Here, no particular order, are all the ways that Julia has more (or less) been amusing us over the past couple months:

1. WALKING! Definitely the highlight of the last month or so! Julia had been cruising along the furniture almost as long as she'd been able to pull herself up (since mid March or so), but she was completely uninterested in trying to walk with help. If I held her hands and tried to have her stand, she apparently thought we were playing and would just go limp and giggle. When we were in Peoria, Julia had birthday pictures taken at the Botanical Gardens (happy birthday from Jonathan's parents). During the photo shoot, we were standing on a path, and the photographer asked Jonathan and me to each take one of Julia's hands... and she just took off! We walked down the path, and she didn't want to stop! After that, she was more than willing to walk holding hands, and taking an evening walk became a family ritual (and she always screams bloody murder when we have to come back inside! She still LOVES the outdoors... Jonathan says she gets that from me!) Julia had also been standing more and more on her own, but as soon as she realized it, she would sit down or grab onto something for support. Somehow, on June 25, we convinced her that "standing up like a big girl" (see a previously posted video) was really cool, and she was SO proud of herself. In addition to being able to stand up and stay standing up without any support, she also took her first steps (to fall into Mommy or Daddy's arms) later on the same day. So, in her typical fashion, she mastered a two new skills at the same time and has never looked back. Each day after that, she could take more and more steps at a time, is now able to carry objects around with her (which she LOVES), and each day she is more and more steady on her feet. So fun to watch!
2. Julia and I are almost finished with our summer Kindermusik class, and then we are off until October. Since starting to walk, Julia has particularly enjoyed walking/dancing portions of the class. And, of course, the baby massage and anything involving balls are still a big hit. It has been neat to watch Julia and her classmates develop from "lap babies" to "walkers" since February. Also fun to see Julia become more socially interactive (sometimes). One of the moms is going to organize a playgroup so we can still get together until class reconvenes in the fall. Julia also continues to especially enjoy listening to her home CDs. They have definitely been known to help her calm down either at home or in the car.
3. Eating and Julia have been an interesting adventure for sure. She is more picky about textures than tastes (seems to prefer either extremely smooth or super chunky/crispy) and what she loves one day she may hate the next day (and vice versa). The wise have assured us that this is typical toddler behavior. Sigh... Consistent favorites are pretty much any kind of fruit (current absolute favorite is blueberries), yogurt, sweet potatoes, avocados, and most meat (especially chicken) and baked goods (muffins, breads, etc.).
4. Perhaps Julia will find more textures palatable as she gets more teeth. Her sixth tooth is almost in (3 on top, 3 on the bottom).
5. What Julia lacks in the eating department, she makes up for in the sleeping. She continues to be a great sleeper... bedtime is around 9, and she will usually sleep until 8 or 9 in the morning. Depending on when she gets up in the morning, we sometimes eliminate the morning nap, but she always takes at least one, if not two, good long (1 1/2 to 2 hours) naps.
6. A random cute thing Julia does is ask to go outside. She will walk over to the door, stick her fingers between the door and the frame, and make cute noises (that quickly becomes fussing if we don't go out). Going along with that, don't know if I've mentioned this before or not, but Julia continues to love to get the mail with me. She holds the key, gives it to me when we get to the mailbox, and holds out her hand to take it back after I close the box.
7. Julia LOVES BOOKS (still). I don't think her favorites have changed much from our previous post of her favorites. Now that she can walk, she loves to carry her favorite books around. And now she can bring us the books she wants... she'll either hold the book up to us or just plop it on our laps, depending on how impatient she is!
8. Other random things Julia has learned/likes to do: She's been able to shake her head "no" for quite awhile (usually while in her high chair, of course), but recently, she's started nodding her head "yes," often when I will say the word. It's very slow, deliberate, and super cute because she always has a very silly smile! For some reason, she's also discovered a love of "standing" on her head: she will bend over and rest her head on the floor and just stand like that. Pretty hilarious. Even more hilarious is her occasional habit of walking around holding her head and saying "aah, aah, aah"! Speaking of her head, she's finally realizing that she has (some) hair and likes to touch and pat it.
9. Julia has learned to point at the things she wants (especially at the dinner table), which can become quite a fun (or not so fun) game. It is neat that she is starting to have ways of communicating to us specifically what she wants.
10. It's also amazing how many words and phrases Julia recognizes. But that's another post...