Anna at one

Anna turned one year old this week (on the 22nd). This post will be a bit of a photo dump, as they say, of what she's up to at this stage in her busy life.

A few highlights in words as well:

Eating: Pretty much everything, but especially loves cheese. She also drinks mama milk 4-5 times a day and nothing during the night (hooray!). She's pretty small, but at 10 months she was at least on the height/weight chart for her age.

Sleeping: From 7.30pm to 6am quite well, usually a nap from 9.00am to 10.15 or 10.30, and if we're lucky, another half or one hour in the early afternoon. Altogether we're quite relieved that she sleeps so well - the early months didn't suggest it would turn out this way! The photo above shows Anna with her birthday quilt from Oma Harder (idea comes from here).

Movement: Anna is one fast and efficient crawler, as well as "walker" while holding on to something (like a table, couch, chair, etc). She, however, wants to go much faster and further, so we end up being her mule for much of the day. Lately she's tested balancing just on her own feet and even taking a step or two before collapsing in a heap of excitement.

Voice: The new favorite form of communication is screeching - out of excitement, indignation, boredom, you're-forgetting-about-me-for-two-seconds-fear, and other. Anna is very, very vocal. She makes animal sounds/squeeks when she sees one of the barn cats or any animal in a book.

Sibling: Jonathan and Anna often play very well, very amusingly together. They are close enough in age (19 months apart) to have similar play interests even now: hide and seek, wrestling, pulling off each others' socks, rolling around, and pushing toy tractors. And then their similar interests become a problem, since J. inevitably wants, no, needs exactly what Anna has. Up until now he could usually get it with impunity (unless Mama Bear was around), but just this week Anna bit him in response. It was darkly amusing to witness. Jonathan is still the one person with whom Anna will easily pull out her belly laugh, in response to just about anything he does, especially if he's throwing something.

   

Play: Anna doesn't have much fear when it comes to getting up on things (like the trike), and loves to be in motion....

...or figuring out how it works.

The leaves have been an exciting play thing this fall for the kids,

as are clothes pins.

When tomato season was in full swing, Anna and Jonathan would both eat half of the picked tomatoes before I could bring them inside. Recently Anna found some in the fridge door and attacked it.

Here is Oma with Anna's birthday quilt.

Anna loves to look at picture books - much earlier than Jonathan did. Here she's wearing her beautiful sweater made by Barbara Nelson Gingerich.

The book under examination is a Bible story book in Low German, which was a gift from Helga Fehr and family in Bolivia.

At the piano. And when she's at the piano, no one else is allowed to touch the keys.

And here are a few of my favorite photos from cleaning up leaves one beautiful fall afternoon.

(the Gator belongs to the folks whose yard we're renting - we're that lucky!)