A 15 month update....a little late

Now that Anna is nearly 17 months old I figure I'd better get her 15 month update posted. These pictures are all from March and in our new house. Even though Anna was 15 months at the end of February we didn't actually meet with the doctor for her appointment until closer to the end of March.

Anna's appointment went great and luckily there were no shots so that made for a more pleasant experience. Anna weighed in at 23lbs 10oz (75%), was 31.7 inches tall (76%), and her head was 19.5 inches (100%). I knew she had grown but I was a little surprised at seeing her height since she's been consistently well under the 50th percentile her entire little life so far. Someone did a lot of growing this winter!

 Anna has had these sunglasses since around 3 months old and never took to them. They are the kind with Velcro designed to stay on the baby's head. Well...now that they no longer fit she thinks they are the greatest thing ever. Too bad she looks a little silly in them!

Cool Shades!

Back to Anna's appointment though. Besides growing she's doing great everywhere else. It was our last appointment with our doctor in Topeka but he was able to give us some references for people in the Kansas City area. Hopefully we like our new pediatrician as much as we liked Dr Schumacher!

Since March was still pretty cold we tried to keep busy inside. I decided to let Anna get a little messy with some flour and water. She seemed to enjoy smashing it and squeezing the glob and afterward we had fun in the bath.

Flour anyone?

 Anna has really taken off with her words. I was trying to write down the dates and what words she started saying but when I began getting multiple words in a day it got tough so I sort of stopped. We particularly enjoy hearing her version of "moon" (which comes across as "moona") and hearing her say her name. We've been working a lot on animal sounds and she is getting those down pretty well. Her favorite to say is definitely "meow" which will get repeated over and over and over again. 

Finally a nice day!

Sidewalk chalk fun!

 Kevin was invited back to Washburn to talk about one of his papers from Stanford at the Chemistry Journal Club. Anna and I had fun visiting with some of the Biology Department faculty during and then catching up with Chemistry Faculty afterward. We hadn't been back in forever and it was fun seeing familiar faces and showing Anna off. My only pictures unfortunately were of Anna roaming the halls and none of our old professors...major fail there. 

 We've definitely been experiencing some of the toddler independence and the crying that often accompanies it. It's such a tough age I think. They can communicate some but it's limited and they want to explore everything but aren't allowed. Usually the fits are pretty mild but there was one day last week I wasn't sure if it was going to end. I'm told stories of when I did this as a youngster and so I guess she gets it from me.... :)

Sporting her backpack

 On another cold day we had some fun with edible finger paints. I had the foresight to put a trash bag over the seat and I'm so glad about this. It was fairly easy to clean up but just stripping the bag was much faster!

Anna loved it though. At first she was unsure about having stuff on her hands but then she didn't want to stop. I had to pretty much decide we were done and take the fun to the bathtub so that we could get a nap in.

We're still working on throwing things. She can do it but there isn't much forward motion. What Anna does enjoy though is kicking things (soccer player maybe?) and more recently Kevin has been teaching her how to kick in the air complete with the "hi-ya". I managed to get a picture of it which I was pretty proud of. It's cute when she'll just do it out of the blue now on her own.

High kicks with a head full of bows!!!!

In March we did manage to get Anna down to just an evening bottle of milk. We wanted her done by now but she is very stubborn about drinking milk out of a sippy cup. I'm worried a little bit about her getting enough calcium which is why we've been dragging our feet on ditching the nighttime bottle. Her day's are numbered though...we plan to ditch it at the beginning of May.  The doctor assured us that eventually she will drink the milk. He wasn't concerned that she was still getting a bottle (she isn't allowed to take it to bed which is the main concern with dentists) but he did say that the closer to 2 the tougher it will be. Fun times ahead!

 We did get to escape the cold weather in Kansas a couple times in March. Once in Phoenix for Amy's wedding and then in San Diego for a work conference that Kevin had. These are the next two posts I have planned but here is Anna in her swimsuit getting ready for San Diego. She didn't want to take it off!