He's finished!!!

At 11:58pm on Friday night, Andy turned in his last seminary assignment. We were both thrilled as he checked off his last item on the to-do list. What a rewarding feeling! We celebrated by popping open a bottle of sparkling cherry juice and toasting to our past three years. It's taking a while to sink in that he's really finished. . . it will probably feel more real and official at graduation! Since this was a busy week for Daddy, Bella and I had a lot of time to hang out together. Earlier in the week, we went to the park. I put her on this bouncy duck and said "duckie". . . then she started to say it too. . . "duckie, uckie, uckie". It has now become her favorite word (after MaMa).After the park, we went to the library. There's a huge open area where Bella loves to run around. She likes to run but gets a little clumsy at times so she's now sporting two 'owies' on her knees. I tried to get pictures, but there was no keeping her still. . . After weeks of practice, Bella can now go up and down the library steps all by herself.

And then we went back to our place and played outside on the grass. Here she is doing her signs while watching 'Baby Signing Time'. I think she's doing 'phone' here. She added 'book' and 'fish' to her signing vocabulary this week. Here she is another day. This time I think the sign was either 'ball' or 'car' - I can't remember now. She's really been into putting shoes on her hands lately. Reaching for her beloved 'uckie'.And. . . I was trying to get a picture of Bella smiling. She wasn't really doing it, so I just asked her to show me her tongue. Guess I got what I asked for!!!

One final Bella accomplishment. . . she has learned how to turn off the light switch. For the past few months, flipping off the light switch has been a part of our bedtime routine. She points to pictures of 'Mommy' 'Daddy' and 'Bella' and then switches off the light. Usually, I've had to help her since she consistently tried to push it in like a button instead of pushing it down. She's finally got it! It probably takes a Mom to get excited about these kind of accomplishments, but I feel proud.