Dayton Family

-Her newest word is "hap-py." We all make her say it 50 times a day it's that cute. Still not talking a ton, but she's saying more two word sentences. The other day she was in the bath & when I turned the water off she said, "mo peasss." Couldn't resist that one.

-Most frequent words are "no!" "bu" [book], "Bee" [binky--she's so addicted it's not even funny] and of course "Mommy" & "Daddy." She needs a new "bu" about every 30 seconds while traveling in the car & is particular about which ones.

-We finally broke down & bought a high chair a couple days ago from a garage sale for 10 bucks. At long last we have a tray she can't kick off! She still will only eat a few bites before throwing everything on the floor, but she loves using her spoon so we're hoping that will be motivation to keep food ON the tray

-Once upon a time when Ari was crying the boys wanted to cheer her up so they let her hit their faces & then they fell over, much to her delight--she laughed hysterically. They still do that, much to my chagrin cuz you can see how it's now hard to explain to her that hitting the baby is just not ok. Also, when she meets new people she hits her nose which has frozen many a smile on these friend's faces...uh, what is she doing? Oh, it's ok, it's her meeting ritual...along with showing her tummy.

-She is not shy AT ALL. At the stake activity I literally followed her around while she made friends. 'Hello, cute little girl with zero personal space...you're like 2 inches from my face!' At story time she goes up to all the other mommy's & plops right down in their laps. Cutely awkward, that's my Ari. She waves to everyone & still whispers "hi."

-She backs up to sit in your lap...from across the room, sometimes without even looking backward! That, is faith.

-She definitely has improved her eating habits, but still about halfway through she just spits out her bites, but then will ask for more.

-She still loves her "bee-bee" [baby Rhett]. Still working on his safety in her presence...the other day I found her straddled over him yelling, "hi, hi!!" excitedly in his face.

-She's not a destructive toddler (like a couple other of my children I could mention), but she demands 100% of your attention & is very busy. It's hard to get anything done because she won't play by herself for more than 5 minutes--even after I have spent quality time with her. I'm hoping when Rhett can 'play' with her it might help with that.

-She is a darling "Mommy's helper." She loves to use rags, brooms, anything except the vacuum...she's still scared of it. She's a copy-cat of almost anything we do...me putting on make-up, the boys growling at her, Daddy dancing around (which she LOVES to do & is still a Daddy's girl)

-She also loves to sing...well, she does all the actions, we sing for her, but she is starting to copy us doing that too :)

-She loves animals & isn't even scared of big dogs unless they're very excited & knock her over :)

-She can say her name & it is so darling!

-She will finally at least sit on the little potty...it's been a very gradual thing for her...first she would cry if I asked if she wanted to sit, then she would sit on the lid, then on the corner of the potty, now finally she'll sit on the potty...now to the real work...

-She's still scared of the vacuum, but she'll just go climb on a chair instead of bursting into tears. That's improvement :)