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Sometimes, it’s just too exciting to leave Mama’s room. Austen climbs over the new treadmill, sits on the potty and plays with her puzzles.

Other times, Austen plays downstairs with her toys.

Austen now enjoys taking bubble baths, thanks to Cousin Mor’an. Prior to visiting Morgan for Easter, Austen didn’t really like bubbles in her bath but after sharing a bubble bath with Morgan, Austen gets excited as the bath tub fills and anxiously yells “Bubbles? Bubbles!”

She’s also crazy about bubbles blown at Gymoboree and My Gym classes. She swats at them and says “Ooooo, bubbles!”

Riley and her parents came to visit Metuchen. First we all went out for Sushi. Then we came home, and while the little girls played throughout the downstairs of the house, the parents got to play board games. Yippie. A treat for the parents. The highlight: Riley’s mom, Kelly, entertained everyone by humming Funkytown. Don’t believe her if she tries to tell you a story about Lucinda breakdancing.

Austen now spends a little time in rooms, such as the yellow play room, by herself. Before, Mama never left her anywhere by herself because of fear she might get hurt or need assistance with something, such as a frustrating toy. Austen still falls and still gets frustrated but not very much, so she can now happily spend short periods of time in a different room than Mama. Of course, Mama is always listening for her and goes to check on her if she doesn’t hear anything. (Austen is constantly making noise: babbling, jumping, throwing things, dropping things, yelling at the kitties, etc.)

Austen seems to be transitioning from two naps to one but it has not been an easy move. Some days she naps in the morning around 10 or 11 and then at around 2 or 3. Other days, she naps only once, either in the morning or afternoon. Other days, she’s just plain unpredicatable. Tuesday she napped at 9:30am, only a couple hours after waking, and Mommy had to wake her up for lunch. Wednesday she fell asleep in the car but barely rested in her swing. Today it took Mommy TWO HOURS to get Austen to fall asleep. Mommy persisted because Austen hadn’t slept all day — she’d been playing at Woodbridge Mall Tiny Town — and it was mid afternoon. Finally, Austen gave in and slept, but only for an hour.

Austen drank from a water fountain for the first time, during My Gym. She let Mommy know she was thirsty by picking up someone else’s sippy cup and showing it to Mommy. Later, she walked toward the door and pointed when she was tired and wanted to go home.

While picking up dinner, Austen drank water from a cup for the first time at Monsoon Indian Restaurant — where Mommy loves the Aloo Papri Chat and Austen loves the semi-spicy noodles.

Austen’s vocabulary is growing at a hyper speed. On some days, she says 4 or 5 new words. Some recent additions include:

“Pa” or “Papa” (when we talked about Grandpa)
“Cookoo” (Cookie)
“Coco” (Chocolate)
“Chacha” An all-time favorite.
“Baby”
“Quirrel” (a squirrel)
“There she is!” (initially stated when we found the squirrel hiding in the branches)
“Stars”
“Mama cup” (Mama’s cup)
“Car”
“Truck”
“Choo Choo” (Train)
“Cup”
“Sun”
“Fan”
“Side To Side”
“Momo” or “Mor’an” (Morgan)
“Mia” (friend Mia)
“Iley” (friend Riley)
“Egg” (Easter was a big hit!)

Everyday she tries on new words for size.

Where-ever we go, Austen points out the things she sees. Cars. Trucks. Birds. Dogs. (And her favorite thing to itentify) Choo Choo.

Austen has begun singing — “Doodle Doo. Doo. Doo.” — along with her Music Together CD which Mommy plays during car rides. She loves almost all the songs, including “This Train,” “Clap your Hands,” and “Cuckaburra.”

Additionally, Austen has begun counting. Mama and Dada hear her reciting “Seven, Eight, … Ten.” She usually goes from three to ten but excludes nine and really emphasizes seven (her favorite number).

On weekends, Austen shows a strong preference for Dada over Mama. She relishes her time with Dada but seems satisfied to be stuck with Mama during the weekdays.

When pushed to cooperate in organized actitivities (even fun ones), Austen balks. Mommy sometimes lifts her into a headstands (Austen giggles) but she won’t attempt a forward roll during My Gym class when prompted. At home Mommy caught Austen attempting the headstand on her own and she knows Austen is capable of doing the things she refuses to do. The trick is to get her to try them, without pushing too hard.

Changes in Mommy’s life now that Austen is older. She can drive long distances without fear. She can leave Austen to roam around upstairs or downstairs, without staying in the same room, as long as she can hear what’s going on and checks often. Easier to talk and explain things to Austen, instead of feeling unable to explain why she can’t have something she wants. Austen will happily eat in a high chair at restaurants so we can walk in the door, instead of always dragging along the stroller. Fewer bottles to carry around. Mama can now ask Austen to help with something, like finding her dropped sock. Austen is brave but not reckless so she normally listens when Mama explains that something is dangerous. Love and hugs from Austen, as long as she isn’t in her “I only love Dada” mode — which can be “cured” by playing with her for a while. Austen can walk by herself now and doesn’t have to be carried everywhere. She and Mama sometimes walk into the mall without even a stroller, because Mama isn’t quite as worried about Austen habit of “running away.” Austen can even crawl into her own car seat, but Mama has to buckle the straps. Mama is not scared of Austen’s crying the way she once was, although she’s sometimes flustered and takes a few minutes to figure out how to deal with the situation.

Austen enjoys watching videos of herself on the computer. If Mama or Dada go into the office, she’ll run in after, climb on our lap and point to the monitor babbling for us to play the videos. If you stop or take a break, she quickly reminds us that she wants more by signing for more and simultaneously saying “more.” She even threw a really big fit when Dada wouldln’t let her watch anymore than 20 minutes.

Shockingly, Austen has given up drinking milk. One day she went cold turkey and that was it. This is the same girl who was crazy for milk for the first year and a half of her life. How will she beat this one? Will anything Austen does ever shock Mommy and Daddy again? (As a result, Austen eats much more, although Mommy and Daddy sometimes struggle to get her to eat a good serving of meat. Austen loves fruit, bread and cheese.)

Austen has also decided she needs to keep the kitties in line. For example, when Mama left the kitchen and Squirtcup jumped on the counter, Austen pointed at her and yelled “No! No! No!” Poor kitties. First having to avoid Austen’s physical touch and know being commanded not to do something.

When Mama or Dada go into the garage, sometimes Austen will follow, point to the car and say “Car?” asking (and sometimes demanding) that we go in the car. When she gets into the car, Austen knows to go into her car seat and gets settled quickly. She’s also become a little spoiled with the car DVD player however that’s reserved for longer trips only.

Austen enjoyed playing with Morgan’s monkey-in-the-box toy, as you can see in her celebratory dance.

Morgan tries to get Austen in the jumpy castle but Austen’s too excited about the chalkboard.

Morgan fed Austen cheesy puffs but then Austen got a surprise nibble when Morgan snuck in a piece of chicken. (In the background you can hear Uncle Tod’s low voice saying he won’t step out of the ordinary and smile for Austen in order to help her warm up to him. He told his sister Lucinda, “I’m not going to change who I am to make Austen like me.” With Uncles like this …. Luckily, Auntie Lu is more agreeable. See photos.)

Quick! Find those “hidden” eggs.