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.

Shoes, Back Pats, and Cleanup

While I don't intend to do monthly posts anymore, I do want to write things down periodically so I don't forget what Aubrey is like at each stage. The following is a list I've compiled over the last... um... month and a half. Hmm. Maybe I'm not done with the monthly posts after all...

• If one of us lies down on the ground, she'll come and sit on us like a chair. The face is her favorite seat.
• She likes to hold the couch cushions against her face and then fall forward onto them.
• If you have something she wants, or if she is trying to give you something, she'll pry your hands open.
• She says "shuh" for "shoe." She's very enthusiastic about saying it, in large part because she associates shoes with going outside, which she loves doing.
• Every day we walk to get the mail (which is down on another street perpendicular to ours), and she always stops at particular houses on the way. One is the best-kept yard in the neighborhood, and she always points at things they have, babbles excitedly, and refuses to keep walking. The other house is right by the mailboxes, and it has fake bunnies placed throughout the foliage in the very front. She likes to pet and talk to them.
• As previously mentioned, she loves going outside. If you open the door and then close it without taking her outside, she will throw a conniption fit.
• She laughs if you chase her, especially if you're trying to take something away from her.
• When she dances, sometimes she clasps her hands together and twists at the waist. Other times, she just squats over and over again. So. Stinking. Cute.

• On her little singing puppy, she'll keep pressing the buttons until she cycles through to find the songs she likes the best. Then she looks at me with a proud look on her face.
• She says "kuh" for "truck." We always watch the recycling and trash trucks when they come on Tuesdays, and she gets so excited.
• Ever since our trip to Texas and California, she must sleep with Mr. T.
• To my great joy, she no longer throws her pacifiers from her crib and then cries when she doesn't want to sleep.
• She can finally go down stairs on her own! She sits and uses her hands and feet to scoot her bum to the end of each stair until she slides down to the next one. She's very careful about it, which is good.
• If she finds the bubbles container, she'll hand it to me and get upset if I don't open it and get ready to blow bubbles. But then when I do start blowing bubbles, she turns and walks away without even watching.
• She often brings books to us. When we say, "Do you want me to read this to you?" she says, "Yeah!"
• Speaking of books, Daniel is reading the Chronicles of Narnia to me, and Aubrey is obsessed with this front cover:

          She stares at it, points to it while babbling, and pets the lion. We have no idea why she's so enthralled by it.

• Annoyingly, she has started trying to stand up in grocery carts.
• She has started picking up items that she shouldn't have (my camera, a piece of candy she could choke on, etc.) and bringing them to me. It's awesome.
• When I say "spinning," she looks up at the ceiling fan. She loves it and repeatedly points at it when it's on.
• Oh, the food throwing. Unfortunately, that hasn't changed. She does it with such a defiant look in her eye too. Punk.
• She plays fetch with us. Like a dog. We throw the ball across the room, and she brings it back. It's one of her favorite games.
• When we're sitting on the ground, she'll come up behind us and pat our backs affectionately. We always do it to her, so I guess she's mimicking. It's my very favorite thing in the whole world.
• She leans in for hugs when I stand her up to put her pants back on after diaper changes.
• Sometimes, if we're really lucky, she'll point to her head or ears if we ask her where they are. But most of the time she's not interested in performing.
• She loves putting things (blankets and clothes) over her face and waiting for me to say, "Where's Aubrey?" and then, "There she is!" when she uncovers her face. If I try to uncover her face myself, she gets very upset.
• During bath time, she starts to giggle when I wash her arms because she knows that next I'm going to poke her and say "armpits!"
• She has two full teeth on the bottom and one on top as well as one coming in on top and one coming in on the bottom, just below the other. So far she has been a very easy teether, but she gets really mad if you try to look in her mouth.
• Out of nowhere, she started blowing kisses. I've done it a few times, but I can't believe she picked up on it. I love it though.

• She loves the Sandra Boynton book Horns to Toes and In Between. It talks about different body parts, and we always touch the places when we say them. When it comes time for the belly button, we poke it to make her laugh. On the page that counts the 10 fingers, she starts to point at the numbers like I do. And then when we get to numbers 6 through 10, she starts to push my hand away and laugh, because she knows that next I'm going to use those fingers to tickle her (as the page says, "We can tickle, tickle, tickle or just count them again."). At the end, I shake her around when it says "shake and shimmy." I love her cute laugh.
• We taught her to clean up! Every night before bed, she helps us pick up her toys. It's a wonderful skill; I love that she actually picked it up. (Hah, pun!)
• If we forget to close the pantry door, she immediately goes for the spices. And she somehow always chooses the celery seed to run away with, no matter where we have put it. So weird.
• She refuses to wear her hat. *Sigh.*
• One of her favorite things to say is "ducka ducka ducka." I really wish I knew what she meant by it.
• We discovered she really likes mini M&Ms (SO my daughter) and ice cream (vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry so far). 
• When we take her upstairs for bedtime, she starts saying "shh" to indicate that we should brush her teeth. One time she kept saying "shh" and then cried when Daniel walked past the bathroom without doing it. That's when we realized what she was saying.
• If we squeeze our eyes shut while looking at her, she'll copy us and keep doing it until we stop. She thinks it's funny.

1 Year Old

Well, I actually started this blog post on Aubrey's first birthday, but I never finished it. So when I went to write another post today, I came across this one and thought I should post it. So here it is, a couple of months late.

• When she really likes her food, she makes a "HmHmHm" sound that reminds me of the lead-in to an evil laugh (just missing the "mua ha ha" part).
• If you fake laugh, she'll copy you.
• She likes to put clothing, towels, etc. on her head/around her shoulders and walk around.

• She shoves her pacifiers between the bumper pads and the crib, making it seem like they disappeared.
• She brings things to us now.
• She loves watching cars and trucks go by.
• She had her first stomach flu and ended up at the ER. Thankfully, no fluids were needed.
• One day, we went to the park to walk around. When we put Aubrey down to have her walk on her own, she tripped and fell onto her hands. It had rained the night before, so everything was wet and gravely, and she got little rocks on her hands. This made her really unhappy. So we picked her up and carried her for a bit, and when we put her down again, she refused to walk on the asphalt. We thought she might prefer the grass, so we put her down there instead. But we were very wrong. Oh, the tears. She completely freaked out. And she continued to do this all day, crying every time we put her down on the grass.

• She likes to make the "sh" sound, especially after I say "splash."
• She loves waffles, oranges, Swedish pancakes, peaches, rice, meatloaf, peas, pasta, and chicken tacos.
• She babbles with a lot of inflection in her voice, but she hasn't said any real words yet... I don't think.
• Annoyingly, she uses her head as a weapon when she gets angry and kicks us during diaper changes.
• When she puts her cup down in the right place (rather than throwing it on the floor), she claps for herself.
• She does this cute breathy laugh that reminds me of an old man laugh.
• She always squirms around to sit forward in grocery carts.
• When you go to take a picture of her, she gives her cheesy grin:

Aubrey's First Birthday!

Well, Aubrey is officially 1 year old! We had a nice, low-key celebration yesterday in honor of her wonderfulness.

First she got to play in a pile of balloons (12 of them, to be exact) that her Daddy blew up for her the night before.

Then we had Swedish pancakes, of course! I totally copied Maren and did a 1 for Aubrey's age as well as some other shapes. She diligently posed for the first photo.

And then she realized there was a pancake within reach...

... so she grabbed it. 

And she chowed it all down, along with an orange and some milk.

Then the day was more or less normal for a few hours.

There was playing and napping and a walk to get the mail. It was such a beautiful day! Best weather of the whole year by far. And, of course, the balloons continued to be a big hit.

Still, birthday or not, the occasional meltdown did occur.

But when Daddy came home, the real celebration began. Aubrey opened her presents from us (with some help).

The new toys were well-received. They even passed the taste test.

Aubrey also opened a sweet card from her Nana and Papa. She gave it kisses (or, you know, tried to eat it... same thing).

Then Mommy took the opportunity to have a little pre-dinner photo session with the world's cutest girl.

But Aubrey wasn't super into it, so we just took a few.

Then it was meatloaf, peas, and mashed potatoes for dinner. And again Aubrey went to town! She loves Grandma's meatloaf. And we love our little carnivore. :)

After that, we had a nice video conference call with grandparents, aunts, and cousins so that we could at least pretend everyone wasn't so far away. There were some technical difficulties, of course, but it was still very nice! Nearly everyone got to see her open presents from her grandparents and have her first taste of cake.

She liked the frosting but had a hard time with the cake. I'm going to say it's that she didn't like it on her hands and not that she doesn't like cake. 'Cause that can't be possible for my daughter. I'd have to get a DNA test.

Anyway, all that cake smashing necessitated a bath before bed.

And then Mommy was a sucker and let Aubrey play with her new toys for a few minutes before bed. Needless to say, she's a big fan. I haven't seen her play so long on her own in awhile. Here she is enjoying the toys today.

All in all, it was a good day! The year has gone by so fast, but I can say without equivocation that it has been the best year of my life! And I'm pretty sure it's been the best year of Aubrey's life too. Just sayin'... ;)

Month 11

I am super in love with this child! I feel like I start every blog post that way, but it's true. So there. Anyway, here are Aubrey's stats at 11 months:

• She loves watching us cook and will often cry at our feet until we pick her up and give her a good view of the action.
• You know how they put pictures of babies on diaper and wipe boxes? Well Aubrey is very social, and she actually "talks" to the babies on the box. It's sooo cute.
• She kisses herself in the mirror and has been known to randomly kiss other babies and sometimes their mommies.
• Somehow, "da-da" has become the word for everything--Daddy, balloons, going up the stairs, the front door opening, etc.
• She likes to hold her board books up to her face and "read" them to herself.
• When she dances, she pretty much just flings one of her arms back and forth. There's also some bouncing and head banging sometimes, but the arm is the real focus.
• Eating. Meal times are a challenge with Aubrey; it's the only time I get truly annoyed with her. She's not super interested in bottles anymore, so I often have to encourage her to finish them. And then, if she's had a bottle within a few hours of meal time, she won't eat her food very well. In these times, she either pushes the food away or spits it out if we feed her. If we give her finger foods, she throws everything on the ground. (The water also always ends up on the ground... I think she thinks it actually belongs there.) During these moments, I sometimes break down and sit on the ground to feed her as she plays. This is not a habit we want to encourage.
• She really wants to feed herself with a spoon, but she can't. She just ends up rubbing it around in the food and licking off any essence of the food that gets on the spoon. We're starting to work on teaching her to use utensils. 
• In general, you kind of have to guess what food she wants. She cares now. If you guess wrong, you're picking food off the floor. It's so frustrating wasting the food and spending the time preparing it for nothing. Her favorite foods these days are peaches, pears, peas, rice, pasta, cheese/veggie puffs, and bananas. If she really likes what she's eating, she'll chipmunk it in her cheeks instead of swallowing. 
• She tries to feed us sometimes. We always decline.
• I used to put her exersaucer in the doorway of the bathroom when I wanted to shower or get ready. She would play on the landing of the stairs or in her room, and I could keep an eye on her. But then she realized she could crawl through the bottom of the exersaucer to get into the oh-so-fun-and-forbidden bathroom. *Sigh*
• She has become much better with her little walker thing, backing up and making turns like a pro. She likes to make the circle around the wall between the kitchen and the living room over and over again.
• When the camera on the phone flashes, it kind of lasts for a few seconds before actually taking the picture. When she sees the flash, she gives a cheesy grin and scrunches her eyes closed. I have no idea how she knows to do this.
• She likes to put the top of her head against the dishwasher to feel the vibrations when it's running. Little weirdo.
• Her current favorite songs are "Give, Said the Little Stream" and "Popcorn Popping."
• She loves to shake her head back and forth really quickly and smiles so cute if you do it with her. I always get too dizzy to keep going for long, but she could go forever.
• Climbing the stairs is still a favorite pastime, and we have a little game we play as she does it. I follow behind her just in case she falls, and she turns around to look at me. When she does, I go "Muah!" right in her face, and she laughs. She'll turn around every couple of stairs to do it. Oh, and when we get to the top of the stairs, she knows to close the gate. Sometimes she tries to close it on me, which is less helpful.
• She has started to put things in rather than just taking things out. She keeps putting Daniel's keys in her toy bucket, for instance, which is fun for him when he has to rummage through it at 6:00 a.m. to get to work.
• On March 4th, she decided that she was finally ready to walk. Before that day, she would walk while holding onto things and occasionally take a solitary step or two, but it wasn't until the 4th that she really got going. She just randomly started walking across the room on her own, taking a dozen or so steps at a time. I'm super lame, and it actually made me tear up a little watching her. She gets so proud of herself when we cheer her on. How sweet is that?
• Though she still pushes away most of the time when you try to hug her, she has started giving actual, for-real hugs on her own. Just a couple of days after she started walking, she kept coming over to me and putting her arms around my neck and just hugging me. Again, I teared up. I've wanted that for so long! She also leans her head against us sometimes as a mini-hug, but the real deal is the best ever. I love feeling her squeeze me tight! 
• Like most kids, she's afraid of the vacuum. I use this fear as an opportunity for more hugs. I know; I'm shameless. But hey, it's the best feeling ever to know that she takes comfort from me. That wasn't always the case.
• One of her favorite toys is her Little People pirate ship. She has pirates and princesses to go with it, and she likes it when I shoot them out of the canon. She'll play with it for a good while if we play with her.
• She has randomly started to put things on her head and let them fall off. If it's something made from cloth, she drags it over her head toward her back and lets it fall.
• One of her favorite books, "Horns to Toes and In Between" describes the different body parts, and on one of the spreads it shows 10 fingers on the left page and then says, "We can tickle, tickle, tickle..." on the right page. I always tickle her at that part, and she knows to expect it now, to the point where when I'm counting the 10 fingers, she starts kicking her feet excitedly and smiling. I love reading her that book.
• She likes to throw things down the stairs by shoving them through the railing.
• Don't ask me why, but she always tries to eat our feet. We don't let her ('cause duh).
• She always laughs when I'm holding her and pretend to drop her as I say, "Oops!" Love that little laugh.

Okay, I'll stop now. One month left until Aubrey is a 1-year-old! Crazy.

Month Ten

Okay, I'm obsessed with this girl. I'm not sure if all moms feel this way about their kids or if I'm just super sentimental, but I don't know how else to be. I never thought I'd say this, but I want her to stay exactly the way she is. I don't want her to grow up! But grow up she must, and I guess that's cute too. After all, it brings with it all of the following fun things:

• The dancing. Oh my gosh, it's so adorable. She shakes her head and bounces to the beat, and she smiles so big when Mommy and Daddy dance with her. 
• She loves climbing the stairs, and she's really fast. My favorite part is that she talks very animatedly as she does it, going "Tut tut" and babbling with excitement. Even though she doesn't need any help, we insist on following behind her when she makes her ascent, just in case. If we're not inclined to exercise though, we block the stairs with her toy bucket and car seat. This makes her sad.
• If you ask for them, she'll sometimes give high-fives. She often needs a reminder of what that means, but then she does it enthusiastically.
• She's quite the acrobatic thrill-seeker. She still loves playing Baby Catch and hanging upside down. If you hang her by the feet, she puts her hands out in front of her and lowers herself to the ground (in order to not smash her face). It's smart! She also likes it if you pretend to drop her while you're holding her. Sometimes when you're holding her, she'll throw her head back to indicate that she wants to go upside down.
• To mimic the feeling of being upside down, she'll sometimes tip her head to the side and look at us. If we tilt our heads the opposite way, she smiles.
• Like most kids, she loves dropping things on the ground and waiting for you to pick them up. In her case she drops it, looks down at it for awhile, and then looks at you. She looks back and forth between the item and you until you get it for her. Then she smiles and kicks her feet.
• One of her favorite things to eat is Kleenex. I don't know why. We have to keep all Kleenex boxes well out of her reach; otherwise there's trouble. She also likes to lick the floor vents and put her whole mouth around the knob handles of our kitchen cabinets. Hey, babies are weird.
• She hates wearing shoes and pulls them off whenever she gets a chance. She refuses to even try walking in them.
• "Words" she says include "Mama," "Diddy," and "Yeah." She'll also repeat "Yay!" if you say it first.
• When you say "Yay!" and/or clap your hands, she claps too. Sometimes she just does it randomly, which is funny. I worked hard to teach her to clap, and the rewards are well worth the effort. It's so stinkin' cute.
• She's a troublemaker already. When you say "No" to something she's doing, she smiles mischievously and keeps doing it. If you come to stop her, she hurries to do/touch the forbidden thing before you get there. For instance, she loves pulling up on and banging on the kitchen trash can. It's gross, so we always stop her. But when she sees us coming, she hurries and rubs her hands all over it before we get there. Same thing goes with the books on our kitchen shelf. She'll hurry to touch/pull off all the books before you can come and stop her.
• Then there's the tantrums. I didn't expect those yet, but they happen. If you try to block her from getting to the trash or if you won't let her play with your phone or computer, she flails her arms, arches her back if you're holding her, and cries. When I wipe her hands/mouth or try to get a foreign object (like Kleenex) out of her mouth, she violently pushes my hands away and voices her displeasure.
• One of her favorite tasks is pulling all the books out of her book basket. If you keep putting them back, she'll keep taking them out.
• She has become a more difficult eater. She refuses to keep her bib on, and she spits her food out when she doesn't want any more. She also throws her food on the ground, which is fun. But she always smiles when you pull out a canister of puffs. And to be fair, she's eating the food we eat now and does a pretty good job most of the time. She particularly likes soups.
• I think she's part bloodhound. If there's anything on the ground that she could pick up and eat, she'll find it. Even after I've swept, she finds it. She's a little scavenger and has no problem eating old food off the ground. This is a good incentive for me to clean up well after meals.
• She loves playing with balloons, either by crawling around after them or by playing "keep off the ground" with us. Daddy holds her and maneuvers her to kick and headbutt the balloon, and she just laughs. As a result, she now crawls after balloons with her head down, charging at full speed to headbutt them on her own.
• Reading to her is a fun experience, as she is obsessed with turning the pages of the books and often cares much more about that than she does about the story. She reaches forward to turn the pages, often well before you're ready. And if you stop her too many times, she throws a fit. Then, when the book is done, she grabs it and tosses it on the floor. It's just part of the routine.
• She can stand on her own, but she doesn't like to for some reason.
• Her "talking" has become so animated. She actually has inflection to her voice now, so it almost sounds like she's saying real words. I love to hear her talk. 
• Diaper changes are a wrestling match these days. She refuses to sit still unless you sing to her, and then the appropriate song is always different; you have to keep guessing until you get it right.
• She loves looking out of windows and playing with the blinds. She'll shake them around and then hold them up so she can peek out the window.
• When she is resisting a nap, she throws her pacifiers out of the crib and then cries until I come give them back. Then she smiles when I come in, as if she has won. She also tosses the pacifiers out in the morning when she's decided it's time for me to come get her.
• She'll fake laugh with you. If you say "Ha ha ha," she'll repeat it. It's so cute and usually makes me laugh for real.

So really, what's not to love??

Month Nine

Well, it's a new year, and with it have come some new and exciting changes in Aubrey:

• She is quite the climber. She loves to pull herself up to a standing position on anything she can reach. She also likes trying to climb the stairs (her personal best is three stairs).
• Out of nowhere, she started giving kisses. A few days before Christmas, she leaned in and kissed Daniel. Now she does it often, either by request from us or just because she wants to. They're slobbery and gross, and they're the best things in the whole world.
• She's starting to eat the food we eat, and she's getting good at eating with her hands. Utensils are still a ways off though, I think.
• Sometimes she'll stop crawling and get on one knee, as if she's proposing to someone. Only she sits on the foot of the other leg, which proposing men don't often do.
• She likes watching strangers and doesn't have any fear of people she doesn't know, which is really nice. We'll see if this changes though...
• When she wants to get somewhere fast, she puts her head down and crawls like a charging bull.
• She can walk around with the little toy walker we gave her for Christmas or by holding onto chairs, the couch, etc. I think real walking isn't far off...
• One of her favorite noises to make is the Chewbacca. It's amazing.
• She's afraid of dogs. They make her cry. It's sad but cute.
• She has two little teeth on the bottom and is working on some up top.
• One of her favorite games is Baby Catch, in which Daniel and I toss her back and forth between us so that she flies through the air. It's safer than it sounds; I swear. Anyway, she loves it. She also loves hanging upside down and enjoys "Ride a Little Horsie."
• She loves the monkey and alligator song ("Five little monkeys swinging in a tree, teasing Mr. Alligator, 'Can't catch me!'...") and flutters her eyes when it's time for the clap.
• One of her favorite things to do with toys is push them around the floor as she crawls.