Totally annoyed.

I have a little post that I've been working on for like 2 weeks, but it won't post! I think there's something about the attached video...I'll keep at it until it works, but for now you're stuck with this: a very bland, picture-less update.

Hazel is officially 16 months. I was thinking today about how well I know her when it hit me: There's actually quite a bit to her that I'll never know. She's her own person and I might understand some of her tendencies or desires in any given situation, but there's a lot going on in that little head and heart that I can't even pretend to understand. She floors me every day with how smart she is.

Last Friday she added snake, rabbit, and fish noises to her list of animal sounds. The day before that she added lion and bear. On Monday she added rooster and chicken sounds, and today she began to include quacking.

This past Sunday she began to walk unassisted - FINALLY. Wahoo! She's flying now, practically. I lock her in the bathroom with me whenever I'm in there, and as I was doing my hair yesterday I kept seeing her head zoom past me in the mirror. She's her own biggest encourager, too - Nate and I can clap and cheer as much as we want, but it's her own clapping and laughing that keeps her going. She's currently pulling moves out of the bag that I didn't imagine she'd even conceived of. I'm impressed.

Her physical therapy has been going well. Now that she's walking I don't think we'll be seeing either therapist much longer. One of them told me that her walking was likely delayed because she was focusing so much on her talking skills - well, I'm not so sure now. She's on a roll with her everyday vocabulary, and she's walking now. I don't see one being sacrificed for the other currently. He said that once she starts walking, I'd likely see her speaking skills slow down, so I guess we'll see what actually happens down the road. For now she's a good walker and talker!

She began singing just a couple weeks ago. She has a little kid Bible with a picture of Jesus on the front; she points to the picture, looks at me, and starts swaying and humming/singing, so then we sing "Jesus Loves Me"!

She has quite an understanding of her body, too. Catch her at just the right time and she'll show you her bellybutton, elbows, knees, neck, cheeks, toes, fingers, feet, eyes, head, hair, forehead, hands, mouth, tongue, and teeth. She also understands, "Close it," "Open it," "Put it down/back," "Go under,""Turn it on/off," "Turn around," "Feet first"...and others.

She says:
dad
doggie
kitty
duck
milk
water (waa)
up
keys
cheese
juice
pop
hi
buh-bye
this
hot
poppa (for my dad)
socks
bottle
tickle

She signs:
milk
water
more
please (but only for her dad, the stinker)
and a variation of help

And now I can't think of the others! Nate needs food, so I should probably start dinner! He stopped at Trader Joe's for wine and lettuce tonight and the guy behind him in line paid for his stuff...What a small, thoughtful, wonderful blessing.

Okay, before I go, the new baby is doing well. I feel the kiddo moving all throughout the day and it's so comforting. We find out in less than a week whether we're having a boy or a girl. Crazy...Time is flying!