Easter!

What an exciting week, full of pictures and new developments!

First, Xinyi discovered she can climb up the sofa all by herself! Here is her happy face post climb victory!

The next day, we went on a playdate to the Zoo with Camila and Lucas! 

Here are Xinyi and Lucas out exploring together! They are baby bff's!

Xinyi has continued to love her stuffed animals! Here she is hugging her Sophia look-a-like!

Now petting,

and big grin!!! :D

And a face smush, of course!

Baby girl finally has enough hair to put a barrette in it! For 0.5 seconds that is, until it falls out :P.

Here we are at mommy and me with her baby bff's!

On Saturday, we saw Yeh Yeh and Nai Nai! Box play to the rescue!

And music fun :).

She built this tower all by herself (or... with some help!) But she did put all the pieces on herself!

We popped over to visit momma's bff and baby Athena!

Then back for pre-Easter dinner :). Hugs from Nai Nai with Nathan!

And play time too!

A squish from Auntie Lindsey,

before the big Easter egg hunt at Great Grandpa Chuck's!

Yay baby!

Smile with momma!

And with daddy!

And all the cousins who were there!

So cute!

The kids all sat at a table together for lunch! This lasted about 1.5 seconds before one of them decided they were done...

Playing on the floor with Grampy!

Hug from Gem!

More Easter fun with Archie! 

And another kid's table to sit at!

Some good old fashioned guitar time, with a cutie in hand!

Then on Monday, we got to see Nate for a little bit! What a pair of goofballs!

Finally, back at home, Xinyi broke into her newest toy, a Disney Little People set!

Ahhh, resting with daddy, in matching cat sweaters :).

The coolest thing she has started to do is ask for songs by doing the hand motions! She has asked for The Itsy Bitsy Spider, Hickory Dickory Dock, and her favorite Zoom, Zoom, Zoom! Today, she even giggled when I asked if she wanted to sing Zoom, Zoom, Zoom, then she started with the hand motions! She has such a mind of her own, always wanting what she wants! She has the sweetest giggles as well, and continues to love stuffed animals! She is just too much fun!

Sheep says "Baa! Baa! Baaa!!!"

Xinyi was a doll this week! First, we started the week with a short trip to Descanso gardens. It was beautiful!!

Baby girl no longer wants to be held, she wants to wander and explore by herself!

Notice the furrowed brow upon being placed in the Ergo :).

Xinyi received this piggy for her birthday, but only in the last few weeks has discovered she can take her piggy for a walk! And the piggy follow her! What joy!

Daddy and daughter!

Nai Nai came to visit! They read a new book together!

And played with bubbles :D - which Xinyi calls both "Buhbee" and "Babeee"

Nai Nai also bought a new backpack for baby girl!

And a giant stuffed duck! Here is baby giving the ducky a kiss!

And a face smush...

And a face grab...

And a downward dog smush...

And a big body crush... she loves this ducky!

As all babies do, Xinyi had a fall... this angry cry face was captured on Facetime...

So angry sad!

All better now... playing with a box!

Now, the rest of this post is more for me, since I know her pediatrician will ask me in a few weeks about her progress, so I just want to keep track! So feel free not to read the rest unless you want to know her words, sign language and ability to follow instructions :P.

Words she says:
Flower - wawa

Owl - wawa 

Duck

Ball - beh

Dada

Nono

Uh oh

Mama
Eye

Bubble - baybee or buhbee or sometimes even bubble!

Eeeeeee! Is her word for when she wants something

Sign language - she has learned please, which looks like her rubbing her belly, even though it's supposed to be a circular motion over the middle of one's chest, so silly!

Daddy also taught her to salute, which looks more like Xinyi hitting her own head repeatedly... we'll work on that.

Things she does:

Points to her nose and eyes

What does a cow say "voo!"

What does a sheep say "baa!!!"

Then she walks around shouting baa baa baa!!!

Words and sounds she imitates:

fish - dish

Cheese - chish

Apple - baba

Turkey - dirkee 

Chicken - ticken
Poo Poo (self explanatory)

Instructions she follows:

When I ask her if she wants to go somewhere she says ya and then walks over to the baby gate and waits for me to open it for her!

When I ask her to kick during bath time, she kicks her feet! Even if she was just happily playing with her rubber ducky, she will stop to give several seconds of furious kicks!

When I ask her to turn off or on the light, she hits the light switch!

When I ask her to bring me a book, she toddles over to her book basket, pulls one out, toddles back, turns around and backs up to my lap and sits down! Then she flips pages like a maniac, looking only at the pictures :).

When I ask her to take her dolly for a walk, she puts her dolly in the stroller and starts pushing her around!

When I ask her to take her piggy for a walk, she takes her toy pig on a string and drags it around the house.

She gives hugs to people when I ask her to. For example, she gives all her grandparents hugs when I say, "Go give Grammy a huggie!" And this week, Nai Nai brought a big stuffed animal duck for Xinyi which she gives huggies and kisses to! She also gives huggies and kisses to her dolly! Such a sweet loving girl!

So sweet and so happy!

Cow goes "Vooooooo"

Xinyi loves to read, she pulls out her books one by one and reads to herself until the books are strewn about her in a circle!

Xinyi has grown in leaps and bounds in mental understanding recently!

She started by pointing to animals and saying a few animals' names (owl and llama). When you ask her what does a cow say, she says "Voooooo" haha!

This is a picture of baby girl's introduction to Sesame Street.  She was absolutely enthralled. 

She loves her baby doll and will point to her nose and eyes and give her kisses and hugs! So sweet! She does the same to us when we ask! She also loves cuddling!

She also loves songs with motions and often asks for songs by making the right hand motions!! She learns songs from mommy and me and from library story time. Her favorite song is called zoom zoom zoom and we learned it at library story time! These are her friends from mommy and me!

On Saturday, Grammy and Grampy came to visit! Xinyi has so so so much fun!

On Sunday, baby had fun at the church's nursery too!

She has started mimicking what I do, from cleaning everything with baby wipes to making "soup" by stirring animal toys in an old cut open old milk jug with a wooden spoon. 

I asked her yesterday to put her animals away after she spilled her "soup" and she dutifully picked up every toy animal and put them in her milk jug! I didn't even know she understood what I was asking, I just asked because that's what I wanted her to do, and she surprised me by not just doing it and doing it well and completely!!

Oh sweet baby girl, she loves new things! And she loves to sleep :). Sweet sleep!

Love, love, love!