We are coming up on a year! It has been so amazing to watch you grow up so much. I love watching your personality unfold. You have started to develop so many little preferences. You love your bed and your room and don't really like to sleep other places. You know what food you want to eat and make it known during meals when you want something that you are not given. You also seem to think that toys and books are meant to be strewn all over the house. As long as they are all over the floor you have no interest in them, you act like they "belong" there, but as soon as I start to put them away you follow behind me to spread them out again. You did this at your aunt's house too :) Even with all of these preferences you still let me do your hair without a fight. I love your curls, and I get stopped all the time by strangers commenting on your pig tails. 
You love buckles. Whatever seat you are in you try to figure out how to buckle the buckles. You haven't been able to do it yet, but it isn't from a lack of understanding. I think you don't have the motor skills down yet, but your brain knows how it works. You still don't like to stand, so you only pull up to your knees. But we are starting to get you to do it more. You have started to push things around the house while walking on your knees. I have tried to convince you that it would be better if you stood up, but you still don't believe me :)You have six teeth and seem to be working on two more. Your mouth is always busy with something though. If you can't find a toy to chew on, your tongue will do and your talking has started to develop new sounds. Your most recent favorite is "na-na-na-na" but when you are especially upset, it turns into "ni-ni-ni-ni." Other sounds are ga-ga and da-da. You have said quite a few other sounds as well and are expert at learning new noises to make with your mouth. You are grinding your teeth a lot now, but we can't seem to find a way to discourage it so hopefully you will grow out of it soon.
A couple weeks ago you got really sick. It started with a fever that lasted a few days and turned into bad congestion. You did well with the fever but the congestion made it hard for you to breathe through your nose so eating and sleeping became difficult. One morning, after an especially difficult night, I finally just covered you and your bedding in eucalyptus oil and put you down for a nap. Your congestion cleared up, you slept for 3 hours, and when you woke up, you drank a whole bottle. I was very happy to see you respond so well.
Your first Thanksgiving was very fun for you. You love being
around
lots of people, especially the kids, and you liked seeing your family
in St. Louis too. Everyone is so happy when you are around. You light up
the room and make everything so much fun.We love you Arianna....more than we know how to express, and we hope that you will one day understand how much we hope you find happiness in your life as you learn and grow to become the girl and woman that you are meant to be.
Love,
Mom and Dad.
Photo Shoot
Ari has not been the most cooperative for pictures lately so I thought we would do an after bath, pj, photo shoot. I didn't get very many good ones, but you can still get an idea of how much she has grown. I have also included some fun videos :)
