Dear Arianna, (10 months)

Arianna,
10 months...Wow! You are growing into a little girl more and more each day. You are no longer my little baby, but a curious little girl who wants to see, touch, and eat everything! We have moved into a bigger house, of which you are the Queen Bee. You have toys in the corners of every room and travel around like you own the place. We have had some construction done on the house and you have melted the worker's heart with your laughter, smiles, and screeches.
You have started to play with other children. You chased a boy around at church who was about your same size, but six months older. All you wanted to do was play, but you scared him. You don't know your own size yet.
You are now a master at picking up food and feeding yourself. You love bananas, avocados, yams, and pears. Pancakes have become an easy snack to give you on-the-go; you even had some gnocchi yesterday and liked them.   
You are a total jabber-box--it is hard to keep you quiet! Our new house doesn't have a separate room for Dad's office. When he has to make a phone call, I have to put you in your room, which you love, by the way. I am constantly surprised at how well you play on your own. You love having the freedom to roam and will do so without needing me for a half hour or more. 
You have 5 teeth and a sixth that should be making an appearance any day now. You have also started making different faces while you are playing. I don't know if they mean anything or you are just trying different things, but they are hilarious.
Your hair is finally getting long enough to be able to do different things. The back is getting really curly, I am excited to see what happens when it gets long!
 We have added to our "good night ritual." Dad has been so busy during the day that he doesn't get to play with you as much as he wants, but he stops the last ten minutes before you go to bed and "wrestles" with you. You have come to expect it each night. It melts my heart each time. It is the best way to end the day :)

 Photo Shoot:
We are having a heat wave, so I pulled out some of Ari's summer clothes. This outfit just barely still fits :) 

Aunt Sierra gave Ari a travel size ducky because she loved her big one so much!

Ari has been licking her new teeth a lot!

 

Aunt Karman handed down this chair, it lights up and plays music. Ari loves it!

Playful

Ari was in a very playful mood tonight, she went on for so long I was able to capture a lot on video. She loves to "wrestle" and will snuggle her head into you. I have over 5 minutes of video on this. It is hard for me to edit video down, because I think it is all cute, but I think this clip is the best. If you want more, ask and I'll put more up :)

Here are some pictures I took. Ari has been teething and is always sticking her tounge out. I think it is pretty cute. 

New house

 We have moved! That is why it has been a while since I have posted an update. Things have been a little stressful, but have settled down a bit. Arianna didn't seem to like the new house very much to begin with but she is growing to love it, as the following video will show. Ari is growing and changing so much! She is starting to play on her own and is very vocal about it. She also has started to play with other kids. It is so cute...but a little dangerous since she is the same size or bigger that most of her friends. Here are some pictures I thought you would enjoy!

Ari has gotten really good at feeding herself

New highchair hooked onto the counter

Eating Broccoli and resting

She can hold her own bottle

Playing in the mirror with daddy

Our new home (yes we are still renting)

Ari's room, the bunk beds used to be mine growing up, we gave them to my BIL and they were getting rid of them so we got them back :)

Guest Room

I was filming Ari and some of the cute things she was doing, then she just started crawling around the house, so I decided to make it an impromptu tour...enjoy, but don't judge my mess :)

Need Advice...

Hi everyone! I have an issue that I would love some advice on. Ari has started a strange habit and I am not sure what to do, or if this is something that I should worry about.
We noticed, about a month ago, Ari would scream/squeal in fear when she saw a purple elephant toy. It didn't matter if it was just lying there or if we were playing with it, she would scream and shy away. We thought this was funny and cute and even took a few videos of it. But then it happened with her FAVORITE lion toy. This was the first toy she ever played with. She started reacting in the same way as the purple elephant. The only thing these things seemed to have in common was that they both "rattled"  but she didn't seem to mind other rattle toys.
This has slowly been escalating. She would find about 1 toy a day that she would be playing with then suddenly start screaming at. She doesn't stop screaming until I remove the toy, then it is back to business as usual. Today it was 3 new toys....I can't seem to find a common element. They don't all have rattles, they aren't the same texture or color...all they have in common are faces...

Here are the ones we have at our house, there have been a few at Grandma's house too...

I have noticed that she is starting to play very well on her own. She babbles and crawls around and seems to be "playing" some of game in her head. Could this all be her imagination starting to come out? Should I "protect" her from these toys or should I try to show her that they are "nice"? I am afraid that we will run out of toys pretty quickly if this continues.
Has anyone else had any experiences like this? Anyone have any guesses as to what is going on? Should I be worried? Is this just a phase?