Fun Family Christmas

Much as I would have liked to celebrate Christmas with my family in Seattle, we did have a really nice Christmas Day with just the three of us. She's a little more aware of Christmas now than last year, although she still calls Santa "Christmas" when you ask her who that is. She took her time opening presents and playing with each one, which was really nice, the way I was hoping it would go. Of course, it went on for hours. We had french toast for breakfast, then opened a bunch of presents and then went to noon mass at the Basilica. I think I'm over going to midnite mass, although it was really amazing to attend when I had the stamina. Maybe when Lily gets older and I'm old and can't sleep anyway, we'll go again. Ha.

When we got back home after church, Lily was really tired, in fact she fell asleep about 10 minutes from home. But then she insisted it was NOT naptime, so stayed up for another hour, and we opened presents again. She was doing her "I'm not sleepy" frenzy and was opening packages too fast, even ones that she knew were not for her. Then we opened a present from Wendy, and it was a fun blanket. I said "Hey, that might be good for nap" and that was a great idea! She went for it. Phew!

Later we opened the rest of the presents and ended with the easel my Mom and Dad got her. I think that and the train set I got off Woot! were her favorite things. And she got a lot of things!! This morning she got up and came downstairs where John was already up, and said, "Let's open more presents!" Ha! The thing is, we will be opening even more presents next week when we see John's dad and Dave and family.

Now, I have a question about accumulating all these wonderful toys and things for Lily. How do you get rid of anything?? One mom from the Lakeshore Learning store told me, "when they're asleep." Yeah, I guess that would be less stressful. But how do I choose what should go? What if she wants it next week?? Ack.

"My Head is Going Crazy"

I don't know where this came from, but whenever we're in the car and I back up, like for parking, Lily will say this. The first few times I thought I wasn't hearing her right, but no, that's really what she was saying. It's funny, isn't it? She knows what's going on, she tells me, "Mommy, you're going backwards." And it's not that it bothers her--she likes it, because in the movie Cars (which she wants to watch every day, but we only let her watch it, like, a couple times a week) there's a silly character that's a car and he drives backwards and it's very funny.

My funny baby.

"I'm Not Sleeping"

Yes, dear, and neither are we. Oh my Gawwwwwd, what a long day. Baby was very 2ish today. And I had a headache, which made me less patient. But it was like a thunderstorm of annoying 2-year-old behavior all day. Not responding to questions when asked. Ignoring me when I tell her to stop doing something, like EVERY thing I asked her not to do today. Breaking stuff, just because. Well, I guess it's because she's being a scientist, but ANNOYING. Messing up my stuff. I even prepared a sculpture session for her, with tons of my materials, like all the stuff she wants to get into all the time. That worked for about 10 minutes. And I was doing it with her, doing my own sculpture, and so of course she has to come over and mess with my stuff, even though I was helping her with hers when she wanted. No, she has to grab my pieces that I've already glued on, and pull them off. Aaaaaarrrgh! Then she pulled a stamp pad apart while "helping" to clean it up after she pulled it off a table taller than her. Like, pulled the spongy bits off the backing. And got it on herself, her clothes, the floor, and her binky.

Walking away when you're reading her a story. So you ask her about 4 times if she's done with the story or wants to finish it, with no response, before you shut the book and get up to do something else. Only to have her come running and insist she wants the story! What she really wants is your soul. No, okay, that's a bit harsh. But if you had the day I had...she just wants your complete and undivided attention, even if she's not paying any attention. You aren't allowed to do anything else. You're like one of those 19th century English butlers who has to be standing by at all times in case the master needs his nose wiped, even if your father is dying in the next room (reference to Remains of the Day). But I digress.

Wouldn't eat anything but sugar today, except for a few bites of good stuff. Wanted something to eat before nap, so I got it for her and then told her I was going to get myself a sandwich, and she said she was almost done, so I didn't make a sandwich. Two hours later, she fell asleep for nap. OH MY GAWD! And that was after 74 different delaying tactics.

Drinking my drink, after I let her make a cup of lemonade for herself. Grabbing my food out of my hand to nibble it, even if she has the exact same food on her plate. Not eating her food unless you feed her bite by bite. That one is really getting old.

Phew. It's 11:30pm now and I think she's finally gone to sleep, as I don't hear her running, jumping, or talking anymore in the other room. John got a taste of all this fun when he got home. I had to go in the bathroom and cry.

It's HARD being a parent some days. And it's not like she's trying to be a little monster. She's just two, and she's acting like a 2-year-old. I'm not even angry with her, although I am angry. And frustrated. And I make sure to tell her that Mommy is not mad at her. Most of the things she's doing, she can't help, she's not intentionally annoying me. She's just figuring things out. And testing limits. That one's a bit harder. I mean, the 74 delaying tactics? Who wouldn't want to scream? And it's even harder right now because she's sick. She has a cough and supersnot ("I have boogers," she'll tell us, when she needs her nose wiped) and a low fever. And so of course we cut her a little more slack. I think the 73rd delaying tactic was that she wanted a bottle of water (no, we aren't giving our baby Evian, she just gets a baby bottle with water in it). And at first I was like "No, no more delaying!" But then I thought, well, crap, what if her throat is sore and she really needs a drink of water? And I'm supposed to be pushing the fluids anyhow. So I asked her "Okay, do you really need a drink of water?" knowing full well she'd say yes. And I got it for her. Which gave her the opportunity to get up and start jumping on the bed again. Aaaaaaaaaa!

And in the middle of it all, she's constantly hugging me and kissing me and cuddling up and saying "I love you, Mommy." So whattya gonna do?

Jumpin'

"Everybody JUUUUUUUUUUMP!!!!!" This was Lily's mantra just a little while ago on our bed. We bounced along gamely, mostly watching her to make sure she didn't fall off the bed. She's so cute when she jumps, it's with such abandon and freedom.

Today we had our monthly art group meeting and John was being docent for Basilica tours at the same time, so I got to bring Lily with me to art group. She's really warming up to people, I love it. Today she was sharing everything, going around and asking people if they wanted orange slices from her orange, and then sharing the colored pencils that Sharon got out for her to color with. I swear, she sees her art aunties more than her grandparents who only live an hour away. Will I get this when I'm in my sixties, the desire to travel around the world and neglect seeing my grandkids more than 3 times a year?? Yeah, I'm a little peeved about it. But there it is. And what great art aunties she has! Sue brought her a wrapped present so she would have something to open when we exchanged our gifts. Such a sweetie. I made a great choice for a godmother. And friend. I think Sue is almost as much fun to shop for as Lily!!

Sorry no pictures right now, our camera broke and I'm not remembering how to upload pics from our old one. Never buy an HP camera, it's a piece of crap.

Angels on the Elevator

Sounds like a title of a Frank Capra film, doesn't it? Well, it's actually about a toddler putting things where they don't go. And Mommy trying to keep her mouth shut and let her experiment. We have one of those old (as in I had one when I was a kid back in the day--the 1970's) Fisher Pricer garages, with the ramp and the elevator and cars that come with it. And it's become the central toy that all other toys revolve around. It's like the center of Lily's toy universe.

We have a lot of other cars besides the ones that come with the garage, and it's fun to play with all of them at the same time, seeing which ones fit down the ramp and how fast they go (Hot Wheels cars go pretty fast once they exit the ramp). Mostly Lily likes to initiate new cars into the garage, but sometimes other toys get the garage treatment as well. Today she tried to get a small watering can to go down the ramp. It didn't. Go. Just fell over. Getting out Christmas decorations, we found a couple of crocheted clothespin angels that a friend in Utah made us 15 years ago or so. Lily of course took them apart so they had no base to stand on, and then today she decided they should go for a ride in the elevator. I'm not sure if they fit or not. I had to look away and bite my tongue. This is a constant process I go through as a parent: She decides to play with something that isn't really a toy. I think: Can she hurt herself with it? Will it break? If it does, can I easily fix it? If I can't, do I really care? Is the joy of exploration worth more than the risk of the thing getting busted?

It's like I need a flowchart in my head. And on days when I have a headache, it's just too much to figure out for a hurting head. I've found I have to just decide ahead of time to stay calm and let things go. Within reason, of course. I'm allowed to yell a bit if she tries to turn on the stove.

Wow, I'm tired. But I have to share that I'm very proud of myself for getting through this day and keeping baby safe and happy. I've had a rotten headache all day long, Nora was out sick so I had no help and no breaks, and then John had to stay late at work. I even made Lily dinner, when I would have liked nothing better than to lie on the couch with an icepack on my head. Oh, and did I mention I had nausea as well? Those pesky migraines.

You know what makes it easier? I gets snuggles and hugs and cute little kisses all day long from Lily. If she's not already in my arms, most of the time all I have to do is look at her and open my arms wide, and she'll come running and jump into them. How can you complain when you get so much love?

Been Gone So Long

I've really been missing posting on this blog so I'm trying to get back into it again, and I think I'll change some things.

So let's just start with today. Lily is sick with some kind of cold and has a runny nose. No fever, but tired and cranky. Today was refusal day, as in everything (ok, 95% of everything) I proposed was rejected. There is always a cute element to her behavior, even when she's being a booger, which is often my saving grace that keeps me from getting really mad and just makes me smile and keep calm. I have had a migraine today so that makes it all the harder for me.

So the cute part of Lily's refusal is that she has her grammar mixed up a bit. I'll ask "Do you want some pear to eat?" And she'll say "I want not to eat a pear." And even though it's the seventeenth thing I've offered her to eat, I can still marvel at how she almost got it right with how to say a very clear NO. I mean, she's 2 1/2, for Chrissake, and she's speaking in complete sentences! She uses present and past tense correctly, says please, thank you, and you're welcome, and is generally amazing with her use of language.

Still, I have to admit I was extremely annoyed today, as she had decided that pretty much everything Mommy offered was rejected. And if she actually wanted to do something that I suggested, like read a book, she would go ask Daddy to do it instead. John was home today because of a big snowstorm, and so I was unpopular most of the time. Usually that doesn't get to me, but the headache kind of ruins my patient Mommy demeanor.

Tomorrow I guess I won't take her to school because she is sick and I don't want to give it to anyone else, even if it's not the flu. I took her to art class on Tuesday morning because the kids don't really interact much, as they all have their own art space and work individually. And she liked being out. The snowstorm was just starting and she loved seeing the snowflakes coming down. She was sort of hopping around like a little bunny.

John bought her a sled at Target today, which was a great idea, but I don't think we have any snowpants or waterproof jackets for her yet. Many, it's hard to keep up with having the appropriate seasonal clothes when they are growing so much!

Popsicle Mind Expansion

Today Lily had her first Bomb Pop. I thought she needed more than just the same three flavors or original popsicles. She liked it. She liked drawing on her food tray in blue and red. And eating it up, all three flavors. I was thinking how we just take that name for granted. I mean, Bomb Pop? Here, kiddies, here's your violence food. Weird. But they're good. Yum-yum, as Lily says.

A little searching turned up that they were invented in 1955 and celebrated in June around Independence Day, so I'm guessing it was a post-war cultural symbol. Very American. Sounds like fodder for James Lileks.

New words are popping out of her like, well, popcorn! Here's a selection:

duck
moo
boy
step
in
out
up
down
mine
ice

time for me to go to bed. Johnny is riding the Ironman bike ride tomorrow (I think it's 100 miles) so I won't be able to sleep in like usual and let him feed Lily breakfast. But we'll do okay. Sue, her godmother, is picking us up around noon, and we're going to my art group for our monthly meeting. Luckily we're meeting at the person's house whose daughter watches Lily during the week a lot, and she's available, so they'll have fun while I get to visit and play with my art buddies. I'm bringing my glitter mod podge for anyone who wants to try it.

Nite nite. Think happy thoughts for us this week, I'm trying to think of it as an adventure, as opposed to an opportunity for panic. :)

Arty Baby Photo

I know you can't see her face, but I just love this picture: All the promise contained in that colorful box of chalk, her hand reaching into into, the blur of movment in her hair, the way her white sandals stand out against the dark cement, and even how there are pink lines already drawn around her on the ground. I have this as my desktop wallpaper now.

It is soooo nice to take her outside now that it's warmer, although it only got up to about 50 today. But she loves to explore. Yesterday she experienced her first ladybug. Bug is now a favorite word, and whenever we go outside we must look for them.

She still has a cold and cough so we didn't take her to class. I thought she might get overwhelmed with all the activity and also didn't want to spread her boogie cooties. Mommy and Daddy already have them, and that's enough. John took her to the park instead today but she wasn't very active, so my hunch was right. She was cranky today, and I think it's partly that she's sick, and partly that she knows something is up about Daddy. He leaves for Vegas for a 5-day conference on Monday morning and it's just be Liy and Mommy (and Doggie) for 5 nights. No Daddy. I'm nervous, but right now I'm feeling a little better, a little more like it could be a fun adventure. Sigrid and Nora are both coming some extra hours so really Tuesday and Thursday will be my only loooong days with no help.

Monday morning Sigrid is coming over and I thought we could go to the downtown library via the light rail train. Lily's never been on it and I think she would love looking out the windows. She's seen the train from our car, so she knows what it is. And the downtown library is new, with lots of fun play space. We can even look for books on bugs! So that's my Monday plan. Then we get back home before 1pm when Nora arrives.

My cold is doing a lot better since I started taking my homeopathic sinus med, Sinusalia. I highly recommend it for anyone who gets sinus infections with those monster sinus pressure headaches. I can take Ibuprofen, Sudafed, Benadryl, Nasalcrom, but nothing gets rid of the pressure like the Sinusalia. I know I sound like a commercial, and I don't even play a doctor on TV! But I'm just sayin'.

Shower Baby

This baby likes the shower, especially with Mommy or Daddy in it. She loves watching us take showers and handing us her tub toys (so generous), so she really loves it when we ask if she wants to get in. So we just strip her right there and pop her into the tub. And then the whale kisses the goldfish and all is well.

Her hair is sooooooo soft after we wash it, I just want to hug her tight and drink in the wonderfulness. I still love napping with her, and how she burrows into the crook of my chest while I curl around her (naps are always on Mommy and Daddy's bed).

Uh oh I just almost fell over. I guess I'm more tired than I thought. Lily has some kind of cold and I got her cooties, so I'm pretty tired. Maybe I can write more tomorrow.

John leaves Monday for his Vegas business conference. I am not going to panic. He gets back Friday night and then Saturday morning is the Walk for the Animals, which we are determined to go to. Lily will be in hog heaven with all those doggies. Not to mention how much we love it. M'kay, going bed now. G'nite. Ba bye.

Sidwalk Chalk Season!

Finally, it's getting warm outside. Well, we saw the neighbor baby had some sidewalk chalk and I thought that sounded like a fun idea, so here you see Lily amidst all of our art (Nora, Daddy, Mommy, and squiggles from Lily). Daddy even drew an airplane for Lily when she pointed one out in the sky. Then she licked the one Daddy drew. Um, honey, don't lick the ground. I can't find any logic there. Anyone?

Doggie!

I have been neglecting this blog, I know. Imperfect Mommy. What can I say? I've been busy. Obsessing over making stuff to get into a craft fair, and it's been almost a week now and I haven't heard back from them yet which drives me crazy because a patient person I am not. And having headaches, like that Alligators All Around alphabet book/song from Maurice Sendak. Did you know that H is Having Headaches? That's so perfect for me. Seems like I'm having them every day now. So some days I take the painkillers and it's easier and then some days I can't and I try to take other measures like ice pack, Head on (that glue stick for your head, basically like mentholatum, it cools the surface of your skin is all), staying out of the sun, etc. It sucks. I'm still adjusting my medications. But it's taking a long damn time and I get tired. And then there are the days I wake up in the morning and say "nope, can't do it." And John has to completely rearrange his schedule and I have to call my neurology clinic and hope I can get in for an infusion appointment sometime that day.

Lily is doing well. This picture is of her leaving the Children's Hospital after we took her to her free eval from the occupational therapist as a follow-up to her being a preemie. Verdict: she's a genius. She's either caught up the two months or surpassed them significantly in her development. I need to remember that, I'm doing a good job. Good mommy. Because of Spring Break we haven't had ECFE class for two weeks and I've missed it. The parks classes have started and so we go to the music class with the same teacher we did over winter and Lily is happy about that. Today was our first class back.

I took her to the Maul of America today to get some new jammies, some cooler ones, since it's finally, finally starting to warm up here. She was very good in the stores. No tantrums. Just exploring and showing me things. And she walked most of the way through the mall until after lunch. Lunch was a fiasco, but then sometimes it's like that. I was by myself with her and it's hard to balance everything. I burnt my hand on pizza, she didn't want to eat the pizza I got her, she spilled my smoothie all down the front of her shirt and pants and onto the chair, and then the topper was that she was twisting around on a chair (I didn't use a high chair) and she fell backwards off it and bonked her head on the floor. OWIE! I held her for a while. No staff came over to see if we were all right, so I didn't feel bad leaving them a mess to clean up. It wasn't that much of a mess, it was all in one pile. But what is with putting the napkins in one spot, light years away from the drinks, tables, and food??? Stupid.

Anyway, we got some good jammies at Carter's and an outfit at the Disney Store as well as a hat she picked out. I'm so glad she likes wearing hats now, she looks so cute in them. I know, she looks cute in everything.

la la la

One of the things I love about a Mom is the opportunity for general silliness at any moment. We wer are trying to get Lily to nap and she was sticking her big toe in her mouth! First we said "No, no, don't eat that!" but then of course we wanted her to do it again for the camera.

I also love singing all the time. You can pretty much make up any song for any occasion. I love singing to her. I like singing anyway, but it's wonderful that she likes me to sing to her. And John sings to her all the time, too. He does different silly songs, like ending every nursery rhyme with "threw it out the window!" That one is pretty silly.

And how she smushes her face into mine when she sort of wakes up but just want more snuggle to get back to sleep. She doesn't just curl into a little space under your arm, she sort of plows over your face with hers and turns around until she likes her position. It's very funny.

Silly Rabbit

Lily was sticking her big toe in her mouth here but wouldn't do it for the camera so Daddy was teasing her. She's a giggle monster. This was part of attempted nap time.

No Nappy No Happy

No, it wasn't just that. But I do feel like crap in this picture. The orange thread is my earplugs, they're attached to each other like mittens. I think I got them at the State Fair. Today I finally bought some new ones at Walgreen's. And really, all that matters in this picture is that my hair looks good. I got a haircut last week and damn it looks good.

The Day Without a Nap

It was a very long day. Sunday. We spent probably a total of 4 hours at different times trying to get this little cute booger to nap and she just wouldn't do it. Part of the problem is that she does have another virus, dag nabbit! And she coughs when she lies down. Which makes it hard to sleep. Then you add stubbornness. I asked her who she got her stubbornness from and she very clearly said, "Daddy." He stubbornly denies this to be the case.

So today I have a headache for various reasons, one of which was that I went to see my headache doctor and had to sit 40 minutes in the waiting room. I forgot to bring my earplugs. I have been using them more lately as a coping mechanism and I could have really used them in that office. There was a small child there who didn't want to be there and he repeatedly yelled at his mother, "I wanna go home!" Turns out he was the patient being seen. The mother was a saint. She never rasied her voice to him, just gave him other options, and soon got him playing a game. She also had a small baby with her, so she really had a handful. I, on the other hand, had Nora at home taking care of Lily, while I sat waiting for my appt. I was trying to read a book but the book is boring and I don't know why I don't just stop reading it except I want to see the movie because Brendan Fraser is in it and so it must be good...but anyway it was too hard to read with a headache because it messes up my vision.

I'm a barrel of laughs, today, huh? I think I have peri-menopause. My GP doesn't think so yet but I think she'll change her mind soon. I am having wacked out periods and PMS, like RIGHT NOW for instance, I am so crabby and my head hurts really a very lot and I'm exhausted...

Lily said a new word this morning: Cheese. But she says it really fast: chees. No time for the silent e. She loves to eat shredded cheese.

So not only is her nose still running, but this afternoon she got diarrhea. AAaaaaaaah!! Kill me now! I'll never get out of the house before Spring! Have I mentioned yet how much I hate March? In Minnesota? It would be different if I were in Kauai, Hawaii, or San Diego, California, but here? It stinks. It's icy. I fell today. It hurt. Everything is brown. It's the second snowiest month which is a big waste because no one wants snow anymore by this time. It's lost its charm. Go away, March.

Done with Fevers

Oh, yeah, I forgot to say I think we're done with the fevers now. And viruses. She only has a little cough and a little bit-o-snot left. Hoorah! So we got to go to our last ECFE Toddlers class yesterday, which she was very happy about. I didn't take her when she was sick. Of course, some people did, I found out. One kid was puking with the flu last week and although he's stopped puking, he still has diarrhea. And Mom brought him to class anyway! I was told by the doctor at Children's Clinic that as long as they have diarrhea they are still highly contagious.

Grrrr. Then last night my throat started hurting again like I could barely swallow, and I couldn't talk without coughing. He probably cootied me, the brat. Actually he was a brat. He's going through the "mine" phase, or should I say "everything is mine"? Lily is very sharing, and she went to give him a toy and he looked at her all mad and swiped it out her hand. She ran back to me and I gave her a hug. Brute.

Snowsuit on the Swing

Today it got up to 42 degrees. So it was all melty outside. And while not exactly warm, for Minnesota in March, you can't pass that up, you have to go outside. So I took Lily in her stroller, suited up in her snowboots and suit, to play on the swings. Well, it wasn't pretty. She ended up having a good time, but what a struggle it was for me!

They haven't plowed the parking lot in the park yet, or the inner trail close to the playground. So I had to leave the stroller and pick her up and slog through some deep snow to get to those darn swings. I was not giving up. Of course, I didn't wear my snow boots. So my feet got cold and a bit wet.

And when I put her in the baby swing, it was hard to push her booted feet through the leg holes. Then when I went to take her out of the swing, it was like she was vacuum-packed into it in the puffy snowsuit. It was crazy!

So then we went to the slide, and although she wanted to climb the stairs, she couldn't lift her feet high enough, probably because of the Michelin tireman effect from the snowsuit. So I had to carry her up that, set her at the top, then I'd run around to the other end of the slide and say "Okay!" And she'd push off and come all the way down, slowly stopping at the bottom. Just the right speed. I think we did that about ten times. She liked it.

She has suddenly become aware of airplanes and was pointing in the sky a lot while we were at the park because she kept hearing them. But there was a cloud cover so she couldn't see them. Then she heard this construction vehicle making that beeping sound they make, and she became obsessed with it. She wanted to see what was making the noise and go follow it. We had heard another from inside the house that morning and it just wasn't satisfying for her when I said, "Yes, I hear the 'beep beep beep,' it's a truck outside." Lucky for us the truck came near the swings, so she did get to see it. It was a scoopy thing, I can't remember what those are called. And it looked like the guy was using the scoop to flatten the snow on the trail, as opposed to actually shoveling it or using a trail snowplow on it.

Owie

Poor little pookie. She's having high fevers and coughing a lot in the last several days. She had a rough day. Monday morning we called to get an appt at her clinic and the soonest they had was 2:15 today, Tuesday. Then her temp spiked at 104.4 yesterday afternoon and when I called the triage nurse, all she could tell me was to give her ibuprofen and dress her in cooler clothes and keep the appt. Here she is cooling off in a t-shirt and eating a popsicle in Dad's lap:

So we go in today and they had to do some very unpleasant things. 1. Catheter to collect urine. Owie! 2. Blood draw. Owie! And then we had stay another half hour to see some results, and Lily was ready to go home by then. She actually went to the exam room door and pulled on John's coat. I gave it to her, and she dragged it over to him, handed it to him, and then went back to the door and reached up and turned the handle. Let's go!

Well, turns out it's not an infection, her lungs are clear so it's not pneumonia, her urine is fine, her white cells are fine, so it's a virus. Which is good and bad. Means we can't do anything else than we've been doing, pushing fluids, giving her ibuprofin for the fevers, and keeping her comfortable. No quick fix. And they couldn't say how long this would last, since it's mystery virus. Agh!

Because of the timing of her appt. today, she missed her nap and so fell asleep in the car on the way home. We tag teamed with her during the nap at home, and she woke up after a couple hours with another high fever and kind of delerious, saying "Owie" and crying. Poor babe. So we did more ibuprofen and then sang to her for a while, and then tried some honey (this is the newest thing, the doc said: works better than cough syrup. 1 tsp of honey and it helps with the coughing at night). After a while she became more coherent and responded to Cocoa jumping upon the bed. She actually crawled over and put her head on Cocoa's belly at one point, and Cocoa didn't even flinch, so we are giving Cocoa lots of praise for helping. She's eating some applesauce now with Dad, and I'm about to go check on them. She'll be sleeping in our bed for probably the next few nights at least. I just don't want her out of my sight with the way her fever spikes. Think healing thoughts for us.

New Word

First of all, this picture actually precedes the one from yesterday's post. I just don't have any new pictures because everyone is sicker today and the last thing on my mind is taking pictures. So here you see Lily has taken over the sink and is communing with the baby in the mirror.

She has a new word: Owie. She's been saying it the last few days about a little scratch she has on one hand, and when we ask her where the owie is, she'll hold up her hand to show us, and we kiss the owie. Well, today was a four-poop diaper day, which kinda stressed out her little bottom, and on the fourth go round, she did not want me wiping it off. I thought she was just being stubborn, and I was getting frustrated. I said "Lily, stop it!" And then I felt horrible because she started to cry a little and said "Owie!" over and over. She didn't want me touching her butt because she's getting diaper rash and it hurt! Poor baby. We finally got the job done with help from Dad, but she was very clear in letting us know that it was an owie. Good communication skills. I just hope her butt is better tomorrow. Or someone is better. We were all worse today, hacking and wheezing.

Warning: Extremely Adorable Naked Baby Ahead!

She didn't exactly get a bath, but started playing in the sink and then her shirt got wet so we had to take that off, and then, you know, it just progressed from there until we just went ahead and took the diaper off and got the J&J baby soap out. Sort of a sponge bath in the sink.

More Peas, Please

So when you have a cold and your nose is all stuffed up, it's really hard to eat. Because you have to close your mouth and then you can't breathe. So it's been frustrating for Lily to eat. So we've tried some new foods just for fun, and we found that she absolutely loves frozen peas! Well, I mean, we don't leave them frozen, we cook them, but in contrast to the icky mush that comes in baby food jars, frozen peas rock! Here she is snarfing some down and having fun doing it.

The other pic is her in her pajamas wandering around in my craft room lookin' for trouble. We're just starting to get her back on schedule for bedtime at 8pm, but it's not going too well. She is very cranky and doesn't want to go to sleep and so will cry and fuss and fight to get down out of your lap--Yes, we still let her fall asleep on us before we put her in the crib. We've never tried just putting her in the crib awake and saying "okay, it's bedtime, go to sleep." Well, maybe we have a couple times, but it didn't work. And we like holding her, so we feed her a bottle last thing and then sing to her and she goes to sleep, then we take her up to the crib. But she's been super fussy about going to bed while she's sick. Last night it took 2 1/2 hours to get her down, and John and I took shifts. I usually sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" to her as a nap song and as a bedtime song, and so last night I made up some new words to sing to the same melody. She seemed to like them, as she finally laid her head down on my chest and went to sleep. Here's my lyrics:

Rest your head, close your eyes

and you will find a big surprise

Dreams are waiting just for you,

dreams of love--adventure, too.

Let this day be done and keep,

Darling girl now go to sleep.

She seems to be doing pretty well today. She was coughing an awful lot yesterday but not so much this morning. John says he is doing better but he can hardly talk. And I have a REALLY sore throat and am getting a sinus infection. Oh joy. That means nasal wash. God I hate doing that. It's so...I don't know, brutal. But anything is better than antibiotics. I think I need to go lie down. It's going to be a tired day for me.

Sick, sick, sick

Boy, I'll be glad when winter is OVER this year. It snowed last night for the first time in weeks and I'm like "feh." Not fun anymore. Everyone is sick in our house. Lily has been sick the longest, poor babe, from one virus to a cold to an ear infection. She's a little trooper, but she gets worn out and cranky and then doesn't want to go to sleep. The top is just when she was starting to get sick, with croup at night. Then a few days later she had a high fever and was very droopy. She needed lots of her dolls around her.

I Did It Again: I Am The Village Your Child Lives In

First of all, cutie pie is wearing some new duds. The sweater is part of a pkg of clothes we received in thanks for some of Lily's newborn and 3 month clothing that she doesn't fit into anymore. This woman picked out such cute stuff! And most of it fits now or will soon.

Now, about that village thing. We went to a bookstore reading this morning at Wild Rumpus, and although the storytime was a wash because it was so packed full of people, Lily had a great time because this store is like a little zoo. They have a few cats, 2 chinchillas, 3 ferrets, some parroty-looking birds that were very chatty, a couple doves, a gecko, a tarantula, and a little chickeny thing. I think it's a guinea hen. I'm not sure. But I'll call him Chic. So Chic roams free in the bookstore, and when storytime was over, the kids started all leaving and/or roaming around, and this one little boy was running through the store, trying to catch Chic, and pushing people and smaller children out of his way. Well, I got sick of it. When he ran in front of Lily while she was trying to approach Chic, I grabbed him and said "Hey, don't run in here." Then his Dad sort of showed up. Actually he was already standing near him, but he wasn't controlling the kid at all, and when I tried to correct his child, he mumbled something about "Hey, let's not....get...excited," and made eye contact with me but quickly looked away. I couldn't tell for sure if he was talking to me, and then when he had walked away from me, I heard him mumble even quieter something about "touch my kid." Well, dumbass, if you're not going to control your child and keep him from knocking over smaller kids because he's running in a crowded store, the village will intervene. I am the village.

Unfortunately the little brat was there for a while longer and I could see even more of this lame dad's parenting. His kid is running around and he says "Hey, buddy, slow...down...there." Oh yeah, that's real effective. See how he's not paying any attention to you?

I'm sorry, but I am not going to stand for this behavior when it gets close to my child. Am I stepping over the line? Tell me what you think.

Once the speed demon was gone, Lily was able to check out Chic at close range because she walked up to him very slowly and calmly. I think she might have touched him lightly before he sauntered off. It was funny, too, her and a couple other well-behaved calm little girls sort of chicken-hopped after Chic, following him but doing it in a chicken-like manner. Very cute.

Lily also pet one of the cats. The first attempt was not so good, because she went for the ear. The cat was so mellow, though, it just let itself get dragged a little ways by the ear before I peeled Lily's hand away and showed her how to pet gentle like she pets Cocoa. She did a good job after that. This was her first cat-petting! I give her a B+. Or maybe an A, since she didn't pull his ears after I told her not to. So maybe now that she's actually pet a cat, she'll start saying "cat" or at least not lumping them in with the dogs when she's looking in her books. Because usually she just calls them dogs or nothing at all. Now she has a real life experience with a cat. I wish we had gotten to pet the chinchillas, they are sooooooo soft. We'll have to go back there when it's not storytime, and see if we can pet the chinchies.

Baby It's Cold Outside!

I took this picture while driving to our Friday morning Movin' & Groovin' class. Daddy calls it dance class. It's nice that it's really close to us, like only 5 minutes away, but on the other hand, that's not enough time for the car to warm up, so we're cold!! Miss Lily doesn't like to wear her mittens so I try to pile her dollies on top of her hands to keep them warm. I'm probably worrying about it too much. I should make her a little muff to put her hands in. Like I know how to make one. Maybe I should look for one on Etsy, more like.

This morning Lily did the sign for "more" with her hands while she was sitting in her high chair eating and I was sitting at the dining room table eating breakfast. I was so excited!! We've been trying to get her to do that sign for months and she finally gets it!! So I was like "Oh! You want more! That's wonderful! Good job, Lily!" Of course then I had to figure out what she wanted more of. But that wasn't too hard. It was Cheerios. Although she doesn't nod her head "yes" yet, she will shake her head "no," so she's getting more and more tools to communicate with us. As opposed to just yelling. Which she sometimes does at night when we're trying to eat dinner and watch a TV show. But it was so cute to see her little hands do the "more" sign. Yeah, Lily!

We're Going to Pump You Up!

Lily shows off her big muscles. Super strong baby.

June is Strawberry Moon

The color is a little brighter than real life on this, but I had night lighting so it looks redder than it is. Anyway, it's a bit more pinkish and there's sort of a red painting at the top of a strawberry vine with berries on it. I made this today, finally finished it, for a project my local art group did, a 2009 calendar with a theme of the full moons. I picked June because that's when Lily was born, and then one night I was inspired to write a poem about her eating strawberries. So I used that and did a packing tape transfer of the poem and the month title, and then hand-lettered or drew or painted the rest on to thick watercolor paper. I'm really pleased with how it turned out. Now I'll just make color copies of this for the rest of the group and I'm done! It's nice to finish a project I've been pondering on forever. (If you click on the picture it will show the larger size and you'll be able to read the poem.)

Oooh!

Daddy and Lily making an "O" noise while reading the book And the Train Goes, one of her favorites right now. We read it every day, sometimes several times a day. I think this might be at the end, where the train goes "Woo-wooooooooooo!"

Lily's recognition of objects in books is getting really good now. Of course she points to and says "dog" to every dog she can find in any book. Doesn't matter what the book is about. Baby Jesus, the Nativity story? Who cares about that, look! There's a dog next to the manger!

Today we got a new book in the mail (from my favorite book swap service online--Paperback Swap) with woodcut pictures of animals. When I pointed out the gorilla, and said "Just like the gorilla in Goodnight, Gorilla," which is a book and Scholastic DVD we have, she went and got the DVD for me, so she understood exactly what I meant! How cool is that? And when I asked her where other animals were, like "Can you point to the sheep?" and "Where is the milk?" she pointed right to them.

Of course, I have to be more careful now because she really is listening to everything I say. So the other day while she was eating and I said to John, "Hey, she hasn't dumped her food tub!" she promptly dumped her food tub. Oops.

Big Girl

If you can believe it, the baby doll Lily is holding is the first outfit she grew out of in the hospital. She was that tiny! And now look at her! What a big girl! Her hair is getting really long, too, growing out all over the place. It always looks really funny after a nap. We are talking about maybe getting her a haircut, just to get it shaped somewhat, so it's not so crazy. But I so want it to get long and thick enough so I can play with it and braid it and make pigtails and put hairclips in it (which she'll probably pull right out like she does when she sees my hair clips).

monkey happiness!

It's funny, Lily has really gotten into her stuffed animals lately. She hugs them all the time and wants us to hug them, and then with Curious George she laughs and holds him out in front of her and runs around laughing. She's still partial to the brown bear Steve gave her on her 1st birthday, and he's the one who gets crib time and nap duty, but sometimes lately it's been difficult to decide lately. Yesterday it was brown bear, white bear, and baby doll. Eventually white bear won out, but it was a tough choice.

Lily Reading

John caught this shot of Lily studying the Children's Museum newsletter. I should send it to the Museum.

Another Reason We Like Children's Hospital

They have good books in the exam rooms. This one was about a dog and a duckling who become best buddies, and it's based on a true story.

Cranky Virus

Last week Lily seemed to be not quite her perky self. She had a fever a couple days and a runny nose, but then nothin', just cranky and clingy and not sleeping well and not much energy. I tried to get an appt at the clinic to check for an ear infection but they were all booked up so we ended up going to the ER on Friday. She was sooooo goood. First of all, after battling with her for 3 hours to nap (including 2 meals, lots of books, playing, and snuggling), she fell asleep on the 10-minute drive to the hospital...but that was good. Then it was easy for them to put on an ankle id tag and take her blood pressure and stuff. She woke up after about 30 minutes and we saw the doc, who checked her ears while Lily sat on Daddy's lap. She didn't like the pokey ear thing but she didn't scream or cry either.

So here she is in her hospital gown, which luckily for us had dogs on it, so she was happy to wear it. No ear infection, but probably a virus. In fact, her discharge papers identify her condition as having "1 of 200" possible viruses. That will probably last another week. Can't treat it, except to give her some Ibuprofen at night to help her sleep better. Sometimes it helps, but she's still waking up in the middle of night crying sometimes and just wants to be held by Daddy.

Art Supplies In Action

This was one of Lily's favorite things to do today: take the colored pencils out of the jar. Then put them back in. But maybe not all of them. Then take them out. Maybe dump them out. And pick them up and put them back in the jar again. She was very focused on this experiment and took it very seriously.

I am trying more and more to stop using the word "mess" around Lily. Like this, it's not a mess. She's even kind of cleaning it up. But she's exploring picking up small things, using her fine motor skills. And learning to put things back after she's done with them. So it's all good. I was amazed at how long this entertained her. Which is good, because it was like -20 outside today so we were stuck in.

Silly Happy Baby

This baby is blurry a lot, because she's laughing and movin'. The top one has Lily throttling Fisher Price Mommy. In the bottom pic, she's wearing a long string of cranberry-colored beads that never made it on to the tree because it's too fun to drag around and make Mommy or Daddy hold the other end or shake it. Amazing how the simplest things can inspire so much fun.

Hey I'm Brushin' My Teeth Here

In my candy pajamas. See my tummy? My belly button is just peekin' out.

Adventure Peak Again

We went back to the indoor playground/climbing tower the Friday before John went back to work after Christmas and Lily had a great time. She's getting more adventurous, or maybe it was just because Dad was there that she wanted to explore more. Dads have that effect.

Pimp My Crib

Bling bling! Green rope light on the crib! Oh, put down the phone. We didn't leave it on there, don't call Child Services. Jeez. Just havin' a little fun. This is actually the first picture in a project I started on Flickr called Project 365. You post a picture every day and it has to be a pic you took that day. Several of mine so far are of Lily. You can see them here. I'm also doing another one that's similar but it's of the same object every day for a year. So the object I'm using is an old Fisher Price Mommy. You can see my pics so far on that one here. I like taking pictures so it's really a fun project so far. I'll put links on the sidebar here so you can look at my project periodically if you want. You can click on each individual picture to see my description or you can do a slideshow by clicking on the tiny gray tab up near the right corner.

Dog Burglar!

Well, she's not a cat burglar, obviously, because she's wearing a dog outfit. And she looks like a little burglar with the hoodie up. So here she is grabbing the jewels, and then making off them, right past the camera. No fear. No guilt. It's just MINE.

Experimenting with Sound

Hahaha! The past couple of days, Lily has found that if she smushes her face on this footstool and blows real hard through her mouth, she can make funny noises. They're basically fart noises. They're hilarious, and we can't help but laugh. She also thinks it amusing.

Mom 'n' Lily nappin'

I generally nap with Lily at least part of her nap every day. This is from a few days ago and we'd just gotten home from errands and baby was too asleep to get out of her jacket. So I just snuggled up next to her. We almost never put her in the crib for naps. I can't fit in there. She can get down off our bed ok by herself now and today I had gotten up after we were asleep a while and about 10 minutes later she came running quite wobbily to me looking upset, her arms outstretched. I don't know if she had a bad dream or what but I scooped her up and we went back to the bed and she slept on my chest for a while, which I love, love, love. Even when she rolled off to be on the bed, she didn't let go of me, wanted me close. So I stayed there. It's nice to feel needed. Today was John's first day back at work after Christmas vacation and during the time he was home I have to admit I felt a bit jealous at times that she always chose Daddy over me if we were both available.

Some Christmas Morning Pics

The bottom pic is Lily in her new Santa jammies from Aunt Wendy, she's climbed up on the buffet to look at the Christmas decorations, including a tiny train that goes around a little track.

In the top pic you see Lily wearing a new pink sweater from Auntie Kath, and playing with a fun toy from Dave and family. She figured out how to make it work right away. You press down on the ladybug.

We had a really nice time with Lily on Christmas Day. It was just the three of us, and we took it slow, letting her open a gift and then if she wanted to play with it for a while, we did that. No rushing. Then it was time to feed her again, so we took a break. Then when it was naptime, John put together the doll stroller Aunt Kath sent, and we threw a blanket over it so it would be easy for her to "unwrap" when she woke up. I think she had a very good time, which makes us happy. It's funny how Christmas changes when you have a kid, you focus on them so much that any presents you get for yourself seem like a bonus. Just seeing your kiddo happy is a big present in itself.