Julia Helps Annabelle Walk

Annabelle is not walking, yet, but she is getting some good practice with Julia. Watch out for Jake!!



I don't know why the sound isn't working on this!!

ABC's

Julia has learned her ABCs....well, almost.

Decorating the Tree

Decorating the tree with R and Julia was such fun! (Sometimes, I tend to romanticize how a family event is going to go and need to manage my expectations, but this evening was the storybook, Norman Rockwell event I imagined.)

Julia LOVED unwrapping each ornament from its tissue paper, and would exclaim, "Look! Look, Papa!!" or "Look, Mommy, look at this!!" She was old enough that she could handle the ornaments and put them on the tree. From time to time, she needed a bit of help, but she loved the whole experience. One of my favorite moments was when she called snowman ornament with a looong skinny hat a maraca.

R and I talked about the different ornaments, and where we were when I bought them - it was a little walk down memory lane of our relationship: ornaments from Chicago, the Empire State building representing New York, the bicycle representing Holland, and the snow men from my first Christmas with his family when they where vacationing in Colorado.

Julia & Papa

Busy decorating

Papa

Busy girl

Placing the star on top

My favorite part of this video is when Julia stops at the lion ornament to roar!

Cow!

Julia's fascination (bordering on obsession) with cows continues...

Where's Julia?

Where's Your Tummy?

A couple of weeks ago, I was talking to Julia, and I said something about her tummy. Right after I said it, she patted her tummy. (!!!) I was so surprised that the she had made the connection between the word and its meaning. Since then, I ask her "Where's your tummy?" She'll (sometimes) grin, lift her shirt, and pat her tummy. Someone mentioned that although it is very cute now, we should discourage her from doing it when she is, say, sixteen. Hmmm....I think we'll stop a bit earlier.



When I played this video earlier, Julia was in the room, and she heard me say "Where's your tummy?" on the video. At that moment, she reached down, lifted her little pink shirt, and patted her tummy.

Clemyjontri

Julia's playgroup visited a fantastic park in McLean. It is near Julia's Oma and Opa's house; they introduced us to the park a while back, and I have been waiting for Julia to be big enough to play on there.

Clemyjontri has the biggest playground I have ever seen; it is on 18 acres of land donated by Mrs. Adele Lebowitz. She donated it to the county so that they could build a playground where children of all abilities can play side-by-side. The name is a combination of the donor's childrens' name. Check out more about Clemyjontri.

It was a beautiful day, and the kids had a great time!
Photo credits go to my friend, Kristi:









Julia also got to practice her walking skills:

Walking!

Julia is walking! She had been taking steps since the second week of August, but she put it all together on Sat, Sept 6th. On Friday, she took 13 steps in a row, and on Saturday, it clicked for her. She's more comfortable crawling long distances, but for a short distance, she'd toddle from one place to another. She gets a little nervous if Jake is close by, because she is concerned (and rightly so) that he might inadvertantly knock her over.

She's not confident about it yet, but she is definitely walking!

When You're Happy, and You Know It...

Clap your feet?!

Hugging, Biting, & Climbing

Julia has started giving hugs. It melts my heart. She reaches out to me, throws her arms around my neck, and gives me a huge hug. Unfortunately, she also likes to test out her little teeth from time to time. (She has six now. The incisors on the either side of her two front teeth finally came in a couple of weeks ago.) About one hug in ten, I am enjoying her little embrace then suddenly, OUCH! I feel her sharp little teeth on my shoulder, arm, or chest. It's still worth it!

Another dangerous habit of Julia's is climbing. If she is given an opportunity, she will turbo-crawl down the hall and will be halfway up the stairs before I can catch up. She has also branched out and started climbing on more than just stairs. Most recently, she has climbed up our raised hearth and was going to check out the decorative logs when I caught up to her.

In her big baby corral (which we considered a safe zone), Danger Baby proved us wrong by climbing onto and trying to stand on one of her play tables. It happened very fast, but never fear, I was there to make sure she didn't fall. Climbing has turned into quite the hobby for her, and as far as she is concerned, that is the now the sole purpose for the little table.



The video ends abruptly, because I saw she was going to stand. It was clearly time to put the camera down!

Peas, please!

Up the Stairs

Julia walks her baby.

That's MY spoon!

Perhaps it's not great that I am teaching her to play with her food, but who could resist these giggles?

Julia's first doll

Dolly was a Christmas gift from Grandma.

Julia can clap!

Blowin' Raspberries

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A Conversation with Opa

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Giggles!

In the last couple of weeks, Julia has made sounds similar to laughter. Today, it was unmistakable. Daddy was playing with her, and she really giggled!


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Scott, the Musical Prodigy

Our nephew, Scott, discovered the harmonica while at Grandma Julia's house. He shows great promise for a career playin' the Blues.


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