First Steps and more...

This morning Lucy took her first step! I was thrilled! The last two days she has been standing up and sitting down all the time just working on her balance, and finally she got up the confidence stepped onto her foot and then kind of sat down all in one motion. Dave wasn't sure if it really counted as her first step, but I thought she stood long enough that it counted. My little girl, all grown up and everything...oh that just reminded me of one of my favorite lines from Mulan that I just have to share now, Mushoo speaking: "My little baby girl, all grown up and saving China and everything..." so many good lines from that movie. Anyway, Lucy also got 2 new teeth! Saturday she got her second bottom tooth, and yesterday I felt another had broken through on top! Way to go Lucy! I guess this time her cranky mood really was due to teething, too bad I can't think of anything to blame the other cranky times on! I guess you can always say that teething just took a really long time, ha ha! (My joke about teething is, that is what you say when you have totally exhausted all the other possibilities for crankiness)

More about Lucy: Her awareness is growing rapidly. She tries to make all the animal noises as I read books about them to her. My favorite is when she tries to immitate the sheep. I can't really explain the cute little "baaaa" she does. It is hard to resist her little howl when we talk about the wolves, as well. She says all kinds of words now, although I don't know if she really knows the meaning. She will try to repeat almost anything back. She says "uh oh, wow, top (for stop), naaa (for no), buh (for bird), and other sweet noises. She always barks when we see dogs, as well. I say to her "what does the doggie say?" and she says "Are are" then looks around for the doggie. Lucy's favorite things: Birds, Doggies and Kitties. We took her into a Korean pet shop on Saturday and she went absolutely nuts! Kicking and Squealing. We have got to go again and get that on video. There was nothing cuter then watching my little puppy hold another tiny puppy!

Lucy's favorite activites include: trying to figure out how buckles work (she will seriously work on them for at least a half hour), taking the cap off and on water bottles (she can even twist it part of the way, which I figured was extremely advanced for her age and showed signs of a genius IQ as only a mother can predict j/k), and rolling things ( anything that can roll is a great prize). She also loves swiming, swinging and has started clapping and patting her lap with the beat.

Another great Milestone: yesterday she started signing "more" when she wanted more seaweed and rice. Yeaaaaa! All the hard work signing is paying off and she doesn't have to scream when she wants more food anymore! This is the first sign she has learned since "Milk" which she learned a few months ago. I started to think she would never learn another one. It was hard to teach her "more" because she generally doesn't like many foods and doesn't ever want "more." She would just stop eating and then sign for "milk" and say "maaan" which seems to be her word for milk. As soon as she tasted seaweed and rice (which she loves!!!! Go Korean Baby food!) she found the need for communication and she finally produced the sign. Go Lucy! I am glad she is liking Korean food and Koreans. She has no stranger anxiety with them, which is great when go out to eat. They always want to hold her while we eat! Yeah for free babysitting! Her skin rashes have completely cleared up probably partly due to the humidity, but I'm sure the food we eat here is making a difference. I have even let her try a little spicy hummus last week and some spicy Korean spaghetti sauce on Sunday and she loves it! Both times I let her try it primarily to show her that she wouldn't like it, but I guess she showed me. Lucy would like me to share with you her motto for eating:

"I have had enough soupy vegetables and nasty cereal mush. Bananas are okay and sometimes even squash, but I have been a good girl and all I really want is...bring on the seaweed, bring on the rice, bring on yummy sauces and don't forget the spice!"

Lucy says thanks for hearing her out on that one!