Sleeping Beauty

Aria takes a nap every day around 12:30 pm for an hour and a half or so. Here she is just after drifting off looking peaceful and beautiful. Photo taken May 29, 2009.

Aria does an Improvisational Dance

Aria had a wonderful time dancing as Mommy practiced her scales today. What more is there to say? Her dance speaks for itself. Video taken on Aria's 16 month birthday, July 17, 2009.

Isn't it a Little Early to Learn to Drive?

Aria, Mommy and Daddy visited our cabin on Orcas Island over the 4th of July weekend and Aria decided it was a good time to learn a new skill. As you can see, she has many of the important parts mastered like fiddling with the keys, pushing buttons, jumping up and down on the seat and turning the steering wheel. We did get a little concerned at the end when she seemed to lose concentration and started looking behind the seat. Maybe we'll limit her driving to off road until she's at least two. Video and photo taken July 5, 2009.

Aria Gives a Piano Concert

We were very fortunate to experience one of Aria's piano concerts today and wanted to share it with you. Notice that Aria greets her audience near the beginning of the concert saying "hi," smiling and waving in appreciation. She is clearly a performer at heart. We enjoyed some new performance techniques she showed us, including playing on and off the bench, reaching inside the piano and licking the piano keys. We look forward to more concerts in the future. Video taken July 11, 2009 in Aria and mommy's music studio.

Aria in her pool

Photo taken May 17, 2009.

Aria Visits an Animal Farm

Aria got to visit a place called "Animal Farm" last Friday. It's part of a city park in Everett (just north of Seattle) and is set up for children to see farm animals up close and even pet or ride them. A few fun things to notice in the video are that Aria is making the "neh" sound of a horse just like her daddy does when they read about them in her books. You'll also get to hear her say "wa..." for water several times. Sometime she's more interested in saying water than in seeing the animals. While she was a little scared of pigs up close she has been making "oink" sounds when we see pigs in picture books since seeing them at the farm.

By the way, Aria is learning how to say lots of new words. She has mastered around 15 words thus far and occationally says even more. She is also learning to make the sounds of lots of different animals, such as the "caw" sound of crows. Many of the words she says along with their sign language gestures. One of her latest words is "down" with a very clear gesture pointing downward. She says down when she is done with a meal and wants out of her high chair or when she is in a swing and is ready to get out. She also says down when she wants to go outside and sometimes she says it and we haven't a clue what she's trying to tell us since she is outside and already on the ground. Oh well. It's all great fun.

Video taken June 26, 2009.

Little traveler

Here we are waiting for the ferry to Orcas Island for a weekend visit at our cabin.

In a couple weeks, Aria will take her biggest trip yet. We plan to spend a week with Aunt Lisa and Uncle Rich touring around Washington State. Lisa and Rich will be bicycle touring, while Karen, Ted, and Aria will travel by car. We will stay together at a different bed and breakfast each night. Look for photos from that trip in late July.

Photo taken May 9, 2009.