What's this one-year-old up to?!

I can hardly believe our sweet girl has been one for almost a month now. Daily we see how she is growing. We can see her mind turning and grasping new things. She keeps us moving, entertained, and full of love. For her birthday she received this ball. She has truly grasped the concept of playing ball. You can roll the ball to her and she will pick it up and throw it back in your direction. She also knows the ball can be kicked. If her foot is the first thing to come to it, she will kick it before picking it up to roll or toss.

Yes, those are Anna's first official walking shoes (well sandals) and she absolutely loves them. One day this week I caught her, in the living room, pulling them off the coffee table. She put them down at her feet (indicating to put them on) but before she laid them at her feet she pulled her socks off. You see, she knows that they don't go on with socks. Not to mention this little one doesn't like socks. Barefoot is her preference!

Stacking, sorting and cleaning up are some of her favorite things. Anna loves to put things away these days. She tosses her blocks in her little caddy and if one happens not to go in and rolls out the other side our little girl says, " uuuhhh ooh." Anna has this word down pat and uses it anytime anything is dropped. This weekend Anna spent a good part of her weekend with a bucket and paper towel. She shredded the paper towel into little pieces and then spent her time filling and emptying her bucket. Joyful simplicity!

So you think you can Dance?! Well, Anna surely can. She loves music (as I have mentioned before) but now that she has her Mozart Music Box she can play a tune anytime and she does. We will ask Anna to play some music and she goes right over to her music box and sets it to play. And then Anna dances. She can be in another room and if music comes on she begins to bob up and down or move her arm back and forth. It is absolutely precious. I am not sure music has ever started without her beginning to move as well.

What else is this little one doing? Well, she loves to point out Mommy and Daddy's nnoooos (aka nose). She knows our ears too. But that word is a little hard to say. She hasn't quite grasped she too has a nose. When asked what does a doggy say she says "ufff" (almost blowing the words) and she has one other animal sound down (but that will be for a later post). Finally, Anna has lots of kisses to give. If you ask her for a kiss she plants her face right on your face with her mouth wide open. She stays there for a good long while and then pulls away with the biggest grin. She is very generous with kisses in the morning, especially on the weekends when we all get in our bed to snuggle. Just this week her daddy started blowing kisses to her and she quickly caught on. Now when she blows kisses, she smacks her lips instead of puckering them out. But so close and so cute! Not to mention Anna can point out some of her favorite people. This weekend sitting at the dinner table at the lake we asked where was "_____" and she would point or cut her eyes to the person we named. We surely are enjoying these moments with Anna.