If A Bean Babbles in the Woods...

We had yet another wonderful camping trip this weekend with our favorite little outdoor enthusiast.  Although Cora stuck to a rather limited diet of milk punctuated by a teaspoon or two of squash, the rest of us enjoyed much more varied fare cooked over the fire, including fresh blackberry crisp baked in a dutch oven, great Mexican food, and an incredible sweet potato, bacon and vegetable hash brown.  Some good beer, relaxing time reading in the shade, and visiting with our friends Christine and Shane.  Oh what fun.

Cora getting loved by her Teenie...

And we were excited to witness our Beanie learn how to babble this weekend.  She's been vocalizing for a while now, making lots of vowel sounds and even adding a consonant here and there for good measure.  But she hadn't started actually babbling consonant-vowel combinations repeatedly yet.  We've been waiting for this milestone.  Over the past couple of weeks she has discovered the joy of making sounds while we move her lips.  What would you call that?  Hmm. Like an assisted motorboat, maybe?  Anyway, it seems to have opened the way for her to start trying to imitate the sound on her own.  Which results in repeated "Da, da, da, ya, ya, da" sounds.

You'd think she said her first actual words considering how excited we are.  But it is great to be able to add this to her growing list of accomplishments.  She seems pretty happy about it too, since she's been doing it non-stop all day today.

And for your (and my own) viewing pleasure, some other cute snapshots of her most recent camping expedition:

Having a little down time in her travel bed.  In her bunny suit.

More relaxing as a bunny.  With the cutest face ever.

Cora's favorite thing to do:  Playing with Daddy.

Even better... playing with Daddy and her favorite right foot.

"Daddy always puts his hats on me, doesn't he?"

And last, but one of my own favorites, Cora enjoying a moment sucking on her toes.  Mmm, good!

And I guess I will leave you with a little motion picture of Cora learning to make her new sounds.  Forgive the obnoxious mommy voice.  She also happens to also be combining them with a little ready-for-bed whining... but you get the picture.