Walking!!!

Kiana took her first steps this week! Friday night, I was nursing her to sleep, when she stopped nursing abruptly, and started clapping, for the first time ever! So, I took her out to show off to Daddy, Aidan, and Grandma Ruane (who had stopped by for dinner, since she was in the city helping Marguerite deal with another hip surgery). Kiana was SO proud of herself, and kept clapping and clapping! While she was at it, I told Alex that we should see if she would walk. Kiana had spent the entire day on Thursday practicing standing up, very sturdily, and we knew it would have to be any day now. So, Alex and I sat across from each other on the rug in the living room and gave her a chance -- and she took her first steps! She spent about 10 minutes walking back and forth between us, up to six steps at a time, and each time clapping and clapping afterward in glee. Yay, Kiana!


I don't remember if I've said this before on the blog, so I wanted to say it this time just in case: Kiana has definitely already had her first word: it is, without a doubt "Aidan" ("Ay-dah"). After she wakes up from her morning naps, she asks for him, until we pick him up from playschool, and she calls for him all the time. It is very sweet! She also for quite a while was saying "Hi!" and "Hey!" while tracing a rainbow with a giant wave as a greeting to each of us! (Very cute!)

She is also getting stronger with sign language. She does "all done" and "hi/bye" waves regularly. On Thursday at the playground, she seemed to really get the hang of "more"! It was a beautiful, sunny, warm day, and we let her slide down the slide (with help, of course). She LOVED it, and signed "more" (it looked more like a "time out" sign, but it was definitely "more") about 20 times! So we kept having her slide down again, and again, and again!


In Aidan notes, he is recently determined to sit in the front car of the train so that he can wave "hello" to the train driver and "goodbye" to the train driver when he leaves. On Sunday while he was going on a train with Daddy this week, the train driver honked "goodbye" in response - he loved it! Aidan is also obsessed with chapter books. We are currently going through Roald Dahl books: we just finished James and the Giant Peach, The Enormous Crocodile, and got from the library Charlie and the Glass Elevator and The BFG). He continues to be an incredibly good breakdancer - every time we have family dance parties in the living room, he busts out moves straight out of the subway, and impress all of us with his spins and leaps on the floor!


This Saturday was Kiana's friend Maximillion's first birthday party. It was fun! It was Aidan's first time at a baby playdate, and he was a *wonderful* big brother: he was totally happy to play with the baby toys, and was especially happy to eat baby cookies, a GIGANTIC slice of birthday cake *and* a cupcake! Kiana missed her morning nap for the party and seemed a little overwhelmed with the festivities, but - with the other babies - was impressed with the unlimited cheerio bowl that they were allowed to dig into and scatter all over the floor! Here are some photos of Kiana's friends at the party: Maximillion, Henry, Hudson, Sylvie, and Lela.