hugs and kisses

Alethia has been walking for almost a month now! She took her first steps on June 22, but refused to walk again until July 4th... for a cupcake! She has a sweet tooth :)
She is very independent most of the time. She plays in her room with her toys and talks to her stuffed animals. She loves to read! She climbs up in her rocking chair with a book and a stuffed friend and reads while rocking back and forth.
She learns something new every day. The other day, as I was cleaning the house, she decided that her bedroom door needed to be cleaned as well. She had a wash cloth in her hand and was wiping the door. And she helps me pick up her toys now too! She loves to redecorate too... during and after I clean the house. That's not so much fun for me, but I love watching her learn.
We have a bedtime routine that she seems to really love... dinner, bath time bubbles (we clean up the toys before we get out now too), brushing of the teeth (she has 5 now!) and clean up time! Then, sometimes we read a book, or play with a stuffed friend, or just chillax with the family. She always gives hugs and kisses goodnight to anyone that happens to be home - family, friends, and even her stuffed animals.
I love my little girl. Her hugs and kisses are so sweet <3

Climbing

I've got a climber on my hands! Alethia climbs on everything...and out of everything. We have to strap her into her highchair now because she has started to turn herself around and stand up. She thinks its funny.
I don't understand how she is brave enough to do some of these stunts, but is too afraid to take a step on her own (with out holding onto something) it doesn't make sense to me.
Here are some pictures I took a few weeks ago, when she first started climbing. She climbed into the bath tub and back out again.

Pony Tail

I tried to post this a few weeks ago, but my internet was too slow and I didn't have the time or the patience to wait for the pictures to upload... so now that everything is back to normal... here it is.

Alethia's hair is finally long enough to put up in a hair tie!! I used to love putting my hair up on top of my head, just like Pebbles :)
So, to mark her first day with a ponytail, I took pictures of Alethia... I haven't had the chance to edit these yet, but who cares.

Crafting Ideas

So Father's day is coming up... I have been tossing around crafting ideas. I was thinking about having Alethia help me bake cookies and make little mustache candies. Then I started thinking about how fun it would be to have a mustache party with all of her little friends and their dads... but I think she is too young for that right now, maybe next year.
I also thought about letting her help decorate a picture frame and fill it with pictures of her and daddy. Or maybe we could just decorate a piece of wood... I don't know.
Any suggestions??

Finger Paints

I introduced Alethia to finger paints for the first time.... she seemed to really enjoy herself :)
Haha...Alethia feels the need to put everything she comes in contact with in her mouth. Maybe she likes the surprise of finding out if it tastes good or not. Most of the time, if it is not edible, she makes a disgusted face and spits it out. So of coarse her first reaction to the purple stuff on her finger was to shove it in her mouth. I have never seen her move so fast, she pulled it out as quick as she put it in and made the most awful, disgusted face I have ever seen her make! I couldn't help but laugh, poor thing. Needless to say, she didn't  taste any of the other colors.
She painted daddy a picture that is now hanging on the refrigerator. I used to love to post my drawings, tests and accomplishments on the refrigerator, it makes it beautiful.

 

Alethia is One

Tomorrow is Alethia's first birthday :)
We celebrated her birthday on Saturday with family and friends. She loved it! She was in such a great mood - she loves to be around people.
I'm not sure what her favorite part of the day was; playing with so many friends, eating her carrot cake, or playing with the presents... she had a smile on her face the entire day.
Thank you to everyone who made her birthday so wonderful and special.