Hello? Is there anybody in there?

[We're back! And yes, we were down. We can't upload photos now, but hopefully we will be back on the horse again soon. Luckily, Sandra (Anja's Saturday caregiver) took lots of photos one recent sunny afternoon on a walk. Enjoy them... ]

In life, months might not seem significant for adults. Now we understand why parents address their children by age in months. In weeks, days even, everything can change. One year ago, Anja began using sign-language. This so empowered and excited her that her ability to express herself has been snow-balling ever since. Her facial gestures are wild. Today she stopped bouncing on my bed and said, "Watch this Mama...". She blinked one eye at me. A few weeks ago while getting her diaper changed at daycare, she looked at the smiling young Russian woman and asked, "Are you tired?". Anja asks lots of questions now. "What happened?!", "What are you doing?", "Can I help?" and "Do you hear that?". One day while rewinding a video for her (with the images trailing backwards), she started laughing. "Oh-my-gawd-look that's funny!!"

Sometimes I wonder what her earliest memories will be. I wonder if she'll remember the mornings that we play together with sun streaming through the windows. Or beach days with Daddy, filling his shirt with rocks, being carried home on his shoulders. From all signs, her memory is impressive (children should be rocket scientists). Someday we'll get to find that out.

Here's Anja...