So I'm still behind in pictures and now it's quickly approaching 3 months behind verses the 2 I was so proud of! Oh well.  I have so much to share but I think of writing about it at the most inopportune times!  I'm sure I won't remember everything...


So what's new with Inara? Well, I guess I should start with the first part of the title.  I started teaching Inara basic signs when she was about 7 months old. I would sign up, eat and more primarily.  I took ASL in college, so I remember a few from that as well.  In the last month or so, she all of the sudden just gets it! Well, she knows to sign something at least!  For a week or so, she would only sign more for food and it was constant!  And it was so adorable when she would sign 'all done' while sitting at the high chair.  Sometimes I wonder though if she was signing just to see our proud reaction.  My first clue was when she tried pushing the tray away from her.  Once she got a hang of the signing thing I taught her random things like 'light' and she caught on right away. She looks up at the light and waves at it. Close enough right?  On top of signing she points at everything! 


Her favorite two words right now are dog (doggie) and Daddy.  She sometimes says Gali or horse or other animal words.  But it's very sad that she has taken a long break from saying Mama! She still puts everything in her mouth. She made me laugh the other night as she was crawling around, she had a rubber duck in her mouth...the head of the rubber duck! 


Now that she is 13 months old, she is getting closer to walking each day. She doesn't crawl on her belly anymore and she does her version of assisted running from person to person.  She's most confident when she is holding someone's hands, but now she is gaining more confidence by holding one hand instead of two. 


I also need to post about her one-year appointment with the doc.  She overslept that morning and I had to wake her up to get her to her 9:15 appointment on time! We were a bit late anyway, so I didn't have time to change her overnight diaper.  Well at this appointment, they weighed her with her clothes on, full diaper and all and she was a whopping 17 lbs 2 oz.  This put her in the 3rd percentile! I can only imagine what she really should have weighed.  Her head size was about the same at 17 1/2 inches.  I think that was in the 15th percentile? I'm being way too lazy right now to look it up.  Her height was inaccurate and she was too upset to sit still. They didn't tell me that they do a blood count at this appointment and they had to prick her finger.  She was not happy...


Well at 13 months she is eating more foods.  Egg whites are still not okay, and she loves avacado, banana, and sweet potato fries.  She's not the best sleeper as she wants to nurse twice at night still! We are working on this, but it's a challenge. Weaning will not be easy for this little girl!  Another milestone...she had her first babysitter this last Monday! My good friend, Kyla offered to watch Inara for us last minute as Inara's Grandmama was too sick to do so! Kyla has a boy, Caleb, two months older and they had fun together! She wanted to be held by Kyla all night and when Caleb would come near, Inara would growl as if to say "stay away".  Grandmama taught her how to growl at the dragon at her house, so I'm guessing she was more playing than really growling...hopefully!


Well, enough statistics about my daughter.  All I really know is that it's so much fun to be a mom of such a sweet, fun-loving child.  As I've headed back to work for 12 hours a week, I miss her dearly, but it also makes me think of how she will turn out.  There are so many questionable influences out there and it's frightening to think of the choices she could make in life..choices that might alter the outcome.  I guess all I can do is to teach her how to deal with all obstacles and choices the right way!  God has a plan and we pray that he, too guides her along the way.