Cora says "HI"

Today was a beautiful and warm day here in the Upper Peninsula.  The sun was shining and a gentle breeze was blowing.  The perfect kind of day for taking babies outside for sunshine and stroller rides. That's exactly what I did.  I took Cora out for a walk around the horse pastures and enjoyed listening to her babbles mingle with the birds chirping and the ducks quaking.  We have an increase in ducks in the creek and even saw a barn swallow checking out the old mud nests under the barn eaves.  Its was shaping up to be a beautiful day and Cora and I were definitely enjoying the weather.

Since the day was so pretty and the weather warm, the indoor arena was warm as well today.  I decided that at a year old, Cora was old enough to be introduced to my horse Taksi. Up to this point she has only seen them from a distance. I know that Cora won't be able to ride until after her spine
x-ray when she is two years old, but I figure she can at least get to know the horses now.

When I brought Taksi in from the pasture and led him up to the stroller (Big sister Emily had the camera ready) Cora just stared at him with those big blue eyes of hers.  She looked at me and I signed "mama's horse" and kept talking to her and signing "mama's horse".  The whole time Taksi was smelling Cora and looking at her with his gentle eyes.  jAll of a sudden Cora started to wave her arm and out of  nowhere, clear as a bell, she says, "HI"!

I looked at Emily and Emily looked at me and we started laughing.  Cora had just verbalized another word.  "HI".  Cora verbalized the same word two more times while waving her arm at Taksi.  It was music to our ears and Taksi gets all the credit for this new milestone. 

It was indeed a beautiful day at our indoor arena.  We hope your day was just as beautiful...