Happy Birthday, Donna!

Today is my auntie's birthday...so Happy Birthday, Donna!  Lucy had fun celebrating on Sunday at Grandpa & GranJan's house:

My family has a very unique way of singing "Happy Birthday" and Lucy wasn't so sure about it...

But she did enjoy sharing ice cream with the birthday girl:

They had fun at dinner, too, making faces at one another:



She shared with Cleo, too


She had so much fun all day...earlier she'd spent some time at Grandma & Troy's house and later she played a lot with Cleo and other friends:

Being sweet with Uncle Jason



Sitting on her stool which she pulled to the dining room from the kitchen



Helping Donna open her gifts

  



Making music - and mischief - with GranJan



She's getting very sweet about passing out hugs and kisses when it's time to go:

  

Softball season is coming to an end - only 2 more games before the tournament begins - we went to the game last week:



Lately she's been obsessed with her blocks and her new Fisher Price Little People farm:

And she's become a very independent eater:

She likes to use a fork or spoon by herself and is getting pretty good at it...she also likes to fasten her own seatbelt in her carseat, highchair, wagon, etc...she gets a little pissed if you try to help, in fact...

I bought her a potty chair last weekend and she sits on it every day but has yet to really "use" it...mostly, she thinks it's funny and a place to climb or stick her baby:



This girl is growing and learning so fast!  Inspired by our friend EJ's knowledge of his colors, we have really been working on colors with Lucy lately and she's doing really well!  I guess all kids get one color down really well first - EJ's was green and Lucy's was purple.  Everything was purple if you asked her...but when we corrected her, she would repeat the right color.  Yesterday was the first time I noticed her answering correctly when I asked her a color.  She knows purple, of course, but aslo: red, yellow, green and blue!

I am just amazed at how fast she learns...every night, we watch her Signing Time DVD but she's all over the place when it's on (running around, climbing on her bike, emptying the drawers in the kitchen...you know, the usual) but every once in awhile I will see her repeating signs that I had no idea she knew.  If you see her soon, ask her to sign "cold" - it's one of the funniest things I've ever seen her do!

When we went to cousin Alli's birthday party at the park in July, Lucy needed help climbing the steps and going down the big slide...within just one month, she can do both, expertly, on her own!

We have started focusing on counting with her and when you ask her how many there are of something, she will point to each one (but will leave the actual counting to you)!

Another thing we're working on?  NOT throwing food on the floor!  She thinks she's funny when she does this while sitting in her high chair...and she often does it near the end of the meal when she's filling  up...why can't she just let us know she's all done in a more respectful way??  That leads me to the next thing we're working on - not throwing a temper tantrum when she's told to stop throwing food on the floor...

But she's a cutie and a sweetie and she makes us laugh so much!

Oh yeah, and she now has 14 teeth!