Ants!

After nearly a month in Colorado, Annabelle and I are now enjoying some time in the desert. We’re in Arizona visiting my extended family and she seems to be having as nice a time as I am. So far she has attended her first wedding and has met many family members, including some of my cousins who are not too far from her size.

She has started moving in a way that much more closely resembles a traditional crawl. She is seriously moving! She also moves at times by getting up on her hands and the tips of her toes instead of her knees. Her Great Grandma has informed me that this is called the “Bear Crawl.” People have also been commenting on how well she stands (supported) and how strong she is. She has loved to straighten her legs to stand up since she was days old. When she was tiny, we knew she needed to be taken to the bathroom when she would stand on us and try to climb our chests. Several people have said now that they think she’ll be an early walker. I guess we’ll see.

The most incredible change to me, however, has been her attention to small objects as well as to rapidly moving ones. On our regular walks in the past, I have pointed out things like birds and lizards and she never seemed to notice them. Today, however, I was sitting on the patio with her enjoying some fresh air when I realized she was following the tiny, fast moving ants that were crawling around on the cement. She kept reaching out, trying to touch them, and was crawling after them as well.