First - I forgot the most exciting thing of all that happened last week! Annika can spell her name! Her whole name! First and last! And she can write her first name too. They are working on that in preschool. Her Anni is pretty legible even. Her ka could use some work yet. Either way, I am extremely proud of her. And of course I have taken a picture of her first efforts. For a while now Annika has known that letters have sounds associated with them (thank you phonics bus toy!). So, if you ask Annika what any letters of the alphabet say, she will tell you. Now, in the last week, Kris and I have been helping Annika put those sounds together to form words. In the Dr. Seuss ABC book the word "big" is on each page. Kris has been having Annika sound out the B, I and G and then putting them together to form big. And with the peek-a-blocks, I've been putting simple words together (cat, hat, etc.) and having Annika sound out the letters and then put them together. The girl has an attention span of a three year old so these teaching moments are brief. But it's so fun to watch her learn things right before our eyes! Maybe she will be reading by the time she's 4!

Second - This morning was James' dermatologist appointment. Since birth he's had a large birthmark/mole on his belly button and we had that checked out. The dermatologist said that since it is pretty dark already it may be hard to notice a different in color but that we should keep an eye on it. She wants us to come back in 1 year for a check up but that right now we would just watch it. She recommended we remove it at some point before puberty because the hormonal changes then can cause changes in moles and this one, with it's irregular shape and dark color, is suspicious. She also said that if at any time James is put under for any procedure (like getting tubes in his ears or anything) that we should consider having it removed then. Otherwise, if it changes ever, we should come in and have a biopsy done. So, for now we are in a wait and see mode. They took digital pictures of it to have on file and I'll do the same at home. Then as I check it out periodically I have a reference point.