Ball Popper Binky *EDIT*

***** EDIT *****

OK, here are the videos I promised...

In this first one, you'll hear her say "doggie." Then she sees the light switch and wants it, so she comes to beg me to pick her up, but then gets distracted by the drawstrings on my sweats. Then she walks away because she hears the dogs come downstairs.



In this one, you'll hear her say "kitty" and "doggie." Then she goes to "pet" Ivan (which, for some reason, involves her sticking her hand in his mouth). Then when he walks away, she chucks my cell phone at him to get his attention.



And this is just a video of her climbing the stairs. I'm not sure why she's doing it so slowly (stage fright, maybe?)--usually, she's very quick. Also, the weird sounds you hear in the background are our very creaky stairs (makes it impossible to sneak up on anyone).



And that's all, folks!

***** END EDIT *****

Ari and I had a fun day yesterday. She really is such a joy to be around now--except for the moments of whining, which are to be expected at this age. She is turning into such a little character. I remember the days when I had to entertain her--making an idiot out of myself to get her to crack one little gummy smile. Now, she smiles and laughs all on her own--and sometimes I have no idea what is so amusing to her.

She learned a new "trick" yesterday which very nearly drove me nuts for a while. She has this ball popper toy that she loves...



Yesterday, she decided it would be great fun to drop her pacifier down the vertical yellow chute. Of course, as soon as she did this, she realized the problem she had caused for herself, and then she whined quite desperately until I fished it out for her.

You see where this is going, don't you?

She kept repeating the trick over and over and over--sometimes tossing the pacifier back in only moments after I'd retrieved it for her. Finally, I got tired of getting it for her, and told her, "Well, get it out yourself then."

She paused the whining, looking at me intently as though she was translating what I was saying, and then she reached her skinny little arm into the chute. In a matter of seconds--victory! She had her pacifier back, and I had my sanity back.

I'm sure you still see where this is going.

Again, the binky went down the chute. And again she whined. And again I told her, "Get it yourself." And again, she contemplated, and then completed the task.

But the problem was, the knowledge that she could get it back herself was not enough to keep her from whining every single time the pacifier went down the chute. And she wouldn't stop whining until I specifically told her, "Get it yourself." And except for the couple times it was too far down for her to reach (or the couple times she decided to throw other balls in on top of it), she got it each and every time. What a goofball.

She also used a few new words yesterday. One was "Go," said quite forcefully and usually when the dogs were around. I think she hears us always telling the dogs to "Go upstairs" or "Go potty" and things like that, and has taken it upon herself to start ordering them around. She certainly has no qualms about giving them a gentle shove when they are in her way--and sometimes she even adds "Move" for good measure.

She also used the word "Ow!"--yelling it every single time. I was feeding her in her highchair, and I think I might have said "Ow" once when she kicked me. So naturally, she had to repeat it 15,372 times, each time at full volume, and sometimes even slurring the words together so that it came out, "Ow-wow-wow-wow."

I was watching some recent videos I'd taken of her last night, and had her on my lap while we watched. She just grinned and grinned at herself, pointing happily at the screen. At one point on a video, I was saying, "Can you say 'doggie'?" Right before she heard herself say it on the video, she piped up, "Doggie!" She did it again for "kitty" too, and I was cracking up. I had a harder time getting her to say those words on video than I did getting her to say them while watching and hardly even trying.

Another thing I need to remember to get a video of is the way she spins in circles. She'll just stand in one spot and go around and around--not very fast, but apparently fast enough to make herself a bit dizzy. After she's made several rounds, she'll stop, and I swear you can see her eyes rolling around in her head. Sometimes she'll even stumble a bit and have to catch her balance. Tony says it's a sign that she'll be a daredevil thrillseeker someday--always looking for the next "rush." She also walks backwards every once in a while too--again, who knows why.

I'll probably be back later (once I'm home) to post a few more videos. So until then...