February 18/6

How in the world did my baby become a toddler?? Anna is 18 months old and totally, 100% toddler. She's into EVERYTHING and keeps me on my toes, but she keeps us laughing, too. I have learned how true it is that when a toddler is quiet, it's time to worry. Just the other day I found her in the kitchen happily spreading coffee all over the floor. Thankfully she only tried one bite and wasn't wound up and caffeinated.


Some things she's doing now:

• Talking a whole lot! She has a large vocabulary, but it's only understandable if you're around her a lot. For instance, I pointed out to Jamie the other night that when she says "dis" it could be this, kiss, cheese or Jesus. "Duck" is both duck and drink. Just recently she's started saying "I love" (or "I uff" really) but if you ask her to say, "I love Mama" she says, "I uff hahaha" She won't say what she loves. She also says, "Ann Mimi hahaha" when you ask her to say, "Anna Marie Hotalen." I agree. It's a funny last name.
• She LOVES to be tossed, swung, spun, etc. We always say, "One, two, three!" when we spin her so now she runs up to us and says, "Un two un two" until we swing her.
• She jumps. Which is hilarious. She squats down, says "Un two" and straightens her legs without ever leaving the floor.
• She dances like crazy! The girl can't get enough dancing and asks every day to play Disney Dance Party on the Xbox. She absolutely loves music and dancing.
• She is the BEST big sister. If I had any worries about jealousy, they were needless. She can't get enough Brooke! When she sees her she says, "Hi Booke!" every single time. She loves to give her toys, get her paci for her, pat her when she's crying (sometimes not so gently), and climb up on the side of Brooke's crib to talk to her when Brooke's supposed to be napping!

Our Anna Marie is sweet, hilarious and so much fun! 

It seems crazy that Brooke's first year is halfway over! She still seems so little to me. I think it's because she has a big sister and is always the baby no matter how big she gets! Brooke is turning into a smiley little thing, although she still refuses to giggle for me! 

Here's what our 6-month-old is up to:

• Sleeping! Ha. Just kidding. Kiddo is still up 2 or 3 times a night. But she wakes up SO HAPPY in the morning. Today, she soaked through her diaper so when she first woke up I took her jammies off, changed her and brought her into my bed in just a diaper. She babbled away so happy and excited for a good 30 minutes. Something about a happy, naked baby...It was so sweet!
• Getting her first tastes of real food. Because she's such a good nurser, I'm not going to do cereal if I can avoid it and just gradually move her into solids. So right now I put little pieces of soft food on her tray and let her try it. She mostly can't get it into her mouth yet, but she tries! She's much funnier than Anna was! Every food brings a new reaction and funny face, whereas Anna just gobbled everything up.
• Almost sitting up. She can just about do it and I think by 7 months she will be happily sitting up and playing with Anna.
• Returning the sister love! She thinks her big sister is the best thing ever and if you want to see her smile, just let her watch Anna play. 
• Playing with her feet - handy built-in toys! She loves her feet! She also has started taking an interest in toys. She's starting to enjoy laying on her playmat or on the playroom floor with toys within reach. 

I love watching her little personality emerge! She's starting to notice everything and I love watching her explore her world. She can roll over both directions now and sometimes ends up in a completely different spot than where I put her. It won't be long before she's off and exploring!