When you're happy and you know it, clap your hands!

Lots fun and exciting changes for Mira the last few weeks! She now has two upper teeth, but not two front teeth, she has one one front tooth and one "fang," both on the left side. We're hoping she'll get the other front teeth soon so she doesn't have "snaggle tooth" for much longer. In the last two weeks she has learned to communicate with us by using lots of gestures. She can clap, give "high five," wave hi/bye, blow kisses, and shake her head "no." She is brimming with personality, and her use of the new gestures is really hilarious! Here are some pictures from our recent adventures; camping, playing around the house, and playing at the playground. [We are having a weird formatting issue, so the text isn't lining up with the pictures properly, but hopefully you can figure it out.]



Mira's first camping trip in Big Basin! She did great! We had a really fun time!













Hanging around the house being cute. Wearing her monkey "babylegs" leggings--a great invention!









Playing at the playground

Banana bread, aka Munchie Poo Poo, aka Pumpkin head

Mira is a busy, busy girl these days. She keeps us running from room to room as she cruises around trying to put things in her mouth that don't belong there (dog food, shoes, rugs, etc...)! She is currently a member of the "one-top-front-tooth" club, and we are awaiting the appearance of several other top teeth. Since we have been so busy going out to do new activities with Mira instead of playing at home, we only have recent iPhone pictures. Here's a sampling of a few fun ones...

Swinging at the park near our house.





Mira playing in the ball pit at Katya's one-year birthday party. Mira LOVED it!!




Eating cheerios at Hometown Noodle while we eat Pho.



This cute one was taken by Wujek Marcin on a recent trip to San Francisco. She sometimes has quite the devilish grin!

More Mira

Closing in on 10 months, Mira continues to amaze us with her new skills. She has transitioned to eating more chunky textured foods (banana chunks, broccoli, egg yolks, and cheese, for example) and really loves to feed herself cheerios. She is an absolute joy!

Mira making conversation.


For Mira's name day we got her a wooden cart for her to push, but she liked getting to ride in it too.



Mira also got a new highchair for her name day--she loves it!



Laughing in her playpen


Hats! Mira is so cute in her Packer hat from the Raimondos and her peruvian hat from the Lundins.

Two teeth!

After months and months of drooling and chewing, Mira finally cut her first two teeth (the bottom two)! She didn't particularly enjoy the teething process, but now she likes to make "clink-clink-clink" noises with them when she chews on things. Last weekend we took Mira on her longest road trip so far--5 hours down to LA for Finn's 1st birthday party. At home, Mira likes to crawl around to different pieces of furniture, and practice standing. She also has long "bah-bah-bah" and "haba-haba-haba" conversations with us when she's feeling talkative.



Enjoying mealtime in her high chair.


Chewing on her spoon. If you look closely you can see her two bottom teeth.


Bath time! One of her favorite activities of the day.


Helping Finn open his presents for his 1st Birthday!






Playing with Calvin

Videos!

Pictures are great, but sometimes seeing a video is better! Here's a collection of videos of Mira taken within the last month or so (roughly in chronological order), that show her doing the things she loves to do these days; crawling, sitting, chewing, laughing, vocalizing, and pulling herself up to a stand in her crib, just to name a few. The speed at which she is learning to do new things is so fast, we're trying our best to capture as much as we can because every minute with her is so much fun!

Mira exhibiting the "tap tap tap" in her hat. Mira likes to tap on things. A lot. It's sort of her signature move (you'll see it in other videos here). Here she's doing it while looking super cute in her hat while we were in Madison around Christmas time.


Sitting and playing with her feet.


This is a video I took of Mira with my iPhone. I had seen a YouTube video of a kid laughing hysterically at his dad whenever his dad made a "bungggg" sound, and lo-and-behold, we discovered that the laughing qualities of the "bung" sound are universal, because it made Mira laugh too. Pretty cute...


Mira really likes Coco. Here, Coco is providing some entertainment for Mira while she plays on the carpet.


Two weeks ago Mira figured out how to pull herself up to a stand in her crib. Now her crib is more like a exercise gym than a place for sleeping! But, even in the middle of the night you can't be annoyed with her for not sleeping when you can tell she's so proud of herself and her new skill!


In the evenings before going to bed Mira eats some solids. Afterwards, she really enjoys chewing on the spoon, which probably soothes her gums while teething.


This is her favorite new sound to make. It sounds like static.


Here Mira is playing with her Daddy! They have lots of fun together as you can see...

Happy New Year!

This January Mira turned 7 months old! To ring in 2010 we went to Steve, Danielle, and Ben's house in Sacramento, and were joined there by Rachel, Shane, and Taylor, who drove down from Eugene. We all had a blast juggling lots of playing, walks, naps, and of course, dogs. While Ben and Taylor played with big kid toys, Mira chewed on her toys and got lots of snuggles from everyone!