Da da da da...enough already!

Avi Grace started saying Da da da da several weeks ago. Then she took a break from it for about a week or so. Then when we were at the beach, she said Ma ma ma several times. I was SO excited. Of course when we got home all she would say was Da da da da, ba ba, ga ga, etc. She still hasn't said Ma ma ma for Drew, OF COURSE! I keep saying it over and over again to her, but she doesn't want to cooperate. Hopefully it will come soon!

Avi Grace is 9 months old today. It is hard to believe that she has now been around as long as I carried her in my belly! That is a weird thought! Anyway, she is doing so many things these days. She is babbling all the time (of course not ma ma yet). She started "crawling" on Sunday. I put quotes around crawling because I have to say it is some sort of modified crawl. I guess you could call it a monkey crawl. She pushes with one foot and has the other knee down. I guess all that matters is that it gets her where she wants to go. She is still pretty slow at this point, but the nice thing is that she quickly figured out how to get from a crawling position to a sitting position. The first day or so she would just stay in the crawling position until she got tired of it and then she would start to get upset. It is nice that she can now get back to sitting by herself! She still loves to walk with someone holding her hands. She can scoot on those little legs if you will hold her hands! She almost runs to where she wants to go and then she plops down. It is pretty funny. My mom gave her some plastic eggs for Easter, and she has really just now begun to play with them. I like them because they keep her entertained. She likes them because they are a challenge! They get away from her easily and they roll and turn and finally stop and then she'll crawl over to them. As she tries to reach for them, they roll away...it is a fun game!

She is also trying to clap her hands. She doesn't do it on command, but I see her doing it often. That is fun. I am trying to get her to pat a cake, but we haven't mastered that yet! She will also drink from a sippy cup when she wants to. I started giving it to her with water in it about 3 or 4 weeks ago just to let her start playing with it and get used to it. She still mostly likes to bite on it and play with the cup, but she will take drinks out of it too if she is thirsty.

The most frustrating thing that she is doing is spitting her food. She thinks it is hysterical. I am trying to teach her NO, but she doesn't quite understand that either. Yesterday I was feeding her, and right as I put a spoonful of food in her mouth she spit (she usually at least waits until the food is halfway down before she spits). The food exploded all over her face, into her hair, and all over me. Needless to say, this did not make me happy! So, in a stern voice I said, No Ma'am and I pointed my finger at her. She died out laughing...I mean belly laughing. She thought that was just the funniest thing. I stopped feeding her at that point!

We also took her swimming at the Sanderson Center (the MSU indoor pool) last Sunday. She LOVED it. For some reason the water was pretty cold. She was shaking she was so cold at one point, but she loved it and didn't want to get out! It was cute.

I have some pictures to post of the "food" incident and some others, but I don't have the energy to post them right now. I'll post them soon, I promise!