Baby Says "Hi," Crawls, Goes to Bed.

CORVALLIS - Annikka crawled for the first time tonight. She doesn't have it mastered, but she'll be moving around on her own pretty soon, if not tomorrow. The days of stationary Annikka are probably over, which means we have to stop leaving her on the bed while we go shopping.

Dana and I are happy to see that Annikka is moving around, but at the same time we're concerned because we don't have any baby-gates or anything, and the house is definitely not baby-proofed. Careful, Annikka!

Also, Annikka has spoken. Her first word is "hi." She's been saying it for a number of weeks now, but I didn't think she knew what it meant, so I wasn't sure it qualified as a first word. But when I said that to her day care workers, they looked at me like I was nuts (not unusual). According to them, Annikka knows what "hi" means and she knows how to use it. Apparently she says it to everyone who comes in the door.

And according to Dana, Annikka says "hi" to the empty hallway every morning when she arrives at day care, and she says hi to everyone she sees at the grocery store. Annikka also said it to Grandma and Grandpa today when they came to visit.

So anyhoo, big news here. Our kid is moving around, and she's starting to talk. Pretty cool.

See everyone soon! Here are some pics to tide you over: