Photos: An update? No way!

Sylvia is almost 15 months old, and so much has happened since my last update, I can't begin to describe how much she has changed in that time.

Every day is something new. Sylvia's sign language vocabulary continues to grow day by day. Now, she also repeats many of our words verbally, although many times it doesn't sound like what we say. For example, the air conditioning is "bap bap." I've been much better at documenting her daily accomplishments on Twitter, which I update nearly every day.

So, here's a little sample of recent events.

At the end of June, Kevin's Aunt Maxine visited us. One evening, we went to the LACMA complex to see the outdoor tar pits and have a picnic dinner near the live music outside the museum. The new exhibition was entitled Your Bright Future and included this whimsical and inventive installation of plastic baskets hung like temple columns:


Here's Sylvia engaging in one of her favorite activities—pointing. When asked, Where is Aunty Maxine?, she points to her. When asked, Where's Sylvia?, she points to her own nose.


One of our favorite new development is Sylvia's obsession with diapering her bear, Luna. Periodically throughout the day, she will suddenly say, "Na na!" [Luna], make Luna's name sign, then sign "diaper." She'll pull a diaper out of the open bag and bring it to us so we can help her put it on the bear. As soon as Luna has the diaper on, she'll grab the diaper and shake Luna out of it. "Off!" she says, triumphantly. Then she starts again.


Sylvia's still working on the proper positioning of diaper and bear:


Powder is very important:


Sylvia has also tried to diaper her rubber duck and a smaller bear named Syrup. In these cases, the diaperee ends up fully enveloped with only its head peeking out.

Here's an earlier photo documenting Sylvia's budding interest. Kevin called this one The Passion of the Diapers:


Here's a nice one of Grandpa Mark reading Goodnight Moon to Sylvia. We have another photo from this series of Sylvia signing "fire"—she loves to flip through the pages and identify the fireplace in each scene of the room.


Sylvia still loves the idea of hiding. She constantly tries to hide objects—a toy, a piece of food, an inflatable ball that she couldn't possibly conceal—under a leg or an arm. When asked, Where is it?, she gives a little poof of air: gone! She has a favorite corner between her clothing drawers and the bamboo blinds where she can play hide-and-seek with us:


A nice portrait Kevin took of the two of us:


For Kevin, the most devastatingly cute thing she does now is insist on an embrace when he leaves for school. She cuddles up to him and makes a little crooning sound:


As a last parting shot of devastating cuteness, here's a photo I took of Daddy and baby taking a nap on Aunty Ellen's couch:


Nothing sweeter than having your child sleep in your arms...