Anya is 1 year old now- horray! We had a party for her on Feb 14th and had about 25 guests. Anya dove into her first birthday cake and there was frosting everywhere. It is amazing that there was virtually no cake on her clothes, but she had plenty in her ears....Anya took her first few steps on Feb 2nd, but just started to really get the hang of it this week. She will walk across the room, even stopping every so often to re-gain her balance. Uncle Mike called her 'baby Frankenstein'.

Anya is learning new words and animal sounds. She is very good with Hi, No, Yes, Mom, Dad, and has started saying NaNa when she sees bananas (real ones or pictures), she says MMMM when she sees food on the counter or in a magazine, and loves to say Oh Wow when she is really impressed by something or if something is bright or shiny. She will say Meow when she sees a cat or a picture of a cat, and says Woof or pants for dogs. She also babbles ALOT as if she is having conversations with me.

Recently, we had visits from Grandpa Ted, Opa Tom, Aunt Morgan, Uncle Mike and Kristi, and cousins Joann and Duke. Next to visit will be Great Grandma, Aunt Aimee and Chris, and return visits from Grandpa Ted and Opa Tom. We will also have lots of visitors from Buffalo in March and April when Grandpa Ted comes down.

Anya is quickly approaching her first birthday which is Feb 12th. Her newest favorite things are giving hugs and kissing her hand with a big "mwuah" sound when you say I love you. She also waves hi to everyone and everything. She loves to hug and pat her toys too. I think she is finally starting to understand when we tell her to be nice and gentle with the pets, but our older dog Riley won't even give her a chance to get her fur pulled again. Our other dog Gizmo just sits there and takes her pounding and climbing on him. Cleo the cat will sit near Anya and doesn't mind if Anya pats her. Anya loves to eat lots of food, even vegetables. She will give an enthusiastic "MMMMM" if she likes it and will press her lips together if she doesn't. (smart little bugger) Luckily she is not a picky eater so if she doesn't like it now, she will probably like it later on in the day. Anya loves to do laps holding on to the coffee table. She follows mommy all around the house, crawling or in the walker, but has not started walking yet. The closest we have gotten is when she occasionally lets go of whatever she is holding on to and stands freely for a moment. I think we spoil it when we clap to congratulate her and she claps in return and falls on her butt. She doesn't mind. We also took her on a weekend trip to Key West two weekends ago. She loved walking on Duval Street and waving to everyone and watched the perfomers at Mallory Square. We stayed in a condo with a heated pool and Anya and Daddy played in the pool all afternoon. Key West is certainly different when you bring your child, no bar hopping like before but maybe next time...after all it is Key West (just kidding) More to come....stay tuned :)

Jello

Anya figured out how to eat jello today.

Anya Elizabeth

Ok, we are starting a blog for Anya. Daddy has been saying "we" should make a blog and since he has not made any effort, I guess he meant "I" should make a blog. Anya is growing by leaps and bounds. She is 10 months old now and we have recently realized that she is more like a toddler now than a baby. She is pulling herself up on everything and crawls all around the house. She understands when we tell her simple things like "no" (in baby language,this apparently means do whatever you were doing faster), "clap", "drink", "hug", and "make nice nice" (this means to pummel in baby language). Anya has her first cold, but she is taking it like a champ. Daddy and I just love going out in public with boogie marks on our shirts. She has her two bottom teeth and is just about ready to have her top two teeth come in. I noticed that it's not the top front teeth, but rather the ones next to the front teeth so I guess she will have fangs...that figures....

Anya is also saying lots of words now like "dog/doggie", "hi", "mommy/daddy", and "yeah". She also waves hi and bye and is not exactly scared of strangers, but she will look to see our reaction to strange people before she responds to them. We recently took her up to NJ for Thanksgiving and then drove to Buffalo. She had lots of fun with all of her family. Next we are on to NH from December 22-29. It's going to be cold!

Happy Holidays Everyone!!!

love,

The Kendzioras