On the move!

Arya is a little girl on the move. When we went to Toronto most recently (the first weekend in October), we spent about 3 1/2 days there and during that time Arya made great strides in learning that she could actually move herself around! Shortly before that time, she would get so frustrated at not being able to get where she wanted to go. She would try so hard - even getting her knees up under her body - but she just wasn't able to go anywhere yet! Then, she started "accidentally" moving herself backwards on occasion. She would seem to want to move forward, but it just didn't work and all of her efforts would just move her backwards!

During the time in Toronto though, she finally got it. She started dragging herself slowly forward using just her arms (the beginning of her little army crawl) - but she was definitely moving! It was quite a start. Then in no time, she started getting faster. Now, I have to say that I believe true crawling (on her hands and knees) is just around the corner. She uses both her arms and legs to scoot all around and also gets up on her hands and knees over and over again, only to sink back down to her forearms in order to start moving. She is just too cute when she does it though. I'll try to get some video of her soon, because I really think this stage won't last much longer, and I want to remember it!

More teeth!

Shortly before last weekend (10/14/06), we realized that Arya's top front teeth were getting very close to coming in. Her left one seemed to be a little ahead of her right, but you could just see them coming to the surface. Anyway, I think it was Saturday (10/14) that the top front left tooth broke through. Then this week the right one has been moving its way in and somewhere around Thursday (10/19) it broke through. These two haven't moved down much - they're still nearly even with her gums, but they are definitely there. I can't believe our little baby has four teeth now! Does anyone else feel like she is growing up too fast?!

Arya's Contagious Laugh

Arya has a great laugh and I love when she gets going and can hardly stop! Sometimes she laughs when we tickle her. Sometimes it is when we make funny sounds. Other times it is when we just say things that she apparently thinks are hilarious!

One night, Rajeev was teasing Arya about being a "spitter" and a "spitty girl" who spits up on us all of the time! He was just saying different variations of the words and she started laughing so much! Anyway, we got part of that little episode on video. To see it, click here.

I like the outdoors!

Arya loves to go outside. We went for a walk recently and I took some pictures of Arya. (These are from 9/21/06.) Don't you love her sunglasses? She liked playing in the grass after we took our walk, but we have to watch her carefully or else she'll eat the grass! Yum, yum!

More updates coming soon!

I'm trying to catch up on Arya's blog. This month has been really busy and I haven't had much time to post. But, as you can see, this is my 3rd blog entry tonight, so I am truly trying to get things up to date! Coming soon - Arya's first rice feeding ceremony and Arya at the zoo. Sounds fun, don't you think?

She's learning to sit up

Arya is getting better and better at sitting up on her own. She did it for the first time on a Sunday night - I think it was Aug 27, 2006. (She was 5 months and 3 days old!) It was a world of difference from when we tried to get her to sit up on the day that she turned 4 months! (I'll see if I can find those pictures and post one later because it was really cute and funny!

Of course, she can't get into a sitting position by herself - we have to sit her up and get her in place and then she takes over. She is till wobbly, and tips over after not that long, but she is starting to get the hang of it (even if she does often sort of lean over in slow motion until she is bent in half and her nose is next to her feet). She doesn't seem to mind though - after all, that gives her easy access to chewing on her toes, which has become a favorite hobby for Arya.

I am going to put a video here for you to watch of one of her first successful attempts at sitting up on her own. (It was taken Aug. 29, 2006.) It is kind of shaky because I was trying to tape while keeping her from falling over! Sorry! Anyway, I hope you enjoy it! To view the video, click here.

TEETH!!

Arya has been chewing on everything she can get her hands on for several months now. This last week she had seemed to fuss more than usual and I wondered if her teeth might be moving up. Her nose has been running for the last week and I'd heard rumors that often accompanies teething. I couldn't really see any sure signs of teeth though.

Well, tonight we realized that Arya's bottom two front teeth have broken through the gums! I think it happened just today because she chews on our fingers quite often and today was the first day I'd felt anything different. She was chewing my finger and I felt something sharp so I started feeling and looking around. They still aren't up out of the gum much, but you can definitely feel and see where they're coming in! I can't believe she is big enough to have teeth. Time is sure flying.