Can I Eat That?

Later, Lily woke up for lunch while we were in the Creative Activities Building. She liked the look of the cookies.

Zonkers

...but by that time she was zonked out asleep. We'll do it next year.

Giant Slide

We thought about taking Lily on this, the Giant Slide...

Or Make A Funny Face Instead

That's more polite anyhow.

Play With Your Feet!

When you get bored in the stroller waiting for Daddy to come back with the fried cheese curds, play with your feet! But then it's so fun it's hard to stop. Even when you get to eat some cheese curds. C'mon, show up your cheese curds! Open up! Let's see 'em!

Sea of People

Lily also enjoyed the people-watching very much. There were a lot of whiny kids; she wasn't one of them. One little girl, whose dad stopped her stroller just behind me, kicked me with abandon until Daddy moved her out of the way. When I turned around to see who was attacking me, I saw that she was way too old to be in the stroller, and she looked at me like she knew better, she damn well knew better than to kick me, but she did it anyway. No one apologized. I should have kicked her back. But maybe that's why she was kicking in the first place--she didn't have enough room and was getting squashed into people all the time. That I could understand.

The good thing about the MN State Fairgrounds is that it's all paved. So you aren't breathing in dust all day from everyone (and that's hundreds of thousands of everyones) tromping about. That's what I don't like about some other fairgrounds, and crowded outdoor events. And it would especially suck for Lily, since she's so low to the ground in her stroller.

Linus

She also liked the Peanuts statues scattered around the Fairgrounds.

Lily's First Minnesota State Fair

Here's the first thing Lily got to see: Dog Frisbee club demonstrations. She liked it. This field, right next to the Pet Center building, used to be taken up by a Twins merchandise tent, but now it's evidently being used by the Pet Center for their demos, which is a vast improvement over trying to do them inside the building, which was always totally mobbed with spectators.

How does this happen?

It's a mystery. NO, it's not a ginormous mole, it's a blueberry. But how did it get there? We fed her with her clothes on. Yet somehow...Hmmm.

"Dog"--It's official

Can I get a witness? Oh, that's right, Uncle Mikey witnessed it! That's him sitting on a hand. Hmm, that didn't come out right. It's an art sculpture. That sounds better. Anyhow, stopping by Thursday night, Mike visited with us a bit and we all heard Lily say "Dog," a pronounced (pardon the pun) progression from "Og." She's said it several times since then, although she still likes to say "Og" and "Gog."

Great Day for Lily and Mommy

Tuesday we started with a stroller ride to the park and playing on the swings and slide, then later after second breakfast, we went to the Children's Museum. Top pic is Lily in the Habitot room, playing Peekaboo with me. It's very cool, this area is decorated like a winter scene, and then the corner is full-length windows. There's a bumper rail for kids to hang on to while they look out at the people and cars below, and a post near the corner just big enough for a toddler to walk around but not an adult. So she liked walking around that a lot, and looking out the window at the bustling world below.

The scene below the window is a main intersection in downtown St. Paul and it made me think of Richard Scarry's books, how he had Busytown and all these little animals with jobs like postman and milkman and florist and such. I can't wait 'til we can read those to her. I have several from my childhood, but she's not good with the paper pages yet--they get bent or ripped. So we'll wait a little longer and make do with board books.

The second pic down is Lily playing with another little girl in the sand area (it's more of a sculpture than a box, so I can't call it a sandbox) up on the newest part of the Museum, an outdoor artpark on the roof. The sand is so soft and squishy, I took her shoes off so she could feel it between her toes. Not like the dirty gritty stuff at the public park.

Last picture is Lily playing with a cute toy I got her that day while she was sleeping--after the Children's Museum, we went to the downtown St. Paul library and played there with some other kids and checked out more books, and when I got her back to the car she fell right asleep. So I drove over to Unique Thrift on Rice and Larpenteur. It's one of the best thrift stores in the cities, and I found a couple blouses for myself for under 5 dollars, then found several toys for Lily. This one is an elephant with wheels that actually turn (he can go roll pretty far, too) and each wheel is a rattle. So she can sit and shake it to make noise, or push it around like a car. She likes it very much and I spent 60 cents to get it. That's right, 60 cents. I am so proud. Don't worry, I cleaned it thoroughly before I gave it to her. It cleaned up very nice. I also found a Mother Goose See and Say, a Fisher Price "radio" that plays 6 songs, a little hand "vacuum" that is like the old corn popper toy but smaller and less noisy, and a spinny light thing. All these toys were under a dollar each. God, I love thrift stores, and recycling toys. I feel like I'm rescuing the Velveteen Rabbit from the trash.

Okay, I have to go to bed now, I was going to make this short because I have a headache, but I just had to share what a fun day I had with my baby girl.

Og

Lily's first really specific word, I think, is "og." or "gog." Which means "dog." She says it whenever she points to Cocoa, or at other dogs. It's pretty cute. And she's very happy when I confirm that yes, indeed, that is an "og" she's pointing at. She says "mama" and "dada" but it's more like "mamamamamama" or "dadadadadada" and either will do in a pinch when she's, well, at a loss for words. Haha, don't hit me for that bad joke. But you know what I mean, they are just universal words right now that can be used for anything good, or anything she wants. But "og" is reserved for an actual dog.

The picture thing isn't working on Blogger tonight, otherwise I'd have a cute playground pic up. Will try tomorrow.

Today I did fine on my own with Lily until about 5pm. I got a headache on the top of my head and have felt dizzy and nauseated since then. I think it's from blood loss, because I have my period and I am just gushing blood. It didn't used to be this heavy, like before I was pregnant. Now I can barely keep up with it the first few days. I should probably talk to my doc about this...meanwhile John gave me a spinach dish for dinner, so I'd get some iron. I gotta go to bed now, just hope the dizziness stops soon because closing my eyes makes it worse, all spinny.

Lily on her first boat ride

She didn't even mind the bulky life jacket. I didn't go on this ride because I had a headache, so I stayed in the house and napped with an icepack over my face. I'm glad I only had one headache over the weekend, that's an improvement.

So we had a really nice, relaxing weekend at Jack and Mary's, got to visit with Mike and Sue as well, and came home happy.

This week I don't have my helper at all, so I might not get to post again until the weekend. In general, things are going well. The candida diet is really making a difference in how healthy I am. Lily had a cold after she had the croup, and then John got it, but I never got sick! So I'm pretty happy. And I was telling John last night how I feel different now about being a Mommy, after a year. I feel more confident, and when I get up in the morning I don't think "how am I going to make it through the day with this baby?" but "What fun thing can I do with Lily today?" She is so much fun right now, and it's so exciting to see her starting to walk. She tears around the house pushing her little cart, giggling and smiling, how can that not rub off on you? I thank God every day for Lily, she's so special. And mine, all mine!!! Hee hee

Lilybug dress

Lily all dressed up for church. She was very good at Mass. Then we took these pics after we got home, before we changed her clothes to pants so she could crawl around properly (it's very hard to crawl in a dress).

Lily reading to herself

She can turn the pages very well now.

Lily in the Labyrinth

John takes Lily through the tile labyrinth in downtown Eau Claire near the river. Here's what I learned: The difference between a labyrinth and a maze is that a labyrinth only has one path. There are no dead ends like in a maze, you just follow it and you'll get out fine. John told us this as we were all looking at it. And I turn to Susan and say, "How do they know these things?" meaning the Mercers. They know things like that. And she knew just what I meant. "I know!" she said. It's like, where did you get that information? The History Channel? And how do you remember these details? Anyhow, Lily was more interested in the other little kids playing in the grass.

Auntie Susan feeds Lily

Notice how Lily's reaching for the container. If she gets it, she'll turn it upside down to get the yogurt out. Then she'll be frustrated she can't pick it up to eat with her fingers, so she'll smush it all over the high chair tray. Luckily this did not happen.

Here, Let Me Fix That For You

Lily helps Mike fix the TV.

Weekend at Jack and Mary's house

Well, I didn't get to go swimming but we had a wonderful weekend just the same. Here's Lily with Daddy in the backyard, lake in the background. The weather was wonderfully cool and even a bit cold at night, just the way I like it for sleeping.

Toking on a Stogie

Actually it's a stick. But she has to taste everything, so it went in the mouth. It could have been worse, like an actual cigarrette butt.