The things she says...

Lily has been saying the funniest things lately. Here are some of what's been overheard lately...

While eating dinner recently I began to sing a song, "Yummy, yummy, yummy I've got peas in my tummy." She loves this song. We insert whatever food we happen to be eating at the time. I got up from the table to get something. When I returned she said, "Look mom. Peas in my tummy!" and proceeded to lift her shirt and show me the pea she shoved in her belly button.

She walked into the bathroom while my mother was using it and said, "Show me your butt."

She went to Home Depot with John this past weekend. They used the restroom to wash their hands and upon exiting she pointed at a couple in the store and loudly told them, "Wash your hands!"

Lily now has a booster chair at the table that she can climb into by herself. Lately she's been getting in and buckling herself while I'm in the final stages of dinner preparations. I usually give her whatever portion of dinner that happens to be ready ahead of time when she does this. One particular evening I gave her peas to munch on first. When asked if she'd like more she responded. "No... I'm okay right now."

I gave her a hug and told her that I loved her and she responded by hugging and patting me on the back and said, "I love you. I love you soooo much."

Yes!!!

I'm about to enter my second trimester already and am starting to show a little. I'm feeling less tired than I was which is a welcome change and still no morning sickness. We'll find out if we're having a boy or girl in early August.

Sophisticated Lady

Lily has begun to enjoy dress up. Recently while I was busy folding laundry she got busy dressing herself. The last picture is when I told her it was time for a nap.

Color!

"Color!" is often Lily's second request when we get home in the evening. Her first request is always, "Blanket! Where r ew?" When the game of finding her beloved blanket is over she heads over to the table to create a masterpiece while I try to do the same with dinner. She has a little box for her four crayons that I've noticed she's very particular about... She doesn't like the crayons upside down in the box.

Beep Beep!

This is a picture that John snapped on our way to Pendleton this past weekend. We were stopped near the top of the Snoqualmie summit while the road was cleared of an accident. It was snowing and Lily would reach her hand out the window to catch the falling flakes she'd never seen before. On the trip back home we made a pit stop along the way. John got Lily out of her car seat because she had spilled crackers all over herself and while he was cleaning up the mess she sat on my lap in the driver's seat and played with the steering wheel and all the fascinating buttons. It took all her might but she was able to figure out how to honk the horn. I know she was impressed with her accomplishment and her proud giggles were contagious. She was not happy when it was time to go and she had to get back in her seat. For the next several miles her hands were extended to an imaginary horn in front of her and through tears of frustration we heard, "BEEEEEP!", "BEEEEEP!"

Where do I Start?

I've neglected this blog for so long that memories, events and milestones have piled up. To be honest, I find being this behind more overwhelming than 15 loads of stinky laundry. Since the task of re-creating the last six months of memories would be a tremendous undertaking, I'm just going to start with where we're at right now.

Lily is now 20 months old. We visited the doctor earlier this week for a check-up. She's 24lbs, 32.5 inches tall and the definition of average in terms of height, weight and head circumference as she ranks in precisely at the 50th percentile in each of these categories.

Lily is doing and saying something new every day and John and I find ourselves more and more smitten with her charm. We are giggling, hiding, seeking, hugging, kissing and running here and there all the time. We are cherishing every moment, every new word and every funny thing she does. Lily is determined, independent, filled with wonder and wants to participate in the world around her. I've found that she likes it best when she's helping so we've been giving her tasks to complete when we can. I have her help me in the kitchen quite a bit. She's great at putting the already cut ingredients for her fruit/veggie salad into a bowl and at helping make oatmeal. Since one of her favorite foods, and mine, is oatmeal, we make it together for breakfast all the time. She'll get the pot out of the cupboard, bring it to you and say, "a-meal!" when she's ready for breakfast. Then, she sits on the counter with the pot between her legs and helps pour in the oats, water and raisins. She even reaches into the little salt bowl I have sitting out, grabs a pinch and sprinkles it lovingly over the oats. Years from now I want to remember these small and simple ways in which her individuality developed more than the places we've been or the things we did. I want to remember the cute way she sticks her tongue out when she says, "hello", "yellow" and "pillow" in an effort to make the words sound right. I want to remember how she runs to our bed after her bath, snuggles into the pillows and asks for her blanket and then her nook because she needs both to be truly cozy. I want to remember how she can't wait for either John or I to get out of the shower so she can rush over to offer a towel... A few days ago as I carried her up the stairs to bed and as she cuddled into my shoulder with her favorite blanket she said, "I uv ewe" without any prompting or me saying anything at all. It was the first time she made that statement and I cherish it more than her first step.