Adibaby, 2.5 Year Edition

So while you enjoy these photos of dragonfly Adi from two months ago (when she was 2 years 5 months)...

... I will write a little update about all the cool stuff she can do these days (when she is 2 years 7 months.)

Firstly, she is getting better at walking on uneven ground. This apartment has all the rooms on different levels. The dining room is the highest one on the first floor. There is a small step down into the bedrooms, and a little raised threshold (about a foot wide) that you have to step onto and then down from to go to the kitchen. At first she was falling everywhere she went. But now she can step up and down with ease. I've even seen her do it without holding onto the wall, but not usually. Outside we have lots of different terrain. Asphalt, brick border around the garden, brick border around the sandbox, step down from the asphalt into the grassy back yard... and the parking space is lower than the rest of the year by a good 5 inches. She manages most of the time! She does fall, but gets right up and tries again.
Her balance at the top of a staircase can now be trusted, and although she doesn't walk up and down the stairs yet, she can crawl up very well.

And her vocabulary exploded! She has many words that she can say well, some that only I can understand, and a bunch that she made up. :)

One day I was reading "Baby Happy Baby Sad" for Adi, and she was babbling along. Until I started hearing something... "Ha-ppy, ha-ppy." That was three months ago, and now she is also able to say book (the right way) and "Weeeeed." (Read)

Drink is "Beeyup." Yeah, I know. It's totally odd. And adorable. I think it might be a derivative of "me up," which means "me cup."

I thought I had posted about "apple" before but it seems that I did not. Adi says, "Appoo" on all round fruit.

Jump is "Mmmmmum!" She starts to say "mmm" when she gets ready to jump, and the "um" is said during the actual time off the ground. Which she can do, by the way! Jump up with both feet off the ground!

Sit is "Haya." Sorry, no theories here. She uses it to mean sit on a chair to eat, sit in the carriage to go out, and she used to use it for "swing." But recently she upgraded to "Heen" for swing. And "Hon" for phone. And "Heim" for game (which solely refers to iPad games.)

She graduated from calling Gedalya "Yaya" to "Daya." She still has some trouble with any variation of "Zusha" that we try to get her to pronounce.

Adi loves cats. In this apartment we have our own yard, so we are able to put out Mel's leftover cat food, fish skins, and other leftover meat products for the local cats to eat instead of wasting it. That means lots of opportunities for Adi to see her "ai-nyas." When she sees them, she calls out, "Nya!" and then clucks her tongue instead of saying "ksksks" to call the cat. LOL

"Duuuuuute." Any suggestions? I'm lost. "Shoes," "shirt" and "cute" all came up as suggestions, but haven't been confirmed.

How about another weird one? "Me." Not that weird you say? What would you say when you learn that it means "sandwich"? I thought so.

"Dyatop." I don't even know how to spell it to convey the pronunciation. Sometimes she pronounces it "Doptop." It means insect, and the origins are long and winded.
I did a search on my blog, and was surprised to see that there is only one post on my blog about Laptop. Laptop is a beetle that Gedalya found in our house one time, one year ago. We had let him go, but he kept returning.*

*Which is what the boys believe, that it's the same beetle each time. :)

The boys love Laptop and it's always an exciting time for us all when we find him or one of his relatives in our house. Well, one time, about half a year ago, the boys spotted Laptop on their window, and exclaimed "Laptop!" Adi also pointed at the beetle and shouted, "Dyatop!" Since then, she adopted the term to mean any type of bug.

Once when she found a bug and wanted everyone to see, she waved her hand towards herself and said, "Hum!" (Come!) That was just a few weeks ago. We were all so surprised. She did it again when she wanted my mother to come see her play with a tether ball. And last week, Adi was overwhelmed with all the kids playing in our yard (from the block) andwanted to go inside the house. I wanted to stay out with them and the boys, so I helped Adi walk up the steps and went back out. So you know what the munchkin did? She gestured for me to come and said, "Hum in!" That's two words. I was very impressed and surprised!

I might have mentioned before that she says Adi. "Ah-ti."

There are more words, I'm certain. But I can't think of them right now. So I'll save them for next time and say "Pie" for now! Well, I'm not being totally fair, because recently Adi graduated to the proper "Bye."
The evolution of this word goes like this: Just waving > aye > pie > BYE!