"Where's Aletheia?" Paper Plate Edition

One of the things that has surprised me about this kid: she does a lot of things spontaneously that I thought had to be taught. For example, we never got around to trying to play peek-a-boo with her, but a couple of months ago she started hiding her face under her blanket and then peeking out at us. When she covers her face we say "Where's Aletheia?" and when she uncovers it, we say "There she is!" Aletheia laughs and does it again, up to about 25 or 30 times in a row. She'll vary the speed, sometimes being covered for a split second, and sometimes up to 10 or 12 seconds.

At Nana Freda's house, she discovered that for the purposes of the game, a paper plate will work just fine.

10 Months, 21 Days

Engaging Gaze

10 Months, 21 Days

Bearded Lady

Aletheia, not content with the normal bathtime fun, has started leaning over to put her face into the water. Here she is with a sudsy beard.

10 Months, 19 Days

Party Girl

Here's Aletheia with our pals Brian and Jewelie Smith at their wedding reception. It was pretty much naptime with we took this picture, so no smiles from the kiddo. This was the best we could manage.

10 Months, 23 Days

Messy

Aletheia after eating (well, gnawing on, dropping, throwing, and smearing upon herself) a teething biscuit.

10 Months, 18 Days

Resisting Bedtime

She's getting better about going to bed, but on this particular occasion, she was really resisting. Now that she can stand up, the crying seems a lot more effective, too.

10 Months, 18 Days

The Full-On Sideways Smile

Just when we thought there wasn't anything she could do to up the cuteness quotient, she breaks out one of these.

I still like the kid, by the way. In case you were wondering.

10 Months, 16 Days

Back Home

We missed another couple of days when our computer unexpectedly died. But this is one of my recent favorites! Aletheia's new thing is to tilt her head to the side and smile. She did that during breakfast, and we got a good look at an apple-cinnamon puff that she was working on.

10 Months, 16 Days

Cuddling and Contented

The last picture of our San Antonio trip.

Standing

This isn't really a good picture. But it's a special one. This is the place where Aletheia first learned to pull herself up unassisted. It's a coffee table in Memaw and Pawpaw's living room. At first Allie would have to try five or six times and then eventually pull herself up, shaking all the while. By the time we left, she could crawl over to almost any piece of furniture and pull herself up in one smooth motion. As you can see here, to get that extra bit of height she would also stand on her tiptoes. Now she won't quit. She stands up all the time. As she has gotten more confident, she'll only keep one hand on the furniture, and every now and then she'll take both hands and see how long she can balance (not long, yet.)

International Superstar

Here's where the last 24 hours worth of visitors the the Aletheia Update came from. Thought you might be interested.

"I Began To Sing Long Before I Could Talk"

Aletheia getting some musical instruction from her Memaw.

And A Round of Applause for...

After walking through almost the entire San Antonio Zoo, Aletheia only showed a significant reaction three times. At the aquarium she smiled a lot and stared at the big fish. She made loud noises for the storks and the egrets. But there was only one animal that prompted her to break out into applause--the rhinoceros. Here she is with Uncle Kasey posing in front of what appeared to be her favorite animal.

I was really interested to see what her reaction would be the the elephants, but she fell asleep just before we made it to them.

Little Girl, Big Fish

Here's a shot from our trip to the San Antonio Zoo. Aletheia really enjoyed watching the big fish at the aquarium in the toddler section.

Face to Face

An Aletheia and her Pawpaw

Holding Hands

A moment with Aletheia and her Pawpaw

Exhausted

Sink Smile

Go Deep!

This shot was taken during a bath in Memaw's sink. It looked just like a sports action shot to me. Aletheia, slides back, picks a receiver, and throws a quick pass--with her rubber ducky. It's the look of concentration that makes it for me.

At The Breakfast Table

One of the world's most loved great-grandchildren is hidden somewhere in this photo. Can you spot her?

Update: You know, looking at this picture today, I keep thinking that I don't see a baby in it. A little, little, little kid, but not a baby. I think if I were a stranger viewing it out of context, I wouldn't ask "Who's that baby?" I'd ask, "Who's the kid?"

In the past couple of weeks, Aletheia seems to have hit a stage where every day she's noticeably a little less of a baby and a little more a toddler. I called her name this morning and she looked at me with a classic "Am I in trouble?" expression--eyes wide, expectant. We hadn't seen her look that way before and the Other Parent and I couldn't stop laughing. But it wasn't baby-behavior. It was kid-behavior.

Good stuff. All of it. But I didn't think baby nostalgia would start setting in before she learned any verbs.

Harley Fans

We're back from our visit to San Antonio, and now ready to return to regular photoblogging, with a bunch of good pictures from the trip. Here's one of Aletheia with her Uncle Kasey, both of them in their Harley Davidson T-shirts.