Fun Times

Etta has been LOVING books lately. It's the very first thing she asks for in the morning...after breakfast...before and after naps...before bed... and carries various books throughout the house all day long. She knows the sign for book and also says, "Boo?" It is pretty adorable.

Getting close and personal with the book on the kitchen floor.



Here I come to get you mommy!!! Rrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!

OCD or Girl?

Lead in story...

While staying at the cabin in Missoula for the marathon Etta spent a good chunk of time (a couple of times) lining up all of the little boys' shoes (none of the adults mind you) on the window sill. She would methodically crawl to the shoes, get two, stand up next to the wall, walk the shoes to the window sill and put them in a row. She did this on a couple of different occasions. One time she switched them all from one window sill to the other. It was pretty cute.

Now that we've been home she has been doing the same thing with her shape blocks. A couple of different times. Is she OCD or is this a "neatness" girl thing? Either way it doesn't bother me, I actually really like it. Pretty funny!

Get the block



Transport the block



Put the block in the bucket.



[She put the blocks on the sill herself before taking them down.]

Shopping!!

As much as I try to not have a girlie girl Etta seems to push back to be that much more girlie. The other day when Bob was hanging out with her she decided to do some "shopping". I believe that she bought some socks!

Off to find what I need!



What's in this department?



[Check out how her shoes match her bag.]

15th Month Annibirthery

15 months! Etta has expanded her signing vocabulary to include (among other things): cheese, swim, thank you and book. It is getting to be really interesting to "talk" to her. Verbally she has a new favorite word, "NO"! She uses this for any question that you ask. Even if the answer is "yes".

Mommy: Do you want to put on your shoes?

Etta: NO! (Right before she heads off to her room, gets a pair of shoes, brings it back and plops down and proceeds to attempt to put her own shoes on...)

But all in all things are very exciting. She is officially walking on her own. Can stand up without anything to pull up on, makes good turns, squats down to pick things up. People barely believe me that she has only been walking completely independent of my little finger for only about 10 days.

Here we go again...



The penguin laughs to music if you push him around. Etta was dancing to the tunes.



Finally, legs straight and both subjects facing forward!

Painting

Bob has been painting. The garage and the carport needed it after being reroofed last spring. He decided to get a bit creative with the garage. I like it!



Bonus Etta picture: Just chillin' with daddy.



[Have I mentioned how I am dreading the start of school?]

Tea Party

A bit overdue. On July 3rd Etta and I had a tea party with the wonderful tea set that Aunt Molly gave her for her birthday. It was a lot of fun!

Etta likes it straight out of the pot.



Notice her necklace...



Mommy getting ready to pour the tea

Coloring

We had tried coloring a month or two ago. At that time Etta was only interested in eating the crayons...While cleaning out the music room in June I found a bunch of copied music that we didn't need anymore. I punched holes in it and stuck it in a binder. Now when we want to color I just grab the binder, the crayons and go! The binder works as a "table" and scratch paper is at hand. If something is worth keeping then I can pop it out to save it - OR - I can pop it out and throw it away. We had fun coloring. She didn't even need me to do an example this time.

This paper right here?



Which crayon should I use?




Right hand...



Or left.