Well, she's officially walking. From the 16th to now, she's gotten better and better. These pictures and this video were taken on November 22nd.

For the Record

Sonia now has the two teeth on the bottom that came in in late August, and now, two more that appeared around about November 1st. The latest two are on the top, but not the top middle two, rather the right middle one, and the tooth next to that on the right.

She says "Kitty" lots, but she has two ways of saying it. The first, is the "K" sound followed by a rolling of the tongue like you'd do to make an "R" sound in Spanish. It's hilarious. The second way that she says "Kitty" is to scream at the top of her lungs, that wonderful baby girl scream of delight. That means "Kitty" too. She's taken to screaming mostly in the last week. She's discovering how loud she can scream and how high. Don and I aren't annoyed yet as we still find it funny. I'm sure that won't last forever.

As of the last two days, she's taking as many as five or six steps in a row before deciding to sit down. Yesterday, she actually turned after a few steps and began walking in another direction for a few more before sittting down. Everyone tells me my work is just about to increase lots. Somehow I believe them.

Sonia is still on a very regular nap schedule, which is nice. She sleeps for 2-2.5 hours each morning, beginning around 10am. Then, she sleeps for 1-1.5 hours in the afternoon, beginning around 4pm. I think God invented naps just as much for mothers as for babies.

She eats just about anything now. Sometime she eats baby food, but mostly it's just whatever Don and I are eating for supper either mashed or cut up. She does well with Cheerios and diced apples (the usual breakfast) and really loves cookies, although I don't give them to her often. Bread and crackers are also favorite foods.

As of the last doctor's appointment about a month ago, she weighed 18 pounds and was 26 inches long. This puts her in the 25th percentile for weight and the 75th percentile for height. Tall and skinny like her father. It fits that her body should take after him since her facial features all do too. Daddy loves having a little girl that looks so much like him. She is wearing mostly clothing for 6 mo. old babies. Some 9 mo. old stuff, but mostly still in the 6 mo. range.

Mom's Helper

Yes, we can get into cupboards now. These pics were taken on November 1oth.

Seeing Mom's Family and Friends

Sonia and I traveled to see my family and my best friend from high school from October 31-November 5. Everyone was so great to us. It was so nice and comfortable to be around people who I love so much. Sonia ate up all of the attention from the aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, greatgrandparents and friends. What a rough life...wouldn't it be nice to be 10 months old again?

My best Mindy and her new little baby, Kaia with Sonia and I at a restaurant. Two hour breakfasts are the best!

Mindy's daughter, Ayla, with Sonia out in Mindy's front yard. This is my favorite picture of the trip. Sonia with my Dad. What a great picture of the two of them. You can tell they were having fun together.

And here's all the grandparents and great-grandparents with all of my mom and dad's grandkids...

And Sonia with her newest cousin, Marc.

And the great-grandparents with Sonia. They are so wonderful. Young at heart and lots of fun to be with. I was so happy to see them this trip as I hadn't seen them since their 60th anniversary celebration just over 3 years ago.

And the prized four-generation picture that my mom has been talking about wanting ever since Sonia was born. Here you go, mom... I even rescheduled my trip to make this one happen. It was well worth it. :-)

I Voted Early

While Don was out on the East Coast for work, I took Sonia to my local grocery store where they had voting booths for early voters. Sonia was such a good sport that the attendants even gave HER an "I Voted Early" sticker to wear. Lucky kid...and I had to WORK for mine...