Ahhhhh Duh

And again, I can't help but provide a little update on Aubrey. As soon as I decided to have children, I promised myself I would write things down so that one day, after the memories themselves had faded, I could look back and be reminded. It's the entire purpose of this blog.

So... here are some things I want to be reminded of:

• Sometimes she'll start cleaning up her toys on her own. She'll carry them over to the toy bucket in the corner of the living room and throw them in. 
• She says "Ahhhhhhh duh" for "all done." It is the absolute cutest thing. She says it when she's finished eating or when she doesn't like what's going on (such as being in the car too long or having her diaper changed).
• Though she's not talking as much as I might like, she does try to repeat things we say. She always gets the number of syllables right, but she can't make all of the right sounds. Everything either involves a "duh" sound or a "kuh" sound or a "shuh" sound... even if it doesn't actually. But hey, she comprehends really well, so that's something.
• When I'm sitting on the ground, she likes to come up behind me and push on my back to make me fall forward. Then she laughs. 

• She stands up in the grocery cart and opens her arms for a hug, which I always happily give her, and she'll just hang on to me and not let go. Unfortunately, however, it's not affection. She's trying to get me to take her out of the cart. And when I sit her back down, she cries. But hey, man, I get great hugs! Even if they are a manipulation...
• At church, she likes to go up and down the stairs. One week, Daniel and I were trying to decide who should watch her and who should go to Sunday School, and in our moment of distraction, she leaned too far forward on her way down and went falling head first. I was at the top of the stairs (Daniel was at the bottom) and couldn't get there in time, but Aubrey put her hands out, did a handstand on the last stair, and flipped all the way over to land on her butt. And amazingly, she was unhurt! It did scare her though (understandably).
• She really likes to be helpful. She always says an enthusiastic "Yeah!" when I ask if she wants to be my special helper. Last week, after we did our big grocery run, she "helped" me put the groceries away. She didn't quite understand the concept though, so she actually just took each item off our bottom shelf and handed it to me. I would then turn around and put it on the counter behind me so that I could put the new things away. In the end, I had more things on the counter than I had started out with. But Aubrey just beamed with such joy whenever I said, "Thank you!", so I didn't mind.
• When she hears the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" song, she puts her fingers together and moves them around to mimic the hand movements.
• One of her favorite activities is playing on the couch surrounded by all of her "friends." She throws them off the couch one by one, so I guess she's not a good friend, but...

• She loves playing in the dirt and throwing rocks. She throws the dirt too, and it always gets in her hair. So fun.
• We have had people babysit her a few times now, even putting her down for naps/bedtime, and she has been great. There was no freaking out or even crying when we left or when other people fed her, put her down, etc. It's kind of awesome.
• She has three teeth on the bottom and three on the top, though some haven't fully descended. Is that normal?
• After she eats, I rinse her hands with water and then wipe my wet hand across her face. After I do that, she wipes her own face with her wet hand, going back and forth across her mouth. Cute little copycat.
• She has started to stick food down her shirt. Not my favorite.
• One of her favorite things to do is outrun things. So she likes to bring me a balloon and start running away from me, with the expectation that I'll hit the balloon after her. Same thing with this toy car we have (only I roll it on the ground rather than throw it... obviously).
• She really likes to touch plants and flowers. And she's finally learned to be gentle with them!

• Speaking of gentle, she'll softly caress my face with her little hand when I tell her to be gentle (because I've taken her hand and done that to show her what being gentle is like), but then she immediately follows it up with a few face smacks with that very hand. *Sigh*
• One of her favorite games to play with us is "tent." We basically just sit with her on the ground or our bed and put a blanket over all of our heads. She walks/crawls around under it and flings herself on us and just laughs. She gets very upset when one of us removes the blanket.
• She randomly will start sidestepping/backing up really slowly when she's standing. 
• We have discovered the power of neck tickles. She will go completely silent and still if we softly run our fingers across the back of her neck. Sometimes she looks like she's going to fall over or pass out when we do it. It's so funny. I need a video of that.
• When she wants to be picked up, she'll start kind of running in place and throwing her arms up in a funny little dance.