Big Girl Bed

We moved Anika into a big girl bed this weekend. The bed had been in the garage for the last couple of weeks and that was all she would talk about when we went in there.

Here she is waking up for the last time in her crib.


Before we could bring it in the house it needed to be cleaned up. Anika was so excited about it that she wanted to help clean it, although I think she enjoyed pulling the wipes out of the container more than the actual cleaning.


Finally the payoff. She took her first nap and had her first full night in it on Sunday. Things went well and she never got out of bed, even in the morning. Now every time she runs in her room she jumps in her bed and giggles.

Coming out of her shell

I wouldn't say Anika is shy, but she is cautious. When someone she knows but doesn't see often, or even someone new, comes around, Anika will cling to me or Mary. After about a half an hour or so she usually warms up and is talking and playing with the other person.

The other day at Target we were looking for Halloween candy. An older gentleman was working right by us and said hi to Anika. I was expecting her to turn and grab my leg, but she surprised me and said "Hi. My name is Anika. This is my daddy". When Mary came over she said "This is my mommy. Her name is 'my mommy'".

Anika and Theo sit out front and get there picture taken just before going trick-or-treating.

Halloween

 Since last year Anika had to be carried and couldn't say "trick or treat', this was her first Halloween.  She did great.

The day started with a little pumpkin carving.  Both sets of grandparents came over as well as Pau, Sue, Sam and Theo.

After we finished dinner we headed out for trick or treating.  Anika went as a lady bug.  We weren't sure what to expect, since in the past she has been real shy around people she doesn't know.  She loved it from the very first minute.  We stopped at our neighbor Ornell's house first.  When Ornell opened the door  she said "trick or treat" and her face just lit up when candy was put in her basket.  

After she said thank you and walked away, she yelled to my dad, who was handing out candy at our house, "Grandpa, look I got candy for me!"  She was excited the whole time. After a while we had to carry her pumpkin because it was so heavy.

We were going to hit one final house, figuring she was tired and done, when came down the walk and turned to head home, she wouldn't let us go.  She wanted to keep heading down the street.  Finally about 5 houses later she willing to go home, even though it wasn't her idea.

Once we were home, she loved helping hand out candy to the trick or treaters coming to our door, and was dissapointed when they stopped showing up.

Mary and I (and Anika) couldn't have asked for the night to go any better than it did.

Anikas Birthday and her 2 year check up

Anika turned two on the 6th of October. The family came over for a Dora and Boots filled day.


Here's the birthday girl blowing out her candle.

Enjoying the fruits of her labor.
Of course what would a birthday party be without hats. Here is grandpa Tom wearing his, I am sure this will replace his Norseman's baseball hat as his favorite.


Cousin Sam looking sharp with a combination hat.

I think great uncle Scott is enjoying his hat a little too much.


So along with turning two comes the two year checkup. Neither Mary or I were looking forward to this.

From about 6 months on, anytime Anika had to go to the doctors office it has been a nightmare. She would go into full out melt down mode. As soon as Becca the nurse would come out she would just start screaming and crying. She would flop like a fish when trying to get her weight and height. When Dr. Gobel would do the routine checks Anika's screaming would be as loud as when she got her shots.

So we went in expecting the worst and got the best. She didn't cry once until the end when she got three shots. In fact before her shots they gave her a finger prick to draw blood, I was preparing for the crying, but nothing came. She just kept watching, interested in what was going on.

So here are the final stats: height 37", weight 33lbs. Both above the 97%.

Two going on...

Today Anika needed a timeout. So I brought her up to her room and waited outside the open door. After a few seconds the whimpering stopped and the charm was turned on. She kept repeating "Daddy, I cute!". When that didn't work she held out her arms and said "Daddy can I get hug".

We are in soooo much trouble when she becomes a teenager.

The Puzzles are working

The other day Mary and Anika were going to the park in the stroller. Mary had taken the safety bar off so Anika could crawl in. Once she was in the stroller Mary was struggling to put the bar back on. Finally Anika said "It's on backwards mom". Somebody should tell Anika that nobody likes a know-it-all.

Lodi

Last weekend we visited Mary's brother Marty, Donna and Finnegan at there new hobby farm in Lodi WI. The farm has strawberries and rasberries, there is also a vegetable garden that has egg plant, green beans, horse radish, green peppers, and currants.

Finnegan was pretty exited about the tree house and a field of golden rod that Marty cut a maze out of.

But the thing that excited Anika the most was the fact that they had 20 or so chickens
Every chance Anika had she would go back towards the barn and check out the chickens.

The other thing that Anika really loved was the porch swing. Any time we were on the porch she would head right to the swing.

Here she is with Grandma and Finnegan.

And again with Finnegan

Finnegan's birthday was in July but because of the move, they had to postpone his birthday party until this weekend. Here Donna is giving the instructions for the treasure hunt.
Here is the happy birthday boy with his cake.

More photos of Anika

Very serious

She's all about wearing the hat backwards

Helping grandpa with the corn on the cob on the 4th of July
Playing in the garden

Random Anika photos from the last few months

She likes her fancy Christmas coat

She loved walking outside durning the winter
Piano recital

Sleeping on her cousin Theo


Sliding at the park

Birthday

This post is a little late, my birthday was in early July. I went golfing with my parents in the morning, then we all went to Mears park in St. Paul for their Music in Mears summer concert.

What I didn't know was that Mary had contacted our friends and had them meet us down there. That was a nice surprise.


Mary brought a cake, which I cut into about 50 pieces, 30 pieces more than necessary. There were plenty of little kids who were drooling for a piece. The bold ones who asked got some.
Anika made sure Mary cleaned her plate.
Chillin' in the shade

The band Communist Daughter has very young groupies

Alexis and Anika having fun on the steps.

Wyoming Wedding - Indian Style

Not Native American, Indian. Our friend Skye has been teaching for the last for years at an American school in India. She got married last December in New Zealand and had her reception in Buffalo, WY where she grew up.

The Big Horn mountains are a 10 minute drive outside of town.

We were able to get a couple of hikes in while we were there. One hike brought us up to a lake on the mountain. The weather was beautiful, it was in the mid-70's. Even with these temps there was still snow on the shore.


There were quite a few people fishing on this lake by the time we were heading back down.




The reception was held about 25 minutes out of town at an Equestrian Ranch and Polo Grounds.
Skye had Sari's made for all of the girls in the wedding reception

Here is Mary in her Sari
Skye sent the girls a Youtube link to a Bollywood dance and wanted them to learn it for the reception dance. Lets just say two 15 minute practice sessions might not have been enough for this fast paced dance, but they had a blast

We were planning on hiking one more in the Big Horns but it was supposed to rain. So we headed to Crazy Horse and Mount Rushmore in SD.




And if you were wondering about Anika, she had as much fun as we did. Grandpa took her swimming for the first time. By the end of the day, she was jumping off the first step into his arms.

me, I blog

Anika is now 20 months old and she is talking up a storm. She is now putting together three word sentences, mainly starting with "me...". The other day, she got up on our bed and put her head on a pillow and said "me, I rest". Another favorite is "me, I eat".

She has grown so much in the last 6 months. This is from a couple weeks ago. Still not a ton of hair, but more than she had at her first birthday.

This is from last November.