A real, live girl

Ari has suddenly turned into this little girl... As I mentioned in my last entry, I showed her how to play with her tea set, and now she's a little expert. Every time she's in her room, she sits at the table, usually with a doll or two as her special guests, and has a little tea party. She pours the tea, pretends to drink it, and even feeds it to her dolls.

And speaking of dolls, she has suddenly taken an interest in her baby dolls. You know the kind I mean--the ones that look like an actual infant, and that have the soft body and hard plastic arms, legs, and head. She has a couple dolls like this and has never shown much interest in playing with them. But now, she carries them around in this gentle way--cradled in both arms, as though she somehow knows the proper way to hold a baby. And the crazy thing is, I didn't teach her this. All I've done is call the doll a "baby" (to get her to say the word "baby")--she's come up with everything else on her own.

Next thing you know, she'll be begging me to put lipstick on her and paint her nails. And I will be more than happy to oblige. I'm not saying she has to be a girly-girl for life (if Tony has his way, she will play every sport imaginable and become a tomboy who prefers the name "AJ" to "Ariana"), but I'm hoping that we can have at least one phase where we play dress-up, experiment with makeup, and shop for fun clothes together.

I really didn't think I'd be this excited about sharing girly stuff with my daughter. I guess I can just add this to my list of Things That Have Surprised Me About Being a Mom.

Remember when I said I was done with Christmas pictures? Yeah, I was totally lying. Because now my siblings have sent me their pictures and/or posted their pictures in their blogs, which means... lucky you.

Ari much prefers the taste of her own munchable fingers to any sort of real food. Maybe I should start dipping her fingers into a protein shake or something...



Beware the fury of the toddler... (Ha, just kidding--she was laughing here. I think... )



Ari says, "Cheers."



See, I told you that she and Olyvia fought--here, it was over a book. Despite the fact that there were at least 3 other books nearby, they both HAD to have this one. (I love how it looks like Olyvia is laughing at Ari in this picture. And get a load of Ari's face--she's got that super-annoyed expression down pat.)