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! :)