Aria Lately

Aria is 16 months old and such a little joy to have around. It's amazing when you think that a year and a half ago we didn't know her but now our life would not be the same without her! 

Aria is a total girly girl. She loves shoes and sparkly skirts, having her hair combed, getting her toenails painted and all things baby. She loves to rock her baby, feed her baby, and carry it with her wherever she goes. Her favorite thing to wear is her purple tu-tu with silver sparkly stars. If she sees that it's available in her closet and I pull something else out she totally loses it. She reaches for it every time she sees it. Every time she finishes a bath and I set her on the changing table she reaches into her basket and hands me her hair detangler and a comb! So very girly. That's not to say she doesn't also love to hang with her brothers. She watches everything they do and repeats almost all of it. She just has a baby in one hand while she does it.

She is an expert at climbing the ladder to the bunk bed. And by expert I mean she is obsessed with climbing that thing. Any time she catches the boys' door open she runs straight in and races to the top. She's fast. It's terrifying. She cannot be left alone for a second. She has also set the new record of climbing out of the crib. She is officially the youngest Hagen to do that with the boys coming in shortly behind her at 18 and 19 months. At playgrounds all she wants to do is climb ladders - any height, any angle, any anything. That's what she will be running for. So can she keep up with those big brothers? Oh yes. That is not a problem.

Aria is talking a lot! And it is so fun to hear and see her little opinion on things. She definitely has an opinion on things. If you ask her a question and she doesn't want to do it (like "Aria, are you ready to go to bed?") she shakes her head no. She signs "please" and sometimes "more". She says:

Baby (day-dee) It's almost indistinguishable from Daddy.

Daddy

Mommy

More-more

All done

Toesies

Woof

Uh-oh

Tyler

Boom (When any one falls, bumps or drops something)

Amen

Bubble

Thank you

Here-go (when she hands you something)

Boo!

Hi

Bye-bye

Nigh-nigh

Love you

I know there are more. I just can't think of them right now! 

She loves to sing. My favorite is anytime we sing Jesus Loves Me she starts pretending to drum with her fingers like drum sticks. And she loves to dance. She blows lots of kisses and gives lots of sweet but messy real kisses.

This girl is so loved by her big brothers. Just today I walked into the living room where they were playing in a blanket fort. The boys had gotten her hair bows out and she was sitting in front of them letting them put them all over her hair.

If either Tyler or Carsten cry about something she runs over as fast as she can to give them a hug. She loves them so much. One of our favorite tricks is if Aria is mad about something and we can't calm her down we just tell Carsten to make her laugh. He looks at her and laughs and she immediately switches from tears to giggles.

Aria is not shy. We are going to need to work on this with her. She would go up to absolutely anyone to tell them hi. And she just keeps waving and saying hi until they notice her. I took them all to the dentist last week and while the boys had their appointments she went up to every person who came in the waiting room to show them her baby.

She also likes to play with duplos, kitchen toys/food, toddler play mobiles and gears. She likes to carry around a baseball bat and throw balls and she loves to be pushed around on scooters or trikes. Did I mention she likes climbing? She does that a lot. :-)

Aria is such a sweet little girl. She is quickly becoming a little girl and not a baby anymore! But I try not to think about that. She still likes being my baby right now. :-)