month eighteen Oct/Nov-2009

Hannah has a favorite story to tell (mostly with signs and gestures), which she repeats multiple times per day (often on occasion): Like a safety instructor, she touches the edges of the table and furniture, then makes a grimace to indicate pain, and touches her cheeks or forehead. She really knows where it hurts…
She also anticipates actions by her parents, e.g. she suddenly stands up in her high chair and yells sitzen! while knocking on the table with her fingers, just like daddy usually does.

Sitting at the window, watching what's happening below; Hannah's favorite place.

Hannah mimics the grown-ups: Cleaning, grooming, and feeding teddy.

Hannah is properly dressed for the autumn weather.

So we're having a walk around the town.

In the evening, Hannah shows grandpa her many books…

…and plays with grandma.

Very interesting: Grandma's earrings and jewelry.

Hannah got a baby doll from grandma, too.

But she also keeps playing with the turtle from uncle Ben.
In fact, she has far too many toys by now.

Hannah got a shop from a second-hand children's market.
Thanks, Selvi!

She was already very interested when daddy assembled it.

Hannah's current favorite food: budo (raisins). She demands them for breakfast, tea time, and all throughout the day. Her last "fad food", yogurt, seems to be completely out of fashion; she only occasionally concludes dinner with a little bowl of it.

She's now able to eat banana all by herself.

Hannah starts to speak more than simple words: Mama no, Papa no, Nanna no (means me), also in German: meins, deins.

It all started on the weekend, when she was too excited about grandma and grandpa visiting, and didn't eat enough in the evening. She woke up in the middle of the night and demanded to eat banana. The past 4 or 5 nights, she always awoke early (between 3:00 and 5:00), demanded something to eat, and then didn't fall asleep, but merrily played in our bed, or walked around the bedroom — sometimes for hours. She only fell asleep some time in the morning, or was irritated all day long. Putting her to rest after lunch became a grueling task, too: she is tired, speaks of Bettchen herself, but as soon as one wants to leave her alone in the bed, she jumps up and starts crying. If one remains next to her bed, she initially stays calm, but instead of falling asleep starts to become active again, gets up or even starts talking.

A tired girl cuddles with daddy.

Hannah finally is able to say "grandma" (Oma); however, the mixes up the phonemes and says Moa instead. It took us a while to recognize what she meant by that…

Hannah is teething again. The last few days, her head was unusually warm, and her cheeks often swollen. She has less appetite, requires more attention than usual, and her sleep is less deep; also shorter midday naps. Last night, she awoke early in the night, crying. We had to give her a suppository against the pain; she wouldn't calm down otherwise.

Eating cold spaghetti with chopsticks.
(She wanted to wear the hat.)

Continue with month 19…