Annika

So, I've forgotten to write about my daughter, the supposed inspiration of this blog.
So, in honor of her 11 month mark, here goes!
Annika has been able to stand on her own for 3 weeks to a month. She took her first wobbly step on Christmas Eve, took a brief hiatus, and is now up to about 5. The first 3 or 4 are usually confident steps, with one last "oops, I think I'm falling!" step. She is ALWAYS on the go. She has little interest in cuddling, resting, cooing, etc. She has to be exploring, climbing, opening cupboards, tugging on the blinds, sucking on the garbage pail when I forget to stick in in the laundry room (this is the grossest one) and bonking her head on our very sharp cornered chair legs.
She has SO much hair. Lots of it is shaped in a cute fashion around her head with proportionately acceptable lengths. But a few really long pieces really perplex me. The start at the cowlick and end up in really odd places. Either way, her hair is getting thicker, darker and prettier. Everyone comments on her cuteness anywhere we go, most often because she flirts with anyone who will look at her. She is a bit of a ham.
She has had two middle, bottom teeth for a while now, and two more are coming in on top. The top two are straddling the bottom two. I wonder how this will look when they come in?
Annika loves biter biscuits, (probably for the mess), dino nuggets (chicken), any kind of chicken, including korma, tandoori, chicken soup, etc. She likes cauliflower best of any vegetable, but has fun with green beans. I don't how much of the beans she eats, but she likes squeezing out their innards. She also likes graham crackers, and, much to our surprise, John and I like them too. Neither of us have had them in 20 or so years, and discovered that they are tasty.
At 4 months, we first fed her rice cereal. On her first spoonful, she grabbed the spoon and shoved it right into her mouth. She helped feed herself for the next month or so, but hasn't since. This week, she's started to feed herself again (kind of!) and gets most of the food in her mouth. (I'm talking about spoon feeding, she can eat finger food just fine.) Lest this paint too rosy a picture, I sweep twice a day so that I don't trail the dry and wet and squishy food into the rest of the house. A good percentage of her food ends up on the floor or the wall next to her high chair.
If you have specific questions about her many talents and prowess, please request so specifically. (I love the word prowess. I see a lion every time I hear the word. In my mind, not my living room.)