She weighs around 21 pounds and is super long in the torso like her parents. She has brown eyes and a sweet little chin (like mom). She wears 18 month size clothing and some 12 month pjs and other things but mostly she is so long and lean, she has to have the length of the bigger clothes. She loves shoes and socks and will attempt to put them on herself. She can go up and down the stairs and plays well independently. Ari still naps twice a day and sleeps 11-12 hours a night (Praise the Lord for wonderful dad-like sleep habits). 
Ari loves to read books. She'll go through each stack of books and name as many of the animals she knows and make up words for new ones. She turns the pages carefully and by herself and we sit in amazement at her interest in books. It makes me very proud.
She is still a bundle of joy, giggles, words, babbles and laughter. She's very opinionated however (wonder where she gets it...) and will let you know what she wants/doesn't want to do or play with. My favorite word she says is 'kitty-cat'. Her newer words include fish, pig, book, banana, byebye and cheese. The girl loves cheese. In fact, I spelled it once and she immediately said it. We got a sharp one.
Ari is not yet walking but is very close. She seems content to crawl and push her cart around but no walking or steps yet. She has stood on her own a few times and will realize it only a second later and sit down immediately. She gets very upset when you try to let go of her hands while walking. So, we'll just take it week by week. Whenever she wants to walk, we're fine with that. 
