fell asleep in the car and was successfully transported to her crib, Will had to work some more (boooo) and Vivian and I also ended up falling asleep.  Luckily, I woke up before anyone snapped my photo.  The girls?  Not so lucky.  But they are still cute when asleep, so it's ok. :)

Drumming Session

I wanted to post the video of Annelee's drumming session (complete with tribal chanting from her, additional singing from Daddy in the background, and of course Vivian's commentary) with yesterday's post, but ran into technical difficulties.

Finally got them resolved, so here it finally is:



I don't think you can view videos through the email (but you can if you click through to the actual blog), so I'm going to start posting links, too.  Click here to see the video if it doesn't display for you.

Annelee's 12 Month Well-Visit

Well, this child of ours continues to enjoy her food and it shows.  Even the first comment out of the pediatrician's mouth was related to Annelee's delicious chubbiness.

Here are the stats.  Both height and weight are somewhere in the 95-100% percentile:

Height:  31" (79cm)
Weight:  24 lb 12 oz (11.2kg)

For comparison, Vivian was the exact same height at her 12 month visit, but weighed in at only 21 lb 1 oz. 

The pediatrician was very happy with Annelee's eating and the variety of food she's getting (thanks, Will!).  At this point, she's eaten pretty much every food that's often an allergen and has been fine.  The only one missing is peanuts and tree nuts, but she's already had peanut oil, too, so those are likely to be ok, as well.

Annelee's ears looked fine (one perfect, one very close to perfect) - yay! 

The Dr. checked her hips very carefully since Annelee doesn't like to really stand up or put her weight on her legs, and said she looked good, we should just wait and see.  Of course, today (only 2 days after the appointment), she's twice stood with me supporting only a little bit of her weight already.  Always one to proof us wrong, just like her sister.

Annelee got three shots (ouch - and she was sure to let us know that IT.WAS.NOT.ACCEPTABLE!) and I got a parking ticket (ouch - but only for the wallet, and luckily, only $10).

All in all, a very good visit.

So I don't forget, here are a couple of other things about Annelee.  She's got eight teeth by now (4 top, 4 bottom, one of the top ones is barely there, but there).  She still nurses 2-3 times a day (morning, evening, sometimes in the afternoon) but I (very gleefully and happy, I might add) threw the breast pump in the trash last week, so that bane of my existence is gone!

Annelee mostly naps twice a day, and it seems that she starts about 90% of her naps in the car.  In fact, there are times where we are at home and I wonder why she's so cranky ... and then I realize it's probably nap time for her, and I take her upstairs and she's asleep in less than a minute.

She's just figured out to put money in her play piggy bank, and today she got hold of  a drum and started drumming (when she wasn't eating the drum-stick, that is).  Talking about eating, everything, and I mean absolutely everything ends up in Annelee's mouth.  I know every kid goes through that phase, and Vivian did, too, but not to this extreme.  I sometimes give her the binky just so that she won't constantly graze on the floor.  Of course, I could sweep, but the binky is easier  :)