Hello, Lia!: May pictures

I know, it's already the latter half of June and I am still posting May pictures. But I think this one was well worth the wait:

From 2009-05-15 Jeff's birthday

Lia has been learning how to feed herself and has gotten much better at it lately, especially since she moved up from the infant room (Sunbeams) to the toddler room (Moonbeams). Not that you would know it from this picture:

From 2009-05-11 Lia's May pictures

Here she is with her little friends her last week in Sunbeams:

That's Sophia on the left (we all think she should be a model for baby food or something), who is about 7 or 8 months old, and Caleb, who is 5 days older than Lia. The teachers nicknamed him "Cheeks" for obvious reasons. He and Lia love each other and constantly give each other kisses and hugs. It's so cute to see.

Here Caleb is coming to sneak a Cheerio or two from Lia:

When Lia transitioned to Moonbeams the last week of May, her friend Sydney also transitioned. We were happy they went together because I think it made it easier. As I posted earlier, we took her off the bottle that week with her teacher Mitzie's help (she made us feel guilty for not doing it sooner). The first week Lia was officially in Moonbeams, she was a bit clingy at drop-off, but she would see Sydney and they have this thing they do where they point at each other and babble and laugh. Once she saw Sydney, she stopped crying. Not that she wouldn't start up again when I left the room, but at least it helped a little. Caleb went on vacation the last week of May, so he transitioned to Moonbeams a week later. When he showed up in the classroom, it was like Lia found her long-lost friend. They were so happy to see each other. Caleb puckered up for his kiss from across the room.

Lia has been doing great with feeding herself yogurt. It tends to drip down her chin, but her bib and clothes usually stay relatively clean.

You can see her in action here:

She has also been great with washing her hands when she gets home. She either follows Ian into the bathroom or takes the lead when we tell her to wash her hands. If she goes into the bathroom first, we hear her call, "Da-dee! Da-dee!" and find her standing on the stepstool waiting. She can turn the water on and off by herself now, so that sometimes distracts her from the actual washing part. Here she is on the stepstool (Ian put the ring on her head):