are you ready for this?

what have we been up to?

here, i'm beginning a brief photo synopsis of the past 13 days....
since we haven't posted lately. ooops.


Nov 3

our favorite book, GIRAFFES CAN'T DANCE
she looks for the monkeys and "reads" (signs MONKEY)


one month feet and one year feet....what will we do when we move? anyone know how to relocate drywall?

baby's first Bible...
our church gave this cute board book to the babies when we dedicated them on Nov 9

aiyana loves cruisin' with her school bus... runs into things and says "CAAH" (crash)

a new favorite food -- black beans! she can't get enough! she finishes her portion and signs MORE and PLEASE as she points to the counter

Sunday, Nov 16

surprise visitors are always welcome!

more leaves. and punkins, too.
aiyana adopted the "BALL" sign for pumpkins. she just loves them and always asks to hold them. this seems to be our yard of choice for photo ops. our friends don't mind :) missy even put a plastic bag under aiyana's tushy so she wouldn't get wet from the leaves. what a mom.

Saturday, Nov 15

trying on princess (aka. "flower-girl") dresses for her April performance

...after we were finished, she crawled back onto the platform and cheesed some more for the camera (and her audience)

Friday, Nov 14

doin' a little dance

Thursday Nov 13

nani's new trick -- she climbs in and out of the Bumbo (safely at last).

at first her right knee was always getting stuck under her bum, but now she gets in and gets comfy.

while i wait for the photos to upload....here is what is new in aiyana's signing vocab...she is amazing! i teach this signing stuff, and i have never known a baby to acquire words as rapidly as she has been! it's so much fun to "talk" with her.

music, monkey, tree, hot (says "ha", too), cold, thank-you (vocalizes the pitch), help, baby, down, water, bread, drink, mommy, daddy (which she shows us A LOT!), snack (also popular)

her "old" signs: milk, more, please, all done, up, kitty, puppy, bird

sentences are more common now, too. she puts 2 or 3 words together daily. i'm sure i've forgotten some, and since she is such a wiz-kid, i'm sure she has some signs up her sleeve ready to throw at her unsuspecting parents.

oh, by the way, we're buying a potty-seat this week. more on that to come.

baby's first crunch

we had enough leaves to go out and stomp around! first, we zipped up and down the driveway on her little car and then we took it off-road. she could push the car through the leaves and didn't fall since the leaves slowed her down.

home at last

power nap = power hair

'nuf said.

marbles museum

daddy says that he wants to build aiyana a train table.
she likes cars and trains and things that go crash.

while mommy played at the kindermusik convention, nani and daddy played at the children's museum. another day of firsts.

tea for two...

aiyana signs "PLEASE" because she sees some colored pencils that she would like to touch

we visited our good friends in Raleigh and aiyana enjoyed her 1st tea party. she was so happy to play with sophie, and i think sophie enjoyed aiyana's company, as well.

T.R.O.U.B.L.E.

nani found the stairs.
we don't have stairs at home, so this was a big deal for her. she saw something new AND she conquered it.
halfway up, she remembers that she dropped her tea cup. she signs "CUP" and tries to put it in reverse to retrieve the cup.

pics at pilot mountatin

we drove up to pilot mountain on this beautiful day. aiyana enjoyed the window rolled down with the warm wind in her hair. she signs "TREE", but not in this picture.

what's that crunchy stuff under my feet?

little bunny fu-fu, hoppin' thru the forest...
(she's making the bunny fu-fu motions!)

mama's laundry assistant

aiyana LOVES to empty this hamper. well, any hamper really...but this pink one is soft and she can throw it around (which she does.)
she rips the clothes out and throws them as if she strongly believes that they do not belong there. once, she lost her balance and toppled head first into a wicker basket...she was startled but unharmed.

don't miss it -- she stands up at end...no hands!

what a weekend!

we are seeing a lot of the silly squinty face. she squints and wants us to squint back at her.
a new version of peek-a-boo, i guess.
notice the big girl carseat?! aiyana rides facing forward now and fits perfectly in jenna's old carseat. she still fits in her Orbit baby seat (since she's under 22lbs) but this seat fits the best when we have 3 (yes, 3) carseats in the mazda on our nanny days.

nani got new snacks at Whole Foods -- she preferred her ol' cheddar duckies. she dug thru the cup for the duckies on the bottom... we see where the new snacks ended up.
(note to self: buy non-sticky snacks)

saturday was a kindermusik day!
we had a birthday party demo at our favorite eco-boutique -- Obaby Organics

princesses took a power-nap after church

a little crawling action (particularly for those who missed "the memo")
listen the for the click-slap-click-slap sound she makes when her bracelet and hands alternate on the wood floor. this must make crawling much more fun.

one day. one new camera. 120 pictures. priceless.

first ride in a grocery cart! she was REALLY excited about it. see how tight she holds on?

mama! that flashing light makes me so squinty!

the new camera has a red light that flashes and aiyana notices it sometimes.

here, she's just being silly. the flash has her thinking squinty thoughts all day. i love her sense of humor.

tink gets treats, too!
aiyana was loud and giggly during trick-or-treat. we think she was so excited to be out with the big kids. she kept yelling and flapping her arms.

nani signs MORE and then nods, "yes", she would like more candy. and the end of the video, she's signing "SNACK" -- her newest sign. i didn't catch the sign until i watched the video. i've seen her show the sign a few times since.