Well, apparently Anya isn't feeling so sick that she can't dump out her laundry bin, throw clothes in the air and then climb inside the bin and roll around the floor. I'm going to assume this is her way of telling me it's time to do her laundry; I tell ya, my daughter is brilliant.

just a snapshot from Matt's visit Saturday morning...

11 months

Anya is 11 months old today. Here's where she is developmentally:

Locomotion

• Anya walks a little more with each passing week. I think the farthest she's ever walked is 4 or 5 steps. Her walking balance still isn't very good (probably because of those freakishly small feet! ;) ) and she is not confident when trying, even when she succeeds. She'll have little moments where it seems to click, but then goes right back to acting like she doesn't know how to do it the next day. She wants an adult's hand to walk for the most part.
• She has gotten good at standing without any support and can also squat and bend down to pick up objects without needing the ground or objects to keep her from falling over.
• Anya has become quite the climber. In this, she seems to have no fear and her balance this way is impressive (definitely inherited from Chris and not me). I've watched her at the co-op preschool navigate these big blocks and she looks like a little rock climber.

Speech

• There hasn't been a big change in words she says over the last month. Actually, it seems like she no longer says some words she had been saying before...some things she used to say the words for she just now points and says "dah!". But she has picked up "crow" "cracker" and "doll", though. Oh, and "quack, quack, quack!"
• Understanding words is another story. There is a lot she is picking up. Understands and follows some commands, knows the names of a lot of her toys and various objects. And I've noticed if I just casually say a sentence, she'll sometimes pick a word out and react to it (2 days ago I said something about stars and Anya crawled over to a book of hers that had stars and pointed to them). I think this is a sign Chris and I need to start watching our language because she's going to pick up on things we don't want her to - if she hasn't already.

Other development

• After a month of serious teething, those top front teeth finally poked through and are staying out. There still isn't much tooth showing, but she doesn't seem uncomfortable anymore. Poor thing.
• Anya knows where her head is. If I ask "where is your head?" she'll point to her head. Of course if I ask, "where is your nose/eyes/ears, etc" she still points to her head. She can find some body parts on a doll. I don't think it occurs to her yet that she also has those parts. She is just one giant head and that's it.

Food

• Anya seems a little pickier food-wise. You never know when she's going to eat something she previously liked. Very annoyingly, she'll look down at food and if she decides she doesn't want it, she chucks it over her shoulder onto the floor. We're having a bit of a battle over this. For the moment, my tactic is to give her a few chances to eat (with a definite "NO" on throwing food) and if she doesn't, mealtime is over. Crying/screaming ensues. And then once I'm guessing she's forgotten about her poor behavior at the table I'll offer her some milk or something so she doesn't starve. I don't know if this is the best thing for me to be doing and I'll gladly take any advice on the best course of action here.
• I think I'm going to try wheat again after Anya gets over her cold -- if she does have a reaction, no point in making her sickness even more miserable. I'd like to know for sure before her birthday so I know what to do about her cake. I have found that wheat starch causes no reaction. I'm hoping this is a sign that wheat isn't an issue, although it is possible for the problem to be wheat protein (not found in wheat starch, or only trace amounts). But worst case scenario, her food choices are slightly less limited.

new niece

Anya has a new cousin and I've got a new niece!



Alivia Lee Miller was born at 2:59pm (EST) today to my older brother Don and his wife Koby. Now Anya has a cousin on my side of the family. I can't wait to meet her!

Happy day.

Based on this picture, I think she looks a lot like Anya did when she was born.

Anya is sick

The other night as Amy and I gazed down loving at our beautiful sleeping daughter, we noted that there was something like a slight cute little snore going on. "Humph. I hope she's not getting a cold," one of us commented while the other agreed.

She was.

I always knew I'd love being a dad, all the fun I'd have playing with the little one, teaching them, showing them my unwavering affection, etc., etc. But there were always a couple things that I knew I would hate, namely: Feeding baby, and dealing with sick baby (strangely diapers never bothered me).

I've gotten used to the feeding thing, and while it's often very frustrating, it doesn't really gross me out anymore. I haven't yet gotten used to the sick thing.

And here is where I win my worst-dad-of-the-year mug with a hole in the bottom. It's not that Anya is sick and feeling bad that bothers me so. It's that it's GROSS. Additionally, those of you who know me know that, while I never actually am sick, the thought of being sick really stresses me out. So having a mobile virus-filled snot-fountain neither sneezing into her sleeve, nor sanitizing her hands and giving me hugs and open mouthed kisses every 10 seconds is really stressing me out. It's like having my very own zombie movie playing out in my living room.

Oh, did I mention the dog is sick too?

I'll spare the gory details, for gory they are; suffice to say I was up between 2 when the dog had an emergency, through 5 when, after finally getting my darling baby to sleep and walking across a dark living room to the hand sanitizer, I literally stepped on evidence of another emergency heretofore unknown to me.

Good times.

That being said, Anya is actually dealing with the being sick thing with relatively good cheer. She's whiney and all, but she's basically in good spirits.

Now I'm off to begin earthquake retro-fitting the basement so we can now meet Jammy's parents' gaze at PEPS.

Matt Matty Matthypoo

Anya's uncle Matt is in town this week visiting from Charlotte. Baby and uncle are quite fond of each other. Dog and uncle are also getting along splendidly.

It seems the Lodwig house has become a place people seek out when they want to relax and sleep, which seems crazy to me since we have a loud baby, but it does make it easy on us entertaining-wise. I think this means Chris and I are officially boring. We were, of course, boring before, but now it's a bold and underlined boring.

It is good to see my brother, though and it's doubly good I'll get to see him again (along with the rest of my family) when we go to the east coast in November.

dinnertime

...just like Daniel san learning to catch flies with his chopsticks in The Karate Kid.

little monkey girl

Bad baby for climbing up on the coffee table.


Bad mom for allowing it to happen, and giving myself a minute to be amused and snap a few pictures before making her get down and moving the toy/means to climb.

feet

Yesterday afternoon Anya and I went to the store to get her some shoes. I had no idea what size she wore. Since both Chris and I both wear a small-ish shoe size for our heights, I figured Anya was on the smaller side of average. As it turns out, my daughter has freakishly small feet. As Chris said, at least we no longer have to bind them like we were planning, so that's a plus.

The 6-12 month size slip ons (Robeez) are like clown shoes on her. The 3-6 month size fit her pretty well. In kid shoe sizing, she wears a 2. After some hemming and hawing with the sales staff, we opted to get the 6-12 month size anyway, since colder weather is coming and I can put socks on her feet to take up some room in the shoes...plus she'll theoretically grow into them while the weather is cold.

what the heck did you just put on my feet?!

they BUUUURN! Get them OFF! Nooooow!

Quit taking my picture already and get these things off of me!

this week

This week has been a getting-in-the-swing-of-things week, with "school" and daycare while I'm at the gym, and playdates and errands. I expect this is how the rest of autumn will be. Busy, but not *too* busy.

The bug is still working on cutting through her second set of teeth (the top front ones). It's been about three weeks of teething and pain. I thought I felt one poking through yesterday, but it retreated when I felt for it later, as if mocking me for being hopeful and punishing us all with a fitful night for poor Anya. Those gums sure are swollen.

Since the big day when Anya took her first step the other week, she hasn't really tried much to recreate it. We have noticed her take a step on two other occasions, but is mostly content to crawl and cruise and stand. But now that the weather is going to be turning and bug likes to check out the playground equipment and woodchips on the ground, I think we're going to buy some shoes, maybe this afternoon. I've been avoiding it, but it's time now.

Some pictures from the past few days...

Anya's new favorite hideout, under the side table. She unfortunately treats it like a glorified stripper pole. I don't like where this is going.

Another day on the pole.

Toy passed down from our friends Graham and Lisa. It's a child-sized chair & nightstand (with "book" clock and light). Anya is crazy about this thing and talks back to it. She also uses it as a jungle gym.

Carrot as teething ring. She's not that into pureed carrots, but this was a hit.

Smartypants

OK, I'm throwing this post in here months after the fact. I didn't want to add it at the time because I felt it would come across as bragging. That was silly. I'm super proud of my little girl. Anyway, since this is over 5 months later, my memory is a bit hazy, but here is the gist of it:

We did one of the University of Washington research studies. We get called once every few months to participate in random studies and this one was in the institute for learning and brain sciences. I don't recall the exact purpose of the study, but they were measuring problem solving skills linked with memory and there was a side study with language and problem solving.

Anya's uncle Matt came with us. Matt hung out with the researchers in the back room who were watching and I held Anya while she performed the study. After we were done, they told us that no 10 month old had ever performed at her level on this study and they were incredibly impressed. So for fun/curiosity they also had her do the test like they have 2 year olds do it. She didn't do perfectly like the one for the younger set, but still did pretty good. I didn't know they were doing the advanced test at the time - I found out after she was done (which is why I thought she probably performed "average" on the entire thing). She also scored perfectly on the language/problem solving portion of the study.

We had of course suspected Anya was smart, but this made us start to think she might be unusually bright.

Kristoff

Last week my good friend and Anya's new friend Kristoff came to visit from San Francisco. He drove up on his motorcycle in something like a day and a half, camping one night at a beach on the way. He stayed for a few days and then rode to Montana and then back home. I don't know how his body tolerates riding that long on a racing bike. When we just went to Vancouver and back on the bike years ago, I swore I'd never ride for more than an hour again. But then again, I am a wuss, as Anya will certainly learn in the coming years.

Anyway, it was a nice visit. I would really appreciate it if my friends would stop moving away, though.

Anya and Kristoff share a moment with El-phant

Phantom Hot Potato

The Perfect Buddy

Anya has found a new friend.
One who tolerates Anya's piercing screams of merriment without running away or crying.
One who always seems to understand the exact right moment to share.
A friend who neither over-challenges her into failure, nor bores her with unambitious inactivity.
She displays the tell-tail sign of solid friendship: Empathy. Crying when Anya is sad and rejoicing in Anya's delights.
A once in a life-time third-bowl-of-porridge sort of friend.
A very durable friend, who really knows how to maintain the finish of antique mahogany doors.

Definitive Proof

We now have definitive photographic proof of the devine origins of our daughter.

First Day of "School"

Today Anya started her first day of "school". It's actually the infant class of the North Seattle Co-op Preschool. And she already knows two of her classmates, Luca and Liam from PEPS. The idea of it is pretty neat. Right now, classes are just once a week for 2 hours and a parent (or parents) attends with the babies and acts as a "teacher's assistant". We each have a job/position (I'll pick mine next week) and also take a child development class once a month. As the kids get older, they go more days, but the parents just continue to go one day. And then the kids are off to kindergarten.

It feels kind of early to put Anya in "school," but it has its good points. 1) It's a social activity out of the house. 2) It's inexpensive. 3) The co-op preschool system is fairly competitive for 2 year olds and up. Putting Anya in now guarantees us a spot and we'll likely get our choice of schools (there are several neighborhood co-ops, some apparently better than others). 4) I have hopes that I'll learn something about kids and parenting and become more comfortable dealing with groups of children.

The first day was somewhat chaotic, with forms to turn in and instructions being shouted out by the teachers over squealing babies. It was hard listening to them and trying to watch Anya at the same time...but all the other parents were in the same boat and I can only hope we'll figure it all out eventually. Anya enjoyed herself and meandered (no, not the right word...that implies a leisurely pace. She quickly crawled and climbed over things and stole toys and I had to chase her a handful of times. She did not want to sit in my lap. She had things to do (tm) ). I also figured Anya would be the oldest in class. Surprisingly not so. She's right in the middle. There are a handful of 1 year olds, and I think only one, maybe two 5 month olds.

Anyway, I look forward to next week. But a thought did just occur to me. If Anya continues with preschool, she will be in school from now until at least high school graduation. For the next 17-18+ years. Mean mom is taking away her only chance at freedom from the classroom.

dads + babies + beer

Snagged from babyjammy's and luca's blogs...

This was snapped last Wednesday at PEPS. We're so proud of our budding lushes.

Portland

We piled the dog, baby, tons of gear, and ourselves into the car Saturday morning and headed to Portland for the weekend. Normally this would be a pleasant, zero-planning little trip. However, with a baby who hates to be in the car seat and certainly has no qualms about letting us know her feelings on the matter, we've been dreading the actual drive for weeks. I've had images in my head of the terror that was the drive to/from Olympia last month and wasn't sure my fragile mental state could take it again.

I am happy to say Anya did pretty well (for her) on the drives. She slept 2/3 the way there and merely whined the rest of the way. On the way home, she slept about half the trip and alternated between screaming, babbling, and complaining. This was manageable.

The actual visiting was nice. First, we hit Vancouver to see Chris's cousin David and wife Heather. They are expecting a little boy in December, so we got to offload lots of baby gear. We visited at the house for awhile and went out to lunch. I have to say, lately, I hate taking Anya out to restaurants. She is so. loud. She doesn't cry (thank God!), but happily yells....and yells...and tests the limits of her volume some more. I haven't found a way of quieting her yet. I did catch a few "can't you control your baby??!" looks of annoyance (from obvious non-parents) as we left the restaurant. Oh well. I'm starting to get used to them.

David, Anya, and Heather. Anya kept refusing to look at the camera.

Then we headed over to Portland/Beaverton to hang with my step-brother Bobby and Amy the rest of the weekend. It was a low-key visit, since everything had to work around Anya's naps. We didn't leave the house much, but it was relaxing and they are fantastic hosts (thanks for having us!). We mostly sat around and played Rock Band because we are dorks and watched Anya being cute...and taking her first steps, woohoo! Anya adored Bobby and Amy (and learned to say Bob's name) and I'm pretty sure the feeling was mutual. I'd appreciate it if they hurried up and made a cousin for Anya to play with, though. It's pretty selfish of them that they haven't done so yet. You hear that, Bobby & Amy? Selfish!

Bobby teaches Anya the ways of Rock Band

She's starting to get the hang of it

Anya reaches expert level in the drums and wows the audience

Amy and Anya enjoying the weather

Bobby and Chris playing Rock Band. I joined in shortly after.

the winner...

Anya took her first step* today over at Bobby & Amy's house. 6:08pm.

She then promptly fell down.

Angie is the winner with her guess of September 6th at 4pm. If we were in Hawaii or Guam or somewhere in the middle of the Pacific today, she'd be spot on.

Yay Anya!!!

* Chris and I decided that "first step" means one foot coming forward and the other coming to meet it

Betting time!

Alright, it's time to bet! When is your prediction for Anya's first (unassisted) step?

Now is when all you friends and closet readers alike come out and comment with your guess (I'm looking at you, relatives! *cough* mom). This forum is where you can achieve fame and notoriety in front of the massive tens of readers if you guess correctly. Be the envy of all your neighbors!

To be fair for all, here's a little background info: Anya has been cruising for about a month and a half. She has been standing on her own for a few weeks, lately for up to about 30 seconds (but it seems like she can do it for as long as she wants to....which is about 30 seconds). Last week, she took a stumble into Chris's arms. But the first step, like any other milestone, can happen suddenly or take another month from when you think its imminent.

So when will it be???

Anya today, wearing her pretty Hawaii dress from G&G Lodwig and pushing her walker.

second half of the weekend

Labor Day weekend was pretty busy. Bobby & Amy visited from Portland, we went to a block party and met lots of neighbors (it turns out Anya is the only girl born recently. She's surrounded by little boys), we had a few playdates, Titus and Lauren came up from Napa and visited, Doc Mike came over, and lots of other stuff. We didn't always remember to have the camera out, but here are a few shots from yesterday...

Anya spies "hat" that was placed on Adelaine's head

 Anya decides "hat" shouldn't be there and proceeds to remove it

 On second thought, Adelaine's head is exactly where it goes. Anya puts it back on her head over and over again. Adelaine stoically sits there and takes the abuse. These babies are polar opposites personality-wise.

Titus expects an explosion from Anya's nether region and holds the

"danger zone" far away. He hasn't been around babies much.