Aria is one!!!

September 13th was baby Aria's first birthday - can you believe it has been a whole year?!?!

She has been an amazingly wonderful addition to our family and I am very lucky to be her Mama. Its been wonderful watching her grow and learn this past year - amazed at each new trick and milestone. She has always been a pretty "easy" baby (minus the sleep thing) and has added oodles of joy and fun to our life. She has a very even temperament - just goes with the flow of our busy days - although recently she has been more assertive communicating her wants and dislikes. She is rarely fussy, smiles all the time and has a contagious laugh that gets others giggling. I refer to her as a "velcro baby" - always attached to me somehow - and as long as Brian and/or I are in the room, she is content and playfull. She adores her big brother and sister, loving to wrestle and follow them around. She is not a fan of koosh balls, is a Baby Einstien junky and eats grapes by the dozen. She crawls super fast now, can get helself standing very easily and is starting to cruise on furniture. She loves to be outside, is a big fan of slides and falls asleep easily in the car.

We had a nice celebration on her birthday - she was a perfect little birthday star all day long - smiling, laughing, and waving at people - loving all the attention (as long as noone besides Brian or I tried to hold her).


Here she is concentrating on opening one of her gifts.



She must have been moving too slow - b/c here is Mulu & Aaliyah opening up the rest of the gift for her.




Her with her birthday bib, birthday crown, birthday cake and birthday smile. She had the whole group of adults in front of her with cameras and big smiles watching her with her cake - and you can see she loved all the attention!



post birthday cake smashing - she didn't eat much of it - but loves squeezing it through her fingers.


and some of the other kids at the party enjoying the cake too (yes, they are sitting on the floor in the kitchen - I didn't like the idea of chocolate cake all over the carpeting and our table was being used for the real food)

Giraffe feeding

We had an awesome opportunity as a family to go to our local zoo and have a private feeding of the giraffes. It was such a great time! There were three giraffes (2 adults and 1 baby) whose names are Sweta, Jabari and Zawadi and they would walk right up to us and reach down for the crackers. All three Johnson kiddos got into the action and had the privilege of my mom (Nana) coming with to take video for us - which will be really fun to watch someday.


Here we are cautiously walking up to the giraffes (you can see the personalities of the kids coming out in this photo - Mulu: all about it - ready for action - curious, Aaliyah - cautious but curious - wanting to participate, especially since her brother was doing it - and, as you will see later, participating in the end and Aria - just along for the ride - happy to be held - and watching everything happening around her.




Say cheese!



Mulu getting a turn - he loved this part - where he could feed them on his own - getting more confident and daring each time (even petting their noses a couple of times)



Daddy and baby Aria having a turn. Check out how long the giraffe's tongue is! Shortly after this was taken the giraffe picked up his head and took a big lick of Aria's head - making the little bit of hair she has stick straight up. She was a bit confused - but didn't seem to mind.


and at the last second (we were down to the last cracker that I broke in half for her) Aaliyah fed the giraffe herself - super nervous and giggling with anticipation. She was very proud of herself. I missed the actual feeding - but this is the moment right after (you can see Mulu was right there suggesting her to go ahead, and ready to grab it to do himself if she changed her mind)

School starts - and a bit more.

This past week school started for two of the three Johnson kiddos.

Mulu started 1st grade. He was super nervous in the weeks leading up to it - asking lots of questions, having bad dreams and overall increased anxiety. He was especially upset when he realized that his Kindergarten teacher was going to have a new group of Kindergartners - that traitor! Even walking up to school that day he held onto our hands tight - but once he got there he was excited and didn't look back. He had a great week and is pleased to tell people that 1st graders get to check out TWO library books!!!

Mulu in front of our house on the 1st day of 1st grade!



Daddy and Mulu walking up to school.

1st graders get lockers!!!


And Aaliyah started a preschool this week. It is a class at our YMCA that meets twice a week from 9-11. The night before she started I got our her backpack, packed some extra clothes - just in case - and put it by the door. Before we left that morning I noticed it was a bit more full so I peeked inside. Aaliyah had gotten some carrots and celery sticks from the fridge, put them in a bread bag (I still don't exactly know where the bread went) and put them in her bag, along with two juice boxes and the handsoap from the kids' bathroom. When I asked her about the soap she replied - very matter of factly "well I thought it would be a good idea to wash my hands at school." She got a bit nervous walking in, but quickly acclimated herself to all the new toys and by the time she sat down to start painting (see picture below) she looked up and said "ok Mama - you can go".


she insisted on having a picture with her brother (his 2nd day of school)


Aaliyah at the sensory table. (she was not impressed that I was taking pictures)



Aaliyah painting


One of Aria's favorite activities is coloring on the easel with crayons - I never would have thought to offer an 11 month old coloring stuff - but she watches what her big brother and sister are doing and copies - most of the time she does well NOT eating them, but as you can see here, Aaliyah sometimes eggs her on.



And last week Aria had tubes put in her ears - after numerous infections (9 since Jan. 1st) and not being healthy in the summer, the doctors thought it would be her best bet. The surgery went great - and quick! - and the surgeon said it was definately what she needed. The best part is that it can help her not have infections for up to two years!!! She has been a totally different baby since the surgery - sleeping better, more independent and overall happier.

Here is a photo of Aria in her little gown before the surgery.