So on our ride home from Kyla's house today, I was singing to try to calm Inara down. She was so tired and fussy because she was fighting sleep. She has done this a few times before, but she started to hum with me and make some similar sounds that I was making! It's so sweet! I think she might just have some of our musical genes.

She also has learned a third word! Dog. It comes out usually as Gog, but it's so cute. I really knew that it was legitimate when I was flipping through my Shaklee Catalog and she pointed to a picture of the dog in the cleaning section! Now most animals that resemble a dog are called Gog, but we are getting somewhere!

She also consistently dances to David Gray's music swaying back and forth or bobbing her head. And this morning, She heard Dad say goodbye as he left for work and she got excited to hear her voice (as she just woke up) and said "Dad" and waved in his direction. Waving consists of her hand opening and closing over and over. We were upstairs and he was down, but it was so precious!

We did also switch to her big girl car seat. I can't tell if she likes it or not, but at least she is not all scrunched up in the infant seat. Okay, I guess that is all I forgot to mention in last night's post!

So I'm still about three months behind on adding pictures of Inara and I think I will need to put it off a little longer yet. I have just finished my first quilt (pictures to come soon as well) for Don's Grandma's 80th Birthday and now I need to make Inara's stocking! We bought her a last minute stocking last year when she came BEFORE Christmas ten days early, but I found some fabric and would like to make the style of all our stockings match (except for the dogs stockings and yes they do have stockings!).

In the middle of our -8 degree weather this week, Inara seems to be changing in leaps and bounds! Over the last few weeks, she is finally crawling more and more on her knees instead of her standby army crawling. When she wants to get away (when I tell her not to do something) or chase after something quickly, she resorts to the army crawling.

She also has become so much more interactive and aware of her surroundings. Over the last month, she finally took an interest in solid foods. Anytime I would sit down to eat, she would reach for my food and make this sound over and over (uh, uh, uh). It's a bit higher pitched and that has become "I want, I want, I want". It's cute, but sometimes if she doesn't get what she wants right away, the uh, uh, uhs become UUUUHHH, UUUHHH, UHHHH!!!! Give it to me now! I usually give in...

She still enjoys standing up and pulling up on just about anything she can. Today, she even took a few precarious steps toward me holding my hands. And she is laughing a lot more. She is serious most of the time, but it's getting easier to play with her and have her play little games with us back!

Last but not least, and this is going to seem ridiculous to some and maybe great to other moms with stronger stomachs, but Inara now has big girl poopies! No more messy cloth diapers! It was like an overnight change!

Well, I think that is all for now! We are having a small family birthday for her this year so I will have more to post them. Man, where did this year go?

So I am still lagging behind on my photos of Inara. But at the very least, I can post what she is doing, even if I can't show you all!

Last week(ish) she decided that she want to climb the stairs. She got on the first step and was standing on her own (with the step of course). She loves doing it! She is still crawling like mad and not quite getting on her knees yet. It's just around the corner though!

She is also quite good at mimicking what we are doing. She began this habit by clicking her tongue on the roof of her mouth. If you do it to her, she will do it back and often the same number that you did. It's adorable. But today, 2 days before her 10 month birthday, she will dance on command. She has to be standing or held, but when I would say "dance, dance, dance" she would wiggle back and forth. Again, so adorable.

Don had to work late on brewery stuff so he didn't get to see her before she went to bed. BUT as she has been doing, she is getting up every few hours so she got to see Don around 9 PM and she was all smiles! He passed her to me for food but before she ate, she was waiting for daddy to play the game they play. He comes at her from a few feet saying "Gonna get Inara!" with his hands out ready to tickle. She hides her head in my shoulder and laughs every time! Well, maybe I should be getting to bed since she is asleep, for now...

Well, I have so much to catch up on with posting pictures, but it's quick to add anecdotes on how she is doing! Today, as we were installing gate number one at the bottom of the stairs, Inara decided to attemp to climb the first step. She pulled up onto it and stood there hunched over with legs straight. I didn't have my camera, so I took a picture with my phone. I'll try to download it soon! It was so cute! She is still mostly army crawling and she can move!

Another cute tidbit is that she is now calling us BOTH by name. Last thursday (Oct. 8, 2009), she said Dada! to Don! She also says Dad with a very emphatic last sound! daD! It's precious.

Another Inaraism that I have not yet written about is how much she LOVES animals. We purchased her gate on Craigslist and when we picked it up, they had a cat. She got so excited and shared with us her high pitched squeal of delight. When my parents were looking at puppies, I took Inara and there were 8 or so puppies in the barn stall to watch. Inara didn't know how to contain all of her excitement! If you didn't know her, you would think she had a problem! All she wanted to do was get down on the ground and chase them! Our dogs have learned to just run away! Someday, when she learns to walk, the baby gates might end up saving the dogs from Inara! (not the other way around)

So Inara has been doing some funny things. Some are normal, but one is not so normal! First of all, these past few weeks she has been SOOOOOO excited to see her daddy when he gets home from work. He walks in the door and all he has to do is say something and she looks around searching from where his voice is coming. Once she finds he, she crawls (still army-like) as fast as she can to get to him. Sometimes she even squeals with joy.

I am also discovering that she does in fact know what the word NO means. I have been telling her "no" when she tries to pull all the dirt from the plants or trys to tug at the outlet covers on the wall. The reason I can tell she understands is that she now tries to crawl or roll away as fast as she can, usually with a smile on her face. This girl is going to keep my on my toes.

Lastly, I couldn't help but post this...Tonight we were all in her room playing with her on the ground (her favorite place to be) and she accidentally bonked my head. I happended to say "bonk" as she did it and that made her giggle just a little bit. So then she bonked my head again and daddy chimed in and we were both saying "bonk" in a childlike manner. She laughed so hard! She continued to bonk my head for about 10 times and one time it hurt me a little, but she laughed so hard! After awhile, she got tired, but a few minutes later, she tried to bonk her book.