Fall is here!

The weather has started to turn very cold, and everyone is getting ready for Halloween. It is also time to get Aoife new warm clothes. We have gone through pretty much all of the clothes that family has given to us as gifts, and now we seem to have nothing warm for her. We went to a used store to get a few new outfits. We got a lot of really cute ones which she'll be photographed more in during the next few months. The winter clothes tend to make her look more grown up compared to summer clothes which show off more of the baby chub and skin. She seems even more chunky in these warm clothes.

Aoife is getting stronger and stronger as each week goes by. One favorite thing she loves now is to stand or kneel up against me and chew on my cheek. I blow bubbles on her cheek and she tries to this back. She is so mobile when she is on my lap She's able to pull herself up and scrunch down again. She flips from her front to her back and pulls up again. She really loves being close to me on my lap which is shocking since she had spent a few months where she didn't like me to hold her all that much. We spend a lot of time on the floor where she plays between my legs. She also likes to play with me after she wakes up. We spend about half an hour on the bed "wrestling" with each other before she needs to eat. I'm so glad that she is trusting in me more and is becoming more engaged with everything. She also lets me comfort and console her when she feels unsafe which never happened when she was younger.

This is one of my favorite pictures of Aoife. She LOVES pets especially dogs. She is absolutely curious about Mr. Puck. He seems to be warming up a lot to her. He comes and stays at home longer now and really doesn't mind it when Aoife touches him. Aoife is really gentle when touching him. It's as if she seems to know that he likes to be pet gentle. She used to grab his hair and yank it, but now she just puts her hand out and allows puck to run his fur against her; she loves this sensation. She also loves animal noises. I have a little farm book for her where i make lots of different noises and she loves listening to them. Maybe it's natural for most kids to like animals, but I think she has a special place in her heart for them already.