"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.

A Look Back at 2008

"Little One" in 2008......

Play Time and Christmas

This month was filled with numerous activities for Little One. We had several playdates and also got in a visit to the aquarium. Little One experienced a lot of firsts this month. She showed some physical development (i.e. climbing, dancing, attempts at hopping) and also improved on her verbal skills. We noticed that she's trying harder to copy what we say and trying to sing words more clearly in songs.

1. She is wearing a Star Wars Darth Vader helmet. Mommy was amazed that she was willing to wear the helmet -- she does not usually like wearing hats.

2. When we went grocery shopping one day, the clerk gave us a free Feliz Navidad balloon. Little One kept saying "maoon" (aka: balloon). At first, Mommy & Daddy thought she was saying "mine" but we finally figured out she meant "balloon."

However, "Little One" actually has learned to say "mine" and "me." She says it sometimes when we try to take something out of her hands.

3. Little One is coloring/drawing with crayons here. She has shown improvement over the weeks. We could not see the color on the paper at first, but now, she is able to put enough strength for color to come out onto the paper.

P.S. Daddy helped color in most of this picture -- Little One just scribbles mostly.

4. This is Little One playing with Daddy's guitar. In the past, Little One would run in the opposite direction whenever she saw the guitar. Now, she says "tar" (aka: Guitar) over and over like it's her long lost love whenever she sees the guitar in the corner of the room.

5. Her baby doll has advanced to drinking from a cup here. Look at Little One feed her baby.

6. We visited a friend's house for a playdate.......
(A) Teeter-Tottering around on the swing set in the backyard.

(B) Who's coming out of this wagon first?

7. Little One's first experience playing with play-doh.....

8. Little One likes to play with cars and pretend that she's the driver....
(A) Little One is pushing a car that she got for Christmas around on the floor.

(B) When we visited another friend's house, she had a chance to sit behind the wheel of this driving console.

Our friend's husband made this console for their sons to use when playing car racing video games. The seat is actually a car seat from his Pontiac Fiero.

(C) On Christmas morning, "Little One" noticed that Santa had left this car for her. It was the first thing she saw after coming downstairs. Little One likes to get in and out, press on the horn for songs, and push the car around the room.

9. "Little One" opening Christmas presents with some help from Daddy.....

10. Little One loves to look at fish. She is looking at clown fish in this photo. Each time we take her to the aquarium, she seems to have more interest in the different exhibits. Since she is walking/running independently, we've had to clip this Monkey backpack/leash to her so that she doesn't run off too far.

11. During our most recent roadtrip, we made a stop to visit her orphanage sister. They have grown so much over the last year.

12. "Little One/Happy Girl" after having gone for a "cruise" in her car.