Annalyn Update Time!
Before I start this, I must confess that the stage Annalyn is at right now is by far my favorite thus far in her 18 months. Consequently, this post is going to be so much fun for me and may be nothing much to you - who knows? You know how us moms get about our own children. I could honestly talk about her all the time! I hope y'all feel at least a portion of the excitement and happiness this little girl brings to life. I love being her mommy!
So remember the bug story? Well here's pic of her on hands and knees following an earwig around the kitchen. She now squashes all "bu"s (the g is silent when she says it) with her foot (or even hand sometimes) regardless of whether or not she has shoes on. She followed a jumping spider all the way around the police station waiting room to loud exclamations of "bu! bu!" Until she stomped on it and it stopped moving, at which point she was a little sad, "bu?" But returned to her seat and played with toys like this was everyday routine.
Just too precious to not include. Can't remember what she was eating but obviously she liked it. This is true for most meals. She's a good eater - as evidenced by those cute cheeks.
And this just couldn't be left out! One of those pics you pull out when the boyfriend comes home to meet the family! She's so expressive I love it!
Her favorite foods right now are green beans, broccoli, ramen noodles, and pb&j (although she's decided she doesn't like her crust on the bread - where do kids learn that? I eat my crust just fine...*exasperated sigh*) If I put a food in front of Annalyn that she doesn't like there is one "cure-all" ... Just give her some ketchup! Works like a charm. Yup - she's a dipper!
We're also in the "I want to be like Mommy and Daddy" stage. She loves to wear our shoes and socks. Her new thing is purses. She carries them around putting items in and out of them. When we leave the house there is often major drama if she doesn't have her purse. Mommy carried one so she has to have one too!
She can't wait til daddy gets home at night! She heard a lawn trimmer turn on outside our house this afternoon and ran to the window saying, "daddy, daddy, daddy." (sadly it was just the neighbor). She also loves talking on the phone with Daddy while he's away on business. She chatters and chatters with the phone to her ear (I have no idea where she learned that ;-). Here's a pic of a nap with daddy!
Here's a pic of her 1st ponytail. Her hair is really getting long all of the sudden! Sometimes it's a fight to make her look beautiful, but usually I win and she is nicely groomed. There have been several times when she won and I ended up with some battle scars. Several times she got a bath because I was trying to do her hair during breakfast and the yogurt ended up all over her hair because she was trying to protect it from me and my comb! She is getting better though and even started saying "pretty mom, pretty" after we're done. Oh and she says, "bow" when she wants to pick her own bow.
She is all girl my friends! Loves to dress up! Here's the time she found my old pink scarf and wanted to wear my pink socks. Look at that model scowl face! There were some of her smiling but this one was just so funny - she was struting her stuff and this is the face that came with it.
She loves the dishes and tupperward in the kitchen. Often I find her separating all the neat stacks of tupperware so they are all neatly lined up with lids on many of them. Here's her laying out all her colorful plates. We've been working on colors a lot and so notice how she put the pink cup on the pink plate and the purple cup on the purple plate! Today she said, "blue ball" for the first time and brought me the blue ball. Wow! They learn so fast!
She loves to "help" and be "helped." She often says "hel[p] mom" (that p is supposed to look silent :-) when she can't do something on her own like putting on shoes or climbing off the counter (which she shouldn't be on in the first place). Here she is "helping" daddy with the dishes. Notice the nakedness with 1 shiny silver shoe on her foot!
Here she is in all her cuteness sitting on the floor eating razzles which she opened with her teeth! (Seconds after this picture was snapped I took away the blue candy/gum and there was much crying to follow - just picture that when you look at it.)
Okay, I don't know what I did wrong uploading this video, but I hope it works for you. Anyway, it combines 2 of Annalyn's favorite things, her "farmer Jed" toy from Grandma Debbie and dancing! She loves to push the music button and then dance. She jumps and claps and mostly twirls with arms down and up. She learned to curtsy recently so sometimes she twirls with her hands holding her pants.
Here are just a few of her other favorite things:
Garbage day - the highlight of our week. She loves to watch the guys jump on and off the truck and dump the trash. She learned the word "tru[ck]" from this weekly excitement.
Barbie movies! I know - ugh! But it's really not that bad - we now know all the songs to the couple barbie movies we have and we sing and dance to them all the time. For awhile she would wake up in the morning and after Mommy, mommy, she would say, "barbie movie me mom?" ("me mom" is please mom in Annalyn talk).
Signing time! Hence the title of this post for those of you mom's who've seen it. She knows more signs than I do now. She other day she did the sign for "hungry" and I had to go watch the movie to figure out what she was trying to say. It's been so fun to teach her this 2nd language to communicate. We're both getting pretty good.
She can say: mommy, daddy, more, please, sorry, apple, cracker, candy, cereal, girl, boy, baby, juice, milk, water, cookie, hungry, sign, want, cheese, day, and honestly many more - I dont' know why I started writing them down. She can say a lot now!
Owwwies! Everything is an "owie" and if you could see the look on her face when she says it you'd all join in a chorus of "awww." It's so sweet. She has had several knee scrapes recently and they are a constant sorce of "owie mom, owie" and she scratches the scabs off so they take a long time to heal. Bandaids are just a sticker to her so they don't stay on very long. The other day she noticed all the moles on my arms and legs and tenderly touched them each saying "owie mommy, owie." The look of concern was so precious as she bent down to kiss several of them "better."
Animals! Dogs mostly! She has a great repretuar (how on earth do you spell that?) of animal sounds now. She does a camel (spitting), and owl, snake, bunny (boing), sheep, and finally a cow among many others. I don't know why cow took her so long to say... Still dogs are by far her favorite!
She's so expressive. She does a crazy face (which always makes people laugh - I'll try to catch it on camera). She also does a new sad face where she sticks out her lower lip. There's a great scowl and her happy face where she smiles with all her teeth! My favorite is when she sees something exciting and her eyes get really big and she says "wow!"
She still loves her teddy bears - sleeps with them every night! And loves being outside.
She's one tough little cookie. Falls and gets right back up just like a little boy I swear! Several times she's even been bloody and not cried.
Nursery!! Yeah - that 18 month mark couldn't come soon enough and she absolutely loves it! Went right in and didn't care if I left. She's been a bit of a bully though and doesn't really like to share. Mostly she just doesn't like any other kids to look like they are having fun. If they have something - she wants it...period!
Oh she loves to take your hand and pull you to something - this happens most often when Trav and I are sitting on the couch or just trying to relax. She wants us to "get up"
Books! I love it when she backs up into my lap with a book and wants me to read it.
Prayer! She doesn't like it when we make her sit still and fold her arms for evening prayer, but she usually loves mealtime prayer. She can repeat many of the words either with signs or actual words and has started to say things before I do. Like saying "JeeJee, Ame[n]" when I've barely said "...name of...
Here's a new one yesterday: I love you!
Mom: Annalyn say "I"
Annalyn: "I"
Mom: say "love"
Annalyn: "YOU" (with fingers pointing at you)
Some new words she says:
"JeeJee" for Jesus
"owbow" for elbow
"yut yut" for yuck yuck - usually used during diaper changing
"wader" is now for any drink - water, milk, or juice is "water" (but she'll do the sign for milk is that's what she wants...interesting)
"bir" for bird
"mnum" in a high pitched voice is the sound for cat - instead of "meow"
"wanit" for I want it
"mama" for grandma and "papa" for grandpa
She can say Annie, Ada[m], Hannah, Dawni Jo, and Shai[na] - all of my siblings names except Jed. She loves to skype with them and see "Annie" or "Ada" through the screen.
Well, that's enough for now. Good heavens this was long. For those of you who made it to the end, I hope you enjoyed it. If nothing else, this is a fun and meaningful post I can keep and treasure as my little girl continues to grow up so fast! It's fun to sit and put much of her cuteness down on paper. I know there is so much more, but thats all I can remember right now because it's getting late. I hope her smile is as contageous through pictures as it is in person.
We love y'all!
Happy, but COLD, family! 
Daddy and his Girl!
Thanksgiving dinner with the Oldhams!
Daddy and his Girl!
Thanksgiving dinner with the Oldhams!
Happy Face!
Halloween tradition of making and decorating sugar cookies!
We got family pictures when Annalyn turned one. 1.jpg)
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Sometime in early summer I domestically tried my hand at homemade Strawberry freezer jam. Not as difficult as I thought and so worth it!
Random Family Home Evening
Okay, are you ready for my favorite picture of the whole post? 
