I love this picture of Annika. I think it shows just how beautiful she is. I love her big beautiful eyes. I love her soft cheeks. I love her hairline, her eyelashes, her perfect button nose. I just love everything! Auntie Krystle took this picture. Annika had put Krystle's coat on and was running around the living room. It's too bad the camera strap got in the way on this one. I may print it out to frame anyway. And I'm not biased at all. You can all comment and tell me how cute she is too! (Hint! Hint!)

Annika is just such an amazing little kid. She can name almost every letter in the alphabet. Last night during her bath she held up a bunch of letters and she named each and every one of them correctly (Q - of course, Z, S, T, etc.). And she can count to ten! I think she still skips seven but when we count the stairs as we walk down them she'll say seven with me. And she can sing her ABC's! We sing them together and often she'll start the next sequence before I do. Uncle Mathias has this recorded on his cell phone from a couple weekends ago. She's even better at them now, getting more of the letters. And if we sing the song once, we have to sing it three or four times in a row before we can move on to another song. My baby girl is so smart! Last night she requested pizza for dinner. Around 5:15pm she cocked her head to the side, looked at me and said "Pizza?" I asked her if she wanted pizza for dinner and she said "Yep." So I made one and she ate two pieces. Annika is also doing really well at transitioning to a cup instead of a sippy cup. She sometimes underestimates how quickly the liquid will get to her and she spills down her shirt but for the most part she can pick up a cup, tilt it, drink and put it back down, all without spilling. It's, of course, convenient for us parents to have her use a sippy cup so we don't have to worry about spilling, but the pediatrician wants her off sippy cups completely by her 2 year check up. Usually with each meal now we give Annika a cup of milk or water instead of a sippy cup. I don't think it will take long to get her off them completely. She's even refused a sippy cup recently because she wanted a regular cup. Sigh. She's growing up too fast!

Annika has discovered the back yard. And the dirt that is in it. I so wish we had grass already! Come on developer - get a move on with the sod! We're letting Annika explore her world though without too much intervention. The only time we intervene is when she puts a rock in her mouth. She calls rocks "ickies" now because of it! She plays in the dirt, throwing it in her hair, eating a bit of it, digging in it, "sliding" down a dirt hill on her butt, etc. She also explores the weeds we have growing, the neighbors deck, the bushes next to the house, etc. She has such a blast and throws a tantrum if we try to do something else or go inside. I think I need to get her a bucket and shovel so she can pretend she has a sandbox and just play in our dirt backyard! Last night she was so dirty from playing outside that I brought her in the garage door, took her straight to the bathroom, stripped her down to her diaper and washer her up. She spent the rest of the night in just her diaper until bath and bedtime.

I'm at work today. Blah! I wish I was working from home instead as I miss my baby girl and my hubby. But a big executive review I have to present has called me in. It's okay though. I have lots of interrupted Annika time planned for this weekend. And for the next 4 weeks, I'm going to have 4 day work weeks! I'm taking off the 19th for our garage sale, the 26th to attend Annika's last ECFE class of the spring with her, of course Memorial Day the 29th and then also Monday the 5th of June (for no good reason other than it's my 30th birthday and I want to go get pampered!). Yay! It's going to be rough though come June 16th when I have to work my 5th day in a row in quite some time! Remind me on that day how good I've had it for the last month. I may kick you in the shin though - beware!