A Collection of Tidbits

A fun tidbit from a while ago:
Aria (to Chikin): “How are you?”
Chikin: some response and then, “How are you?”
Aria: “Fine.”

A few moments later:
Aria (to Chikin): “How are you?”
Chikin: some response and then, “How are you?”
Aria: “I’m good.”


A few Sundays ago, Mama and Aria were hanging out on the couch looking out the window (a favorite pass time), while Papa was upstairs working on music.
Mama: "Aria, are you hungry?"
Aria: "Yeah."
Mama: "Is it time for lunch?"
Aria: "Yeah."
Mama: "OK. Let's make some lunch. Maybe Papa's hungry too. Let's ask him.
Aria (turns toward the stairs and yells): "HEY, HONEY!"

Aria has been learning manners. She often says, "No, thank you." when her companion engages in any sort of undesirable behavior. For example, if Mama makes the not quite right funny face, she is often met with a firm "No, thank you." If Mama suggests the wrong activity for the moment, she is often met with another firm "No, thank you." In the middle of the night the other night, Aria was tossing and turning a bit and even let a couple of "No, thank you"s in her sleep.

Aria is developing the ability to recount past happenings. It's a very exciting development. On Monday, Uncle Ethan and Uncle Ivan came to visit (Oh, joy!) On Tuesday afternoon, I asked Aria, "What did you do today?" Aria responded happily, "Uncle Ethan! Uncle Ivan! Play!"

Aria has been enjoying whispering lately, especially as we get ready for bed. I often hear whispered, "Goodnight, window" or "Goodnight, Shah Shah" or "Nigh nigh basketball players" (this one directed toward our front window, outside of which we often see neighborhood kids shooting basketball) or "More nursing" as I suggest that we might be done with that now or sometimes, whispered with great excitement and accompanied by a happy giggle, "Big, big nunu" (this is our very own not-very-anatomically-correct word for the conveyor of the mama's milk. And really, the nunus are not that big.).

The other evening we had this short, whispered dialog before bed.
Aria: Hi.
Mama: Hi.
Aria: I love you, too. (Picture Mama melting here.)

A new and exciting communication development: Aria is beginning to understand the concept of explaining things. This morning,
Aria: doggo
Mama: I don't understand. Can you explain what you mean?
Aria (after thinking for a moment): Book!
To the layperson, this may seem small, but in the past, the only avenue Aria had to trying to be understood was to repeat the misunderstood utterance multiple times, hoping Mama would get a clue and figure it out. Now, she understood that "book" is another label for the item she was referring to (the newly acquired library book "Go Dog Go"). Seems pretty monumental to me. Just a Mama thing?

This week, I've been asking Aria often,
Mama: Who do you think is coming to see us today?
Aria: Victowia
Mama: No, not Victoria today.
Aria: Uncle Sam
Mama: No, not Uncle Sam today. (Except for Thursday, when he really was coming.)
Aria: Uncle Essan
Mama: No, not Uncle Ethan today.
Aria: Uncle Ivan
Mama: No, not Uncle Ivan today.
Aria: Mama
Mama: Well, I'm already here, who else?
(you can see that this could go on for a while...)

OK, on to some pictures.

I just like these ones of Aria wearing one of Papa's hats.


Another fun game of a month or so ago: Aria finds a bag, slings it jauntily over her shoulder and walks toward the door, announcing, "Goodbye! Work!"

Then she often walks out, returning moments later with, "Hi, Sweetie. Home!"



Cooking...
A question: what idiot decided it was a good idea to design glow-in-the-dark toddler pajamas? (I can see that you might then ask, “What idiot decided it was a good idea to buy glow-in-the-dark toddler pajamas?” to which I would retort “The kind of idiot who buys her toddler’s clothes at a consignment store and does not realize she should be on the lookout for such idiocy.”)

But the glow-in-the-dark jammies sure look lovely with purple boots, don't they?


Oh, what a strut!


For Aria, play is often very serious business.

Stella and Shah are bonding. What do you suppose they are looking at? My money's on a spider.

Aria and Stella have done lots of bonding. We are very sad that they do not get to hang out four times a week any more. (Stella has moved on to daycare.)

These pictures were taken a couple weeks ago by Chikin. (Photos by Chikin. Blanket by Mama.)

Study buddies:

Boating buddies:


Next victim: (No, it's not an empty box.)

On this day, Phu came to pick up Stella. She was on his lap and he started to read her a story. Aria couldn't stand to be left out, so she climbed on up and wedged herself between them.


Aria and I had a really fun visit with Misha and Tara. Unfortunately this was the most festive picture I could find. I promise, they really did have fun. Really.


This year, Aria not only participated in her first ever Easter Egg Hunt, but also her second. Lucky kid!

The first was a community hunt in Holly Park. See her looking hard?

She found a bunch of eggs and then took great pleasure in peeling and eating them. That's my girl!



There was a big bunny there that Aria found really fascinating. That is, fascinating until...


...we got too close. Then she looked like this:


To recover from the bunny trauma ("Scawed!"), we decided to do some lawn wrestling. Clearly, I have met my match.
But I'm not ready to give up so easily!


Back to the serious business of inspecting the spoils:


Then, back home for hunt #2 in the privacy of our cute little back yard. No big, scary bunny here. Just a Nana, a Mama, a Papa, and a bunch of beautifully colored (thanks, Nana) eggs.

And one more photo of our thoughtful girl: