I am Laying in Bed and I'm SINGING!

(paraphrased from Elf . . .)

It is hard to explain little Annabelle's temperament to people who have not experienced it. Most mornings, if she wakes up before we get to her, she will just lay quietly in bed cooing and gah-gahing.

As soon as Annie sees you come in, her face lights up and she grins from ear to ear - sometimes you even get a laugh as a "good morning".

Most of her waking hours she just smiles and laughs and babbles.

When you lay her down for a nap, the minute her little body touches the mattress, her face lights up and she smiles her way to sleep.

It. Is. Amazing.

Now that she is laughing on a regular basis, the parental quest for more smiles and laughter is on! We have discovered that one of the things that gets the most smiles and the most laughter is when we sing to her (especially mom). So we spend a fair amount of time singing and smiling and laughing.

I am convinced that she has picked up on this whole singing thing and has started to sing herself. You can hear her in her crib singing away right after she wakes up or right before she falls asleep. The trouble is, as soon as you turn a camera on, she clams up.

The other day, I finally caught her on tape. It's not one of her better songs but it gives you an idea . . . watch for the moment she sees me standing over her crib . . . We get a response like that just about every single time we go in to pick her up . . .

What a joy!

(BTW, this video was from this past Saturday - just after she had brain surgery. If you look closely, you can catch a glimpse of the incision behind her left ear.)

I just think she is a wonder.