Walking and more

Aria walked, as you know, last Saturday. She walked a few times that day, and went about 6 steps at a time! I thought she'd be an expert by the end of the week... but she decided not to walk anymore all week.... until yesterday! Yesterday she walked for several steps several different times. I thought she had decided that she was only going to walk on Saturdays ;-) I was wrong ;-) She walked even more today! She's so big! She's solid and balanced most of the time when she walks (and sometimes not so much ;-). I'm not surprised bc she's been walking by just using her hand on the wall for awhile now. I kept wondering when she was going to just do it! Good job, Aria ;-)

She is also saying more words all the time. The ones she says most often are "all done", uh oh, oh boy, hi mama, hi dada, hi zig, up, down, no, bye bye, butt butt (haha! She says that bc I say it when I change her diaper). I think she is also saying "hi love love" bc that is what I always say to her, but it's not really clear when she says it. She tries to copy what you're saying. She also loves to have conversations with people. She looks very intently at the person she is talking with. I think she must know what she is saying ;-) It's cute!

She's really doing a lot better with animal sounds. She loves to copy what you do. If you whisper, she whispers. If you talk in a really high voice, she'll do the same. SO, if you say "arf arf" she'll copy it. She's tried to do a pig sound (when you actually snort) but she can't figure it out. She clicks her tongue and looks at you very intently trying to figure out how you're making that funny sound! Today when we locked the car (and it went beep beep) she repeated it!

She knows 3 signs in sign language. All done (she says that one, too), more, and milk. I gave her bread for the 1st time this week and as soon as she had that first taste, she was signing MORE like a maniac baby. I guess she likes bread!

One of the funniest things she does (considering her daddy is in the Fitness industry) is squats. She started doing them all on her own, and when she'd do them I'd say up, down, up, down. Now she says up when she's up and down when she's down. When she wakes up from her nap and is playing in her crib, I can hear her saying "up, down, up, down". She must be doing squats in her crib. Funny baby!

She started climbing like a little monkey, too. She climbed up on her chair and got onto the coffee table. I have since moved her toy chair to sit up against the couch so she can climb up there instead of the coffee table!

She has also started to realize when she is doing something wrong. As she goes to do something bad, she will look at me as she's starting the bad behavior, and shake her head "no". She knows I'm going to tell her no!! She had my keys, and I always tell her no if she tries to put them in her mouth (keys have way too many germs on them! eww!) and then I pull them away before she gets them in her mouth. She had my keys last week, and as she brought them to her mouth she was looking at me and shaking her head "no" even though I hadn't said told her no yet. BABY!!

I love that she is able to communicate so much better now! Just the ability to say "no" is helpful!

She puts the phone to her ear and says "hi!". I was surprised when she did it bc, although I talk on the phone a lot for work, I always use my ear piece. She had to have learned to do that from her daddy! (or her cousin Diella! We think they've been making secret calls to each other!)

Playing with kids... she LOVES to play with kids. She used to seem like she was soooo much younger than her 2 year old friend, Kali. Now they can actually play together and have fun!! That is so cool! They were playing with a tea set together a couple of days ago. She was trying to eat from the forks and spoons! haha! Kali and Aria played catch with a big ball.

Mia (baby Mia, not me ;-) and Aria are good friends, too! They are interacting a lot now! Jenn (her mom) and I have looked so forward to them getting to the age when they can play! They played at the beach club today, and again later that night. Mia is 4 months younger, but they are seeming closer and closer in age each time they play together.

Speaking of the beach club! We had a FUN day at the beach today! Aria loved the pool and the sand and playing with her bucket and shovels. She also likes to eat sand. Yum!

Teeth - She has 6 teeth, and is working on more. I seem to see the teeth when they have already broken the surface (vs when she got her two bottom and two top teeth, I saw them before they broke the surface).

Sleep.... oh she sleeps like a baby! ;-) (Actually, whoever made up that saying has no idea how a baby really sleeps! ha!) But, really, Aria is sleeping wonderfully! She sleeps until 7 am, regardless of when she goes to bed, and then eats, and then goes back to bed (usually) until 8:30 - 9. Usually bedtime is between 8:30 - 9:30 It is wonderful to get full nights of rest!! I even get work done in the evenings before bed.

I am still in disbelief that my baby is going to be 1 in a month!