Going, going, gone.

Aerya loves to eat fruit. She'd easily give up all other foods and just munch on fruit all day long.

It sometimes takes her a while to get through an apple, but she'll plug along at it, sometimes for a couple of hours until it's all gone.

Now that it's summer, she's finding all sorts of new fruits. Apples are still a favorite, but Chinese oranges are a close second. She also enjoys grapes, nectarines, peaches, plums (sortof), starfruit, mangos, pears, and bananas.

However, don't even try to give her canned fruit. No way, no how. She'll have none of it. She will only eat fruit whole, or very freshly cut up for her. Yeah, I know, just a little spoiled.

Baby in the Mirror

"I don't know who this person is, but boy are they cute and kissable!"

Aerya thinks it's so funny to see her "friend" in the mirror. As she goes by one, she'll stop, take a look, then burst out laughing. She's starting to understand that people can be in pictures, including herself, but this mirror thing has her fooled.

Aerya & Grandma

Just a cute pic.

Aerya LOVES spending time with her Grandma. We probably see her grandparents 6 times a week and Aerya loves every minute of it. She just lights up and gets so excited when I ask her if she wants to walk over to Grandma's. She'll flap her arms and run to the stroller. If we're taking the car and she doesn't want to get into the carseat, we'll just tell her where we're going and she'll be fully cooperative.

Aerya and her Grandma have this wonderful, special relationship. I'm convinced that given the choice, Aerya would stay forever with Grandma & Grandpa. Getting to do whatever she wants, and always having a ready playmate sure helps that choice!

Aerya's new bunny friend!

As a 'goody bag' from Charlotte's birthday, Aerya was given a bunny. (Can't wait to see what's in the bags next year!).

We've named him Patches as he is black with a little white spot on his forhead and on his lower lip.

Aerya gets along really well with him. He'll let her come over a pet him, then just hops away when has enough.

We're working on litter training him since we let him run around the livingroom and kitchen when we're at home.

Watching Rollerhockey

Uncle Chad was playing in a tournament this weekend and we all went to watch. They got the silver medal.

Just a cutie in the car.

Aerya's First Birthday - part three

Here's Aerya enjoying some of her favorite presents. She now carries Spiderman everywhere with her. We went on a walk tonight to the field by our house and she HAD to carry him (by herself) with her. She loves her jungle gym. Many, many times a day she will walk over to Derek or I, take our hand and walk us to the backdoor. We then have to pick her up, take her outside and walk where she points (the jungle gym). This process could literally occur a dozen times in one day. There were so many gifts and Aerya is really enjoying exploring

them all.

Aerya's First Birthday - part two

We had a beautiful Winnie the Pooh cake (of course) made for Aerya. Unfortunately, she wasn't that impressed with it. Each time her hands would touch the icing she'd want them cleaned off so we didn't get the traditional cake smushing. Daddy did finally help her finish off the cake, and then she was "all done".

Aerya's First Birthday - part one

Aerya celebrated her first birthday on June 10, 2007. It was a wonderful day for all of us! We had lots of family and friends over and Aerya revelled in all the love and attention. You can see from these pics that she was having a really good time visiting with everyone.

Aerya's New Jungle Gym

For Aerya's birthday my parents and Derek & I bought her a jungle gym for the backyard. We set it up a couple of weeks early just in case there were any problems. Aerya absolutely loves it! We can't walk into the backyard without her wanting to have a swing! And even when she's inside the house she'll stand by the backdoor and point to the handle until you open the door so she can run over to it.

A Budding Gardener

Aerya was a great help in planting my gardens this year. And, as with everything she helps with, it certainly takes a lot longer to get things done with her - but it's much more fun.

Aerya at Eleven Months

Aerya is exploring the great outdoors now that it is finally nice out. She’ll walk two steps then stop to touch the grass, walk two steps then stop to touch the leaves, walk two steps and on and on. This is the only time that she walks slowly. Most other times, everything is taken at a steady run!

Another tooth came through on the bottom left, so that makes number 7.

We’re taking sign language classes and they’re lots of fun. Aerya can sign milk, eat, and all done, but she also understands drink, hat and a few others. Hopefully she’ll catch onto more soon. Her vocabulary is steadily increasing and she says Mama, Dada, hat, Hmm (which means cat), and up.
Aerya is learning how to blow kisses, and while it’s hit and miss right now for her, she thinks it’s hilarious for us to do it. She’s also cuddling more, which is really nice. During the day she carries around her stuffed Pooh and cuddles with him, but at night when she gets tired, she’ll walk over to the couch, crawl up on one of us and drift off to sleep. It’s really great!

Look - a birdie!

Aerya loves to look at animals, she can identify lots of them by name, sign, or sound. Here she's found a bird who is ever so happy to be chased by a rambunctious toddler!

Some more fun swimtime!

Daddy came to watch us swim the other day. We still try and go twice a week, but Aerya is getting way to active for it, so we may need to find another activity. She's able to crawl right out of her boat, which of course results in a faceplant in the water. Plus she'd rather be moving and shaking than letting me hold her for the baby weights portion of our swim. She does love swimming, splashing, jumping and sliding in the baby pool, so we might just spend more time in there instead.

Fun time with Grandpa.

A beautiful summer day. Playtime with one of her favorite people. What more

could Aerya ask for!

Streaker!

Oh yes they call her the streak. Too cute to pass up.