Walking and Talking

I am finally getting caught up to date on Halle's pictures. January and February were busy, but enjoyable, months. We had lots of snow, lots of family visits, and lots of new changes in our little girl. My parents and my youngest three siblings were here off and on for several weeks in January and February while my mom was undergoing testing at Cleveland Clinic. We really enjoyed having them here, and it was great for Halle to get to know all of them better.

While they were here in January, with lots of encouragement and help from my brother, John, and sister, Cierra, Halle learned to walk. She really had not had a lot of interest in walking until right before Christmas, and she was a quite a chicken. She would take one or two steps away from the couch or Brian or me, and then she would promptly sit and crawl. She could stand up in the middle of the floor without help, but then she didn't know what to do! It was so funny! Thanks to John and Cierra for giving her a little extra incentive in the walking department. Now, she's on the go all the time!!!

Halle is quite the little communicator. She loves to talk and sing. She says lots of words. If you ask her what her name is, she says, "Halle" (It sounds more like Ha-yee). Then if you ask her how old she is, she holds up her finger (see picture below). She has been doing that since right after her birthday. Now she also can say, "Un", for one. She is starting to put a lot of phrases together, "pick up", "help you", "thank you", and more. She also can identify almost all of her body parts....head, hair, eyes, nose, ears, chin, mouth, tongue, arms, hands, legs, knees, belly, and can say most of them. She also says "dress" and "tights". She likes shoes and boots. She repeats almost everything you say. She like yogurt for breakfast and says "Oh-gurt". She also says hot, cup, coffee, milk, juice, and more. She also knows the sign language for "more", thanks to Sarah at church.

Halle learned to roll her eyes. It was so hilarious!

Halle loves her tea set. This was one of her silly games, carrying the cup around in her teeth.

This was right after Christmas, and she was having a "tea party" with my mom and several of her stuffed animals.

As you can tell in a lot of these pictures, Halle also loves her little rocking chair (which was her Daddy's when he was little). She says "Otty, otty", and rocks her baby and her animals.

Her big, blue eyes get comments everywhere we go.

She is very ornery, and has quickly learned the word "no". She can also say "yes", but somehow, it doesn't seem to come as easily!

I'm not sure what this face was about!

Rocking her baby. She is very attached to this baby doll, and it goes everywhere with her. She sleeps with it, plays with it, and it sits in the high chair with her when she eats. It's so cute!

Now rocking both babies. The big baby doll is almost bigger than she carry, but she tries. She calls it Abby, as she does every baby she sees in public. We have a baby at church named "Abby", and she absolutely loves her. So, every baby is Abby!

Cheese!

Halle loves my brother, John. She says his name all the time, and enjoyed playing with him when he was here.

Halle and my sister, Cierra

Halle and Grandma Tami had lots of fun!

In the closet, where Halle is looking, is "Mrs. B". Halle is very afraid of the vacuum cleaner, so my mom drew a face, taped it on the vacuum cleaner, and called it Mrs. B. Now, Halle loves Mrs. B. She goes into the kitchen every day calling, "Bee, Bee." She isn't happy until we open the broom closet, and let her say hello to Mrs. B. She likes to tell her good night too. It's so funny, and has really helped Halle not to be so afraid. Thanks, Mom!

Halle and my brother, Asher. She loves Asher, and can also say his name. She points to his picture on the wall, and says "Azher".

This is the face she makes when she wants to give you a kiss. She is a very affectionate baby, and loves kisses. Of course, I love that!

Halle and Grandpa Gary playing in the living room

"Hello?!" Halle loves to play with the phone, and walks around with it up to her ear saying, "Ello, ello, ello". She doesn't like to talk on the phone when someone is actually talking to her....she just wants to look at it. However, she is starting to say "hello", and "love you" to her daddy and her grandma on the phone.

Lovin' Daddy's Steeler toboggan

She thinks she's soooo big!

Halle loves glasses of any kind, especially Daddy's sunglasses.

Here, she is playing with my computer. One night I came in, and she had Internet Explorer opened 38 times. It almost crashed my computer!

Blowing kisses

So sleepy

One

Trying Grampee's glasses on (she says "gaases")

This is Halle's "silly face", and here it's a very messy face, because she and Daddy had been licking the beater from my mixer. I was making peanut butter pies.

"Mmmmm....good"

She has grown very attached to her blankies. She likes anything silky, but especially loves these two blankies, and sleeps with them.

Two of her favorite toys

Halle is so expressive. She keeps us laughing.

I love this face! Is she critiquing her own art here, or what?

My curly girly!

Halle got these new, sparkly pink shoes last week. She loves them sooooo much! She brought them to me the other day, one under each arm, and wanted me to put them on her. Of course, I did....even though I had to change her whole church outfit because it was red!

Mommy & her silly baby at Panera

Having fun

Halle & Grampee at Panera

Halle was "touring" Panera, trying to make friends with everyone. She was quite pleased with herself.

Halle & Gramee

In the tub....one of Halle's favorite places!

"What did you say?"

My blue-eyed baby

Running from Mommy

Such a beautiful smile...and all those teeth! She has 16 teeth now, I guess for being 16 months old. She has pretty much been on track since she was four months old, that every four months she has the same number of teeth as her age. Thankfully, her mouth will soon be full, and we can stop teething!

Heading "up", as Halle says, with Mommy close behind.

Surprise!

We are so thankful for our precious baby girl.