Sara loves Barney

This video is from Christmas night. Sara was watching her beloved Barney and dancing along, all the while pausing to give Daddy occasional cuddles.

"Twinkle, twinkle, little star"

Sara likes to sing. There are usually lots of words missing, not to mention the almost complete lack of melody, but that doesn't stop her singing from being extremely adorable, in my not-so-humble opinion.

This is from October 22, 2009. I went to get her from her nap, and she instantly started singing, so off for the camera I went.



Little cutie!

Welcome, Kyle Alexander!

When Carla showed some signs of preeclampsia at her OB appointment on Wednesday, the doctor decided it was time to induce. In the wee hours of Thursday morning, little Kyle Alexander made his arrival.

He is very cute and small (7 pounds, 2 ounces and just under 20 inches long) and snuggly. We all love him already and are thrilled to have this newest member of our family. He is currently receiving phototherapy for some jaundice, which we are hoping will clear up very soon.

Congratulations to Alex and Carla! Enjoy your beautiful baby boy!

Book toss

I saw the twinkle in her eyes right away, and I knew what we were in for.

Last Thursday Sara woke up from her nap and wanted to take a book downstairs with her. She got to the top of the stairs and, for whatever reason, threw the book down. I saw the gleam in her eyes, and I knew what would follow.



I know I could have stopped her, but she was having so much fun throwing all those books. I decided just to let her have the fun, and we would both deal with the consequences later. I carried all the books to the top of the stairs for her, and she did, indeed, put them all back on the bookshelf. It only took about 30 minutes, one small tantrum (hers, not mine), and three crib time-outs. :)

Catching up: The 5th of July

On the Sunday of the long holiday weekend we headed to Heritage Park to meet up with our good friends the Rosa Family. Much to Brian's chagrin, the park had no playground equipment, but I don't think the girls minded at all. They just played in the sand, enjoyed some bubbles, and drank lots of water.



It is really fun watching the interactions between the girls change. Zoey is definitely much more fearless and very social. Sara is much more tentative and very shy. Still, the girls really do seem to take an interest in each other.

Cousins

Sara has two cousins on Larry's side and four cousins on my side with two more on the way. Of all her cousins, she spends the most time with Ryan, because he is the closest in age and lives the closest.

Sara and Ryan have a very cute relationship. He looks out for her by holding her hands when she climbs stairs and bringing her to me when she falls, and Sara adores her cousin. She follows him everywhere. She loves "Rine."

Tanja spent a few days in Boston recently, so Sara and I got some extra time with Ryan. She couldn't wait to wake him up from his nap the other day. The video is very dark, but you should be able to hear Sara calling Ryan's name over and over.

Happy Birthday, Tante Susi!

Family

Our future zoologist

Of course we think she's brilliant. :)

Communication

There are two signs Sara has been using regularly for the past few months: more (bringing pinched fingers of both hands together) and eat (bringing pinched fingers of one hand to mouth). In the past few weeks Sara has also started to nod and shake her head, but she usually does it more to mirror what we're doing than to actually communicate something.

This video demonstrates that perfectly. She uses her sign to try to answer my question, but she finally copies my incessant head-nodding and shaking. :)

CHEESE!

In the last couple of days Sara has started to say "CHEESE!" for the camera. She said it right before I started recording this video, and then again with some mom-couragement. :)

Sara, Sara quite contrary...

I think it's safe to say Sara has a slightly warped sense of humor...

Daddy's bad influence

Sara is in this really fun stage where we can get her to repeat just about anything we say. She doesn't necessarily know what those things mean, but she'll do her best to mimic us. So Daddy thought it would be fun to add a little potty humor to her speech. (insert eye roll here.)




This video was taken in the car on the way home from Pismo. I have gotten to listen to our daughter say "poop" about five times this morning WITHOUT PROMPTING.

Gee, thanks Larry!

Baby's first word

Okay, Sara says "mama" and "dada" all the time, but she doesn't say them in ways that make us sure she's saying them with meaning. The one thing she says for sure with meaning is presented here:

Oma, Opa, and grandbaby #5

Yesterday I caught this sweet moment between Sara and her oma and opa.

Turn the volume way up.



Is this girl loved or what?

The wait is over

Yep, Sara is crawling. I've been holding back this video for a couple of days in hopes of getting a better one, but I've been pretty busy (blog entries to follow). So, I hope this one will do.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you: Sara Crawls!



Along with crawling comes, of course, lots of scenes like this:



Then she headed to her toy box...



...and so begins a whole new chapter in our little love's story...

The most delicious sound

Sara is a very content baby in general, and she smiles quite a bit, but she doesn't laugh a ton. Every once in a while, though, something hits her funny bone in the just the right way. Today, it was me making a ridiculous fish face at her as she lay on the changing table.

Is there any better sound than one's own child's laughter?

"Mamama!"

Yes! The moment I have been waiting for has arrived! Baby Girl has finally said "Mama!" Does she know what it means? Um, no. Is she saying it all the time? No. But she's saying it every now and then!

What's especially funny is when I say "Mama" to her and she says "Dada" back to me. It's like that commercial but in reverse.

Anyway, here is video proof of her saying "Mama" with a wee bit (okay, a ton) of coaxing from Mommy and Daddy.

Larry wins

Apparently I'm going to get this listen to this all day...

Still waiting to hear "mama." :)

Rollin', rollin', rollin'

It seems that Sara has *finally* broken the back-to-belly rolling block she had! She isn't yet rolling to get to places, but she's all over the place in her crib and is practicing her new skill quite a bit. It's just a matter of time before she figures out she can roll herself into trouble!