Gimmie three steps, gimmie three steps Mila

We've got a walker!

Well, we've got a few unaided steps anyway. Over the weekend, Mila started taking a series of steps. She'll do about 4-6 steps before she either falls, or slowly goes back down to the ground to crawl. Unfortunately, we're struggling to get good footage! She's so aware of the camera that she hams it up and gets distracted whenever it is around (photo or video, she knows them both).

I realize this is just a silly little lion on wheels, but I think she looks like a shopper in training. That could easily be a cart! She just loves cruising around the livingroom with Mr. Lion, and she loves it even more when dad chases her.

And here's a little extra footage of her jabbering. She really gets going sometimes and it's hard not to laugh. She's really passionate about something!

A tooth, or two... and so much more.

Mila has been working on a few teeth on the bottom for weeks now. One popped through early last week and then the other followed days later. They've gone up and down a few times, but it looks like there's one that's decided to hang around. Here's a closer look:

Below are pictures of Mila playing with her books and toys. She loves taking everything out of her "toy box" and destroying the living room.

We bought a few cloth covered ottomans to store more toys. She discovered that she fits nicely.

And a little update on her mobility... she's going to be running before we know it! Between crawling, cruising against the furniture and pushing around her lion, she rules this place. Her latest trick is climbing stairs. She's a quick one too! We'll try and post some video of that later this week.

Nine Months Old!

Our little girl is nine months old! While she's growing little by little, her personality is growing rapidly. She's pretty vocal and is always jabbering, giggling... or squealing! The squeal usually comes out when she sees cats or dogs. (I think she is communicating on dog frequency sometimes.) Tweetie has fewer "safe" spots these days because she's always reaching for him. She definitely loves him more than he likes her, but they get along alright.

So, Mila is notoriously barefoot, but we've been trying out some shoes lately. This pair lasted about 2 minutes. It's pretty funny because she gets so distracted by them. I think she's under the impression that she's wearing toys or something.

She loves to stand and scoot along furniture, bodies, or anything that can keep her upright and mobile. Jens and Ally witnessed her stand on her own for about 30 seconds one day, but I have yet to see it. She'll do a few seconds here and there, but that's about it.

Mila had a pool play date with her friend Lea yesterday. Lea is about 3.5 months younger, and I'm not sure she was ready for Mila's passion for splashing!

Dad took her over to the splash park area and she loved the fountains. They would wait by the holes in the ground and she was get excited when the water would spout out. All in all, it was a great day at the pool.

Trip to Okoboji

We had our first summer family trip to Grandma Lori's place in Okoboji. It was a pretty low-key trip, but it was really nice just to get away.

Mila loved the large windows in the front of the house and was quick to discover the old popcorn tin. Who needs musical toys when you can make your own drum?!

  

Friday, we enjoyed beautiful weather while we ate our breakfast at Drydock. Then, we went over to Uncle Klaus and Aunt Peggy's for a boat ride. It was a nice sunny morning and the lake was still pretty quiet. Mila seemed to like the wind blowing in her face (and few strands of hair!) and did really well on the boat.

We had a great time and can't wait to get back!

Videos :: Shaking her head

Mila discovered that she could shake her head and has found a few uses for it: dancing and telling us no!

Video 1: Are we looking at a future DJ? Music provided by Mila, playing Mr. Lion's nose and the spinner on the exersaucer. Video 2: She may not understand when we tell her "no", but she's really good at telling us "no"!

Daddy's little firecracker

This is what happens when you leave dad in charge of Fourth of July photos. Luckily, the package served as just a prop!

Eight Months Old!

Mila is officially 2/3 of a year old!

The most common question is how many teeth does she have? Well, the tally is still at zero! But we think there's one on the bottom just begging to get out.

She's still crawling and getting into everything. She loves to stand against furniture, bodies, toys... anything she can use to get upright. Jens loves to test her balance and will let go while of her while she's standing against him. She'll stand for about 2-3 seconds at a time before she topples over.

She's getting more and more vocal. Her favorite words are da-da-da-da and bob-bob-bob. She still calls out for maaa-ma when she's sounding desperate though! She's also catching on to waving hello and goodbye. In fact, it sounds like she is repeating "hi"after us sometimes. But our favorite sounds out of her are her laughs. She is a big fan of peek-a-boo and let's out a big cackle whenever she is startled. What an amazingly refreshing sound! I can't help but smile or laugh along with her.

We took a trip to Cresco last week. This picture is from the Mighty Howard County Fair... so we can check that off our list! Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera out to snap any photos while we were with the family. Aunt Jessie has some photos with our great-grandma, so we'll have to get those from her. It was a good trip home and it was nice to see everyone, but it'll be much better once Mila gets over her "stranger danger" phase (as Jens so likes to call it)!

  

On Saturday, we took our second trip to the zoo. I'm happy to report that she noticed the animals this time! We got in early, so there weren't as many kids to distract her (which was a big help!). She was much more attentive this go-round and we're excited to take her back to see how her reactions change.

Our final trip for the looong weekend was to Brayton for a family reunion. Grandma Lori bought Mila a new walker and her cousins (Madison & Peyton) had fun pushing her around the hall. She was a happy little camper in her mobile toy.