Snowbound Herpetologist

The semester is very close to ending, so I have a few minutes to update while I drink my afternoon coffee (which is vital to power through the rest of the things I have to do this afternoon, which is the pile of shit that I've been avoiding while teaching because I don't want to deal with it!).  Indeed, this might be the very first month since Annika was born when I did the update actually on the 24th! Annika at 14 months is impressive in many ways, anxiety-inducing in others.  Her motor skills (gross and fine) are all awesome - stairs are messy and she can't handle much perturbation to her balance, but overall, she's moving well, handling toys, and using a spoon (although in an unorthodox fashion, see video below).  Her verbal skills, though, are less impressive.  Maya had 30+ words and another 20+ signs by 13 months, and Annika is hovering around a dozen words (and maybe 5 signs) at 14 months: mama, dada, maya (ya-ya), owl (who-who), la la la (that damn book is equa

I mean seriously - look at the determination in those eyes! Also, a few videos:

The end of the semester has been brutal, but I'm sneaking in 20 minutes on this crisp Easter morning to provide a super fast update before we head off to the neighborhood egg hunt. Annika at 13 months is equal parts super fun and super cranky.  We've had a series of daycare illnesses (both conveniently - and horribly - timed to mostly affect weekends, which means she hasn't missed any daycare but has also been in rare form for the time we have her most), her molars are trying to emerge and her gums are super swollen, and she's been going through a very clingy phase in which mama can't go anywhere or do anything without screaming.  That said, when she's rested and Tylenoled, she is so, so much fun.  She is doing a lot more exploring of toys (putting things in and out of baskets, hauling dolls everywhere and burping them, wearing everyone's clothes all the time), and she and Maya wrestle like you wouldn't believe (to a continuous chorus of "Be gentl