10-4

(guest post by daddy)....Little One is now communicating with us better....she will actually answer "yes" or "no" when you ask her questions such as "do you want some juice?" or "do you want to read a book?" When she is curious as to what you are doing, she will say "see" to indicate that she wants to see what you are doing. If she wants to hear some music, she will say "music" or "itsy" (for the cd which has itsy-bitsy spider on it). Here are some pictures from this month.....
Little One is quite the little helper around the house (I'm exaggerating a bit). Here, she and mommy are testing out daddy's new shoes......

Here, she is bringing daddy his belt...

....and here, she is helping to sweep the kitchen floor.

Little One is also getting better with her oral hygiene. Here, she is brushing her teeth at the bathroom sink.
However, sometimes she gets distracted....here, she has decided that her baby doll is the one who needs her teeth cleaned.
During play time, Little One still enjoys holding her tea parties....

Earlier this month, Little One got sick (fever, sores, grumpiness, loss of appetite, etc.) and was miserable for a few days. She would not even eat her usual favorites....

...so we had to resort to popsicles.

That's all for now.

On the go....

"Little One" is a little girl on the go.

She is picking up new words everyday but doesn't always communicate with us effectively, because she doesn't put words together to form sentences. At times, she does say phrases such as "Dog sleeping" and"Where it go?" On our walks, she'll name things that she sees ...such as cat, dog, car, truck, helicopter, airplane, flowers, sky, clouds, stop, bus, motorbike, bike, grass, leaf, baby, etc.

"Little One" likes to copy what we do. Sometime, it seems like she is a sponge absorbing what is going on around her. Little One will insist on trying to do things such as opening doors, turning on lights, wearing our adult-sized shoes, using keys to open doors, climbing up and down chairs on her own, and flushing the toilet.

Look at what the little girl is up to these days:
1. This is a photo of "Little One" in the morning before her breakfast. She has just come down the stairs and is on her way to the breakfast table. She looks like she is ready to take on the day. 2. She's strumming Daddy's guitar and learning what sound the strings make.
3. We brought out the water colors this month. She really enjoyed this activity but managed to color the table as well as her paper. Luckily, the water colors are washable. Otherwise, we would have a very colorful table.

4. Doesn't she look prissy here carrying her purse?
5. She has been drinking juice and milk from the straw sippy cup for awhile, but now "Little One" is also drinking soup straight from the bowl. Of course, she spills some of it, but her fine motor control is better than it was a month ago.

6. This girl has loved remote controls and other high-tech devices ever since she was a baby. She has been very observant, because she is able to turn the computer and tv on quite easily.

(a) This is a photo of "Little One" typing on the computer keyboard.

(b) Here, she is playing with a Nintendo Gamecube controller that is not plugged in. She's pushing the buttons trying to figure out what they do. She thinks the plug at the end of the controller is for her ear. She will stick that end in her ear like it's a cell phone earpiece.

(7) This is what she likes to do with Daddy & Mommy's shoes....she looks so proud of herself walking with these grown-up shoes.

(8) When she goes down for a nap or to sleep at night, she really falls into a deep sleep. This is a cute photo of her sleeping with her friend, "Curious George."

"Little One" is growing up...

During this month, "Little One" has been talking a lot more. She repeats a lot of the words that we say, and sometimes it comes out kind of funny......"Sponge Bob" is "Bob bob," "bath" is "baf", and "Curious George" is "Gurie George". Other words that she has been saying for months have finally evolved to sound like the actual words (e.g. "wah wah" is now pronounced as "water" and her friend "Ayla" is now "Kayla").

"Little One" seems to be able to understand and follow directions better. Mama has designated "Little One" as the one to put away the baby wipes container after each diaper change. She has been doing it consistently when asked. Another example is when Mama took her on her first Easter Egg Hunt. Mama explained that the eggs should be placed into her basket once the Easter Bunny says that they can go pick up the eggs. She amazed Mama by picking up 12 eggs.

The following are photos from this month:
1. She saw Dada raking/sweeping up the leaves in our front yard. She wanted to help as you can see....
We need to find a smaller broom so she can start helping Dada with the yardwork. hehehe...

2. She loves to get piggyback rides. If "Little One" sees the opportunity to get on either Mama or Dada's back, she'll do it.

3. In the following 3 photos, she's sharing her ride with her "friends." We have names for her dolls and stuffed animals and she has also started to call them by those names....

4. "Little One" still enjoys playing ball. She likes to throw, toss, kick, catch, and chase after the balls. Her favorite ball is this purple one. When we play together, she'll give Mama the "Sponge Bob" ball and keep the purple one for herself.

5. Mama & Dada are preparing to potty train "Little One". We're trying to familarize "Little One" about "pee pee," "poo poo," and the "potty."

(A) In this photo, Dada is reading a book called, "Everyone Poops" written by Taro Gomi and Amanda Mayer Stinchecum. She enjoys the illustrations.

(B) "Little One" is learning to sit on her potty chair. We also have a Dora The Explorer Toilet Ring to add onto the big toilet.

This previous Saturday evening, Mama had "Little One" sitting on top of the Dora The Explorer potty ring. "Little One" tinkled into the toilet but became scared once she heard the tinkle sound from the toilet. We hope she'll be more comfortable with the toilet by the time we start potty training her.

6. These two photos are of "Little One" riding around the block on her tricycle. The last time we strolled around the block, she was fairly good about staying on her bike, but sometimes she does want to get off to help push her bike. "Little One" will tell Mama or Dada to sit on her bike so that she can be the one pushing the bike. She just doesn't realize that Mama and Dada are too big to fit on the bike. hehehe....

Easter

Little One went on her first Easter egg hunt this year with her friend from Gymboree class. She had a good time and collected 12 eggs. Here, she is all dressed up for Easter Sunday....

Little One smiling for the camera......in this last month, she has continued to pick up some new words and phrases. She can now say several two word phrases such as "open door" & "close door" and will even tell daddy to "get away". However, a lot of times she still prefers "pointing" as her favorite way of communicating. Physically, she is now over 33" tall and we've had to switch her into some new clothes.In this photo, Little One has asked for a piggy-back ride from daddy.

Two years old

Little One is now 2 yrs old. She enjoys singing songs, playing with her toys, and has started to learn her numbers. She is very active and likes to hop, scamper up the stairs, and ride around on a tricycle that she got for her birthday. She is no longer using her high chair, and we have switched the breakfast nook from a play area for her back into a dining area where we can all eat together. We are thinking about starting to potty-train her sometime in the next few months and will probably change her crib to a toddler bed soon.

Little One playing with her toys.....

...."it might be fun to jump on the sofa".....

....."yes it is fun"......

...another one of mommy's experiments with pony-tails...

...peekaboo......

....Little One enjoying cake on her birthday......

Little One opening a birthday present on her birthday......

...Little One eating at the dining table.....

Little One having her morning milk......

......tea party......

......Little One dancing while watching The Wiggles perform nursery rhymes on dvd.....

Little One on her elephant rocker......

.....she can really go......

Miss Independent

"Little One" is now very independent-minded. She likes to feed herself, try new "acrobatic" maneuvers, and run around the house from room to room. It seems like every other word out of her mouth is "mine". These photos are from January 2009. I usually make a post at the beginning of each month, but earlier this month we were all stricken with a respiratory virus that lasted for weeks.

(1) This photo shows "Little One" thinking about what to do next.....the quiet before the storm.
(2) We took "Little One" to the Huntington Library & Gardens. She had an opportunity to run around in the Children's Garden and play with the various water fountains.

(3) Does she look like the future musician here? Hehehe....

(4) In these next 2 photos, we asked her to smile for the camera. Her "cheese" smile is not very natural at all.

(5) "Little One" prefers the real telephone over her toy phone. However, whenever we hand the real phone to her, she rarely speaks up and prefers to just listen to the other person on the line.