An "O"d to Uncle Ian

Aurelia's birth transformed many of us into first-time someones. I became a mother. Jonathan became a father. Jeri Lynn became an aunt. And Ian became an uncle. I believe we have all relished our new roles in life and are grateful that it was Aurelia who gave us new titles and new reasons to be better people.

Like so many wonderful things about Ian, being an uncle just came naturally. Since Aurelia was born he has eyed her with a particular attention, that it seems he has set aside just for her. My favorite thing he does with her, and has always done with her, is that he can immediately make all of her problems disappear. Like magic, Ian comes into a room and if Aurelia is crying or otherwise disturbed, he approaches her and reminds her that "Uncle Ian is here, so no more problems." More often than not, her tears dry up. His smile melts aways her tiny infant angst and she stares at him. It is, hands down, my favorite thing about their uncle-niece relationship. I love his confidence in the mantra. Literally, since the week she was born he decided that he was the answer to her troubles and reassured her that it was so. She has problems, he makes them disappear. I hope it continues for the rest of their lives. One of Ian's many, many talents is making up incredible songs on the spot. Here he is with Aurelia, singing a song about how she is problem free. I love you, Ian. You are an amazing uncle.

Honey came to visit last weekend and we had a ball. Although Aurelia did not make her a grandmother, Honey also has her own magic with her.

We took the girls to a local city water park and Honey took lots of pictures of us playing in the water. What an awesome weekend!

You may be wondering what the "O"d part of the post title refers to. Well, if you have been around an infant learning to feed herself, you likely know that O's (as in Cheerio's, or Organic Whole Grain Cheerio's lookalikes) are an important part of most meals. Here is a video of Reli eating her first O's. She has improved quite a bit since we shot this clip, but it was fun seeing her first foray into the world of tiny food stuffs. (Clearly Whitney and I got a kick out of it).

And last but not least, Aurelia had fun playing with her cousin Koruna and Runa's Mr. Potato Head glasses - a Heald girl favorite.

Someone Turned Over Her Giggle Box

Aurelia is so much fun these days. She laughs and laughs, and we do everything we can to keep those laughs coming. It brings a huge smile to my face to watch her enjoying herself. The other day she really got going and Jonathan got this video of me making her giggle.

Reli has also taken charge of her own bottle. When Whitney feeds her milk, Aurelia sometimes grabs the bottle and feeds herself. I think it is adorable and oh so grown up. Nice work, Reli.

The Ingrams have finally returned from their New Mexico hiatus and we are SO HAPPY to have them back. Here are some pictures of the girls playing together:

The Christensens came over for a play date the other day and

the kids had fun swinging on the back porch.

Aurelia cut her third tooth a couple of weeks ago and she sometimes gets a bit cranky when she is teething. Daddy realized that sometimes she needs to swing with a buddy to make herself feel better. Here she is with the Number 4 Penguin. Poor Reli!

She's Beautiful and Fun

Aurelia really wants to stand and walk. All day long we take turns letting her pull up to standing using our hands and arms. She wants to use both of your hands, one in each of hers. She knows that you have two hands and if you try to hide one from her she grunts and tells you that she knows you are hiding it and she wants it, now please! We have let her pull up using our hands, or one of our arms, or her favorite new toy, the green spatula. No matter how we present her with the opportunity to stand, she takes it. And she has just this week started to take steps in the direction of things she wants once standing. She also lets go of one hand to reach for objects on the floor. I think she is really close to cruising from hand to hand or arm, and soon to furniture and walls, and, well the rest is history. She will likely walk before she crawls. There, I said it. This girl wants to explore the world on her own two feet. Help us all!

So, the last post had no videos, and we all love to see Reli interacting with her world. Here are a couple of videos from this week:

Reli conducting her own orchestra with her scepter and commentary:

And here she is in her kitchen, cooking up some love:

Bon appetite!