2nd Halloween

Last Halloween we tried one of the crazy and very crowded pumpkin patches along the only road into Half moon Bay. It was nice enough, but this year for Halloween we took a little trip down to an out of the way pumpkin patch a little farther down the coast.  Unfortunately we went right before nap time, so Lily had just fallen asleep when we arrived and had a tiny case of the grumps. We were quite pleased that there was almost no one there and we could have free reign, along with being able to get photos devoid of random people :). Our first stop was to see the cow and goats, which Lily was very excited about…until the cow let out a giant “moo”. It was so loud and unexpected for her that she got quite scared and was very hesitant to go near. She was content, however, with watching the animals from the top of the giant hay stack. We then headed over the the field with the pumpkins  and let Lily roam free. She seemed to have lots of fun running among the pumpkins and playing on the very old truck that seemed to have met its end in the middle of the field.  When she made it clear that she really needed her nap we headed home, though with a little reluctance since it was a perfect sunny 70 degrees at the coast (which is not the most common occurrence here). We didn’t go out trick-or-treating and we hadn’t gotten her a costume this year since she already had a little Halloween outfit from Grandma, but I don’t think Lil minded one bit. A few days earlier we had attended our ward’s Halloween party where Lil got to see all of her friends dressed up and got her hands on a few pieces of candy.



                           Hanging with Atlas and John at the Halloween party

                                    After she found some candy…
                       

19 months

I wrote in my journal

Lily is such a joy! We have been having lots of fun together. She has added much more to her vocabulary, such as “cow” and (some form of) “pajama time” when I read her books. We recently taught her some songs and she loves them. She knows the motions to Itsy Bitsy Spider and she sings along to that and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Of course, when I say she sings along I mean that she’ll start off or end each phrase with the correct word or sounds, and you can tell she’s trying to sing the right notes. No matter how many times we sing them, she claps and says “yay” when we’re done. We usually have to sing them multiple times as she loves it. The good thing is that I can use the songs to calm her down when she’s upset, or at least distract her for a minute. Lil has become very picky lately with her food. She is very good at telling me “no” when she doesn’t like my selection for her. It’s just hard to know what I should be feeding her and what she’ll eat. She is also very interested in feeding herself. She gets upset if I don’t let her have the spoon/ fork. She is actually pretty good at using her utensils. She’ll even go so far as to use a fork on her cheese- or cinnamon puffs, which is quite amusing. She has also started to put herself down for naps sometimes, which is also pretty funny to see.

It is getting harder to take her to the store with me. She refuses to sit up front in the cart and is still too skinny for the cart straps to prevent her from standing up in the front, so I just let her ride in the back. She can’t climb out but can grab almost anything she sees. She says hi to everyone who walks by :). She is very good at recognizing her regular food, so when we walk past  things like the the Goldfish display, she’ll start pleading “fish, fish, fish” and so on. Or when I put food in the cart she’ll give it to me to open so she can eat it and gets frustrated when I don’t give it to her. The best, though, is when she keeps trying to bite into any piece of produce I put into the cart. It’s funny to look away and back again and see a chunk taken out of the avocado :)

 

Weekend trip to Grandpa’s house

 

Play time

 

Putting herself down to sleep

17 months

I wrote in my journal

Lillian is now 17 months old. What a curious little girl she is! She is great at entertaining herself. Whenever we go somewhere she just takes off any chance she gets. She seems to move before thinking. We have to keep an eye on her at all times. there is rarely a time when she is timid or shy. I am seriously considering some kind of baby “leash” for going places like the fair of the airport. Once she feels comfortable with something- she just goes for it. For example we went to the beach on the 4th of July and once she got her hands wet, all she wanted to do was run full force straight into the ocean. I was more than happy to hold her in the water, but it was ice cold! Speaking of that, she loves baths and the pool. Even when she goes underwater at the pool, she just gets back up and keeps playing. It makes me happy that she is not easily deterred like other kids, but I worry that she’ll get into much more trouble than is necessary since she doesn’t seem to sense much danger.

We have a long list of words coming from Lily now. Mommy, daddy, hi, bye bye, might night, more, bite, doggie, kitty, meow, baby, out/up, and, of course, NO. It is exciting to be able to communicate more and (sometimes) understand better what she wants, She also knows how to say and point to eyes, nose, mouth, and belly button/tummy. Even when she’s not saying anything in particular, she babbles a lot. She’ll say “one, two” and wait for us to say “three” or tickle her or something. She dances when she hears music and is starting to song along with some of her toys that she’s had for a while. Lily loves her new little cousin Colin- especially pointing to/poking his eyes.

She definitely knows what she wants and I try to respond to her quickly- as a result she is good about asking for things without whining. We have lots of fun together and I’m so glad that she is entrusted to our care :).

Fourth of July Fun

 

Just hanging around

 

Playing with cousin Colin and Grandma

16 months

I wrote in my journal

I’ve been neglectful in my writing about Lily, so this entry should be a long one! Lillian is such a funny, happy toddler. She really has her own personality and is a very determined little girl. She is adventurous and daring and fearless. She is no longer just walking, but loves running everywhere- and when she does, her little bum shakes back and forth :). She loves taking my/our things and hiding them in the most awesome places- such as the trash cans…We are really going to have to monitor ourselves because Lily is a little copycat. She wants to play with everything we touch and she has started to get more comfortable with things like watching T.V. with us. It is kind of scary to see how our habits now can have such a major effect on her future. I am really focusing on cutting down on T.V during the day so she doesn’t get used to it.

LIl is very interested in figuring out how things work and doing things by herself. She is always trying to put lids on things or is pressing buttons to see what happens. She loves new things and sometimes says “wow” when introduced to something new :). She still isn’t saying too much, but what she does say is pretty cute. She will say “hi-eee” and “bye-eee” at the appropriate times, followed by some sort of wave. Clark got her to say “baby,” but I’m pretty sure she has no clue what it means. We just try to reinforce anything that looks like progress :). Lil LOVES to spin on the computer chair or to put toys on the chair and spin it. Any time this happens Lily says “weeeeee”- which is so cute! The interesting thing is that she started doing it on her own- it just naturally comes out. She also says “dada,” “na” for banana, and “mah” for more, though  only our trained ears would understand.

We spend lots of time ta the park and Lil goes all over the place and loves the slide and swings. Speaking of roaming around, Lil refuses to sit still these days. She’s not quite old enough for nursery at church yet, but we usually go in there almost every Sunday. It’ll take her a minute or two to let go of my skirt, but she seems to do pretty good in there. She loves to run around, whish is why Sunday school and relief society are impossible with her these days. At least she hasn’t started screaming in church yet!

I just gave Lil her first mini haircut. She didn’t need much, but there were a few bits in her eyes and a couple that were a little too long in the back and looked like they would turn into a mullet very soon. Luckily that was all she needed because she didn’t hold very still :)

Learning at an early age how to assemble IKEA furniture

Flashing that grin

Easter fun

Memorial day trip to Portola Redwoods state park