Anika's Extracurriculars

At fourteen and a half months of life, Anika's extracurricular activities have taken on a life of their own.  Alicia runs a pretty tight ship and demands all studying all the time, but Anika has rebelled and insisted that she grow into a well rounded kid.  As you can see by her look below, she can only take so much physics.

Anika's blue steel look.  Step aside Derek Zoolander.

Anika's a stacking pro.  And as you can see, she gets pretty proud of herself when she completes the stack.

Then she takes off the top half to do some squats.  Like any smart athlete, she's focusing on her lower body strength.

Then it's time for some art.  She's a big fan of her crayons, and would take every single crayon out of the box, only to put them back in and start all over again, if we let her.  

She insists on using the crayon upside down, because she says that's the avant-garde way to color.

Soon she tires of the coloring and is content to put the crayons into her little lego house.

This goes on and on and on until all of the crayons are in the house.  She is incredibly persistent.

This is the single musical toy Alicia and I tolerate.  Anika's turtle plays all kinds of classical music, and Anika loves it.

But she's not content to just listen to her turtle.  Alicia has taught Anika to conduct, and thus she presses the button on top of her turtle and immediately sticks her pointer finger out and moves it back and forth.  She's our little maestro.  

After so much activity, Anika takes a breather with her bunny and takes in the sunset.  She's thinking about her next art project no doubt.

Then it's time for less heady kid play, like playing cars.  In days, Anika became very proficient at her car noises--vrrrrooooooom.  I'm not sure how I feel about the monster truck, but at least it matches her mullet.

Then it's time for playing with helicopters.  And amazingly she seems to get that it flies around in the air.

So as to fit in with her other little girl friends, Anika is also learning to be a world-class shopper.  She loves to wear this purse around her neck and play with my phone.  It's terrifying how normal she makes this look.

This is how Anika "talks" on the phone.  She doesn't quite get that it's supposed to go up to her ear.  Phew.

One of Anika's very favorite new activities is when Mom and Dad blow bubbles.  But I'm pretty sure she likes the fact that she can "make" us blow bubbles for her more than the bubbles themselves.  All indications are that Anika is going to need to be disabused of the notion that she gives orders and they get followed very soon.

This is Anika's friend Josie trying to give her a big hug.  This was attempt 4 or 5.  With all of Anika's extracurriculars, you'd think Anika would be a socialized little kid.  But Anika wouldn't have any of it and stood still looking dumbfounded each time.  Looks like we need less reading and coloring and more shopping and monster trucks.   

Anika's Many Modes of Movement

A faithful follower of Pure Joy recently texted me and asked, "can I still even call you a blogger?"  My only response was, "I feel shame."  But never fear, Pure Joy is not a one year project followed by inevitable blogger fatigue and flameout.  I won't bore you with the details, but suffice it to say that busyness of all kinds got the best of me.

Anika is now officially 14 months old, and she is moving at ludicrous speed--when she crawls.  When she tries to walk, it's like she's moving in reverse.   Here are Anika's many modes of movement and the style she brings to the task.

The cart is easily Anika's most preferred mode of transportation, because she can go fast, drive without assistance, and carry things with her.  But it has its limitations because she still can't turn it left or right.  Hopefully, I'm not saying these same things about Anika when she gets her license 15 years from now.

Preferred transportation method number 2--walking with fingers.  Anika's favorite part of this is  that she can practice her soccer skills while walking.  No joke.  She loves to walk and kick the ball around.  I could live with soccer as Anika's sport of choice, but am still holding out for golf.  She is named Anika, she's one quarter Korean, and she has a golf fanatic for an Uncle--she was made for golf.

Grandma was the inventor of soccer.  I love it, but am bitter deep down about the thwarting of my college-golf scholarship designs.

This is Anika's walking.  She really can take four or five steps at a time.  You've just got to have a good 15 minutes or so of free time to see it.  At least she's not going to be a runway model.

Her standing and walking is much better when holding something in one hand.

Anika's shape-sorting abilities have improved markedly.  I'm pretty sure Uncle Tom has her visualizing the ball going in the hole.  Be the ball.    

While Anika's walking and crawling and kicking skills continue to trend upward and onward, Anika's eating abilities have regressed to all-time-lows.  Gone are the days of broccoli, squash, carrots, and just about anything that is not fruit or cheese--and only colby jack.  

This is Anika asking for more pears.  "More" is really Anika's sign for anything and everything, which makes it hard to understand what she's saying.  Her oral vocabulary is slowly growing too, and currently includes: mommy, daddy, baby, bear, duck, and night-night.  Either "birdie" or "fore" is going to be next!  Hopefully the former.

Pushing the Limits--Lots of Firsts

Since Anika turned one, she says we have to take her out more.  She complains that she is sheltered.  Not enough travel, not enough new sights and sounds and tastes.  And so, this month we obliged her.  Anika is doing new things all by herself, and she has a long list of exciting firsts to report as the month comes to a close.

She's now a self-sufficient walker with her little cart.  She walks with it as far as she can go until she runs into something solid.  Then Alicia or I have to turn it in a new direction.  Around and around our main floor she goes.  But this is much better on our backs than walking holding onto our fingers.  In related news, she hit the 7th percentile for height at her last appointment, so our days of walking her around stooped over are numbered in any event.

Anika took her first plane ride last weekend--all the way to San Francisco.  Let's just say she wasn't this interested in the screen by the time we landed (3.5 hours later).  All in all, she was a trooper and did just great.

As long as we were doing transportation firsts, Anika wanted to ride the train.  And we did, though she was more interested in the people outside than the stuff we were passing by. 

We went to Lombard Street while we were in San Francisco.  I wanted to run Anika up the winding street to the top, but she wouldn't go.  Was too intent on getting to Ghiradelli square.

But she was pretty underwhelmed, mostly because Alicia put the kabosh on the chocolate she wanted to consume.  Tough breaks (though I did treat her to some of the whipped cream on my hot chocolate).  I know the way to Anika's heart.

Then it was off to see the Golden Gate bridge.  She was a lady about town.

Back home, she experienced her first snow.  She was not impressed.

Mom made the experience slightly better. 

Other firsts this month included Anika's first pony.  What is it that Jerry says about kids with their own ponies?

Anika also started reading the paper in a trendsetting new and active way, which involved lots of thrashing and movement.  As you can see, once Anika had her fun, she was especially drawn to the funnies.

She also has good taste in craft beer.  My kind of girl.  Holding the bottle was a first, but that was as far as we got.

She's an adventuresome and happy little girl.  Who knows what's next.

365 Days of Awesomeness--One Year Photos and Anika's First Birthday Bash

It is amazing to Alicia and I that more than a year ago, Anika came into the world.  It has been 365 days of awesomeness, and parenthood still gets better all the time.  Due to the absurdly long time between the last post and now, I will be making up for lost time here, with double the pictures.  First, we start with a sampling of Anika's one-year photos from our lovely and talented friend, miss Brianna Colleen.  She did another knock-out job. 

Anika looking stunning and a tad bit old for her age.  Does she look like a 14-year old or is it just the over-protective Dad in me?  The hot pink pants are pretty awesome.  (Alicia should probably get a matching pair.)

Anika goofing around and in a more playful state. 

This is one of Anika's new favorite activities--stacking.  She gets mighty impressed with herself when she can stack one ball on top of the other.  Not exactly the stuff of a baby genius, but we get excited about almost anything.

Anika showing off her lizard-like tongue yet again.

Displaying her inner gymnast, and being mesmerized by the bars.

It's a parade, all for Anika.

This is by far my favorite of the set.  She's such a happy little peanut.

Turning one didn't go without a birthday bash.  And Anika was in rare form, hamming it up for her family, enjoying the gifts, and devouring her first birthday cake.

Pondering whether the cake or the presents were the best part of the party.

Having learned the drill from Christmas, Anika was ready to unwrap like a big girl.

Anika's first look at her cake (courtesy of Grandma Kim), and right before her first dose of real sugar (and only one since).

Anika approved of the lemony frosting, which she proceeded to scrape off the top with her fingers, skipping the cake entirely.  I like the type-A-ness of my daughter.  What an orderly way of eating birthday cake!

After the frosting was disposed of, it was time to get aggressive.

Anika buttering up to the master cake maker--Grandma Kim.

Alex told Anika that she'd never get buff like him if she kept eating all that cake.  Until next year!