Happy Valentine's Day

Notice how she starts with a bow in her hair...

Happy Valentine's Day! Annika has had a cold for about a week so we've been staying inside. Yesterday she was feeling better so we walked down to the Arboretum (Botanical Garden) in GG Park. Annika likes looking for ducks and turtles in the pond. On the way to the pond we saw a fox playing on this big pile of mulch. I kept taking pictures while Annika said, "Come on, Mommy!" Steve didn't seem impressed either like foxes were something we see every day. I thought it was super cool!

Annika continues to be really verbal and now speaks in complete sentences. We think she's pretty amazing. I went from hearing, "She's so tall!" to "She's so smart!" Of course I still hear the tall comments all of the time, too. She can count to 20 in English and thanks to Dora and Diego, she can count in Spanish, too. She still loves books and has many of her favorites memorized. I just love to watch her "read." She is also really into imaginary play and has turned our bed into "Coqui Island," the couch into "Tall Mountain," the coffee table is her "boat," and crocodiles swim all over the carpet and bite our toes. I guess this is one upside to letting her watch TV! She also loves her dollhouse and her mini Mommy, Daddy and Baby. They often join her on her adventures.

Her pacifier is officially gone and the only side effect is that we hear her earlier in the morning and her naps are a bit shorter. She's pretty attached to her "Blank" so that gives her the comfort she needs to go to sleep.

We decided to order her a "big girl bed" since she can now get both legs over the top of her crib. She hasn't fallen out yet, so we're hoping she lasts until the bed gets delivered next week. We just went with a toddler bed for now until we decide what kind of bed we want to get for her. Even twin beds are quite expensive so I didn't want to feel rushed into making a decision.

It's hard to believe that our baby is almost two. Annika reminds me all of the time. "I'm not a baby, Mommy. I big girl." We've slowly started the potty training but we're keeping it really low key for now. She goes on her potty once or twice a day but isn't ready for underwear. No bink, no bottles, no crib and soon no diapers - I guess she really is a big girl. :)