It's Adi Time!

So what is the sweetie up to lately?
A lot!

She's developing in leaps and bounds.
*She is saying sentences!
Probably not the way you'd expect, but she really is. Once we went into a store that we go to occasionally. Near the cash register, there is a a rack of beanie babies and I usually give one to Adi to hold while we wait. She loves her "ah-myas." Well, one time we went into the store and as soon as we got in, Adel put her palms out in a "where" gesture and said, "Uh-uh... ah-mya!" which translates to, "Uh-oh, where are the cats?" Is this child brilliant, or what?!
Another time I was sharing a snack with her. Usually if she wants more food, she'll say, "Am." If she is feeling verbal. she'll say, "Moooh."  (more). But this time, she said, "Moooh am." More food. Wow, Adi!
And... she is finally using "up" properly! She says it when she wants to be picked up and raises her arms.
 

*She is calling me Mama!
She was able to say the word mama for a while, but didn't use it purposefully to mean me. One time I was busy and felt a little hand banging on me, saying repeatedly, "MamaMamaMama..." Now, as a mother of three young children, I always have someone pounding on me and saying mamamama. At first I kind of tuned it out, but then I realized... it was Adel! What! Was I ever surprised.

*She is doing much better physically.
Adel pulled up on her own in the photo above! And she isn't terrified of walking holding onto one hand only. One of us can hold just one of  Adi's hands and she will walk! It's not smooth, though. She walks very jerkily and stiffly, but going from two hands holding on for dear life to just one hand is HUGE. When we used to let go of one of her hands, she'd shriek and grasp at something to hold on to. Usually, it was her ear or sunhat. Funny girl.
She is also working on standing up without holding on. On my bed, she often pulls up on the bedrail and then lets go. She topples after a moment, but it's obvious that she is attempting to keep her balance longer. And one time, she actually got up in middle of my bed! Without holding on! She stood for about two seconds. Zusha was so excited! He kept re-enacting it. "Look how she got up!" "Look how long she was standing!!" And he'd remain standing for about ten seconds before falling. He really loves that girl.

*She is beginning to chew!
On Friday I was reading on my bed and watching Adel out of the corner of my eye on the floor. She was busy with something... I couldn't see what, but she was quiet and happy, so I relaxed for a while. Until the "quiet happiness" became suspicious. I took a look, and there was Adi. Face smeared brown. Chunks of brown all around her. Luckily, it was chocolate cake. I have no idea how she got it! We didn't have chocolate cake at home. I did buy soft chocolate cookies, which this food resembled, but the box was sealed and in a bag, just as I last saw it. I so wanted to take a picture of it! But Adel has a very high sense of right and wrong. As soon as she saw me looking at her, she burst into tears! She started spitting out the cake, throwing pieces as far away from her as possible, and crawled away, crying. I have no idea why she reacts this way when I catch her eating off the floor. I never scold her. All I do is take it away and say no. But she acts so remorseful if I find her eating off the floor!
In any case, on Shabbos I found her on the floor with a family sized bag of potato chips which she sneaked from somewhere, crunching away. And today, she found a raw piece of curly spaghetti on the floor and popped it into her mouth. and I heard a CRUNCH. She was chewing! In each of those situations, Adel had to do some chewing. Yay!

*She is realizing that body parts have names
Whereas before she thought that drumming on her belly while singing, "Yummy in my tummy..." was a fun game, I sense that now she is understanding that her tummy has a name. She says "popa" (tushie) when she is making, which is totally unexpected and gives me hope that she might be able to be toilet trained at an average age! Her favorite part of the body to show are her toesies.

Keep on growing, little bird!