Biting

Apparently Audrey has begun a new stage in life - one that unfortunately includes biting.

I was sitting at the table and Audrey came up and bit my knee. So I told her in a very serious and stern voice (while pointing my finger) "Audrey NO biting. We do NOT bite in this family." She looked back at me with a smile and then tried to bite my extended finger. At this point her daddy, Aunt William and Aunt Genny all started to laugh. So I had to give them a "no laughing allowed" look. Then I looked at Audrey and again told her NO biting.

She hasn't tried to bite since, but I am afraid that it is just a matter of time.

Bibs

We keep a small basket in the kitchen for dirty laundry - like bibs, napkins, etc. If I forget to empty it every night - Audrey will remind me by going through it and picking up all of the useful things - like bibs and trying them on and throwing the rest of the stuff on the floor.

Often she will put all of the towels and such back in the basket but she will include any clean things she can get her hands on too (like a clean towel hanging on the oven handle). And one of my favorites, she often hides her toys in the basket. When I am emptying the laundry, I find Farmer Bob or a little people animal hiding with the napkins.

Gymboree Play class

Today was Audrey's second play class and she went crazy with delight. She was running and jumping and sliding and rocking (on the boat and rocking horse) almost non-stop. Even things I thought she wouldn't be too fond of - like sitting in the center of a parachute with 7 other wiggling kids while the parents pulled it in a circle - she tolerated (unlike quite a few of her classmates). She is also becoming more adventurous on the slides - she discovered the joy of sliding on her belly (feet first thankfully) today and spent a good 5 minutes doing that over and over.

Another really interesting thing is to watch how she tries to please the teacher. It really is remarkable how much she tries to get the teacher to smile at her and acknowledge what she is doing.

The last interesting tidbit - while Audrey was doing the "freeze" on the log (long air filled/ stuffed cylinder that the kids bang on to the music) standing right next to the teacher I was sitting on the other side of the log watching her expressions and another little girl lost her balance and fell right into my lap. So I talked to her for a minute and helped her back to the freeze log. Apparently, Audrey wasn't too happy with someone else sitting in her mommy's lap because she stopped doing the freeze and ran around the log and jumped into my lap with great concern. So I gave her a big hug and she went right back to the log, but she kept her eye on the other little girl for the rest of the game.

Book Babies

Audrey loves the Book Babies program at our local library. We do it every other week. Last time we went - she sat on the floor right in front of me and read all of the books by herself - I was a little disappointed by her independence - but what can you do. This time however, she sat on my lap the whole time and let me read the books to her - it was a good mommy day.

After they read the books and sing songs, the library has a box of toys for the kids to play with. They had a couple of stacking/nesting toys that Audrey played with almost the whole time. I guess it is time to hand over my measuring cups when she follows me into the kitchen.