It's been three months since my last entry and a ton has happened since then. Looking back on the first few weeks of her tiny life, Lily has grown in more ways than I ever imagined at 16 months old. (not claiming she's a prodigy child, just admitting to my continued amazement of life). All the learning and playing and growing that's occurred is almost mind boggling and very very dear to my heart. In addition to Lily's busy days, we learned she will also be mastering the art and hopefully relishing the gift of being big sister. I'm 17 weeks pregnant and while the news was a bit surprising to us, we are now beyond excited and life is feeling pretty close to perfect.
Lily has become quite the traveler in the company of mom dad and Blue. We took her to Maui with us last month and I was astonished at how well the flights went considering I was vomiting from morning sickness at every opportunity I had and Lily usually cannot sit still for more than a millisecond. But we took some advice from sister Joy and brought a DVD player with us along with Blue's Clues, Baby Einsteins and Toy Story 3. Unfortunately or fortunately rather, Lily has learned to somewhat embrace a good hour long of 'shows'/day. (somehow calling it 'her shows' is easier to say than TV). My rules on the TV quickly went out the window when 24/7 nausea set in three months back. Turns out, this worked in our favor during the flight and Lily happily watched her friend Blue, and Safari Animals from Baby Einsteins all the way to Maui. My rules on chocolate chip cookies also went directly out the window when we were offered one on the airplane and Lily asked for it. I learned after my "trying to take her yogurt snacks away because she had too many" experience, that giving her whatever she desired was the right way to go on the airplane. She took her first bite of chocolate chip cookie 30,000 feet from ground and I'll never forget the look she so seriously gave the flight attendant after she took that first bite. She looked at him as though she wanted to burn his face into her memory, to never ever forget the face of the man who gave her this decadent treat. And then it was back to Blues Clues. Several months back she began to embrace sign language and Blue's Clues is definitely in her 'vocabulary.'
In addition, she has signs for sleepy, food, thank you, please, bird, airplane, milk, potty and water. She's also invented some of her own signs. Every day we go through her body parts, "Lily, where's your head, your eyes, toes, ears, cheeks, knees," etc. (we've recently added 'bottom' to the routine and it is hilarious to watch her reach around her backside to pat her bum) Jake likes to ask her about the less commonly 'taught to a toddler' body parts such as the 'shin' and 'thigh'.. it's hilarious that she's learnred those. The other day I asked her where Mommy's hug was (and this is her cutest thing to date), instead of reaching her arms out to offer a hug, she instead showed me what happens to her body when Mommy hugs her (or what appears to squish her). Her face wrinkled up and her head jammed itself to one side. She tightly tucked her elbows into her sides but lifted up her hands if trying to set them free. And then she just looked at me. Next time I hugged her, I noticed that in fact, this does happen to her little body. But she still lets me do it and it's still one of my favorite things to do in the world, so it shall go on.
She's started to attempt to say a few words as well. "Fsh" for fish, "Appa" for Apple, "Boops" for poop, "Psh" for push, "Buuu" for ball, "Baush" for Bachan and "BaBa" for Butterfly. She actually gets quite serious about butterflies. It's all fun, games and laughter during story time until she sees a butterfly and then she becomes so serious and looks at me and adamantly points, "baba, baba, BABA!" until I say, 'yes, you see a butterfly." Instead of saying words for animals she sees, she just gives the animal sound when she sees a cow, monkey, dog, cat or bumble bee. And darn it, like most things she does, it's super cute but I know eventually, that will change and she'll learn to talk like the rest of us big heads. I've said it before but I just love this Lily and I'll miss her.
One of the more touching things she started to do was become fascinated with my playing her songs on the guitar. I've done this since she was the tiniest and just now she has started to become interested. In fact it's a little challenging sometimes because there have been definite days where she will not let me get off the guitar. We sit on the floor together, her nose pressed against my 'space' and watches intently. Of course never have I had such a captivated audience so it was pretty cool the first few times she did it. Sometimes she'll get up and walk around the room, picking things up, putting them in different places, patting her belly and humming the whole time to the music. And then sometimes, she'll stop. She'll become incredibly entrenched with the curtain for example, studying the weave, holding it up to the light, making sure it smells just like it did yesterday and so I'll think I can put down the guitar and stretch my legs but as soon as I stop, "Eeehr!", she points at the guitar, demanding I pick it up.
Yep, so I'm also at that point where I'm trying to determine when to say no, when to give her what she wants, when it's okay to say no and be firm... She's so stinking lucky and of course I won't tell her this, but my whole day evolves around her. I absolutely adore my days and to be honest would be happy to give her whatever she wants, play 'til my fingers bleed but I know part of parenting is also setting limits, boundaries, rules. (for my sake and hers) I am totally in the learning phase of that right now. It's freaking comical really. You should have seen me attempt to put my parenting skills to the test at the outdoor play area of the Uvillage Mall on a sunny Friday afternoon. Holy cow, she lost it. First tantrum I've witnessed by my precious little Lily. I mean it was nuts. And there were a lot, I mean thousands of people staring at us. She threw herself on the ground, screaming, would not let me touch her, kicking... I mean textbook stuff. I wanted to run away, put her in my shopping bag (which was filled with stuff for HER, mind you) and run to the car. ...yep, I'm learning but at a much slower pace than her from what I can tell.
It really is crazy how quickly they pick up on things at this age. If asked where "Lily's baby" is, she points to my belly. So cute. Though the other day, she was pointing to daddy's belly too so poor kid is definitely confused. In the last couple days, I'm not sure why but she's become so touchy and loving. She does her usual running around the house, carrying as many toys, kitchen gadgets and random pieces of paper as she can in two little arms but lately, she'll stop literally every few minutes and come over to me and clutch my legs so hard as if giving me a hug. But as soon as I reach for her, she is off again... only to return a few moments later for another squeeze. Oh, she also calls me 'Mom' now. Not momma like she used to always do but just Mom. Not sure why but I think it's so cute.
I have grown to adore Halloween. I know Lily enjoyed dressing up and seeing Jake and I dressed up but it's not just that. It's the one holiday that truly brings people together. People that you don't normally spend time with that is... mostly because you never met them. This Halloween, people from all over our (large) neighborhood came by with their kids for trick r' treating and we chatted briefly but genuinely and it was really so nice. I met a really nice neighbor the other day. In fact they came over on Halloween evening for a little bit with their 9 monht old. She said something to me that I completely agree with and it was refreshing. She said, "You know, they always tell you about how difficult it will be having a newborn and then toddler while you're pregnant but they never ever tell you how much fun it would be." She was so right and I recalled all the birthing classes and family prep classes I took and Jake and I both took together and most of what they discussed was labor pains, post partum depression and how you'll need to fight tooth and nail to keep your marriage intact, not to mention you'll get zero sleep, your body will look like hell and you'll lose your social life. You know, a lot of that may be dead right but these are absolutely the best days of my life!
Then again, maybe I wouldn't have believed 'them' if they had told me that I would get such immense joy out of things like the way Lily backs up into a sitting position on my lap for story time, the way she blows on her hot beans, the way she wants to mimic everything I do, the way her body immediately starts dancing as soon as she hears music, how she spins in circles until she gets dizzy and falls down, how she thinks looking through the lacy curtains is hilarious and how a sheet thrown up in the air and over her head is the best thing in the world.
I've said it every time and I'll say it again. Thank you Lily for enriching every day and every aspect of my life. I love you, Pea!
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