In our annual tradition, Lily & I spent the afternoon trick-or-treating at Daddy's office. It's a lot of fun, with candy stations all over the building and ice cream in the courtyard, plus lots and lots of kids.
Lily likes to start every visit to Daddy's office with a little work: She was very shy throughout our adventure, refuing to say "hi", "trick-or treat" or "thank you". But if anyone complimented her on her costume, she would come out of her shell long enough to tell them "I'm a bumblebee. It's black an' lellow. I got it at T*rget. It's so soft!"
She was NOT shy about running up to each candy bowl and adding to her stash! We let her enjoy another lollypop and this time she chose blue... Lily & Daddy shared some ice cream: Oh, and her costume did have a hat, but Lily was not a big fan. So we only got a couple of pictures of it... When my little bumblebee informed me "I gonna eat the flowers!" I decided that it was time to go home...
About a month ago, we got a Halloween costume catalog in the mail. Lily loves catalogs, and I needed to explain the whole idea of Halloween to her, so she & I sat down together and looked at every. single. costume. We talked about Halloween, and how you can dress up as anything you want. She saw probably a hundred costumes. And when we got to the end, and I asked her what she wanted to be, her answer was "Pwob-bly a bumblebee!" I love that she wanted to stick with the theme!
Here is our ladybug, two years ago: And last year's butterfly: And finally, here is Lily the Bumblebee: Lily & I met some of our playgroup friends this morning at an outdoor shopping center for a picnic lunch and to go trick-or-treating at some of the stores. I told Lily about it yesterday, and so this morning, when Shawn went in to get her, she greeted him by asking "Are we goin' to Halloween?" and then commenced with running laps around the house until it was time to leave. (Is anyone surprised to hear that we arrived about 45 minutes early??)
Here is our little bumblebee, expressing her excitement at the day:
The kids were all so cute in their costumes! This is Lillian, who came as a monkey princess, from a story her daddy tells her:Here is Wyatt, the spider, with his little brother Owen, the cow: And Emily, who came as a Christmas present: Here's an attempt at a group picture... The kids were really into giving each other hugs today - but sometimes hugs can get a little out of control in this group! Lily & Wyatt were best friends today, holding hands as we walked from store to store: About a thousand times this morning I heard Lily announce, "I want a lollypop!", which is funny because she's only had one once before, but I guess that's the only candy she could really relate to. Anyway, you can imagine how excited she was to finally get this one: I kept telling Lily that she had to say trick-or-treat, but her response was always the same "No, you just hafta say it!" Lucky for her, everyone was willing to hand out candy just the same. Us silly mommies kept trying to get a picture of all four big kids in their costumes before we started walking around, but it wasn't until they were all distracted with sugar that we were able to get them all in one place:
(Emily, Lillian, Wyatt & Lily)
We had so much fun! Later today... Halloween Part II: The Trip to Daddy's Office!
The scene: Yesterday morning, Lily at the breakfast table asking me, as she does most days, "Where are we goin' today?" I told her that we were going to T*rget. No response.
But several minutes later, as I was washing dishes I heard "You get in your car!" I turned around and said "Excuse me, Bossy Girl?" And she told me "I gonna stay here wif Soutie while you go to T*rget, so you gotta get in your car!"
Lily & I made cookies for Halloween today. She was asking, and asking, and ASKING to taste some and I promised that when we were all done she could. So, it should have been no surprise that when I finished mixing and took the bowl over to the sink, I turned back around to find this:
This is the face of a girl who's been told "that's probably enough frosting": But she did enjoy decorating with the "sparkles": Some of the results... For the record, it takes less than 5 minutes for the sugar from one frosted cookie to hit Lily's bloodstream and cause pure madness!
Tonight, we finally carved the pumpkins we got a few weeks ago. When I first told Lily that we were going to do this, she said "No!" and nearly cried. But after dinner, she started coming around to the idea... she was running in circles around the house and shouting at the top of her lungs, "Jack-o-lanterns!!! We gonna make jack-o-lanterns!!! Let's make jack-o-lanterns!!!"
Excited as she was, the process was a little confusing... And she did NOT want to touch the pumpkin guts... Until she really did want to touch the pumpkin guts...
(She pulled out all the seeds for me to cook - and then tried to eat them raw!)
She was pretty excited to pull out the final piece: Lily wasn't so sure that she wanted to pose with her jack-o-lantern, after we warned her that it was hot from the candle: But we did finally get a smile... The finished products:
...that Lily had an awesome weekend with her Auntie: When I got her up from her nap and she saw me for the first time in 48 hours, she smiled brightly at me for about half a second, then burst into tears and announced "I want Auntie!"
...that she's also happy to be home: she's been playing with her toys like she hasn't seen them in years and giving hugs like they're going out of style!
Lily came to Charlotte this weekend! She was looking for a relaxing getaway, and didn't want to be hounded by the paparazzi. She kept a low profile (note the movie star sunglasses) and would only respond to her code name - Baby Vinny.
After some lounge time on Saturday morning (with a tupperware full of farm animals, of course!):
We spent some time at the Nature Museum. Butterflies, turtles and snakes, oh my!
"Look at dat butterfly!"
"He's lookin' at me!"
We crafted with sparkly glue and markers!
Dug in the sand like a mole...
"I'm swimmin' wif da turtle!"
After all that hard work, we needed a lunch break and had to play on the playground of course! This is right before she started stealing my french fries. She did give me fair warning by announcing "I'm going to steal your french fries!"
"Do you want to dwive to Chawleston wif me?"
We kept things old school this weekend. Who needs all those new-fangled, safe booster seats when you have good old-fashioned phone books?! We wrapped up our weekend with a delicious pancake breakfast with Grammy and Bumpa.
No explanation is needed for the following pictures! And just in case you were wondering what happened after she ate the pile of blueberry pancakes: Yes, she and her dog outran a car!
Lily kept me laughing ALL WEEKEND LONG! Here are her top Lilyisms:
After I got dressed Saturday morning: "You look byootiful. Do you want to sleep wif me?"
When I asked her opinion about my super cute striped socks: "What were you sinking?!"
After telling her to be careful: "Yes. Sank you for reminding me."
A conversation she had with a fish-shaped refrigerator magnet: "Fish, did you eat Auntie? You did? Ooooooooh..."
Lily, there is no one else I'd rather spend the weekend with. I can't wait until our next adventure...
Lily is really, really into babies. So are most of the kids in playgroup, and the other kids we know her age. I say that because I think this stage was happening and would have happened regardless of Lily's impending big-sister status.
It all started with her baby doll, Baby. Lily loves Baby. She rocks her, feeds her, changes her diaper, sings to her, reads to her, and tucks her into bed. She wraps her in blankets and carries her in a sling. She takes her for walks in her stroller. It's adorable.
Then, a few months ago, we moved into the "I'm a baby" phase. Lily would tell me she couldn't do things because she was "Jus' a baby!" She'd ask, "Can you wrap me up in dis blanket because I'm a baby?" Or "I need you to hold me 'cause I'm a baby." It was wonderful, because all she wanted to do was sit in my lap, snuggled in her blanket, and read stories and sing songs.
Some days she doesn't respond to her own name, but just to Baby. Or, on days when she was being a particular baby, she would only respond to Baby Megan or Baby Vinny. I'm pretty sure everyone at the State Fair thought I was a little crazy, calling my 2-and-a-half-year-old little girl "Baby Vinny" all day!
Now anything she can get her hands on is a baby - all her stuffed animals, Scout, even random toys... yesterday her sheep was a baby. So all day I had to refer to him as "Baby Sheep" and talk to him in a sing-song, baby voice. And wrap him in Lily's blanket. And read him a story, sing him a song, and tuck him into baby's cradle.
It's all babies, all the time.
As for the actual baby, Lily is aware that there is something going on. I am starting to show a little, and she know there is a baby in my tummy. Which she will tell any stranger on the street who stands still long enough! She will also ask to hold the baby, and then sort of scrape her hands across my belly and cradle an imaginary baby in her arms and coo at it! But, it's hard to tell how much is really sinking in - lots of times there's a baby in her tummy too!
A couple of weeks ago at my doctor's appointment, Lily & I got to hear the baby's heartbeat, and later, when she was telling Daddy about her day she said, "Da girl put soap on Mommy's tummy an' den I heard da baby's heart beepin'!"
When we ask her if she thinks the baby is a girl or a boy, she almost always says girl. But if we ask if she's getting brother or a sister , she says "brud-der". So I guess she's good either way!
Lily was being all kinds of wild & goofy as Daddy tried to get her into her jammies. He ended up flipping her upside down and trying to wiggle her into them that way. It wasn't very effectve, but Lily thought it was hilarious!
Lily, between giggles, managed to spit out "Daddy Sophia!!! Stop doin' dat!"
LilyBug, I say this at every age, but I could just freeze you like this, at this stage, forever. Not a day goes by when you don't make me laugh out loud. Not a day goes by when I don't just melt at your sweetness, and at how completely precious you are. It just blows me away.
It still smells like baby in your room at night, when Daddy & I sneak in to check on you. One of the reasons you haven't yet moved to your big girl bed in your big girl room that's ready & waiting for you, is that I love the sight, and smell, of you all curled up in your crib. Your favorite friends are always close by, your beloved pink blanket scrunched up by your face, and you, you ridiculous girl, are all scrunched up against the rails of the crib, hands & sometimes feet hanging out! You look so silly, and so uncomfortable, but you sleep like an angel.
You cock your head to the side and squint your eyes when you're asking for something you want. Especially if it's something that you don't think you'll get. It may be the cutest thing ever. And occasionally, it works.
You are the queen of corrections. "Mom is Mommy!" is a current favorite. If you hear me talking about your Grammy, and I say the word "Mom", you are all over me with that. You are also one bossy little person, giving orders like it's your job. It would be obnoxious (let's be honest, sometimes it is!), were it not for your teeny-tiny little voice. You have the littlest, sweetest voice I have ever heard. It's hard to get too offended, or take you too seriously, when you're trying to order us around with such a small sound.
You've recently discovered the power of the phrase 'excuse me'. How it makes grown-ups stop talking, look at you, and listen. So now you interrupt all the time, say "Scue me!!" and then "I gotta talk about sumpin" and then pause, as you try to think of something to say. Most often, what you come up with is "Hi!"
You've also started throwing round the phrase "I'm so sup-rised!" when what you mean is "I'm so ess-cited!"
You are obsessed with measuring things and weighing things. I can never find my measuring tape, because you're forever stashing it in one of your purses, only to pull it out randomly to "measure your back, mommy" or "see how much I weigh" or "what time is it?". Apparently it's a multi-purpose measuring tape! Your answer, by the way, to any number question - How long is it? How much does it weigh? What time is it? - is always "Forty-six-nine!"
Your sense of time - past, present & future - is improving, but slowly. Anything that happened in the past happened "dis mornin'" and anything that is going to happen in the future will happen "tomorrow".
You drive a hard bargain, Bug. The other night at dinner, Daddy was trying to get you to finish your pasta. He told you that if you would eat two more bites, you could have some animal crackers. Your reply, with a straight face and the most serious voice you have, was "No, I can't do dat. I'll have TWO." Um, okay. You win.
Speaking of animal crackers, they are your new favorite treat. You repeat back to me each animal as I hand them to you and act out elaborate stories with them as you eat. One day at lunch you announced "Dis lion got hurt!" When I asked what happened, you told me "I bit his head off!" I guess that would do it!
Maybe my favorite new question comes after you've done or said something silly and giggled, even just a little bit. You'll turn to me or Daddy and ask, "Did I laugh enough to do hiccups?!?!?"
And then sometimes you turn to us out of the blue and say "I love you", and that is just about enough to make my heart burst.
Thank-you for filling every single day with giggles and hugs. I love you, my sweet girl.
Today we went to the North Carolina State Fair, and Lily was super-excited to bring Auntie along for the fun... The day got off to a slow start, and Lily was not impressed. We saw some prize-winning pumpkins - over 600 pounds!
"Wait, this is the Fair?? It's not what I was expecting..."
But then we found some animals. We saw several sets of mommy & baby cows, a bunch of goats, some turkeys and a mama pig with her 8 piglets! At first they were all asleep in a big pile, which Lily got a big kick out of. Then the woke up and, as Lily keeps telling us "Dey were squeekin' an' climbin' all over each other!" It was breakfast time.
Lily got to milk a cow... Okay, Shawn got to milk a cow, while Lily looked on, equally awed & terrified. She did enjoy the free chocolate milk she got afterwards though! We got to visit the baby chicks and ducks... As we left the poultry exhibit, Lily noticed the rides. She really wanted to go on the Ferris Wheel, but, since it was too cold, Daddy convinced her to ride the Merry-Go-Round instead. It doesn't look like she was having much fun, but she was just very serious about her ride. And then, we found the pony ride. Lily told me "Dis is a Merry-go-Wound, wif horses!" Last year, she cried the whole time - this year it was a big hit! Of all the fried food options, all Lily wanted to eat was a grilled cheese sandwich.She had a bite of a fried Oreo, but when I offered her a second, she had no interest.
There was, though, a love affair with a lemonade about the same size as her! When we first arrived, Auntie offered to take Lily down the FUN SLIDE. Lily actually started to cry - loud, new places and big crowds really upset her. But then, on our way out of the Fair, having warmed up and on a bit of a sugar high, Lily announced, "I wanna go down da BIG slide wif Auntie!" So she did...
I think it's safe to say that she had fun! Lily says that her favorite things were "Ridin' da merry-go-round an' da pony. An' maybe da fun slide..."
Lily and I had an unexpected experience the other day. We were running errands, it was a cool day and I had a craving for a hot apple blast from Car*bou. As we walked in, Lily announced "I'm hungry!" No surprise, as the girl loves to eat out, and it was snack time.
Most places we go, Lily gets lots of smiles and people go out of their way to be nice to her, and by extension, me. What can I say - she's a cute kid, and usually very well-behaved. But, you never can tell with restaurants. Sometimes we get dirty looks, sometimes people ignore us. I suppose lots of people in the service industry have had bad experiences with small children. So I don't usually expect too much.
But, when we got up to the counter, I phrased my order as "Can we please have a hot apple blast and a cinnamon donut?" (Really, what could be better on a fall day??) And the awesome barista said, "Would you like me to steam part of that not as hot for her?" looking at Lily. I said yes and so we go two plates so we cold share our donut and two coffee cups, one with about a third of my drink in it, at a temperature Lily could actually drink it. We sat at a kid-sized table and talked and ate and drank for probably 30 minutes, before going off to finish the rest of our errands.
Lily has been retelling the story for days. It was such a simple thing, that made both of us so happy. So thank you, un-named barista, for the memory of my first coffee date with my daughter. It was awesome!
And for climbing through tunnels & sliding down slides: For climbing hay mountains: And for weaving through a hay maze: Time for a lesson on where pumpkins come from: Time for feeding goats... "He won't eat my corn!"
"He ate it!!!!"
Time for a Hay Ride! "Da wheels go round & round!"
Time to pose with hay bales & more pumpkins: "I already smiled!"
And, of course, time to choose the perfect pumpkin to bring home! When asked, Lily said that her favorite part of the day was "Goin' down da big black slide and through da tunnel."
My last conversation with Lily every day goes something like this:
Mommy: "I love you!" Lily: "I luv you too." Mommy: "Have sweet dreams." Lily: "Are you goin' to bed too?" Mommy: " Yes." Lily: "Sweet dreams!" Mommy: "Night-night" Lily: "Can you go stand next to Rody 'cuz he loves you an' I love plassic dog, an' leopard, an' rodeo, an' giraffi!"** Mommy: "Okay. Night-night, Lily." Lily, as she climbs into Daddy's lap for her story: "Night-night." **The explanation... Rody is Lily's inflatable, bouncy donkey. He lives in her playroom, and evidently, he loves me. So every night, she asks me to go stand by him while she's sleeping. Lily loves her plastic dog, stuffed leopard, stuffed turtle named Rodeo, and stuffed giraffe, named Giraffi. They all sleep in her crib with herr. Apparently this needs to be reviewed on a nightly basis, so that no one forgets!
Recently, I've added to our conversation by teling Lily that I had a really great/fun/fabulous day with her. For awhile she just said "Yeah." Then she started responding with "I too." So now I also ask her what her favorite thing was that day. Her answers are hilarious.
Sometimes she'll pick something obvious, like going to Marbles, or playing at the park. Somedays she'll choose something we didn't even do that day, like go to T*rget or Tr*der J*e's. Sometimes she'll pick something from weeks ago, like going to "da jumpin' place wif Auntie!" But the one that had me and Shawn laughing hardest happened last week...
Did you know that the Southeast has almost no gas? Pipelines are down, people are waiting in lines for hours, it's madness. Raleigh has been pretty lucky, we haven't run out of regular gas at all, but we don't have any premium gas, which is of course what my car takes. On Thursday, Lily and I were on our way to the park, my car was basically running on fumes and I pulled into a gas station only to discover that they were out of premium. Stink! We went to two other gas stations and then called Daddy to find out if my car would explode or stop running if we filled up with regular. With his seal of approval, we ended up back at the first station. I was a little frantic during all of this, and every time Lily asked what was going on, I would tell her that we were looking for "fancy" gas. We finally filled up and got to the park and had a lovely time, including a picnic with friends. That afternoon we did art projects, puzzles and read a ton of stories. We had black bean soup for dinner - one of Lily's favorites! - and Lily & Daddy had a blast at bath time.
Still, that night, when I asked the Bug what her favorite thing was from that day, she excitedly told me "Findin' da FANCY gas!" It's good to be able to see things as a fun adventure...
