Some recent pics

Livvy LOVES playing at the park, and always manages to make new friends. On this occasion it was a 3-year-old Indian girl, who was so nice to Livia and played with her for a good 20 minutes, to Livvy's utter delight. She was beaming and giggling the whole time, but I only took a couple pictures because I didn't want the girl's father to get weirded out.Only Mom to play with now...not so exciting. Here she is in her new dress from her Uncle Richie and Aunt Whitnie. She was very pleased when I put in on her, and kept preening and checking herself out in the mirror.

Progress update:

• Is finally waving bye-bye (and claps afterwards because I always clap when she does it)
• Whispers
• Says "ssss" when I say "Shhh"
• Still loves books--she "reads" them by herself all the time, or brings them to me and tries to climb in my lap so I'll read it to her. Once, when her friend Leah was over, they were both in her bedroom and got really quiet--never a good thing--so I came in to check on them and found them just sitting next to each other reading books! So cute.
• Repeats and understands a lot of words, but doesn't really come up with them on her own yet. For example, if I tell her we're going to get her shoes on and go outside, she says "shus" and waits expectantly for me to put them on her. Or if I tell her to go find Daddy, she'll immediately go find him in the other room and can repeat "da da da." But she doesn't point to her shoes on her own and say "shus" or go up to Chase and say "da da."
• Full list of words she says or repeats: da da da, mama, Ella, la la la, chi (tree), hi, ba-ba (bye-bye), ahh-uu(I love you. I can only recognize this one by the cadence).
• Animal sounds she makes: dog, lion, tiger, zebra, monkey, bear.
• Growls to imitate the sound of a car
• Likes to chase and be chased
• Likes to play ring-around-the-rosie and get piggy-back rides
• Her favorite song is "In the Leafy Treetops" and she waves her arms and claps everytime I start to sing it
• Dances all the time when she hears music--it usually consists of squats, but she waves her arms and stamps her feet sometimes, too. Was really rocking out during the opening song on the American Idol finale, which Chase and I found hilarious.
• Understands how to use stacking cups and rings now, but gets frustrated when she puts them in in the wrong order and they don't fit correctly.
• Is becoming very attached to her blankie and pulls it out of her crib periodically during the day
• Checks our recycling trash can multiple times a day and pulls out any bottles that are in it.
• Is finally giving kisses! Hooray!
• Got her 8th tooth last night, after crying for two hours in my arms.