MATT!

It has been awhile since I have updated you all with Aria's newest and latest. I keep meaning to blog this or that, and then I forget, and here I am today trying to piece it all together.

I must start with the newest and, in my opinion, funniest new word. When I talk to Matthew, I call him Love. When I YELL for Matthew across the house or outside, I say MATT! Umm.... maybe I do this too often. Aria has started calling her daddy MATT! Not, Matt... but MATT! (yelling). He was in the bathroom and she was outside hitting the door yelling MATT MATT MATT! It cracks me up every time. Matthew's response? I'm DADA!

She said her first sentence last week (or was it the week before? I can't keep track anymore). She says "Whatcha doing?" She came up to me one day and said it, and I just looked at her, and said... Did you just ask me what I am doing?? She says it VERY clearly, too. She has surprised 4 people with this question.

She loves to use a fork. I let her try it at the restaurant with my salad last week. She thinks it is fun to spear the food (and she likes lettuce... who knew?). She laughs every time. She is using her spoon better lately, too. I don't know how long that will last, but for now, it's going well. I say "scoop it up, scoop it up" when she is using her spoon, and now she says "it up, it up, it up" when I say it. She says it a bunch of times in a row so it ends up sounding like "idup idup idup idup".

Aria is saying a LOT of new words. She goes in phases of using the words. She will say a few words or phrases all week (this week is back to ALLLLL DONE and whatchadoin?) and the next week, it will be something different, and she deserts the words/phrases she was using the week before. Alllllll done seems to resurface quite a bit.

New words she has been saying are help, jump, stop, yellow (this one is really funny! she exaggerates the L sound by sticking out her tongue)...shoot I can't think of anymore words.

I think she said Diella today. Two different times when she was "talking on the phone" I think she said Diella. Again, the L is exaggerated, but it wasn't really clear. There was definitely a D sound and an L sound. Whenever Aria is "talking on the phone" (which is A LOT) she holds long convo's with Diella. I always say "is that Diella?" or "say hi to Diella". It was funny bc even my MOM said that to her the other day when Aria was babbling on the phone. Too funny.

Aria also says Mia, but she means her friend, Mia (not me). Jenn (Mia's mom) and I weren't sure if she was saying it, and meaning Mia or not. She definitely knows who Mia is, bc we said "Give Mia a kiss" and she went over to Mia and kissed her. When Mia came over to our house last week, Aria said "hi Mia". Mia and Aria are having more and more fun by the day. Mia is trying with all her might to start walking so she can chase Aria around! So far Aria has taught her to yell and to climb stairs ;-) hehe! Stair climbing is a fav activity around here. Mia has taught Aria how to point (Mia the lil' smarty has been pointing since she was 8 months old) Aria also likes to "pet" Mia. She was patting her on the head yesterday like she does Zig. Too funny!! The are best buds for sure!

Aria is really good with the parts of her face now. She squeezes her nose and blows out when we ask where her nose is. She touches all the parts of her face as they do during the "face" song in Yo Gabba Gabba. She pokes herself in the eye when she points to her eyes. She sticks out her tongue FAR when we ask where her tongue is, and reaches all the way up and touches the top of her head when we ask where her head is.

She is learning more by the second! She is also more FUN by the second. I love that little girl more than I could ever express!!

Happy Birthday!

Aria got cake.... again!

More fun with cousins!

Well, I'm finally writing all about the fun visits with cousins! It is wonderful bc within 2 months, Aria will see every single one of her cousins!

Sydney and Christina came to visit Aria over the 4th of July. They had SOO much fun. Of course, Adam and Sarah came with too. Christina wanted to celebrate her birthday with us (HAPPY 7th BIRTHDAY CHRISTINA!) Here they are playing when they first arrived at our house:

On Friday, the 4th of July, we spent the day at the beach club. In the picture, Aria is watching Christina make herself into a sand mermaid. We had so much fun at the beach. There was a DJ there for the 4th, and they played fun music, and had a sand castle building contest (which we did not win...) We were there for the entire afternoon.

Afterwards, we went to downtown for the 4th of July festivities... and found out that everything closed down at 5 pm. oops. But, there was a carnival in a soccor field, with fireworks to follow. So, we went there... almost. On the way there, we stopped at Boston's Pizza and ate.

We then changed our minds, skipped the soccer park, and we decided to go to the ball park across the street from our house, and watch fireworks there (secretly I think it was a baseball vs. soccer thing, and if you know Matthew, baseball wins every time) We went home and got Zig (we couldn't leave him all alone to miss out on the fun!) and then headed over. We had a great time there! There was a park with TWO big slides that Aria could climb up. She went straight for the big slide, and climbed all the way up. Monkey!!

The fireworks began, but we couldn't see them! They were covered by trees. There were several people there, and everyone was upset. Then.... another show started, and we could see them clearly!! YAY! Aria fell asleep, however, and missed the fireworks. She slept through them last year, too. Must be a tradition.

I have no pictures of us at the ball park. What is wrong with me?? So here is one of Sydney and I right before we left. Yes... I am wearing my PJs, but I wanted to be comfy! And, yes, it is about 100 degrees and I'm in long sleeves and sweats, but I am still thawing from MN winters. And finally, yes, Aria is being closely supervised in the background. Haha, she looks like she is wandering away.

The next day we celebrated Christina's birthday. Christina and I made a cake together, which was very fun (the first cake I have ever made from scratch, and I was very surprised at how easy it was. Almost as easy as using a box mix!) Sydney and Christina decorated it afterwards. They did a great job!

That evening we had her party. Christina wanted to share her party with Aria, since she wasn't able to be there for Aria's 1st birthday. I thought that was awfully sweet of her to share her day. After the party we played in the new sprinkler toy, and then broke open the Pinata. It was a perfect day! Excuse my dear brother in the picture.... (although you might start to understand why Aria's phrase of choice the whole time was Uh OH!)

It is funny, bc Aria didn't say much of anything the whole 5 days (except uh oh... again, I don't blame her) It must be because she was playing so much. She really loved all the play time with her cousins. Usually it is just her and I all day, and I am working, so she is exploring and playing on her own a lot.

All I can say is how much I miss them, and how much I wish they lived nearby again. It was hard to believe that it had been an entire year since we had been together. We won't let that happen again!

bitta bitta = butt butt

Aria has been going around saying bitta bitta bitta... it sounds like she is saying butter with a New York accent... so more like buttah buttah buttah. Today when I was changing her diaper, I said butt butt and she started saying buttah buttah buttah over and over, like she was doing yesterday. I didn't realize yesterday, though, that she was saying butt butt butt butt. Now I wonder if minna minna minna and daba daba daba daba mean anything... hmmm... today when she was crying she started saying minna minna minna. What does it mean??

Today she is using sign sentences! She said "more food, please". She said "more food" the first time, and "more food, please" after that. Now that she's doing sentences, I'm going to teach her "mom rocks the casbah" How do you say that in sign language??

Grampa!

Today Aria said Grampa about a million times. She says it Pa Pa. Grampa came to watch Aria while I taught lessons, and I said "guess who is coming to see you?? Grampa!!" and she started saying Pa Pa, Pa Pa, Pa Pa. Then by the time my dad arrived, she wouldn't say it. Pure stinker is what she is!! She also says Gramma, but it sounds similar to Da Da. Not exact,but similar. I think she is still trying to get the G sound down. I think she will have an easier time saying Ahna, so I better get started teaching her to say it, so she can call Ahna by name when we go visit!

Today she walked into the lesson with my beginner student, and we were doing our up and down bows, and Aria joined in!! Her arm went up when mine and my student's did, and down when we brought ours down. Very sweet!

Today she talked a lot... talked as in babbling. She kept saying bitta, bitta, bitta, bitta and minna,minna, minna, minna and daba daba daba daba (to which I'd say... yaba, daba, doooo). We went to the doctor in the am, and she carried on convo's with the people in the waiting room. She must know what she is saying, bc she looks so intently at the people she is "talking" to.

Cracking me up!

I still have a lot to write about the visit with all the cousins!! But, I had to tell you that Aria is cracking me up today!! She has been silly all day! Her clown hair is very fitting today (in fact, the hair around her head is getting longer and longer.... and the rest of the hair on her head isn't! Oh dear... ) She is good at entertaining herself, which is a good thing. She plays with her toys and gets into everything (good thing we've baby proofed the downstairs!). We've officially turned off the TV, and only listen to music now. Every once in awhile I will put on Sesame Street but, not every day.

Today we went on errands over lunch. Aria loves taking rides in the car. She is still rear facing in the car in her new carseat, and looks into a big mirror. She makes faces at herself and plays and laughs. Today she was pinching her nose, blowing out and then laughing and laughing. Then she'd do it again. She thought it was hilarious (so did I). Then, she was wiggling all around (as much as she can in a carseat), and then grabbing her feet. She kept sucking on her big toe and then laughing at herself. She was doing this in the drive-through at the bank, and the person in the car next to us was laughing so hard. It really was funny. As we drove away I hear her making all sorts of noise back there, and I look into the mirror (to see into her mirror) and she was trying to get her knee in her mouth. She did succeed. Then she started to kiss her knee. She was having all sorts of fun.

At the store, she kept doing the sign for "eat" and "drink". I guess I shouldn't have taken her to the store when she was hungry! She was being a big flirt at the store, and waving and smiling and saying hi to everyone. She is usually friendly... but today she was just silly friendly.

She used to give hugs and kisses when we asked, but, as of last week, it all changed. Now, when someone asks for a kiss or hug, she vehemently shakes her head NO. And if you try to give her a kiss, she will put her hand out to stop you. Somestimes you're lucky and she puckers up and gives you a big smooch. She almost always gives daddy and Grampa kisses and hugs, though. Oh, and Zig... he gets kisses, too.

Today she said (signed) Please and Thank You a lot. She asked for food when she was hungry, and drinks when she was thirsty. She no longer says Cheese. When I ask if she wants Cheese, she says Please...

One sign Aria hasn't done is "help". I will ask her if she wants my help (and then do the sign), and she shakes her head NO, and tries to do it herself. She is already a "I want to do it myself!" girl. Oh boy! I think we're in big trouble!

The next signs I'm working on with her are Stop and Go. I was showing her stop and go at the store in the cart. She tried to do "go". I think she'll learn that one quickly because she likes to "go"!!

We got to see the newest addition to our friend-family today. Her name is Lauren, and she is soooo beautiful (delicate features) and so alert! The look on her face... it's hard to describe, but it's as though you can see her taking it all in, and learning about her surroundings. I wonder what she is thinking when she is looking around like that. She is so tiny (she is only 15 days old!). It's very hard to believe Aria was that tiny 1 year ago! Lauren and Aria are 1 year and 2 days apart.

We went to dinner with our great friends Jenn, Chris and lil' Mia. I think Aria said Mia 2 times today. I don't know if she learned it from people calling me Mia, or from all the times she's been around her friend Mia. I am not even sure she meant to say Mia.... we'll see if she keeps it up. Aria had a breakdown at the restaurant from being so tired. She fell asleep in my arms at dinner.

Baby Mia already knows how to say All Done in sign language and she is only 8 months old! She's been doing it for about a month now, too. Ummm...can we say baby genius? She also pants when she sees a dog, or a picture of a dog and quacks when she sees a duck - at 8 months old! By the time she is a year, she will be reciting Shakespeare.

I made a Mung Bean Casserole 2 days ago. Aria loved it - I mean REALLY loved it. So, if you are looking for something new and interesting to make yourself or feed your baby, let me know and I'll send you the recipe. It's really good for you and I was surprised at how yummy it was!! I'd never even heard of a Mung bean before.

My brown eyed girl

I just love my brown eyed girl!!

I love the beach!

.... and I like to eat sand, too ;-)

I love swinging!

Cousins, cousins, and more cousins!

(Aria is kissing Aidan in this picture)

Aria has been having so much fun seeing all of her cousins! Last weekend we got to see Aidan and AJ. Aria had soooo much fun playing with them! She told me she wants brothers... but she wants older brothers, so I dont know how that is going to work! (Bc this is a blog, and you just MIGHT think that I'm serious that she really asked for brothers... she didn't, I'm joking ;-) She likes to rough house with the boys, so she had fun, fun, fun!!

This week, Christina and Sydney are here at our house! We have been having soooo much fun! We had the most fun 4th of July ever! I will post all about what fun we're having this week, but I'm baking a cake that is almost done, so I'll have to post about it later!

Aria hasn't said a single word to anyone (Uncle Adam and Aunt Sarah are here, too! Fun!)... the only thing she has said is "uh oh". I guess that is the word that comes to mind when I see my brother, too. ;-)