Ariah -- 10 Months

10 months old! I can't believe it! Ariah has become very fond of opening and closing things...doors, her toy box, cupboards, and the toilet. Yes, it is rather gross. She opens it up and plays in the water! I tried to get one of those toilet seat locks from Babies R Us, but they don't fit on our toilet...so we're trying to come up with an alternative plan.

As of yesterday she is taking a few steps!!! VERY EXCITING! She still doesn't have great balance, but she has the courage, which I guess is enough to get her moving. She will take a few steps to get to me, and even took a few steps to get from one toy to another yesterday.

She is still saying "dog" and we think that she knows who "dada" is now. We're not quite sure though because she babbles dadada so much. She took a break from singing milk for a while, but has revisited that lately. She signs it so much, we just can't figure out if she's trying to wave or practice her "milk" sign! Soon enough...

Another trick she learned this month was how to carry things in her mouth (yes, like a dog). She will put a toy in her mouth so she can crawl around with it!

Here are a few pictures from the month. She is a climber, so one of the pictures is when she climbed into her toy box and proceeded to throw out all the toys!

First word

I've been trying to capture Ariah's first word on video for a while now, and I was finally able to get her saying "dog!" (Of course it is in her highchair since that is where the dogs pay the most attention to her!) Ben and I are still a little hurt that the dogs got recognition before us, but we're trying to get past it and be excited about her first word :-)
(You may need to turn the sound up a bit on your computer to hear her--she says it a few times during the clip)

Ariah - 9 Months

With all the hustle and bustle of the holidays I completely forgot to post a 9 month update! Well, better late than never...

As always, she has grown and changed dramatically this past month. One exciting change is that she can eat almost all grown up food now! So meal times have been much more interesting as she explores all the new foods. She was being pretty adventuresome with her eating......until.....she learned to shake her head "no." Boy, is she proud of her new trick!! Of course, I'm pretty sure we encouraged it a bit, because it was really cute and funny at first....not so much anymore :-) Everything is "no" these days. Okay, so maybe it is still kind of cute. She even remembers the things she is not supposed to get into, and will walk up to them shaking her head with a big grin on her face!

Her signing is getting a little better. She is pretty good with "milk" and is experimenting with "all done." (She does her own version of the sign.)

Her mobility hasn't really changed that much this past month. She can stand for a little while on her own, but only if she is positioned perfectly to keep her balance. She cruises all over the walls and furniture though.

Another exciting "first" this month was her first word! She can say "dog!" When she first learned it, she was so thrilled with herself that she called everything/everyone "dog." But she has gotten better and just says it now when the pups are around.

I think that's about all the updates for the month...We'll see what month 10 brings!!!