More cousins!

Aria got to see all the rest of her cousins this week! She saw baby Colton for the 1st time, and got to see Diella, Jeff, Jasmine, and Caeden again. They had SO much fun! Diella and Aria were lil' buds all week and kissed and held hands. It was very cute! When they saw each other at first they were smiling so big and laughing! They were so excited to finally see each other again.

Aria also got to see Ahna and Papa, Aunt Alethea, Uncle Jeremiah, Aunt Kat, and Uncle Jake! What a lucky girl, huh??

We got to do all sorts of fun things when we were there. Aria and Diella built a toy house with Aunt Kat and Jasmine's help. I hope we got a picture because it turned out so cute! We were NOT good at taking a lot of pictures while we were there, but were having so much fun, we forgot about the camera.

We got to meet up with a friend from babycenter that we had never met before, Rae, and her daughter, Sammy! It was VERY fun to meet them! Sammy and Aria share a birthday! Sammy, Aria and Diella had fun playing.

We went to the Erie zoo, and that was fun! I will share pics of the zoo as soon as they are uploaded.

Basically Aria got to play from the time she woke up until the time she went to bed. She had such a great time!

Aria got to see Gpa H and Gma H, and Gramma O and Grampa O, too. She babbled a lot to them, as she pointed her finger and waved her hand.

We went to a family reunion on Sunday and got to see ALL sorts of relatives! Aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents. It was at a park, which Aria loved. It was at the park that Aria and Diella held hands and walked around.

Diella learned how to say lots of words when we were there! One of her new words is ARIA!

I am not sure what it was about Erie, but Aria learned a bunch of new animal sounds. They have lots of animal toys that make animal sounds there, and we went to the zoo. I think a combination helped her to learn. She has remembered the sounds, too, now that we're home. The animal sounds she does now are dog, cat, cow, sheep, monkey, horse, bear, fish (this isnt a sound, but she smacks her lips), elephant, duck, pig and giraffe. OK the giraffe was a joke... did you know that giraffes do not have vocal cords? I just learned that today... interesting fact of the day.

:-)

Nope ... mmm mmmm

When I tell Aria no I say "nope (pause as she looks up at me) mmm mmmm" (the mmm mmm is kind of like nuh uh) Aria keeps going around saying Nope mmm mmmm yesterday and today. She'll also point her finger when she says it. She says it to Zig a lot, and she says it when she is about to do something wrong. Baby!

She has been really into books this week. She keeps going to her big pillow and sitting down and paging through the books. She especially loves her Ladybug book, and Violet's Room book.

She slowed down on using sign language for awhile, and now she is back. She even said More yesterday (couldnt believe it when she stopped doing that one!) She hasn't said more in awhile. Today she keeps asking for food.

She made up her own sign for Help. I show her the correct way every time I ask her if she wants help, but she still does her own. She takes both of her hands and hits her chest (like Tarzan), and at the same time says (with her voice, not SL) Help. I don't know why, but that is how she does it.... Funny baby!

She also keeps doing this weird sound when she laughs. It is like she is laughing from her nose, and as she breathes out, she makes this gutteral sound... it is really funny when she does it. I have to try to catch it on video. My video taking attemps have been futile lately bc as soon as I pick up the camera and point it at her, she stops what she is doing, and tries to grab the camera... BABY!

Right now she is crawling on all fours, panting. Cute puppy... She definitely learned that one from Zig.

She has also been kicking the ball around. Don't tell her dad, though... ;-) He says no soccer, only baseball.

I got her a play violin. Another "I wish I had the video camera right now!" instance. Actually two instances. The first time, I put it under her chin, and she grabbed it, and started hitting things with the bow like a maniac baby. I imagine her future... in a rock band, crushing the violin over her knee or something. Ummmm.... not quite what I had in mind for her 1st lesson. The next time, she took the bow herself, and started bringing it across the string part! She must be paying attention ;-) So, I took the violin and put it under her chin, as she stood in front of me, so I could hold the violin under her chin, and hold her hand on the bow, and we played the violin the right way. She thought it was funny. She does love the bow, though. She can chew on it and hit things with it. Maybe drums are a better idea....