Firsts

After a short hiatus we have this week the return of the raspberry. Just to show how little babies forget, even at this young age, Aria has made an impressive display of blowing raspberries the past couple of days. And with them have come a new set of exciting skills...

...Drum roll, please...

Aria said her First Word!

Aria has been working up to her first word for a while now, babbling so much, trying out different sounds and consonants, and saying "yayayayayaya" and "dadadadadadada" over and over. Today "dadadadada" became very clearly, very distinctly "DaDa". While we're not sure she completely understands what she's saying, we feel she does to at least some degree, as I repeat the word over and over to her in the morning when Keith is on his way to work ("Tell DaDa bye; give DaDa a kiss") and in the evening when he gets home ("DaDa is home! Look - it's DaDa!").

Accompanying this major milestone was another huge development - Learning to Clap! We often clap for her when she's doing something new (sitting up by herself, rolling over, etc, etc) to show her what a good job she's doing and to encourage her when whatever she's doing is difficult (scooting forward, reaching for something). Today Dad was clapping for her again and she started mimicking him, at first bring her hands almost together, but missing them, one going over the other. After a few tries, however, she got the hands together and clapped a few times.

Witnessing all this were our good friends from Indiana - Jen, Lucas & 2 1/2 year-old Parker. Aria loves Parker and Parker loves Aria. Parker dances silly dances for Aria and Aria giggles her infectious, beautiful laugh, making all of us laugh as well. It's really too cute.

So, it's been a big day in the Nelson household. I'm off to feed the baby...and maybe demonstrate a few "mamamamamas" before bed.