Fuzzy Green Sweater - Day 574

We just took this picture today. Anna went to watch ice skaters at the Smithsonian sculpture park and had fun walking around. When we tell Anna to smile, she now does this open-mouth expression that is hardly a smile, but it is pretty funny. This picture is one of her "smiles." We bought this sweater around Christmas from some Central American vendors at Eastern Market.

Anyhow, Anna has learned to spell her name. You can now ask her how to spell her name and she will say A-N-N-A. The Ns may have a little reverb in them...it is more like "en-ne-ne" but she is getting her point across and understands the concept.

Anna has a new babysitter named Laura -- she calls her Lola. She is cheaper than our previous one and is really nice and handles Anna very well. The last time she watched Anna, she said that she had to read Skippyjon Jones (her favorite book) many times. I have written about this book in a previous posting, but her Skippyjon language has developed very quickly. Her vocab is now filled with such sayings as: "boogie-woogie tango," "icky-sticky mango," "holy jalapeno," and "pato pato ganzo." No one else understands her, but we know she is doing well.

Anna continues to learn her letters. She probably has a very good command (90% accuracy) of 10 letters, an 80% command of another 5, and about a 60% command of another five yet. She asks me several times a day to play letters with her...but I also get asked to play doll house several times too.