Tale of the tape: 2 months / 2 years

Good things seem to be happening in twos lately. My baby sister Annabelle turns two months old today, just a few weeks after I myself turned two years old. And last week, we were able to go to the doctor as a twosome for our respective checkups.

And let me tell you, there are few things more adorable than two tiny sisters laying on an exam bed next to each other in just their diapers, waiting for the nurse to measure them. The sheer cuteness of that situation would’ve broken any cameras that dared try to capture it, so Mom and Dad wisely chose not to snap any photos. Or they just forgot. Either way.

But as usual, I thoroughly enjoyed the view of downtown from the Polyclinic windows. Not so much the tall buildings, but the large trucks and buses making their way up and down the road.

Anyway, let’s get down to the nitty-gritty. Here’s how the two of us measured up:

Annabelle

Birth weight: 7 pounds, 6 ounces.

2-month weight: 9 pounds, 9 ounces (17th percentile).

Birth length: 21 inches.

2-month length: 21.5 inches (21st percentile).

Birth head circumference: Not available.

2-month head circumference: 38.9 centimeters (78th percentile).

Yes, that’s right. My baby sister is extremely short, extremely skinny, but with an extremely large head. She’s the human embodiment of the female symbol. Or a lollipop.

Eliza

Birth weight: 7 pounds, 7.6 ounces.

6-month weight: 17 pounds, 6 ounces.

1-year weight: 22 pounds, 8 ounces.

18-month weight: 25 pounds, 3.2 ounces.

2-year weight: 27 pounds, 13 ounces (64th percentile).

  

Birth length: 20.25 inches.

6-month height: 26.5 inches.

1-year height: 29.5 inches.

18-month height: 32.25 inches.

2-year height: 35.25 inches (83rd percentile).

  

Birth head circumference: Not available.

6-month head circumference: 43.5 centimeters.

1-year head circumference: 46.4 centimeters.

18-month head circumference: 47.9 centimeters.

2-year head circumference: 48.9 centimeters (84th percentile).

In case you didn’t notice, I’d like to point out that my sister and I are both on the high end of the spectrum for head circumference. So in the spirit of the theme of twos, I'd like to apologize profusely to my mother on both my behalf and my sister's.

Happy Halloween!

Hello, friends! Annabelle here again, still basking in the afterglow of my first Halloween. Can you believe there’s a holiday where you go door-to-door, begging people for candy, and instead of calling the cops, people actually give it to you! This world is awesome!

Mom and Dad were particularly excited about this Halloween. I’ve been told that they didn’t enjoy the holiday nearly as much back when they were living in a condo, because they never got any trick-or-treaters. [Editor’s note: The five separate locked doors between the building’s front door and our front door may have had something to do with that.] But since we’re now in a house this year, they had their jack-o-lanterns all set up and bought a few gigantic bags of candy, ready for the onslaught of tiny costumed beggars. Ten minutes after Dad and Eliza got home from work/daycare, we got our first set of trick-or-treaters – five kids from our neighborhood. Seems promising, right?

Wrong. Those five kids would end up being the only trick-or-treaters we got the entire night. Mom was disappointed, and Dad pretended to be as he wolfed down countless unclaimed Snickers, Twizzlers and Butterfingers.

Speaking of trick-or-treating, in the days leading up to Halloween, plenty of people asked Mom and Dad if they were planning on taking Eliza and me out. Mom and Dad’s response was that they were going to wait until their daughters could A) walk an entire trick-or-treating route without being carried, and B) say “trick or treat” without being prompted. Since neither one of us has fulfilled both of those goals yet, we stayed home. But that doesn’t mean we didn’t get to wear costumes!

I’ve heard that Mom and Eliza set the bar pretty high last year, so we didn’t even try beating that. In the end, Mom, Eliza and I chose to go with another group-themed costume: Me as the peapod...

Eliza as a carrot (in a costume handmade by our Ya-Ya!)...

and Mom as a chef.

Apparently we impressed a few people, because Eliza and I took home the “Cutest Baby Costume” award at the Halloween party we went to on Saturday night. It came as a bit of a shock, considering Eliza decided she didn’t want to wear the hat from her costume for more than 3 seconds at a time. See that photo up at the top of the screen? That’s literally the best photo of the two of us together in our costumes.

Still, it was nice to see that Ya-Ya’s hard work in making Eliza’s costume was properly appreciated, as was Mom’s effort in putting me in the same used costume that my sister wore two years ago.

Meanwhile, Dad also got into the costume spirit, but he chose partner up with my Uncle Ben, and they went as Wreck-It Ralph and Fix-It Felix. At first I was offended and assumed that he thought he was too cool to take part in our family theme, but then I realized that a man carrying around a toy hammer has probably never thought he was too cool for anything.

The Big Oh-Two

Well, it's about time. It's finally my second birthday. I say "finally" not because I've been looking forward to this day for any particular reason, but because I finally have a reason to sing one of my favorite songs.

You see, for the past few months, I've been singing "Happy Birthday" like it's going out of style. I guess it just really stuck with me from daycare, where kids are celebrating birthdays seemingly once a week.

A couple of months ago, Dad secretly recorded me singing it. I've gotten better since then, but I think this is still pretty good. Eat your heart out, Marilyn Monroe!



(If that player doesn't work, just click this link.)

Anyway, like I did last year on my birthday, I'm sharing a month-by-month slideshow of how much I've changed over the past year. The monthly transitions aren't quite as obvious as they were during my first year of existence, but the overall change is pretty drastic when you see what I looked like a year ago at this time. Here goes...

12 months

13 months

14 months

15 months

16 months

17 months

18 months

19 months

20 months

21 months

22 months

23 months

24 months

It's been a pretty great year. In the time between my first and second birthdays, I...

• Started daycare.
• Learned to walk.
• Began speaking full sentences (and learned some Spanish and Chinese).
• Took a trip to Hawaii.
• Said goodbye to my first house when we sold our condo.
• Moved in with my Ya-Ya and Grandpa in Redmond for three months.
• Moved into a new house.
• Had a baby sister!

And the wonders never cease! Just yesterday, I got a birthday card from my Grammy and Grandpa in Kennewick, and they included a $2 bill in honor of my second birthday. Who even knew that such a magical item existed? And it features Thomas Jefferson, one of Dad's heroes!

I can't wait until my next birthday, because I assume they'll be sending me a $3 bill. I bet another super-important president is on that one too. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for William Henry Harrison.

The Afterthought speaks

Hi, everybody! I’m Annabelle, and I’m new here.

I’m writing to you all today because I was finally able to wrestle the computer away from my overbearing sister Eliza so I could properly introduce myself. As you probably know, I was born a little over a month ago, on Sept. 11. A day later, I went home. And, well, that brings me to today. I’ve been told life will eventually get more exciting.

Uneventful or not, this little thing called life has been pretty enjoyable so far. I spend most of my time with my mom, although I’m asleep or eating for much of it, so I’m still trying to get to know her. But from what I’ve seen, she seems pretty great. Eliza told me after I was born that there’s not a better person to snuggle with, and she was totally right. Also, Mom doesn’t mind that I’m slowly destroying her internal clock by sleeping for most of the day and staying awake for most of the night. I’m like the world’s tiniest vampire.

Now, my name. Obviously, “Annabelle” is quite a mouthful. Same goes for my sister’s name, which is why Mom and Dad call her Eliza instead of Elizabeth. But even though Annabelle and Eliza have the same amount of syllables, Annabelle just seems a lot longer when you say it, doesn’t it? So when you see me, you can feel free to call me just about anything you want.

Annabelle is just fine, but I’ve already heard Anna (my sister), Annie (Dad), Anna-Bear (Mom) A.B. (my Auntie Amy and Uncle Ben), Annie B. (my Grammy), and Annie Bananie (also Dad, who isn’t into the whole brevity thing).

But if you really want to be accurate, you can go ahead and call me “Afterthought.” When Eliza is around, wreaking havoc on everything she touches, Mom and Dad often forget that I’m in the room, sleeping peacefully in my chair. I guess that’s what happens when you’re a relatively quiet newborn and your older sister is a two-year-old force of nature. (That said, when Eliza goes to bed at 7:30, it becomes my time to shine, because her absence gives Mom and Dad the opportunity to lavish all their attention on me.)

Now, Mom and Dad may tell people they feel guilty about ignoring me sometimes, but deep down, I know they’re secretly relieved that they even have the option, because it means I’m much lower-maintenance than Eliza is. Will I stay that way? Only time will tell, but for now, I’m pretty content to just hang out in the background and observe. I have no idea if Mom and Dad plan on having any more kids, but if they do, I’d like to think I’m nailing the audition for the role of middle child.