My First poem about Lily

Lily Eating Strawberries (17 mos.)

At first she
gobbles them, you
slice each in-
to quarters
like the moon. Her
mouth open, a baby
bird's, waiting
for the next, too
eager to
use her hands.

Then fingers in-
terrupt yours, taking her
time, savoring feel,
movement, guiding her
hand to mouth, then
taste and nourishment. Sated.

Now the careful
pieces become more
experimental, devolve in-
to barely recognizable
shapes, squashed under
the shadow of her
curiosity, until
only red juice
remains.

Why I Love Naps

Naps are so much fun with Lily, even when I don't get much sleep. She fights it at first, not wanting to go to sleep, but laughs when I drag her away from the edge of the bed by her leg back to the cozy nap spot we build every day on our bed, consisting of my big pregnancy pillow on two sides, the headboard on one side, and my body on the fourth side. She has her favorite bear and we have about four other bears on the bed, so we might have a little bear wrestling and tussling. And when I can see she is starting to get really sleepy, I open my arms, and she will sometimes just dive right into them and cuddle up against my body, with my head on top of her head. Of course, often she head butts me, which she doesn't seem to mind, but for me it smarts. But it's the most wonderful feeling when she dives into me like that. Then when she wakes up, she'll crawl on me again, or head butt me to get my attention if I'm not already awake. I love it. I love her, she's such a sweetie. I am so blessed.

While Mommy Was Crafting

Lily was exploring. Now, if I was all organized like those people in the Someset Studio magazines, I'd have all my ribbon on rolls mounted on the wall. But where's the fun in that? I just have all my bits of ribbon crammed in a big Ziploc, and when Lily wants to look at it, I just hand her the bag and she gets to do this. It doesn't take that much time to clean up, and she has a great time with all the colors and textures. And Daddy even draped some of them around her to show off her princessyness. I just made up that word.

The Fast Slide

This slide was super fast. We went on it three times. Once Lily went down by herself, and although she looked happy, I thought it was a bit much for her, so Daddy held her the other two times.

There were other slides as well that we did, but these are the only ones I took pictures of because I was having a hard time keeping up! Lily had a fantastic time playing, and we did, too, although I am not sure who was more worn out after.

Not Really

But Miss Snarky Pants did have cabin fever by the time she got well, after the two weeks of diarrhea. Oy. So when she got well we took her to this really fun place, an indoor park and play area that has this massive play structure that you climb up into. There's a toddler area, which we played in first, that's the bottom three pictures. Then there's the big kids area with big slides and a climbing wall and all kinds of stuff. The top pic here shows how they made "stairs" for the kids to climb up. John is helping Lily climb.

It was interesting in that the structure was built for parents to fit through, and they actually encourage parents to go through it with their kids, but we didn't see that many other parents. Most of them were sitting in this sort of amphitheatre below the play structure, reading, drinking coffee, basically ignoring their kids. Yeah, quality time.

Mommy and Daddy don't buy me any toys

So I have to play with the toilet paper.

Going On A Dog Hunt

First thing in the morning, before I even get clothes on, I think it's best to find some dogs. First, see, I found a picture of a dog on the toilet paper roll package, and then, as you can see, I found the picture of dogs in this book. Am I good or what?

My First Popsicle

Yum. I ate about half of it. I even knew how to hold it right.

I Can Walk Up The Slide In My New Shoes!

Yeah, not really. She fell over the side and went bumpo in the sand. But she's okay. Just another minor speed bump in the life of a toddler. Still had lots of fun going down the slide today. It was unseasonably warm.

A Historic Moment

As I write this and sit up late on my computer because I can't sleep because I have a migraine, I listen on MPR to John McCain's concession speech. Wow, I can hardly believe it. It was almost too much to hope for, but we finally live in a country that can elect a black man to be President. Can I get an Amen?! Dr. King's gotta be havin' a party in Paradise.

Now this is a world I'm happy to bring a child into. Not another one, mind you. Don't get any ideas. I already have the perfect tot. But how cool is it that she'll grow up and learn in her American History that when she was less than 2 years old, we elected a black man to be president. And she was part of it. That's right, she voted. Hey, she has the sticker to prove it.

Amen.

Spider Girl Checks Out the Climbing Wall

I Can Fly! I Can Fly! I Can Fly!

(to the tune of Peter Pan music). This is Lily playing on a bouncy jet at a park near Mary and Jack's. What a happy girl! We had the park all to ourselves, so we tried out everything. Yes, I'm going backward in time, do not attempt to adjust the horizontal. We have control over the vertical.

Stage 2: Runny Poo

For 1-2 weeks. Well, been through one week. Oy, messy. Stinky. Poor baby, you can tell when her tummy hurts. Not too bad on the diaper rash. Can't go out anywhere because she's contagious as long as she has diarrhea. I cheated today and took her to Nordstrom this morning and got her some big girl shoes. She's been squished into her leather shoes for a while and we haven't been able to get out, so I wanted her to have some good walking shoes. Got some hot pink Stride-Rites. Why are they as expensive as adult shoes? Can someone esplain this to me? No make sense. Tiny.

So Halloween sucked. Better luck next year. I want to go to ZooBoo and to at least one event with my SAHM group. I was just so looking forward to doing Halloween stuff with her. WAH, says the Mommy.