January, back to normal

I guess I haven't posted during 2011 yet.  I was kind of hoping to post that Audrey has started walking, but alas, she has chosen to do other things first.  She's really communicating now, and she's so expressive that it's pretty easy to tell what it is she wants.  She has started working with forks and spoons, and although she doesn't actually get much food to her mouth that way, she really likes going through the motions, imitating the rest of us.  And sometimes it works for her, so she likes that!  She also is starting to play with puzzles, and today she was using a crayon.  You could tell she thought she was hot stuff, sitting up at the table with Emily and going through the motions of coloring.  Emily pushed her around on the little green ride-on tractor on the porch today, and they both squealed and loved it.

But, if we try to get her to take a step, she'll just stand there, solid as a rock.  She may take one step before she falls into my arms, and the other night she did a funny little shuffle, but she will not walk.  I really think she's going to wait until she can do it flawlessly, as though she's never going to fall.  I still enjoy her crawling very much, as she throws her head back and sings with each "step," so it's all just fine with me, but I'm a little tired of her clinging to me while standing, because I either am stuck in position or risk the wrath of her vocal protest.  And, like I said, she's really letting her preferences be known now!

Emily is in the process of memorizing every song she hears.  She got a Wee Sing casette tape that came with a little booklet, and even though she can't read the words or the notes, she likes to hold the book and turn the pages while she sings along.  She begs me to put in her CD of music from her daycare, and she even sings along with the songs in her Spot videos.  She's a little bit into the digital media now, but I don't mind because I love to hear her sing!

We had a really nice New Year's celebration over at a friend's house, and the next day we went to my niece's 7th birthday party in Ames.  It was nice to see friends and family all in one weekend before we started to get back to normal.  The girls were fine going back to daycare, and I think we're back into the swing of things.