New Things

Here are some (totally new) things that Ari's been doing lately (since my last post-Stem Cell update):

• Ari has been saying "Dada". We are now sure that she is saying his name and not simply making the sound. She looks right at Jake, waves in his direction, and says "Dada!".
• Instead of just rapidly turning pages in her storybooks while we're reading to her, she will wait until we're ready to turn the page, then softly turn it upon our request.
• When I ask Ari to "count" objects in her books or in front of her, she will point to each one individually with her index finger, as if counting them.
• Ari has been more interested in playing cooperative games like catch and "fetch" (I don't know what else to call it; she loves to chase a ball).
• Ari has been doing great with potty training! She has been staying dry for much longer periods of time (often several hours) between potty trips! Last night, she even used her sign language to tell me "potty". Then, I asked her if she wanted to go "potty" and she nodded a big 'yes!' I rushed her on, and she went immediately. She was so excited about being able to communicate this to me!
• I often pretend my hand is a spider and chase Ari with it (she thinks this is hysterical). The other night at dinner, she decided to get me back by making her hand into a spider and inch it towards me. She is turning into a big girl!
• Ari has found a way to back herself off the couch safely (instead of just falling off). Whenever she gets bored with the movie that's on (she tires of movies much easier than Gabe & Bella), she'll just climb down and crawl over to me while I'm cooking.
• The other day, Ari came down the stairs completely by herself for the first time ever! She turned around and backed herself down each step, very controlled, maneuvered the landing, and then backed down the last steps. While I was right beside her the whole time, I never even had to touch her! Then she crawled all the way down the long hall to see Daddy in the family room. She was so proud!