Balloonie!

As the weather started to turn, we started to venture out more. Hannah went to her first baseball game the day before Mother's Day and loved it. Especially the garlic fries. The Giants beat the Phillies, but she knows where her loyalties lie.

Hannah loves whenever we take her to one of the parks or playgrounds nearby, but getting her to leave is always a chore. "Again!" Again!"Again!" It's hard to resist her wishes (demands), but doing the slide for the 20th time can be a little exhausting.

At the end of the month, we took Hannah to the Foster City Arts and Wine Festival. She loved seeing all the people and the carnival rides, and we got hours and hours of enjoyment out of the balloon she got

Hannah's vocabulary continued to expand rapidly around this time, and she even started speaking in complete sentences. Watching and listening to her absorb the world around her is truly wondrous.

Pool's Cool

We had a busy but fun weekend with Hannah. On Saturday, I took her to music class, which she enjoyed, although she was being shy at the beginning. And then we had lunch with Shannon and Ali at our favorite Indian place. Hannah had a tummy ache for most of the weekend, but she was a trooper.

Today we went out to breakfast with Amy, I took Hannah for a bike ride (remember, bicycle is her favorite word and activity), and then we went swimming. We had her in swimming classes last August, but when we got in the pool, it was clear she didn't remember. Once I started playing peekaboo and splashing around in the water, she warmed up a bit and started to have fun. So in the span of a few minutes, we went from "no more, no more" to not wanting to get out of the pool. We had a great time though, and she looked so cute in her new bathing suit.

Giggles McGoo

From early in Hannah's life, she was ticklish on her upper torso, underneath her arms. One of the first times she laughed was as a result of tickling her in this area. And as you can see in the video, I have a mean streak in me. Her laugh is so cute that I just can't help it. She seems to enjoy it too :)

ABCDEFG...

18 months old. Unbelievable. What was a tiny little girl, waking up every two hours, unable to eat solid foods, unable to move, and unsure of the world around her had become a full fledged little person. I keep saying this, but it's amazing how quickly kids grow up. The time just whizzes by and they learn so much, and change so quickly.

I took Hannah to the Dr's for her 18 month old checkup. Her height and weight were still in the 25th percentile, and her noggin was still in the 90th:) The Dr. told me that most 18 month olds can only say about 20 words. Hannah must've picked up the talkative gene from her mom, because by our estimation, she was well over 100 words around this time. It was literally at least one new word a day, and all we had to do was tell her something once, and she would remember it.

Here's a sampling of Hannah's words from around this time: Mommy, Daddy, Hannah, Nana, Baba, Dede, Baby, Sleeping, Night-Night, Bath, Yoghurt, Humus, Broccoli, Apple, Orange, Juice, Strawberry, Carrot, Markovka (carrot in Russian), Yes, No, See Ya, Hi, Bye, OK, All-right, No More, All Done, Shoes, Boots, Cars, Airplanes, Socks, Pants, Shirt, Jacket, Bicycle (one of her favorites), Music, Teletubbies, Water, Coffee, Wash, Hot, Cold, Belly, Head, Shoulders, Knees, Toes, Feet, Hands, Mouth, Eyes, Ears, Duck, Bird, Dog, Cat, Train, Brush, Letters, Light, Book, Milk, Trash, Amy, Kathryn, Maya, Big Girl, Good Girl, Cheese, and many more.

And much to our amazement, she broke out the ABC song this month, from end-to-end, all on her own. It was one of the cutest things we've ever heard.

Hannah weighed 20lbs 10oz, was 30.5 inches long, and her head measured 48.25cm.

Terrible Twos Already?

Just like no one tells you that the first three months are rough, or that breast feeding can be very challenging, no one tells you that the terrible twos start before age 2! Now don't get me wrong, I would never use the word terrible to describe Hannah, as she's a delight. But we now understand what people mean when they say their kids are in their terrible twos.

For Hannah, that means learning how to use the word "no" (Hannah, can I have a kiss? No!), and a stronger personality. It's actually quite funny. When she gets upset, her entire body tenses up and she whines or screams. Two seconds later, it's over and she's on to something else, but staying patient during the outburst is an artform.

Even though she's entered a new phase of her self expression, as you can see from the pictures, she's still an amazing little girl who inspires us to love in ways that we previously couldn't imagine. She's out sweet boiba. Our Louie. Our Zeesa Punim. Our Hannah.

Like Whippets they Dance (1/08)

Hannah has loved music her entire life, and now that we finally have a video camera, we can actually record some of her memories. Of course, recording means work uploading and editing, but I guess that's better than splicing 8mm film together :)

Walkathon (12/07)

When Hannah (or any child for that matter) started walking, it was both a blessing and a curse. The blessing was that it was yet another amazing step in her development, and with her ability to walk, we had some new found freedom to go out and do things that were previously challenging. The curse, however, is that Hannah always wanted to walk. She didn't want to be carried, and she certainly didn't want to be in her stroller. She wanted to explore her new world on foot. She didn't completely stop letting us carry her, but the only way we could appease her was to put her on my shoulders. And I'm sure you can imagine the challenge of letting your toddler walk around the mall or other busy place. Regardless of these challenges, we were very proud of Hannah when she started walking. She was now a full-fledged toddler.