I'ts About That Time

So Nia is 5 months away from 2. She doesn't sleep in her crib anymore and we have her on a blow up bed until her big girl bed arrives. About a month ago she started climbing up the walls of her crib right in front of us, then recently up and over so instead of waiting for the proverbial THUD of her falling we preempted it.



Every day she seems to be leaving baby land behind. Today as she was leaving some friends she said "Bye Bye, see you t'morrow". Songs she used to just dance to she now sings along with. She even initiates songs she wants to sing. Her newest thing is to throw her hands up and go "ta da!".

Food Glorious Food

Nia is a week away from 20 months, 4 away from 2 years old. WOW.

All the time I hear about kids that are finicky eaters, or refuse to eat their vegetables. I have to say, we don't have that problem. Nia loves pretty much everything. Sweet, sour, spicy nothing seems off limits. She eats Thia, Indian, you name it. She will suck on a lemon, just like her sister. Loves the family of pickles and cucumbers. Loves prunes and raisins. Rice and beans. Her favorite things are apples, berries, grapes, broccoli (hot or cold), carrots, celery and tomatoes. You put a salad in front of her with light Italian dressing and she will eat that up like candy. She also loves to dip. Fries in ketchup, carrots in Ranch, random things. Nia is in no way a vegetarian though. She loves her chicken, turkey and steak. No matter what we make, she will at least try it. I love when she goes to the refrigerator, opens it and then takes out what she wants then gives it to me to put in a bowl or plate for her. Her new favorite thing is fruit shakes. We take ice, mixed berries, bananas, pineapple juice and a dash of honey and mix it in the Magic Bullet. Hopefully she keeps up this open minded approach to eating.

Gillians Tripple Flip

At the mall, Gillian loves the bungee jump, and today she did a triple flip!

Gillian and Nias Holiday Visit

It's hard when your big sister lives 3 states away, but when they get together it's like peas in a pod. They had a blast together. Needs to happen more often.

The best is this 3:30 video of Gillian and Nia bantering about cars. I know it's 3 minutes but you have to watch all the way through to the end...

It's 2011!

Time really does fly. When you have a toddler there is no such thing as boring anymore. I realized I had been super lazy about updating Nia's "dictionary" and when I sat down today to do it, I realized that for the most part there's not much she doesn't say now so it would be a pretty long list. She teeters on the cusp of understanding everything, and being able to express it. She seems to comprehend most of the stuff we ask or say if we use short sentences. And even more surprising is the initiative she takes. She's starting to clean up after herself and put things in the garbage when she's done with it. She's singing and dancing, playing jokes on people (she'll take something, delicately hide it, then turn around and if you ask her where it is she goes "I don't know"), and in general just being entertaining. She repeats everything now including accidental bad words so we're having to be extra careful what we say.

We've started putting her hair in little pony tails, and it suits her quite nicely as her hair is getting really long and curly. She loves getting dressed and today even demanded we accessorize her with a knitted scarf she saw hanging (see bottom left picture). She will bring us shoes and socks from her room in the morning, most of the time they are two of a kind.

Everyday is a new adventure with Nia.