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Saturday, August 30, 2008



Well, this is the best I could do with the Carousel ride Lili and I took at the mall. I tried to upload the video, but after 3 hours, I got fed up waiting for the download.

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Lili's First Diamondbacks Game

The grounds crew and Matt's good buddy, Grant.
Lili and her teddy bear leash (kept her from running away)
Cracking peanut shells on the floor
2 incredibly exhausted parents
Lili flirting with the boy behind us. She is going to make us nuts when she is a teenager.

Birthday Party

We went to Madi's birthday party today. And much to Matt's and I's surprise, Lili was very good and she actually played really well with other kids her age. We are so proud. She didn't hit or slap anyone and for the most part was great. I need to get permission from Madi's mom to put a few cute ones of Lili and Madi up, but until then here are some pictures...





Friday, August 22, 2008

Lessons in Parenting

My husband just sent this email to me, I had to put it in here...

"When your 16 month old daughter makes a dookie and you change her, here is a simple rule to follow.

If you pull the tabs off her diaper to see if it is pellets (requiring only 2 wipes) or smeared everywhere (requiring up to 6 wipes), make sure that you reattach the tabs so your daughter does not yank the diaper out from under her launching poop pellets all over the room


It is things like this that make me glad I'm at work during the day
:-D

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Sad day for reptiles

Lili has been pointing at the Albert Belle clock above her window every time I put her to bed for about 2 weeks now. I'd just look up and say clock, but she kept pointing insistently. I had no idea why and the clock was too high to reach. And then once we go through the whole bedtime routine, I forget about it.

Well I guess when she got up this morning she did the same thing for Matt. This is what he found.




I felt so bad. Poor dead lizard. He probably had a field day in our house eating those darn black bugs we couldn't get rid of forever (thank you Riddex plug in bug getter ridder).

It makes me wonder how she knew it was there.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

A photo study...of Lili

Lili playing with the collander

Lili reading


Showing Daddy how great the book is

This is where the Porcupine (named Fluffy) meeting the Rhino (named Hippo).

Great book

And this is the point where she got over excited and ripped the cover page

Hurry up and open the cereal Dad, geez

She wants an ATV for Christmas


Looking good


Cutie pie

Friday, August 8, 2008

Interesting insights unearthed by an article

I just got done reading this article "The Real Differences Between Boys and Girls", http://www.parenting.com/article/Baby/Development/The-Real-Difference-Between-Boys-and-Girls, and I was fascinated. Here are a few of my own observations that relate to the article.


The Toys
Lili has everything from Matchbox Cars, a pull toy animal train, balls, learning toys and a baby doll. She really favors her stuffed animals the most. She cuddles with them at night, and walks around during the day putting them aside or handing them to someone for safe keeping. She does like the baby doll, but keeps picking it up by the hair which is kind of funny. But she is instinctively delicate with it, otherwise. She holds it carefully, which amazes me. She has no older siblings or cousins to mimic, that is her instinct telling her a baby is fragile. But she will throw her other toys around the house to hear the sounds they make.



She loves her drum set and turns it on to dance with. She is gentle one minute, and a rough and tumble, fearless little sprite the next.

Action
She is always on the move. She will climb up, over, around and through anything in her way. She can figure out how to do almost anything by watching. The coolest thing is that she will reverse any action Matt and I do, say how we block her from going this place or that. She watches how we block the area, then she starts with the last step we did, undoing things as she goes, until she is through the obstacle. It is quite amazing.

She has such fine motor skills, I am constantly amazed. Turning pages in a book, tearing paper, you name it, she does it.

Motion
She loves faces, but she loves technology even more. She figured out what the TV remote did by like 7 months. She couldn't figure out what button did what right away, but she would pick it up and point it at the TV. Now she knows where the mute button is, the off button, the volume, and the channel changing button. It is quite impressive.

She starting walking unaided on her 1st birthday. But yet we can't get her to say much more that 7 words in English. She either speaks Alien, Angel or Japanese depending on who in the family you talk to. But she jibber-jabbers ALL DAY LONG.

Boy vs Girl
I can't say truly if there is a real difference between boys and girls that is that noticeable. Everyone always says girls are gentle and soft and quite, and Lili is rarely any of those things. But she is also a lot like I was. I wasn't really a girly girl either. I liked pretty things, but I wanted to jump off things (and did with occasional negative side effects, and I have the scars to prove it) and play hard. And I did. And she will too.

But I would love to have a little boy one day, to compare the two
:-)

Time to drift off topic
I think it has a lot to do with the parents and how they treat the child. My Dad never told me there was something I couldn't do because I was a girl (may be things I shouldn't do, but that is another story). He and my Mom played with us, taught us to be imaginative and play by ourselves, and encouraged us at anything we wanted to do. I think that helped a lot. And just because I don't wear pink and think I should be Happy Homemaker doesn't make me less of a woman. I want Lili to know that too.

Watching my little one is an amazing thing. The new things she discovers fascinate me. It could be something simple that I take for granted, like opening a door or picking something up off the floor, but she does it and she is so proud of herself.

Each new word is a milestone. Each time I hear her call me mom, each time I ask where something is and she points to it or goes and gets it, it is amazing.

I have a little person living in my house. She's not just my baby anymore, she is her own being, with her own thoughts, personality and attitude. Being her mom is the single greatest experience I've ever had in my life, followed closely by being Matt's wife.

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Lili's New Word

Well, she's stopped calling everything with 4 legs "doggie". She now says cat when she see my porceline cats in the display cabinet. I am so proud.

You can ask her where the cat is, and she walks over and points to them.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Lili's New Game

Lili and I have a new game.

We had a girls night while Matt went to softball last night (which lasted about an hour before she crashed, but still). I chase her and she runs and giggles. I hide in the kitchen and she looks over her shoulder until I pop out and look at her with that I'm-Gonna-Get-You look and make tickle fingers (you know, you move your fingers like you are tickling someone).

She then dissolves into giggles as she runs from me. She flings herself against the cushions of the couch and laughs, hides her face, and climbs up while I say "I'm gonna get you". I then start tickling until she collapses on the couch, on her back laughing and giggling, with a huge smile on her face as she tries to push me away with her feet. I tickle her for about a minute, let her up and she runs to the kitchen. All the while looking over her shoulder. Then the game starts again.

We did this for about 30 minutes until she laughed so hard she spit up. It took her by surprise, but she didn't cry. She just bounced up and tried to get me to get her again. I decided at that point she had really had enough and didn't know it. So we played on the floor with her toys.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Pushing Buttons

I adore my daughter, don't get me wrong. But I've had a really bad headache for two days now. Last night she thought it was funny to slap, punch, poke, and pinch my head and face. She's lucky she is cute, otherwise she might have been flung across the room. As it was, I just cried and made Matt come get her. She knows when I'm not feeling well, and she knows right where to poke to make me cry.

I guess that is what children do through out their lives. They find your weak spot (mental, physical, emotional) and then do a little jig to drive you nuts. I just figured I would have a few more years before she found all my buttons.

I love her to bits, but she thinks it is funny when Mommy gets upset.

Friday, August 1, 2008

EW GROSS!!!

Lili has a new trick. She took her diaper off in the middle of the night on Tuesday. I found her like that about 11, changed her diaper and put her back to bed. She wasn't happy I woke her up, but oh well.

Well, she took her diaper off the next morning after I left and peed all over the bed. Matt had to do the sheets then, and clean the baby.

Then when he put her down for a nap he didn't put her shorts back on after changing her. She ended up taking off her diaper, finger painting with her poop (getting it EVERYWHERE), and then realizing it was gross, she threw a fit.

There was another load of sheets, a battle to disinfect the crib, hose down the icky baby, and then he proceeded to call me and work and tell me ALL the disgusting details. BLECK.

It is time to potty train her.