Playing the Piano

Audra has recently shown an interest in playing the piano, and I enjoy watching her love for music grow.  She has already learned to not bang on the piano keys, so I let her climb up to the piano whenever she wants.

Yesterday I had to grab the camera since she was insistent that her baby doll wanted to play the piano too!

Noah and Haley

Audra has been learning words so quickly these days!  

Yesterday she spent some time playing with the kids who live next door, Noah and Haley.  Later, during dinner, she practiced saying their names over and over until she got it right!  Here she is about 5 minutes after she first started saying their names.  

As of this afternoon, Noah and Haley are Audra's new favorite words.  It was the first thing she said when she got up this morning, and she talked about them a lot this morning.

I love watching her vocabulary grow!  She communicates so well!

(p.s. She got a little mixed up on the sign language for 'friend', and accidentally signed 'different'.)

Butler-Miller Wedding

This past weekend we went to Wellsboro, PA for the wedding of my college friend, Sonya Butler.  The wedding was held at her parents house, outside the barn...

with the reception inside the barn.

I was glad that I got to see my former college suite mate, Nicole (Butler) Holden.  Her husband is currently stationed in Texas, so I don't get to see her too often.

It was also great to see my sister and her family.  As always, I am grateful for every opportunity that Audra has to spend time with her cousins!  Despite the time that passes between visits, Audra knows her cousins and loves being around them.  

During the reception we put all the kids into a wagon for a picture and Audra, without any prompting, put her arm around Cora.  It was adorable!

Baby Pool

We bought a baby pool for Audra this weekend, and she had a blast!  Our only regret is that we didn't think to do this last month when it was in the 90s!

Audra helped pick out the "ele pooh" (elephant pool) and was excited to find it set up after her nap on Sunday afternoon.

Daddy even got in the pool with her for a while.

Later, the neighbor kids, Haley and Noah, asked if they could come play with Audra.  Audra enjoys hanging out with her friends!

In case you're unfamiliar with Audraese, she's mostly saying "pool... yeah" in this video.

Butterflies

Our neighbors, who have a Certified Butterfly Garden in their backyard, also raise butterflies.  This past weekend they had 4 Male Monarchs and 2 Female Monarchs hatch, and Audra got to see a butterfly up close for the first time.  She even held one on her hand for a minute.  

Cooking Lessons

Audra is no longer content to stay on the floor when I'm working in the kitchen.  I let her stand next to me and watch me work in the kitchen a few days ago, and now she wants to do it all the time.

But with a bowl, a kitchen utensil and a little bit of water Audra is content to "cook" while I make our dinner.  I'm glad when she can keep herself happily occupied while I take care of my work.

A Love of Books

Despite the fact that Audra has over 30 books of her own, we regularly make trips to the library near us for new books.  

Typically our stack of library books will look something like this...

It may seem excessive to let a 18-month-old to have 50+ books to choose from.  However, since we spend time reading every day, this ensures that we don't read the same books over and over.  

And even when I'm unable to read to Audra, I often find her "reading" by herself.

Sometimes she'll sit on her bike to read her books, 

but more often I find her sharing her books with Sophie,

and then possibly laying down to snuggle with Sophie when she gets done reading.