ABC's and other new tricks

"A, B, C, D, E, D, B...." Anna is now singing the alphabet song all day long. This is what we get for using that song to soothe her when she was really little; now it's her favorite. Every day she gains a couple new letters. Three days ago, it was just, "A, B, C, B, C, B, C", but now she's worked her way up to E. The funny thing is, aside from the singing just being too darn cute, she actually has a strong grasp of the music, too. You can tell she's singing along to the tune of the ABC song, she just doesn't know all the letters yet.

Kurt and I have also been blown away lately with how quickly she's learning to walk. She hasn't been in therapy for months, but all under her own steam, she's now practicing free-standing, without holding on to anything or pulling up on anything, and she's walking more and more steadily while still holding furniture or my hands. She still loves to scoot around, it's the fastest thing for her, but she's also now crawling, too, about a third of the time. The next few weeks will be very interesting as she takes her first steps by herself!

One strange new skill she's developed is a penchant for headstands. She'll stand up, then bend at the waist, putting her forehead on the ground. Upside down, she's just stay there, using her hands to play with a toy, balanced between her forehead and feet like a teepee. I'm not sure why she enjoys that position, but as soon as she does it when I've got a camera close at hand, I'll post photographic evidence.

Anna is also learning to talk in sentences, mostly comprehensibly. For instance, she'll say, "Where are you?" and then, "There he is!", but it doesn't matter if she's looking for a boy or a girl. She puts together words she knows seperately to make sentences herself, which is really cool. She is also picking up new words SO quickly, we only have to tell her once or twice, and next thing you know, she's using it all over the place as if she's always known it.

Really, all these new tricks are standard fare for toddlers growing up. I'm just constantly surprised and SUPER proud at each new step, skill and development. Go Anna!