Eatin' Broccoleheh!

We've been giving Annikka a lot of finger food lately in the hopes that she'll begin to feed herself. We gave her a broccoli tree (or three) this weekend.

First, she played with it:





Then she put it in her mouth:











Then she (sort of) took a bite ...



... and decided she's not crazy about broccoli:



Then we gave her a baby biscuit ...



... and she was happy:

Cell Phone

If you're sick of watching Annikka eat bananas, here is a video of Annikka playing with a toy cell phone (her favorite):

Father's Day

It's Father's Day, and because I'm now a card-carrying member of "the club," I lived it up today: Dana made pancakes for breakfast, I took a post-breakfast nap, and the family went on a short hike. Annikka has been sick for the past four days, but she was healthy today, so we were all happy.

(EDIT: Dana wants me to note that my post-breakfast nap was "long" -- it wasn't a "normal" nap.)

After the hike, Annikka tackled a banana ALL. BY. HERSELF!



Please disregard the weird photo montage at the beginning. I have no idea what that's about, although it probably has something to do with my inability to master iMovie. Poor editing aside, pretty cute, huh? Annikka's sickness brought with it some, ahem, poop problems. So we thought we'd give her a banana to, you know, fix the problem.

My Aunt Liz and my cousins, Ashley and Megan, from Cary, Illinois (the other Howes), sent Annikka a great gift package, including some awesome shades:





According to the other Howes, Annikka is "the cutest baby in Oregon." We agree. Thanks, Howes! We'll see you in August!

Last Sunday we took a hike to Alsea Falls and Green Peak Falls. (Annikka's first waterfalls!)







Alsea Falls is kind of in the middle of nowhere in the Coast Range, southwest of Corvallis, and I'm not going to lie, the isolation can be a tad un-nerving ... in a Deliverance sort of way. It's about a mile hike to the second set of falls. On the way back, we heard all sorts of gunfire. Probably just a bunch of dudes firing into a log or something, but still, a little freaky. Well, get a load of what happened in exactly that spot the night before. Yikes.

Annikka is a standing fool. She LOVES to stand. Turns out, this is great for us. If you've been to our house, you know that we have this totally un-usable space off our family room. The people who lived in the house before us marketed it as a "conversation nook." It's this 8' x 8' area that is sunk two feet into the floor (and, strangely, fully carpeted). Anyhow, we have absolutely no use for this space. Or, I should say we "had" no use for this area until Annikka fell in love with standing:











(Note Annikka's cute tummy in the last picture.)

Look at that! The little seating area is exactly the right height.

Unfortunately, Annikka loves to stand, but she can't get there without a little help. Hopefully she'll figure that out soon.

I'll conclude this post with a picture of Annikka folding laundry:

The Title of this Film is "Baby Eats Banana"

I hope you enjoy it:

I've already received worried messages noting that it's not 5 1/2 weeks to the wedding and 6 1/2 weeks to the reunion. It's 10 1/2 and 11 1/2, respectively. Sorry.

With Dana's help, here are some more, random updates:

1. Annikka communicates by clicking her tongue. She's been doing it for about a month and a half now.
2. Annikka likes to tilt her head sideways to look at things. (Super cute.)
3. The cats are scared of Annikka. Still.
4. My favorite part of the day is picking Annikka up from day care. See your kid freak out (happily) to see you is incredible. Dana enjoys it, too.
5. Annikka has no top teeth, yet.

Happy June, everyone. Hard to believe that we're only 10 and a half weeks from Rachel's wedding, and 11 and a half weeks from the Larsen family reunion. It's even harder to believe that this crazy kid is over eight months old! Whoa.



If Annikka lives with us for 18 years, she's already 1/26th of the way through, and then it's off to college. (Someone double check my math.)

Here are some random updates:

1. Annikka has one week of swim class left. She's talking about enrolling in another class later in the summer.
2. Annikka loves to hold on to furniture and stand.
3. Annikka still does not like to spend time on her tummy. But she has to.
4. Annikka bounces to music.
5. Annikka does not (cannot?) sleep at day care. She thinks it's way too exciting.
6. Annikka loves toy phones.
7. Annikka loves her mom.
8. Dana is STILL breast-feeding. It is a ton of work. She's amazing.
9. Annikka likes to eat peaches, pears, mangos, apples, asparagus, and sweet potatoes. She also likes peas mixed with peaches or pears. And she likes lentils mixed with sweet potatoes.

I'll ask Dana if she has any random updates to share.

In the meantime, here is Annikka going to town in her exersaucer (sp?):

Annikka Crosses State Lines and Eats a Cheerio

We went to Minneapolis a couple of weeks ago for Rachel's wedding shower.

It was Annikka's first trip out of state and her first ever trip in an aero-plane. So we packed up Annikka and everything else, and headed for the airport:



Annikka did very, very well on the plane. It helps to fly first class (read: it helps to have a grandma who has racked up tons of frequent flier miles):



Once in Minnesota, Annikka got to see her cousins, Emilie and Rachel, and her Aunt Kirsten, again:







... and she met her uncle Mike for the first time:



Annikka had a good time at the shower (which was in St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin, my hometown):





That night she met our friends, Marc and Mia Hoyer:



It was a great trip: it sounds like the shower was fun; Annikka got to meet all kinds of people that are important to the Howe's; and I got to catch the Cleveland Indians in person.

Finally, here is a cute picture of Annikka wearing a dress that our friend Sonja made:



... along with a video of Annikka eating one of her first Cheerios. It's a bit long (she doesn't eat it until near the end of the video), but you should at least fast forward to that part ... I think it's hilarious.