She's a beauty, and she knows it!

Daniella loves my computer screen saver, so I printed it for the back of her book. The morning after I put together her book, this is her reaction as we flipped to her favorite picture.

The saddest face!

I've been meaning to post this for a few weeks now but it is so sad that I've been holding off until now. Daniella is starting to display fears. Her latest fears are: 1. the vacuum, 2. anyone wearing a towel on their head, and 3. Mom leaving the room.

I discovered the second fear after taking a shower. I had just gotten out of the shower and heard that she had woken up and seemed very happy because she was talking to herself. So I expected to see big smiles, but instead I was greeted with huge tears. At least on this video it was quick to console her, normally it takes much longer. I don't dry my hair with a towel wrapped around it anymore.

She's rolling!

Daniella intentionally rolled over two times in a row tonight so I pulled out the camera and within four minutes, I had this video. She sure loves her bath book!

Note that she is in her diaper only because she had just finished dinner and was about to take a bath. Since she still does not care to be dressed or undressed I figured I'd let her hang out in a diaper for a while. This is somewhat risky now since a few days ago she figured out how to pull open her left diaper tab. Luckily she has only done this (so far) during diaper changes when I put her new diaper on, and she has not yet realized that she can lift the tab any time she can reach her diaper.

First bites

A few weeks ago we let Daniella play with a spoon in preparation of feeding. She had a lot of fun with this activity.

Then this past Wednesday when she wanted to eat every 2 hours and during one of the feedings she ate for over an hour, I decided it was time to introduce something more to her diet. So, this Friday we gave Daniella rice cereal for the first time. This was a learning experience for me as much as it was for her. She tried a few bites but she was tired and frustrated that I was not giving her the spoon to play and bowl to play with. I realized that we were trying a little too late in the evening for her and since then we have started feeding her during our dinner time and she seems to enjoy it more. Here are pictures of today's feeding.

As you can see from the pictures, very little cereal was actually ingested, but she is having fun and we are learning together.

My Musician

Daniella was first introduced to the keyboard when she was 2 months old. At first she just enjoyed playing single keys with her toes.

Now she is able to play a 5 minute medley for us and is very proud of her achievement.

5 months

I promised pictures of Dani sitting up by herself. Here are some of my favorites that I took on her 5 month birthday. She has many more pictures from this shoot where she is sitting up with both hands up, but I only have time to pick a few favorites.

What did Dani do as a 4 month old?

Daniella has learned so many new things over the last few weeks. She is now 5 months and I do not know where the time went. Since I am so far behind on my blog, I figured I'd do one entry for her 4th month. Since I tend to have difficulty thinking of what to write, I am going to let the pictures and videos guide my thoughts. Here are a few of the activities she did while 4-months-old.

She laughed at games and tickles:

Took walks outside:

Played xbox with Dad:

Typed an email to Grandpa:

Played with her toys:

Grabbed her toes:

Sucked her toes:

Waved hello to the mirror and other children:
(I was cleaning out her closet and heard her talking and kicking the mirror closet doors. Ever since she has tried to reach and touch other babies.)

Stuck out her tongue:

Looked out the window by her changing table:

(we now have to be fully dressed if we are going to change a diaper)

Danced and sang in the jumper:

(Dani likes for us to turn on music while she is in her jumper. We typically turn on the keyboard's dance rhythms - she prefers hip hop or flamenco to waltz. Sometimes she seems to get the rhythm of the beat in her jumping. On this particular day she decided to "sing" with the music - there was a singer after all)



Squealed at Mom:
(She has been squealing like this for months now. I think it is her favorite sound to make.)

Read scriptures with Mom:

Attempted to eat dinner with Mom and Dad:

Played on the floor:

Pet a pug:

(A few weeks ago Dani would yell "Aaa!" at the pugs for getting near her, but now she reaches for them as they walk by, similar to the mirror video. The first time she pet a dog was this past Saturday)

Learned to tripod sit:

(This improved significantly over the month and by her 5 month birthday she was able to sit for about 5 minutes at a time on a pillow - pictures to come soon.)