It's Official: Millie is walking!

Self-portrait of Millie and Mommy

Some of my favorite recent photos of Millie

Here are some of my favorite photos of Millie that I've recently taken. She is just growing up so much. She has been laughing a lot more lately - especially at Bella. And she is pointing at things now more and more.

On the way home yesterday, she saw trucks and cars in front of us and she was waving and saying "Bye." It was funny.

Millie is now signing "please"

Millie has really started using the sign for "please." I just showed her last week and now she does it all the time. I'm still working on "thank you" and she does it sometimes. It looks like she is blowing you a kiss - which, I guess, would be the same idea.

This morning, I was fixing her a bottle of milk for breakfast and she was getting so excited that she was signing "more" and "please" and "milk" all basically at the same time. At least it seems that she understands that you have to say "please" to get something. A lot of the times she wakes up in the morning and I go to get her up and she is doing the "eat" sign. She's a smart cookie (no pun intended).

And she now has eight teeth - four on top and four on bottom - with four more coming in. She's eating so much more "people" food now. For breakfast this morning, she ate apples-n-cinnamon instant oatmeal with some diced peaches and her milk, of course. She ate some of the peaches last night with her dinner and she kept asking for more and more.

Millie is really walking a lot now

Millie has been really walking a lot lately. It's so cute to see her teeter-tottering around and trying to keep her balance.

On Saturday, she helped Jacade and I in the garden and backyard while we spread pinestraw and wheat straw everywhere. She was very good too. She just climbed all over the backyard, tried to play in the birdbath, and got in her pool (with no water in it). After a couple of hours, she was, needless to say, filthy! But enjoyed every minute of it.

And our yard looks so nice now - so many veggies! We have corn, red bell peppers, tomatoes, lots and lots and lots of zucchini and squash, okra and we have three watermelons so far. They're not ready to be picked yet, but it won't be long. And since Jacade fertilizes with Miracle Gro every 14 days, our zucchini have been HUGE!

We went out to eat with our neighbors to a restaurant just below Zebulon - Pierre Sullivan. It was great. And Millie ate chicken, sweet potatoes, french fries, catfish, and coleslaw. She had no baby food for dinner. I was impressed. She was good too!

On Sunday, she and I, and our friends, Gordon, Nielsa and their son, Alan, went to church. It was Gordon and Nielsa's first time and they seemed to really enjoy it. And Millie was anxious to go into the nursery, which was a relief from weeks past, where she cried when I handed her over. She was ready to play! She and I went home and she had lunch. Then we drove to Jonesboro, with Debbie too and had lunch with Grandma Sara (her great-grandmother) at Olive Garden. Millie ate lots of the bread - she couldn't resist it either! And Jacade sneaked her some chocolate cheesecake - she couldn't resist that either! Then we came home and got her ready for bed.

So, all in all, it was a good weekend. I am hopefully going to take next week off - vacation time - to get some work done around the house. Plus, my boss, Marshall, is quiting - his last day is July 30, so it will be hard for me to take a lot of time off. We are going to work around the house M-Th and hopefully go to Savannah to see our friends, Kevin and Cassie, for the weekend.

Millie's been sick

Well, Millie caught a summer cold last week, so she was miserable over the July 4th holiday. Runny nose, sneezing, coughing - just in pain and not feeling good. Luckily she is feeling better now - sleeping through the night and eating better - but now Mommy caught what she has - or maybe it's allergies. All I know is I feel terrible now. But at least she is getting better.

We've been taking showers together which helps her nose, and keeps me from having to clean the crusty boogers off. And she enjoys it. I just have to hold on tight to her. And we both have to freeze for a few minutes until we both get dried off. Usually Jacade is there to dry her off, but the last few times, it's just been the two of us.

And she is doing the sign language more and more. We've been working on "please" and "be gentle to Bella". She has actually done "please" a few times - a good thing to learn. And I think she is having fun at Ms. Andrea's. She plays with Blake, who is a couple weeks older than she is.
She's probably going to be a tom-boy! But that's okay.

Millie has been taking a lot more steps lately. Getting braver and braver. It's neat to watch her walk - amazing.

Millie is now using sign language

I started working with Millie when she was about 6 months old, using the sign language. I started with "more" and "milk". A couple of months ago, she just started saying "more, more," but I continued to show her the sign.

As of last week, she started doing the "more" sign and I was so proud of her. She can also do the "eat" sign and the "milk" sign and every once in awhile, "diaper change." I've also been working on "thank you" and sometimes it seems like she does it, but it looks like she is blowing a kiss (that will work!)

This morning she woke up and did the "more" sign and I corrected and told her that she actually wanted to "eat" and probably have some "milk" so she did the appropriate signs and we said, "Good job!"

At our church picnic on Sunday afternoon, she was sitting in her stroller having a snack of Cheerios and she started whining because she wanted more. And I asked her, "Millie, is that how you ask for more Cheerios?" And she stopped whining and did the "more" sign. And I said, "Yes, that's how you ask for it" and I gave her more Cheerios. That simple. So she totally understood exactly what I said. She is a smart baby.

I am going to have to get some pictures of her doing the signs and post them on here.