Father's Day 2009

Tom (and I, of course) had a very nice Father's Day (other than missing MY dad horribly!). Lilly took Tom some coffee in bed and gave him this handprint plate.



Then we spent the day on our deck paying no attention to her at all!





Who is having more fun here? Tom or Lilly?

Playtime with Lilly

These videos represent a typical evening of playful fun in the Lilly Grace household!

Here' Lilly the Leapfrog! I just love how (our) Lilly hugs and kisses the Leapfrog Lilly! :)



LG enjoys wooden puzzles with pegs. While she understand (but has not mastered) that each piece belongs in a specific spot on the board, she is most excited by holding the pegs while banging the pieces together! If I were to tolerate her being a band geek, I imagine that she'd play the cymbals, as she does this with all of her toys!



Grandma and LG talk on the phone just about every evening. I put mom on speaker phone and LG will babble on and on, pushing buttons and laughing when my mom laughs. Lilly now picks up EVERY phone that she sees, puts it to her head and starts talking to Gma (whether she's on the phone, or not!) If you listen closely, she says "am-ma" -





LG has learned to anticipate and get excited about "surprise" far beyond peek-a-boo!

My husband addresses children's behavior for a living...

...yet, he does things that he knows Lilly will copy and/or model. Most of the dad stuff he teaches her has been okay with me; I sit adoringly and watch the two of them play. But, I often make fun of him when he is including something (ridiculous) that has anything to do with science fiction. As most of you know, I'm not a sci-fi fan. As a matter of fact, I rather loathe the whole notion of outer space, monsters, godzilla, wizardry, and the like. Now that Jackie is staying with us, I am "bookended" by TWO sci-fi fans. Ug. Which leads me to Star Trek. I've never seen an episode or movie, but I've had to learn what a Cardassian is. Here is a Star Trek Cardassian named Damar.



Tom and Jackie "make a face like the Cardassians on Star Trek" to Lilly all of the time. She watches them and laughs. I just bow and nod my head in loving shame. Here they are.....





Need I point out what Lilly does now? And laughs at herself? And laughs at us for laughing at her? Can you hear Tom laughing hysterically (but trying not to) in the background? For some reason, he thinks this is HILARIOUS! God, I hope she doesn't start doing this in public! ENJOY!

Pruned skin and all! She loves the water!

New favorite picture!



I wonder what she is saying in this first video?



Tom got her this really cute little fishing rod; it's got a magnetic "hook" that catches little fish with magnets on them. Lilly catches HERSELF! Kindof like when her Gma was fishing with us in PA and she caught the anchor! LOL! At least the anchor didn't go in her mouth! :)~



Watch how proud she is! This is one of our favorite faces that she makes! "Look! I can make noise!"



More pool pics........

She really wants to walk!

Lg hasn't quite mastered walking yet. She's getting very close. She can walk as long as we are holding one hand. She gets so proud of herself though, that she has to stop and evaluate her FEET - this makes her lose her balance. She's quite frustrated with her only mobility, which is crawling. So she has a new mode...do you call it the elephant walk? She will walk like this up and down the hallway..and then try to do it with my shoes on...and then look between her legs to make sure you are watching. By the way, getting her on video doing anything is becoming increasingly difficulty. She loves to play with the camera, so she stops doing whatever it is that we are trying to capture as soon as she hears the camera come on!

Monkey see, monkey do!

Lilly is now in the phase where she imitates everything we do. She started with putting on jewelry and shoes. Now she knows that scissors cut fabric, doors open and close, cabinets slam, forks and spoons scoop, straws go in cups, phones are held up to your ears AND TV REMOTES ARE TO BE POINTED AT THE TV! My friend Lynnette's daughter does not use TV in her home with her two little ones...now I see why!

Miscellaneous pictures...

Being so busy over the last few months, rhere have been quite a few pictures that I wanted to post but did not have the chance. Obviously, some go back a bit....

Tom and I picked this up for Lilly a couple of months ago! She and I take a long walk every afternoon, visit the dogs, pick up the mail, etc. When we pull up next to the mailboxes, she'll stand up and lift the purple hood because she knows that I keep the mail key in that compartment. She also takes the mail, especially the sale flyers, and acts as if she's reading them!



We keep looking for a "toy box" - so far she's been okay with this one!



At my parents in the afternoon sun...



Alicia and Lilly playing cards at Christmas time!



I just like the next two....she's so pretty, but I know I'm biased!





Lilly and Jenilyn



Lilly, Grandma and Grandpa

New view of the bug!

Lilly loves to hang upside down! If she is sitting on your lap, she will just suddenly FLAIL HER HEAD BACK so she can view the room from upside down! She thinks it's hilarious! Here she is playing with me while I videotape her silliness!

Townhome Playground

Despite far too many toys, two precautionary gates and three adult friends, Lilly always wants to play on the steps. We've gotten her blocked well enough to keep her on the bottom two, but she will climb up and down those a hundred times! This sequence of videos is meant to show you multiple things about LG.

This first one shows you what a show-off she is! If no one was paying any attention to her at this very moment, she would be up and down the stairs, up and down the stairs. Once she realized, however, that she had an audience, a video-taping audience, well she just had to put her best little performance foot forward! Make sure the volume is up on this one! See how she turns around to make sure everyone is watching her? This is why she's not yet walking...she stands up and balances with ease, but then topples over when she turns her head quickly to make sure that she has an audience to clap for her!



The second and third video show the the reason that we videoed in the first place. Once you get past the inevitable fact that there's always something on my dirty floor that she picks up and eats, and the stacks of crap that represent my (ironic) attempt at organizing, you learn several things about LG.

Watch how amazingly thoughtful she is when coming back down the stairs (the first time and second time!) I even think she's saying "down." Listen.... The next thing is shows is a confirmation of the first - she's a ham - and when she stops paying such thoughtful consideration of what she's doing, and plays "look how cute I am," she forgets what to do! This is a longer video, so I had to youtube it...



Is that expression at the end priceless, or what? Finally, can you believe how tenacious she is? No tears! No fears! She starts all over again! And gets it right! Boy, do we need a yard or what?

Toddler tunes...

On our digital cable box, I've discovered a music channel called "toddler tunes." They play the cutest songs, from classic "Rubber Ducky" to some silly ones by modern day rockers. LG has always seemed to be responsive to music, but she's really starting to move to the tunes now! Cracks us up! Her best move is "the twist" but we didn't capture this on video. Tom and I dance with her often; I try to convince her to watch me more, as Tom is, well, shall we say, rythmically challenged?



You can tell that she's trying to stand up to dance...but just can't get there. What she can get to is the stereo system! She knows exactly how to turn the volume up and down - watch! The knob she turns is really the volume!



She also likes to play with the remote controls around the house. As soon as she picks on up, she immediately sticks her arm straight out to point it at the TV! I'm telling you, she notices and copies everything!

She definately takes after me with the love of music. Can't wait til' she's a hateful teenager and I can introduce her to Trent! <3

Summer, swimming and sister fun!

Jackie and I spent some time with LG in the pool last weekend. While she likes to be in her little Lady Bug float that Gma gave her, she prefers to splash and kick and float and spit, etc. She's such a little trooper! She gets water in her face - nose - doesn't bother her! After watching these videos, Jackie and I both agreed that our voices are especially annoying when we talk to Lilly! Feel free to turn down the volume on these! It won't hurt our feelings a bit! I'm sorry if the videos seem redundant...but as the doting mom and smom, I see wonderful little things in all of them! :)







After Lilly tired of the water and Jackie started burning (both in 10 minutes time! LOL!) my buddy Lynnette came to visit. We spent 3 hours in and out of the pool, doing what we do best....LAUGHING! She has become such a dear friend and reliable source of girl-powered-energy! Got a nice sunburn, too!

I'm convinced that Lilly, like Tom and myself, needs to be near water. She enjoys all water activities from pools, to sprinklers, to tubs, to sinks, to rain! And she's afraid of nothing!

Self discovery....

It amazes me how much Lilly changes every day, especially as she begins to discover. She's always really "studied" things, focusing a great deal on each of her senses; but now she doesn't just focus, she DISCOVERS! And the best part is that when she discovers something, she will get really excited and the STOP, and look around to make sure someone else discovered what she did! And you better get as thrilled as she does! She has a very specific facial expression when she does this, too! Tom and I are determined to capture it!

Recently, Jackie (Tom's second oldest daughter) and I were in Old Navy. Lilly and I were watching her model a few fashions. Just outside the fitting room there was a set of those 3 way mirrors (that, lately, I try to avoid!) - well, Miss Lilly discovered how cute she is! I am absolutely GUSHING over these photos!