Growing Up

Nicole is growing up soo much! She does the cutest stuff these days.  She is so smart and I just love her to pieces.

She has started saying "bye bye" when she knows it is time to leave.  She does this when Shaun is getting ready to leave in the morning, when we are getting her into her carseat, when I drop her off at daycare (even though I'm not ready to leave), and when we leave daycare.  She does it best when nobody says it to her first.  It is so cute.  She also blows butterfly kisses.  I had been doing this since I started dropping her off at daycare and she must have just learned it one day.  She even makes the smacking sound when her hand is at her mouth before she blows the kiss.  It really melts my heart. 

She is standing up on her own now for longer periods of time.  She has been sort of standing for awhile, but she only does it when you are right there.  Now she gets up on her own and looks around for a bit. 

She took some steps on her own the other night.  She loves to walk with our fingers everywhere.  It is so cute, but she just doesn't want to stop.  One night Shaun and I were passing her back and forth from my fingers to his.  Then we separated a little more and she had to fill the gap walking without our hands and she did it.  She repeated a few times.  I think it is a confidence issue.  She holds onto our fingers so tight and won't let go.  This night she let go because she knew the other person would catch her.  I don't think she gets a lot of practice like this at daycare, so it may still be awhile before she does more, but I'm okay with it taking a little longer.  Once she starts walking, we are in big trouble :)

Roxy has become protective of her.  We have been dog sitting this week and she does not like the other dog too close to Nicole.  The first night, it was a little crazy with all of them on the floor, but it has settled down over the week.  Nicole tells the dogs "no" when they get in her face and she doesn't want to play.  It is kind of funny because she looks like she is really annoyed with them when she says it.  They seem to understand it, too. 

We went and got her 1st Birthday pics done last weekend.  She was so good for them.  Luckily, she had a great nap beforehand, so she was well rested and she was her cheerful self.  I can't wait to share the results.  I can't believe her birthday is less than 10 days away.  This time last year, I was telling people she would probably be late because there was no sign of her coming.  Of course, she surprised me as she always does!