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.