Arya as Elmo

As many of you know, Arya is a HUGE fan of Elmo. Grandma Carol made Arya an adorable Elmo costume, so after trick or treating inside at Daddy's office as a hula girl we came home to change into the Elmo suit! Arya and I stayed out in the yard, playing and giving candy to the neighborhood kids (since Rajeev and a friend were working on replacing our front window and the porch was covered with tools, scraps, etc.). We then went to Grandma Carol's to have dinner and show her Arya all dressed up! Here are a couple of photos and videos from the evening!

Arya the Dancing Hula Girl

We took Arya to her daddy's office yesterday for trick or treating, all dressed up in her "dancing skirt". We told her that if she wore her dancing skirt she could get some candy! She caught on pretty quickly, and liked taking a piece of candy from each bucket or basket that people had sitting outside their office for the kids. The only trouble was that a few times she saw candy that other kids had already collected and she tried to take her piece of candy from them too! While at the office, she got to play in a box tunnel, do a bean bag toss, and play a few other games. I think the candy was still her favorite part though! Here is a video of her dancing. (You'll notice that she wanted to keep the candy rather than putting it down to show us her dance!)

Squeaky Shoes!!

Arya's Grandma Carol got her some new squeaky shoes and she LOVES them. She is still wearing size 4 shoes, and it was getting too cold to wear sandals!! She has some size 5 shoes, but they're still too big! So, Grandma found these shoes for her. I put them on her and didn't tell her that they squeak. I just set her on the floor and let her figure it out. As soon as she stepped down and realized what her new shoes could do, she started running and stomping and jumping - SQUEAK! SQUEAK!! SQUEAK!! Here is a quick video clip of her, taken a couple of hours after she first tried them out.

PS-For those of you wondering, you do have the option to turn the squeak off and on as needed! You've got to love designers who think of everything!

Arya's Newly Organized Room

From this:
To this:
And finally, to this:

I recently sorted through all of Arya's baby clothes, trying to figure out what fits, what doesn't, what can be passed on to someone else, and what has to go back to the people who loaned it to us!! I made piles for all of these things all over her room and it was such a mess. I got one of those cube styles shelves with baskets for storage, so now her toys are organized as well (not just sprawled across the living room)! Now that she is 19 months old, I am finally getting things organized (or at least trying)! I guess it is about time!

Also...

Stay tuned for pics of Arya in the Elmo costume that her Grandma Carol made her! Grandma Carol has finished the body of the costume and is bringing the hood/Elmo's head with her when she comes back from Florida next week! I'm sure Arya will be spending a lot of time wearing it this winter when it is cold outside!

Hula Girl

I have taken a lot of pictures of Arya so far, but I thought it would be fun to have someone else take a few too. (Someone with a different perspective/backdrops/setups/ideas/etc.) I took her to Stacy and Mary in Indianapolis yesterday for their costume dress-up mini session. Arya was dressed as a little hula dancer, and she did a great job! I was just hoping she would wear the grass skirt! She really thought it was interesting when we first got it, but the day before the photo shoot she wanted nothing to do with it! I kept talking to her about her "dancing skirt" and how cool it was, asking things like, "Aren't you excited to wear your dancing skirt?" "Listen to that neat swoosh-swoosh sound it makes when you dance!" Anyway, when we got to the session, she seemed to have no problem wearing it! Yeah!! Stacy and Mary were really fun to work with and made us feel very relaxed and comfortable. Here are a couple of pics from the shoot! You can also see them on Stacy and Mary's blog. The rest of the pics will be ready to view in about a week. I can't wait! :)







PS - I made that little green top for Arya all by myself!! I was pretty happy with how it turned out since it was the first time I'd ever made a piece of clothing from a pattern!

Happy dog!

Here is something that was sent to me which makes Arya laugh. When she sees it she says, "Happy dog! Happy dog!" I hope the link works here!

I did it, Mommy!

Sunday we were getting ready for church. Arya had just gotten up and had gone to the bathroom. We put her diaper back on and she walked into the hallway near where Rajeev and I were. She started saying, "I did it. I did it." As we looked at her to listen to this new phrase she was saying, she looked at me and said, "I did it, Mommy!" Rajeev and I just looked at each other, shocked that a four word sentence had just come from her mouth. It was also surprising because she used the word, "I". She usually refers to herself as Arya.

She is trying to figure out the "you" and "me" thing. But think about it, that is pretty confusing stuff for an 18 month old!! Last night, we were playing and she started pointing at herself and then me, herself and then me. She'd say, "You!" and point to me, then point to herself, "Me". She'd immediately follow that by pointing to herself and saying, "You!", and then at me, saying, "Me!" There wasn't a consistent pattern for which phrase she used most, but she just kept pointing to either herself or to me and then saying either "you" or "me". This went back and forth for a few minutes and got us both laughing. (She likes to laugh along when other people laugh. It is very cute.) Her little brain is definitely hard at work learning new things these days though!

Potty Training Update (You can skip this if you want, but I figure this is worth keeping track of!)

Okay, this is probably something only moms are interested in...everyone else is going to be thinking, "Do we have to include the potty training stories??" This is a pretty big one though. Arya woke me up this morning at 5:58a.m. (much before her normal wake-up time which is usually around 8:30a.m.). She was saying, "Mommy! Pee pee! Mommy! Pee pee!" I figured, "Well, I guess I should see if she has to go to the bathroom!" Anyway, she still had a dry diaper, I took her to the bathroom, and she went! Then I put her diaper back on, took her back to bed and she went back to sleep until about 9:00a.m.! Needless to say, I'm amazed! I'm hardly doing anything - just taking her to sit on the potty when she wakes up in the morning and now usually after her nap - and she's moving toward figuring it out on her own.

My sweet, silly little girl

I just wanted to post of couple of pics that I took today of Arya. I was using a "light ring" that my brother Philip made, and that is what gives the interesting circle of light in the eyes. Arya didn't feel much like staying in front of the camera though. She prefers going around to the back of the camera, where she knows that she can see pictures of herself!! She'll keep saying, "Arya! Arya! Arya!!" until you break down and show her the pics!!

Arya's new fave: Feist

Arya has a new favorite to watch on YouTube. Here is Feist's video for the song 1234. You may have seen it on iPod commercials. Tonight Arya came up to me excitedly and said, "Feis! See! Okay!" In other words, she wanted to watch this video. Hope you enjoy it as much as Arya. (We also hope Arya learns to count "12345678" rather than "1234569 and 10" like in this song! We try to say the right numbers as we sing along, so we don't end up with a little girl who is totally confused when she learns to count!!

18 month update

I took Arya to the doctor for her 18 month checkup. She weighs 20 lbs., 10 ounces (4th percentile) and is 30" tall (10th percentile). She is continuing to grow (slowly but surely!). The doctor says she is doing great though and everything looks good!

Communication continues...

Arya has been putting two words together pretty regularly for a little over a month now. I know that she was doing it when we went to Toronto the first week of September. She would grab my hand and say things like, "Mama. Come," "Dada. Play," etc. It has just continued to pick up and become more regular since then.

She has been using one word after another to carry on conversation or to tell stories. For example, the other day after Arya's friend Maggie (who is now "Maggie" instead of just "Ma" or "Ma-ie") came over and played, colored, and drank some juice from a blue cup of Arya's. The next day, Arya told us about Maggie coming over kind of like this: "Maggie. Play. Cuh-cuh. Jyuice (while pointing to the blue cup Maggie had used)."

In the last week or so she's been using three words together more often in more sentence-like form. Last night, Rajeev had to go back to work after eating dinner with us. As he was telling her goodbye, she said, "Bye-bye, Daddy. Work!" This morning she wanted me to put her up on the bathroom counter. She said, "Sit up high!

I'm amazed to hear all of these words, phrases, and now sentences of sorts coming from this tiny little girl!

High Five! Awesome! Okay?

Arya is always doing funny little things that make us laugh. Last week she randomly walked up to me, held out her hand, and said completely clearly, "High five!"

She also has started picking up all kinds of words for things that are more abstract than concrete. She's been saying, "cool" for a while now. (For example, if she sees something sparkly that she thinks is pretty, she'll look at us and say, "Cool!") Another word she picked up a little over a week ago is "awesome". We were having dinner with friends, who volunteered to help us install the windows which will be arriving soon. I said, "Oh, that would be awesome!" Arya promptly followed that statement by saying, "Awesome!!" It definitely got a laugh, and she's been using it regularly since then!

Another funny thing that makes us laugh is Arya's use of the word "okay". Arya often wants something (for example, to watch her Elmo video or to eat candy) and she'll try to get us to give it to her. She'll look at us with this very reassuring look (totally serious, of course), and kind of nod a few times while saying, "Okay. Okay." She says it as if she's trying to convince us, "Really. You don't have to worry. It is just fine to give me what I want. It's OKAY."

How can you not love her??

P.S.

The adorable snail shirt that Arya is wearing in the pictures from the last post was one Arya's Uncle Philip had made for her by a girl he knows in Columbus. I don't think she has a website up yet, but if she puts one up, I'll pass along the info. Thanks, Uncle Philip (or "Hup" as Arya would say)!

WEEEEE!

What do you say when you slide down the slide? Weeeee! What about when you swing back and forth on the swings? Weeeee! Well, Arya loves playing outside and she has learned this summer that playgrounds are fun! She now refers to any slide or swing as a "weeeee" because that's what you say when you play on them!

Some friends brought over a slide/yard toy not long ago, thinking Arya might enjoy playing on it, and she definitely has. Here are a few pics of her that I took recently.

Trees! Yummy!

Last night, we were having broccoli, which Arya didn't have any particular interest in eating...until I showed her that each piece of broccoli was like a little tree! It was magic! She started happily munching on her broccoli and asking for more trees when all of hers were gone. She also seemed to kind of like the fish that we were eating...and the mashed potatoes too!

Here are some of Arya's current favorite foods (Although she'll eat lots of other things, these are some that she loves the most!):

• Cheerios "cho-chos", which somehow sounds a lot like "turtle"
  
• cheese "cheese" (cheddar cheese, cottage cheese, string cheese - She loves it all!)
  
• grapes "gapes"
  
• beans "beee!" (pinto beans, green beans, kidney beans, refried beans, navy beans - She must be related to her Aunt Liz.)
  
• french fries
• potatoes
  
• chicken "chick"? (She says it differently on different days.)
• candy "caa-caa" (I actually don't give her candy very often, but she is a HUGE fan. Her grandpa in Toronto recently sent her home with some m&ms, which she LOVES. Then she got a package from her Grandma Carol and Grandpa Ray that included some peanut butter m&ms, which she also LOVED. She likes to pick out which colors she'll eat next when she is eating m&ms. It is so cute. She will excitedly say, "Booo!" for blue, "re!" for red, "or" for orange, and "ye-yo" for yellow.

Speaking of colors, she is starting to recognize some of the main ones. She nearly always gets blue right. She gets orange right pretty often too. She likes pink ("pink"!), especially the pink marker that she sometimes gets to color with. Red, yellow and green are coming along. For example, if I tell her something is green, she can identify other green items at the time, but she sometimes gets mixed up the next day. We've just started working on colors though, so I think she's doing great! She loves to color, or "cuh-cuh" as she calls it, and usually asks to do it at least once a day. She sure is growing up fast!

Mommy!

I'm so far behind in blogging! I'm going to post a few shorter things a little at a time to try to catch up! At least that is the plan!

On Thursday or Friday of last week (Aug. 13 or 14th), Arya started the morning out normally, referring to me as "mama". Then, when she called for me mid-morning, she said, "Mommy!" Since then, there's been no more "mama" for her...it is only "mommy!" I think she must like the sound of the word, because she seems to be saying it much more than she ever said "mama". She has referred to Rajeev occasionally as "Daddy" since then as well, but she seems to be sticking with "Dada" just as much for him. She just sounds so much more like a little girl when she says "mommy" though. It really is cute.

Mika - Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)

Here is the video that Arya likes the most. She especially likes the end, when everyone is dancing in the street, when they release tons of balloons, and when everyone opens up colorful umbrellas!

Arya loves Mika

Recently Arya's Aunt Liz introduced her to a singer named Mika. Liz played a Mika ringtone repeatedly for Arya on her phone and showed her several Mika videos on YouTube, which feature things that Arya loves, including dancing, balloons, and umbrellas! Needless to say, Mika was an immediate hit with Arya. She now asks for him saying, "Muh?" and pulling us toward the computer!

Yesterday we met Liz for lunch and as soon as Arya saw Liz she started saying, "Muh. Muh. Muh!! Muh!!!" She pointed at Liz's purse and phone and kept saying "Muh" until we finally figured out what she wanted. We finally realized she wanted Liz to play the Mika ringtone on her phone! We were cracking up. Anyway, here are a couple of videos I took of Arya watching and dancing to Mika's music on YouTube.

Arya loves the rain!

The video clips above are from May 25, 2007. (I know, I'm behind in getting them uploaded!!) Arya was playing in the rain for the first time and was having so much fun that I had to take a few videos of her! She especially loves splashing in puddles!

It was probably around that time that she also realized that she LOVES taking baths! Whenever we go into the bathroom, she points at the bathtub and says, "A baa! A baa!" She often will even try to climb into the tub!

We have taken her swimming in Grandma Carol's pool - which we explained to her was "like a great big bath." (It is just not as warm!!!) Once we put it that way, she has been much more excited about swimming! When we go to Grandma's, she'll often point outside and ask, "Poo?", wondering if she is going to get to go swimming in the pool! (She also now refers to any body of water as a pool - lakes, oceans, etc!) She is definitely enjoying summer and all of the water fun that comes along with it!

Modification

One change from the previous post (mostly so I'll remember rather than for anyone else!): baby should have been listed with the words known as of 4/28 rather than 5/24. (This is, after all, essentially my online baby book where I'm keeping track of all of these things.)

14 months

Arya is 14 months old today! I thought I'd jot down a few recent milestones so that I don't forget what things were like for her at 14 months.

Arya:
* Likes trying to use a spoon or fork to eat.
* Is quite comfortable with walking now.
* Helps me get her dressed/undressed by giving me her arms or pulling them out of the clothes.
* Loves being outside.
* Sits on the potty in the morning as soon as she gets up. (We haven't tried it much during the day except for occasionally after she wakes up from a nap.)
* Understands simple instructions/questions including:

• Wave bye-bye
• Say hi
• Blow kisses
• Give me a hug
• Give me a kiss (She opens her mouth and puts it on your cheek.)
• Give me the ________.
• Pick up the ________.
• Sit down.
• Stand up.
  
• Clap your hands!
  
• Come here. (She doesn't always do this one when we ask, but I'm pretty sure she knows what it means!)
• Dance!
• Shake the _______ (towel, toy, rattle, etc.).
  
• Where is the _______?
• Where is Arya? (She then hides behind an object or her hands and plays peekaboo.)

* Recognizes and is able to make the following signs (in order of when she learned them as much as I can remember!):

• More (She puts the fingers and thumb of one hand together and touches them to the palm of the other hand. She mostly associates this with food. She uses this when she wants something to eat. Learned this sign quite some time ago - maybe around 9-10 months.)
• All done (Puts hands palm up and rotates them back and forth. Says this in combination with "ah dah" or simply "dah". Learned maybe around 10-12 months (?) and uses it OFTEN - whenever she is tired of anything, wants to do something else, wants out of the carseat/stroller/shopping cart, is finished eating or sitting on the potty, or when someone leaves (example: After Rajeev leaves to go to work or school, she'll sign all done while saying "da da", basically telling me that Daddy is gone.)
• Change (Clasps hands together and rotates them back and forth. Uses in association with having her diaper changed. When she uses it she usually does need changed, but doesn't use it all of the times that she needs changed. Learned around 12 months?)
  
• Thirsty (Touches her neck with one finger. Says this in combination with "bo-bo-bo" when she wants something to drink. Learned in the last month.)
• Eat (Puts fingers and thumb of of one hand together and touches mouth. This is pretty new - in the last 2 weeks or so. She's starting to use it along with the "more" sign when she is hungry.)
• Thank you (Moves hand toward and away from chin with palm facing her. Very new inconsistent. First done multiple times last Sunday when I gave her some bites of a Nutrigrain bar.)

* As of 4/28/07, Arya knew and was able to use the following words:

• da da (for Daddy)
• ma ma (for Mommy)
• ight (for light)
• eye (for eye)
• tk-ah (for tickle)
• ca-ca (for cracker)
• chss (for cheese)
• ah dah (for all done)
• sss (for paci/pacifier)
• ball (for ball)
• ba (for bye)
• ha/hai (for hi)
• ha (for hair)

* As of today (5/24/07), the following words can be added to the list above:

• bay-bay/bay-be (for baby - She is so interested in other kids! She says baby when she sees a baby anywhere - at the store, on tv, in a magazine. She also uses it for her doll and for other kids who seem closer to her size!)
  
• bo-bo (for cup/drink/bottle/etc. - I think she got this from the word bottle, even though she has hardly used a bottle and we rarely use the word.)
• she now says a very clear "hi" for hi rather than "ha/hai"
• egg-ah (for egg)
• beep (for beep - when she is driving the Grandma's toy car and pushing the horn!)
• car (for car - learned from the toy car, but now uses in association with real cars. This week while reading her 100 First Words book, she got to the "things that go" page and without prompting from us, she pointed out the car, the truck, the fire truck and another car-like vehicle from among the other pictures, identifying each as "car" and leaving out the things like the plane, boat, motorcycle, etc!)
  
• op/ahp (Nepali word for mango. She learned it this week and loves saying it again and again!)
• hah(t) (for hot - started saying it when walking barefoot on the sunny deck at Grandma's)
• whasah (for "what's that"? - This phrase is used all the time!!)
• ah-sah (for outside - where she LOVES to go)
• go (for go, as in go somewhere else, away from where she is right then - go outside, go inside, etc.)
• Iz/Iss (for Aunt Liz - she's used multiple times. I'm starting to think she really does know what it means.)
• buh-buh (for butterfly - This is a new one as of yesterday. She always wants to look at the butterfly decorations in her room from her birthday party. Yesterday she was playing with one and saying buh-buh-buh. I thought it was coincidence until she saw a dress with butterflies on it in a stack of clothes waiting to be put away and she pointed directly to the butterflies multiple times and said "buh-buh-buh"!)

(I'm probably forgetting some! I guess I can add more later.)

*Also, these aren't really "words", but she does the cutest animal sounds:

• woo, woo (sounds like oo in look. This is the sound that dogs make, like "woof, woof". She loves dogs and birds and when she sees them she makes her mouth into an o shape and starts imitating their sounds!)
• high pitched bird sounds (She makes this a lot when she gets up in the morning and hears the birds singing, and also when she is outside watching the birds in the yard.)
• oohh (imagine the word "roar" without the r's . She has a book that talks about lions roaring and when we read it she always imitates this sound as much as she can!)
• eeee! (in the same book, it says, "If you see a crocodile, don't forget to scream!" I always do a little scream for her at that point and then she does her adorable little crocodile scream!

* There are so many things I could write, and I'd still be leaving things out. Arya is learning new things so quickly. I am constantly amazed to watch her little mind working things out and making sense of the world around her. She is a very fun little girl. She loves to play and even joke around. She does this pointing thing with her Aunt Liz when she sees her and it is like their own little inside joke. She loves to dance. She is fascinated by other kids. She hasn't quite learned about sharing though! (She was quite unsure of what to do when another little boy was driving the car at Grandma's. She really wanted it!) She is very opinionated, but very loving and friendly. Isn't it amazing that kids have so much personality at such a young age? Anyway, we are beyond blessed to have this little girl in our lives. Sorry for such a long post all at once, but I just needed to get these things down because I don't want to forget all of the milestones.

My little girl!

The day before yesterday, I put Arya's hair in ponytails. I was reminded once again that she is looking more like a little girl and less like a baby all the time. I wanted to share a couple of pictures that I took of her playing outside in the yard. I'll admit that I am biased, but isn't she about the cutest kid ever?

Chicken Pox

Arya got her 1-yr vaccinations on April 12. She got 4 shots, including the chicken pox vaccine. They warned me to keep an eye out for any rash or bumps that might appear in 10-14 days. Apparently, there is a very small chance that the vaccine can cause the child to actually break out in chicken pox. That is what happened to poor little Arya!

She had a random fever in the night on Saturday, 4/21/07 but seemed better on Sunday. On Monday, 4/23, Liz and I went to lunch and she was holding Arya when she noticed, "Oh, Arya has a little pimple on her hand." I quickly started putting everything together - the vaccination, the fever, the "pimple" which we soon realized was one of many little red dots that were quickly appearing all over Arya's body. Arya had chicken pox!

Fortunately, she was still too young to know to really scratch at the bumps, so they didn't last long. A week after the first spots appeared, she had her 1-yr checkup (actually 13 month checkup) and was officially declared to no longer be contagious. The other good thing was that even though she got lots of spots, she didn't have tons that became huge blisters. Here are a couple of pictures to help us remember her chicken pox outbreak. And just think, now she has gotten the chicken pox out of the way for good (hopefully!).

How much longer will this last, Mom?

P.S. - More birthday photos

P.S. - More birthday photos can be seen at our flickr site.

Arya turns one!

We celebrated Arya's first birthday on March 24, 2007. It seems impossible that she is already one, but the time before we had Arya seems like so long ago. Now we can't imagine our lives without her!

We had a birthday party with family and a few friends at my parents' house. Rajeev's mom and sister were able to come from Toronto to join us too!

We had a butterfly theme, and I found some adorable little butterfly decorations which had sparkles and glitter and beads - which Arya loved. She loved the beads so much she bit one off and apparently thought about eating it. Fortunately, we caught her first!

We had snacks, cake and ice cream and tried to coordinate around everyone's naps! Everything went well though! Arya was a little hesitant to reach into the small cake that we gave her. After a few minutes, her Grandpa Ray helped her out and showed her how she could really dig in. She didn't pay much attention to opening presents, but she has had fun this week reading her new books and exploring some of the new things she was given.

We were blessed to be able to have such wonderful family and friends with us to share this milestone in Arya's life! Thanks to all of you.

Arya's First Steps!

Arya has taken her first steps! We went to the hospital on Friday night (3/9/07) to visit Ben in the ER. While we were hanging out with Liz and Ben in the hospital room, Arya was playing with Liz's empty water bottle. We were trying to get her to stand on her own without holding on to anything, which she had been doing for a little over a week. (She had been standing on her own especially when she was holding something to distract her. - We thought the water bottle would do just the trick!) Anyway, next we decided to try to get her to take a few steps between us. She actually did it! We took turns watching her walk between Liz and me, Rajeev and me, and Liz and Rajeev. Meanwhile, Ben looked on from his bed when he could. Arya took steps on her own at least 10 times (maybe more?). Anyway, we were so excited!

Since Friday, she has been much more willing to stand on her own. She'll just let go of things and stand up. She's also getting more comfortable trying to take steps. Last night she kept going back and forth between Rajeev and me over and over again. It was so much fun!! I was able to get a video clip of her taking about 10 steps (depending on how you count them). That's the farthest she has gone so far. Anyway, here it is so you can see it too!

Florida Pictures

Our Florida pictures are now online (or at least a lot of them are). If you want to look at them visit our Flickr site.

In contrast to our pictures from warm, sunny Florida, here are some pictures of Arya during her first Indiana blizzard, which took place Feb. 13, 2007.

Let's dance some more!

Okay, pasting the video didn't seem to work. Here is a link so you can watch it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnCPF6FiBpo

Let's Dance!

Arya loves phones. She really enjoys pushing the buttons that make noises. She's been able to turn on the speaker phone on our home phone for months. Now she loves playing with our cell phones, especially since in addition to making noise they light up! The other day I didn't realize she had my phone and when I picked it up it was ringing. - She had called Sara! Lately she has even started picking up the phone and holding it to her ear (or at least the side of her head!). We've given her Rajeev's old phone which no longer functions so that she has a phone to play with that won't let her actually call anyone and get into trouble!

Another thing Arya has started recently enjoying is dancing. We were watching a movie earlier tonight that had a lot of upbeat, reggae and dance music. At one point she had both hands above her head and she was bouncing to the beat (using her tummy to balance herself as needed against the coffee table). It was so cute!

Anyway, the video clip I'm hoping appears above (if not I'll link it in a separate post) is from last night. Liz's phone has a really fun ring tone of the David Bowie song, "Let's Dance". Arya was thrilled to be allowed to play with a real live phone that made noise and had lights, and the fact that it was playing fun music for her to dance to only made it more fun for her. The video is kind of dark, but I had to include it anyway!

Arya has a friend.

Lately, Arya has become quite intrigued by other kids! Luca is the 17-month-old son of some of our friends. He has come over to play a couple of times and last week Arya went to his house to play for a couple of hours. When we arrived and I was taking her out of her car seat, Arya heard and then saw Luca. She started getting all excited and even laughing. She has a friend!

Here are a couple of pictures that Luca's mom, Maria, took while they were playing. Luca kept giving "baby" Arya hugs. Very sweet, don't you think?

Likes and Dislikes

I thought I'd just jot down a few things that Arya currently likes and dislikes. I'm sure there are lots more things that could be added to the list, but these are just the things that quickly came to mind.

Arya likes...
* green beans
* cheese
* Cheerios
* chicken
* ham
* peas
* ice cream (Shh...she's not really supposed to have much of that but she LOVES it.)
* trying to feed herself (with her fingers)
* pulling things out of their place (cds & dvds out of the cabinet, clothes out of the laundry basket and out of her drawers, papers out of anywhere she can find them!)
* standing at the sliding glass door, where she can look out the window
* playing peek-a-boo (especially from around the corner)
* tickling!
* typing
* giving "kisses"
* reading books with Mommy (It is a new accomplishment in the last few months to be able to look at a book rather than just eating it!)
* crawling and cruising and pulling up on anything within reach
* waving "hi" and "bye-bye"
* staying up late and sleeping in

Arya doesn't like...
* applesauce (at least she hasn't liked it any of the times we've tried it so far!)
* getting strapped into her carseat
* going to bed

Arya and her Daddy

These are a few pictures of Arya and Rajeev from our recent trip to Florida.

Arya loves her daddy. When he gets home from work, she is always so excited and happy to see him. Today, when he pulled into the driveway I picked her up so she could see him out the window. When she saw him she started squealing with laughter. It was adorable.

The day before we left Florida, Arya was really starting to say "da-da" clearly. We weren't sure if she was associating it with Rajeev, though. But now, we're pretty sure she knows what it means. When we hear Rajeev coming to the door after work, I always say, "Arya, who is that? Who is coming?" When she sees him she'll usually say "da-da" (or sometimes "da" or "da-da-da-da-da-da").

This afternoon, Sara had called me and was just a couple of minutes away from our house. I unlocked the door for her so she could just come in when she arrived. Meanwhile, Arya and I were in the (home) office. When Arya heard the door, she looked up, got excited and started saying, "da-da-da-da". I know she had to be associating it with Rajeev coming home. I definitely called him to tell him about it, and I think he was pretty proud!

She hasn't really picked up the word "mama" or "mommy" yet (although she is starting to say "mimi" occasionally in what might be a reference to me and she makes a repetitive "mamamamamamama" sound when she is sad or upset and needing something). I'm not too worried though...I'm sure that with time she'll like me too! :)

First word?

This week we went to Florida (I'll post some photos and details on that soon). We arrived last Saturday evening, enjoyed a warm, sunny week, and returned home to a very cold Indiana this afternoon. Arya had a very fun time and enjoyed watching the birds on the beach, swimming in the pool, and trying to eat sand and seashells. :)

Last Sunday morning we were sitting at the table eating breakfast, while Arya's Grandpa Ray was holding her. We were trying to get her to show him her tricks. "Where is the light, Arya?" "Do you see the light?" Of course, Grandpa was impressed to see her look up, find the light, and point! This game went on for some time, and it was Grandpa who noticed that when we would talk about the light, Arya kept babbling the same thing, "ight." Was she really trying to say her first word? We thought it might just be coincidence at first, but then she kept doing it all week. So, we think that "light" can probably be considered her first word. (Mom is conviced that she has also been saying "hi" this week.) To me, it is amazing to think that this little girl who has only been here for 10 months, is learning that words have meaning and that there are ways she can communicate. I'm sure this is only the beginning, but I'm definitely enjoying getting to watch as it all happens!

Isn't she cute?!

Learning so much!

So how do I catch up on all of the things Arya has been doing when we've been too busy to blog for 2 1/2 months? Well, I don't think I can do it in one post, but I'll do as much as I can for now.

Arya is learning so many new things. Today she stood on her own for the first time for about 3-4 seconds. I was amazed, and I think that she was too. She is cruising everywhere - around the coffee table, the couch, and around anything else she can hold onto. She'll often stand at the coffee table playing with a toy without really holding on to anything - just kind of balancing herself with her tummy.

She started pulling up the last week in October. I remember her pulling up to her knees on Grandma Carol's box of blocks that she loves to play with on the day of Liz's bridal shower (10/28/06). She had done it once earlier in the week, but that day seemed to be the turning point. Within about another week, she was pulling up regularly to a standing position, and by Liz's wedding on 11/11/06, she had basically mastered that skill.

I'm going to have to think about when Arya started crawling on her hands and knees. For a long time, she would get up on her hands and knees and wait, but she'd go back down into her army crawl if she wanted to go anywhere quickly! But not anymore! Now she's all about crawling on her hands and knees and she is speedy - let me tell you!

One of the funny things that Arya does to make us laugh is her fake cough. When we went to Iowa for Liz and Ben's reception there the weekend of Nov. 26, this was the new trick that Arya learned. Liz had a bad cough and she noticed that when she would cough, Arya would do this funny little fake cough. Then she'd look at us and smile, like she knew she was being funny. So, we started coughing, getting her to do her fake cough, and then we'd all laugh, which would encourage Arya all the more. We could pretty much count on Arya's response whenever we'd try to get her to do it...until the week before Christmas. I don't know if she got tired of it, or she forgot how to do it or what happened, but no matter what we'd try we couldn't get her to do her fake cough trick! Then, she coughed a real cough one night around the time we went to Toronto, and the trick was back! We'll see how long it lasts this time.

Arya has recently learned the meaning of several things that we say. The week after Christmas, we realized that she knew what it meant when we said, "Clap your hands!" She responds by clapping! Once we realized that she understood that phrase, Rajeev began working on teaching her the Nepali version, "Tali bajau!"

While we were in Toronto the week before last, she learned to point to the light when we say, "Batti khoi?" Soon after she also learned that the same response goes with the English version, "Arya, where is the light?"

In the last couple of weeks she also has kind of learned what it means when we say, "Arya, give Mommy/Daddy a kiss!" She won't always do it, but a lot of times she'll lean in open her mouth and push it against your cheek. We've also been working on getting her to blow kisses. We can't count on her to do it when she is asked, but she will occasionally do it. She'll bring her open hand to her mouth and then kind of repeat this several times.

The other really cute thing that she has just learned is tickling. When we say "Tickle, tickle, tickle" she will wiggle her fingers and touch you, and make this sound, "Tk, tk, tk, tk." Obviously she can't say "tickle", but she mimics the "tk" sound, and it is so cute!

As far as playing goes, Arya loves playing peekaboo. When I give her a blanket, shirt, or anything else that she can cover up with and say, "Where's Arya?" she pulls it over her face and then drops it down. I then say, "Peekaboo!" or "There she is!" and she thinks it is a really fun game. She'll repeat it over and over. Another version of this game that she plays is to go around the corner and then peek back into the room. She especially likes it if you hide too, and peek out to see her peeking at you.

Well, those are as many updates as I can give for now. At least I've been able to catch up a little bit. Arya is so full of life and such a happy little girl. She adds so much joy to our lives, and it is hard to believe that she has only been with us for 9 1/2 months. How time flies!