Sun Beams: Joyful Progress

Here are some wonderful developments that have occurred over the last couple of months:

1. In May, we managed to get our first studio portrait of Rae prop sitting! That is a huge deal and even though she is only able to prop sit for about 20 to 30 seconds I'll take that kind of progress over no progress any day. I can't share the pic, because it isn't mine to share (copyrights), but here's one of my most recent favorites of her sitting up on our couch.

I call it, "Galactic Hair Day."
Rae's hair was in pigtails during the night
and this look was the end result. 

2. Rae has figured out how to "swipe" her Daddy's i-phone while playing her apps. When I ask her to touch the cow she takes her tiny hand, swipes our digital bovine friend, and is rewarded with a loud, "Moooooo!" This enthralls her and clams her when having a complete meltdown. Thank you Steve Jobs and all you wonderful app makers!!

3. She has started standing again! You know how kids stand up (while you hold their waist or arms) and bounce...well Rae quit doing that ages ago. It really bothered us. Then out of no where, we were in my Dad's back yard and I decided to try to stand her up on the rough concrete pad (barefooted) in front of his shop and she did it! I was shocked. I really didn't think she'd put her feet down. She has since done it once more and we're hoping this continues.

Rae standing proud.
She decided she was finished right after Daddy took this picture.

4. After months of searching, I have stumbled across a sippy cup that she will (and can) use! It is a 5 ounce Tommee Tippee cup with handles. She can chew the spout till her heart is content (she's tearing her bottle nipples to shreds with her incessant teeth grinding and chewing) and it doesn't leak! Since Rae's arms are so weak any cup without handles is difficult for her to manipulate and thanks to this sippy cup I can happily bid our bottles farewell!

Rae's newest sippy cup by Tommee Tippee.

5. We've been working with Rae on closing her lips over a spoon and pulling her food off on her own instead of us pulling the spoon up thus wiping the food off into her mouth. It takes great restraint to not do it for her (especially when we need to finish so we can go somewhere), but it is for the best. I'm happy to say that all the effort has paid off. She is pulling food off her own spoon! Now we get to work on getting her to use her tongue to lick food from the sides of her mouth. Yup, we encourage playing with your food in this house.

I have saved the BEST for last:

6. Rae said, "Da da da," to her Daddy (who has been patiently waiting to hear those words for months) while he was feeding her breakfast. As soon as I heard it, I jerked my head in their direction and asked if I just heard that correctly. His beaming smile said it all. Yes, we heard correctly. She said, "Da da da," and that made her Daddy's day. It was the first time she's said those sweet words. I wish I had captured that moment on video, but it was over in the blink of an eye. We hope to soon hear, "Da da da" again, but for now we wait.

Rae & "Da da da" on Father's Day.