One of Annie’s favorite things to do when we visit Mike’s parents is to sit at their piano and make noise. On this last trip, she took things up a notch and made up her own song.

Annie clearly comes from the tradition of confessional songwriters like Joni Mitchell, because the song touches on her recent life experiences including watching bunnies run around her grandparents’ backyard, touching the steering wheel of a new toy, and, most tellingly, her fear of playground slides. Sing on, Annie.

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Whenever I eat a huge meal I usually end up dozing on the couch within a matter of minutes, and it seems that food has the same effect on Annie… except Annie falls asleep in a slightly different location.

Annie’s nodding off was too cute not to film, but don’t worry, we made sure she swallowed before we put her sleepy head to bed.

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Tomorrow team March for Maddie will be participating in the March for Babies for the fifth year in a row – our fourth walk without her.

The march is something that’s very important to our family, to both remember and honor Maddie, and to help other families going through the same thing we experienced four and a half years ago when we learned there were complications with Madeline’s pregnancy.

The March of Dimes has funded research that’s lead to countless strides in the fight against prematurity. They won’t stop until every child is born healthy. We won’t stop, either.

Like last year, I am again posting my speech from the 2009 March for Babies. Maddie passed away barely three weeks prior to the walk. I still can’t watch this footage. But I hope all of you can take a few minutes to watch it, maybe for the first time, or maybe for the third, and remember all the babies out there that were taken too soon because they were born too soon.

if you’d like to donate, you can click on the sponsor me button in my sidebar. If you want information about how to donate time, or join a walk, go to www.marchforbabies.org. You can also register for our team and walk in spirit (it’s free to join). And if you want to spread the word, please pass along this post. Use your voice for the babies who cannot.

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One of the things we did to get Annie to go to sleep at a set time was to create a bedtime routine that we repeat every night. It worked great (except for the occasional hiccup) and Annie now loves her bedtime routine so much that we often find her pretending to put her dolls to bed!

Last night Heather started to doze on the couch, so I asked Annie if she wanted to put Mama to bed. Annie was very excited at this prospect, and proceeded to go through many key portions of our bedtime routine including tucking Heather in with her dolls, singing her “Goodnight” by The Beatles, and giving her a night-night kiss!

Now if only someone would put me to bed!

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The more Annie gets a grasp on the English language, the more she wants to talk. Yesterday she revealed her desire to become a Barbara Walters style interviewer, and sat down for an exclusive interview with her favorite subject… herself!

Great questions, Annie, and… answers too!

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As I mentioned earlier this week, Annie has discovered videos of her big sister and become obsessed with watching them. Right now “Barney,” “Gabba,” and even “Dora” have nothing on “Maddie” as far as Annie is concerned.

Of all the Maddie videos there is one that Annie has watched obsessively. I’m trying to teach Maddie to say, “WOW!” while she’s sitting in Mike’s lap. She looks up at Mike and lets out a burp. Annie thinks it’s the funniest thing she’s ever seen. It’s always been a favorite video of mine, too.

If you can’t see the video above, click here.

We love you, Madeline. Mommy, Daddy, Rigby, and your sister, too.

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Annie, like most toddlers, is on the go all day long. For posterity’s sake, Mike and I thought it would be fun to capture one of her on the go toddler days by filming her doing whatever it is she’s doing at the top of every hour – from the moment she wakes to the moment she goes to bed.

I would be exhausted after a day like that, too.

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For her birthday, Annie was given a totally awesome ball pit full of tons of different colored balls. My only regret about the ball pit is that it isn’t big enough for me to lay down in. Someday I will have my own Heather-sized ball pit.

Earlier this week, my Mom was watching Annie play in the pit when she asked her what color one of the characters from “Yo Gabba Gabba” was. Annie thought a second, then picked up a ball that matched the color of the character! We, of course, proceeded to ask her what color the other characters from the show were, and she knew which color ball to pick up for all the “Yo Gabba Gabba” characters as well as a bunch of every day stuff too. Now if we could only teach her the proper names of the colors, she’d be set.

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Annie LOVES dogs. She follows Rigby around the house and into the backyard, giggling and trying her best to pet her all day. We also showed her the Disney classic, “Lady and the Tramp,” and now she needs to watch it ALL. THE. TIME.

“Doggie movie?” she begs. “Watch doggie movie, Mama?”

I put it on each time, of course, because it is adorable, and she sits quietly until it is over. So, considering how much she loves dogs, it dawned on us the other day… we should totally take her to the pet store at the mall to see the doggies! Her reaction? Probably not that different from a teenage girl at a Bieber concert.

I’m so happy she has Rigby in her life. A lucky kid!

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So, as we’ve mentioned a lot lately, Annie is ALL about anything “Princess.” This means that Beauty and the Beast is on heavy rotation in our house. We thought it would be fun to sit down with Annie and ask her some questions about her favorite movie. Her responses are pretty adorable, especially her a capella version of the title song.

You have basically seen the movie now.

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