Right around the corner

We are behind on posting, as always, so this will be a bit of a catch-up post. Sonia is at a really fun stage where you can tell that she is just on the verge of lots of changes. Most notably, she is getting closer to actually walking. She's now at a stage where she can stand on her own (until she notices she's doing it, and which point she promptly sits / falls down). She'll even sort of shuffle her feet a bit if you hold your arms out for her, but then she sits down and crawls over to you instead. We took her to a children's shoe store on Saturday because she is outgrowing her old shoes, and the saleswoman told us to not to buy any shoes because once she starts walking she will need a different style than you would buy for a pre-walker. She said that we should come back when Sonia is capable of taking 10 steps, and then as we were leaving she said, "We'll see you in 2 weeks!" Scary, but fun, to think that all of that is right around the corner.

It also seems like more and more often Sonia is referring to us by "ma" and "da" (or sounds that approximate that). She'll sometimes say "ma" when I walk in the room, and she says "da...da...da" all of the time when she is playing with Sameer. She is also getting better about indicating what she wants, including lots of pointing accompanied by "ba ba" or "ga ga" (especially when she sees one of her stuffed dogs, a Blackberry, or the bag of freeze-dried fruits which is her favorite thing to eat).

On the non-verbal front, she is starting to be more generous with her "kisses" (basically when she leans in and puts her face to yours). This weekend in particular she has been a bit of a mommy's girl (a very rare thing), so I have received lots of affection despite Sameer's best attempts to win back favorite parent status. She has also figured out that if you are near her and sleeping while she would like you to be awake, if she takes her little hands and repeatedly hits you in the eyes, she will succeed in getting your eyes to open. This is significantly less cute than the kisses.

Best of all, Sonia is starting to laugh a lot more often. She has figured out that if she makes laughing sounds while someone shakes / tickles her, then it sounds especially funny. She literally never tires of this. Earlier today I was doing it to her, and when I stopped she grabbed my hand, pulled it back toward her, and then starting shaking it to tell me I was supposed to be shaking her. Below is a video of her laughing with Daddy...and everyone is happy because it is right after she "slept in" until 6:30.