Overheard

Over the last few days I have heard Lillian repeating to her babydoll, Rosie, things she hears often from me.

Yes or No!

when I want Lillian to actually answer a yes or no question with more than blabber

Talk Louder! I can't hear you.

when Lillian (with her naturally quiet way of speaking) makes requests from the backseat--especially since my ears have been plugged up!

So, I know that my daughter is learning how to navigate some of the more annoying points of toddler parenting as well as the rewarding ones.


The picture is Lillian wearing my wedding veil. She saw the Little Bear and Emily getting married episode so now she is marrying everyone and anybody. We found the veil when we were upstairs attempting to organize "nanny's room" aka the guest room and mommy's sewing room. (Not that mommy does much sewing.)

Right now our big thing is swimming. She officially learned how to swim last summer, but this summer she is a fish. She will float on her back, swim on her back and even jump in (with a little help.) I was very unsure that pool was worth the investment, but now I am so happy we have it. It is such a great way for her to use her energy and it is something we can all do together. It is especially great for me with the asthma and fibromyalgia. I am so proud of her bravery. I remember how terrified I was to swim.

A Time of Firsts

The picture is from this morning and is Lillian at her first dental appointment. She did refuse to open her mouth part way through, but the lure of the balloon won out and she did great.

She is in a big period of growth. We are in the pool now and she is swimming like a fish--doggie paddle, backstroking, and floating!!

We were all outside last evening cleaning up the yard, etc. I mentioned to her that Daddy had a lot of bird poop on his truck. Lo and behold, I came back form filling the feeders and she had gotten the bucket and sponge out of the garage, filled the bucket with a little water from the hose and was cleaning the bird mess from the side of Paco's truck. She amazes me. She could not reach part of it with the spnge, so put the bucket and sponge away and went and got the hose and used that to finish the job. Way to Go!!

She has had a couple of winning phrases over the past couple of days:

when I told her what we needed to do today, she said: "I am just not in the mood for that"

when asked where she was going to sit down for dinner, she said: "oh, don't worry about me"

We have been busy lately. We took a trip to the Ft. Wayne Zoo on Sunday and had a great time. Lillian is very concerned about Dumadi, the baby orangutan whose mother died shortly after his birth. We "adopted" hime form the gift store on our way out and Lillian is raising him.

crazy hair

I have read a million of them from those cute blurbs in parenting mags--when your kid says something hilarious, but also embarrasing in front of strangers. Yesterday, we went to the library and Lillian was waiting for the clerk to make her OWN library card. Anyway, an older man was standing near the desk. Lillian turned to me and said "Who is that man with the CRAZY HAIR?" She was right--he did indeed have crazy hair. It was sweaty and sticking up in a tornado-like whirl all over his head. I am unsure whether anyone but me heard her. I changed the subject and moved on quickly. I still need to have a discussion with her on why pointing out the obvious is not always the best policy.

The opicture is from yesterday too.

A Big Girl

As she tells us a thousand times a day, Lillian is a big girl now. She does many things for herself and can be fiercely independant. I find this supremely annoying sometimes (usually when we need to be somewhere), but I LOVE it too. I want her to be strong and know that she can do things. I want her to be feisty and a little hard-headed--just like her mama.

Let's get started--underwear and more

The hope is to create a virtual diary of Lillian's life and our parental journey---the excellent, the fun, and the challenges too.

Lillian has conquered the potty in the past 2 weeks and we are extremely proud and ecstatic. She is yet to do #2, but will take off her undies, put on a pull-up and then tell me she has done the deed. She has also moved back upstairs to her own room again and is doing great. She alwys ends up with us sometime during the night to "cuddle up." That's OK too.