Garden Time

Deia just loves playing in the front yard. She helps me pick lemons, limes and cumquats and then pushes her little wagon across the grass. She also loves watching the leaves fall from the tree and collects them in her hands. Deia also likes where the grass meets the brick of the walkway. It is strangely interesting to her to step from one area to the other and she moves slowly and carefully between the two turfs. She is the proud new owner of a teeny pair of orange crocs. Those are her "outdoor" shoes. If she could spend all day outside, it would be her perfect day :-)

Vocabulary

Deia vocabulary is growing by the day. She will attempt to copy any word you ask her to, some come out more clearly than others. Of course, there are no string or combinations of words happening...that's to come in the future. But her words, so far, are: dog, do for dora, hot, hi dad, bye dad, mama, nice, no, hi, hello, hola, nose, eye, ear, mou (for mouth), dog, elmo, poop, moo, woof, arf, cak for quack, moo, kitty, mow (for meow), ba-nana, apple, ball, ah ah ah for monkey,  aaaa for sheep, she sniffles in for pig, says a perfect turtle, nanana for the elmo song (that says la la la), lmno as in that section of the alphabet, cheese, this, that, all done (I guess that's two words!), ca-ca for turkey, bottle and a few others. It's so fun to see her watch, listen and learn and I can tell that she is enjoying her ability to communicate better. 

14 Months!

Deia at 14 months is leaps and bounds beyond where she was 4 weeks ago. Perhaps is has something to do with all of the people she had been around or the fact that we were able to be with her around the clock for a couple weeks. Either way, Deia is no longer a baby and has become this amazing little girl! She runs with enthusiasm to everything that interests her, and everyone too. She continues to have no fear of animals and strangers....which is a good and bad thing. Corey worries about the pit bulls that she does not discriminate against. Her latest favorite thing is any telephone ring. Her reaction is an instantaneous "OOOH," and that mouth puckers, her body stiffens and then shakes and sometimes her palms turn up like, "is this really happening!" She cares less about actually answering the phone or talking to the person on the line. But hearing that thing ring unexpectedly seems to make her life in that moment. Of course, she has wisened up to the fact that we make calls on purpose to see her get excited and now she sees a phone and expects that we make it ring. So, yes,we are hiding phones again. Deia is still a perfect sleeper, adaptable in every environment and room we put her in. That does not apply to the stroller, car or airplane of course. She has grown to LOVE strawberries, drinks her smoothies and loves c-ca = turkey. We witnessed her first cat fight over the holidays. Adriana Livengood was over and silently took over Deia's baby stroller. At first Deia watched and when her little brain calculated that that was hers, she went and put a hand on it. Adriana is a little older and decided she wasn't into sharing so much. This turned into a crying symphony between the two of them, a couple pushes, a couple "I got it!" moments and then defeat. Danny was throwing out the "Adriana, you must share" disciplinary yelps while I was hysterical and thought the situation was amusing. I just sat back, took some pix and said, "hey girls, you are gonna have to deal with these kind of things the rest of your life. work it out." Deia is very excited to be able to point out and say "nose," and "eye," and she pinches her temple for ear, but can show you when yours is. She quacks for duck and moos for cow and just started saying the full word hello. She barks with arfs, ruffs and woofs and doesn't stop when she sees a dog. She is starting to get excited about her tennis shoes and lifts her feet high to have them put on.  And when I went shoe shopping, she absolutely had to try on my shoes too! She still loves to dance, snaps her little fingers and somehow she is actually quite good at the harmonica! She also cannot get enough of reading her books in all her small corners of the house. Deia has recently discovered that she can walk in circles around herself, get dizzy and fall down....and she likes it! Her fake laugh, fake cough and fake yawn are also hilarious. She is a special little lady with a big heart, a funny and engaging personality and so much love to give. She's an explorer and an observer and she loves to laugh and get silly. We are more in love with her every day. 

Happy New Year!

Here is our 2009 holiday/new years card. Maybe one day we'll include us on the card, and definitely not on a 5x7 (oops, that's a little big). But for now, Deia wished everyone a wonderful 2010 on her own and I cherish this card so much. It's an image that shows how she really is not a baby anymore but a beautiful little girl.

Chugging

Yup, that's definitely our kid, chugging in the corner. You would think there were something highly addictive in her drink of choice. Maybe there is something to water that I am missing....

Under the Bridge

Deia, Laura, Corey and I enjoyed a gorgeous day at the Discovery Kids Museum on the Marin side of the Golden Gate Bridge. She enjoyed the oceanic room where the walls bubbled, there was a water tunnel and lily pad water bed type areas. She also loved the puppet show area and the miniature Golden Gate Bridge near the pirate ship area. It's so fun to see her old enough to care about exploring!