The Dance Show

My Little Helper

Lily is at an age where she wants to help me do all the household chores and I, of course, welcome the assistance! She uses the Swiffer on the kitchen floor and likes to help vacuum the living room and dining room. I have to take advantage of the help now, before she gets old enough to realize that housecleaning isn't that fun!

Chomper

Is this the face of a BITER? Yes. It is.

A couple of weeks ago, I went to pick up Lily at daycare and was presented with the dreaded Incident Report form. This is the form daycare uses to report things like falls, injuries and biting. I have had to sign the form before, when Lily was bitten by a classmate. She has always been the bite-ee, not the biter...until now.

A little boy named Calder tried to take a toy away from her and she bit him on the hand. Her teachers said she was very upset about it. She told me on the way home that she "bit Calder and she cried and cried." She still talks about it from time to time and we tell her that you don't bite people. She always replies, "Mama, no biting, ok?"

Last night, Lily said, "I bit Will and Calder." Since I hadn't heard anything about it from daycare, I assumed she was just making up a story.

This morning when we dropped her off, her teacher brought the dreaded form to us and said, "I forgot to give this to you yesterday. Lily bit someone." "Will?," I said. Sure enough...Will tried to take a toy from her and she bit him. This is a phase she needs to outgrow...quickly!

In other teeth-related news, Lily went to the dentist this week for her first exam and cleaning and she did great! No tears. No fighting. She actually enjoyed it! 

Cousin Everett

Lily, 2 years, 4 months old, and Everett, 6 months old.

We went to Baltimore this weekend to see Luke, Michaela and Everett. He just turned 6 months old and gets cuter by the day. Like most 6-month-olds, Everett loves to grab glasses, necklaces, earrings and HAIR.

Right after this picture was taken, Everett grabbed a handful of Lily's hair (you can tell by the look on his face that he's thinking about it!). She didn't like it one bit, so she ran away from him. Unfortunately, a wad of Lily's hair stayed behind in Everett's hand! Don't worry, she was totally fine.

The next morning, I asked Lily if she had fun with Everett. She said, "Yes, but Baby Everett pulled my hair and I cried...Mama, I need to go to the doctor for my hair!"

 

He apparently made quite an impression!

The Wheels on the Bus

Lily learned a new song this week. I had no idea that the Daddys on the bus said, "QUIET!"

That sounds like something the Mamas on the bus would say!

Outsmarted

Last night, I told Lily that if she ate one more bite of her supper, I'd open her Valentine M&Ms. She put a bite in her mouth. I opened the candy and put some in front of her. She spit out the bite, gave it to the dog, then ate the M&Ms.

Darnit! I was outsmarted by a 2 year old!

Doctor Ackerman

Lily got a doctor kit for Christmas. The pets have never been in better health.

Dinnertime Conversation

I find that Lily is often her most talkative and entertaining at the dinner table. It's the one time of day that she actually stops running around. This is a recent conversation we had, while she was wearing her sunglasses that I found when I was cleaning under the couch. Some of it's unintelligible but mostly it's just her being goofy...and cute!

January Pictures

I just got around to uploading photos from January. Really, it's just an excuse to post this adorable picture of Lily. :)

Our Home Away from Home

 What do you do with an energetic two-year-old in the dead of winter? For us, the community rec center has been a blessing. We visit almost every weekend. The rec center has a soft play room for little kids, including a ball crawl. Lily says all the time, "I want to go play in baaaalllllls!"

The ball crawl is second only to her true love, the POOL. She and Ethan have been going to the indoor pool for a few months now and Lily is a real water baby. She is content to stay in the water for hours. She and Ethan will go and oftentimes I won't see them for three hours. All this time in the water is really making her a confident swimmer. She loves to hold on to the kickboard and move around, or hold onto Ethan's arm and kick around the pool.

We also recently discovered that another rec center a bit further away has a kids pool with water buckets that dump on the kids. Lily will tell us, "I wanna go play in the rain!"

I can't wait for this summer when we can hit the water park with her.

Happy New Year!

Lily on Christmas morning with two of the presents that were in her stocking.

We had a great Christmas that included a trip to North Carolina the weekend before Christmas and a visit from Ethan's parents from Idaho. Lily got to spend lots of quality time with her grandparents, aunts and uncles during December.

We have plenty of pictures from the holidays here, so check'em out!

November?

Lily relaxing in the ball crawl at Jillian's birthday party. 12/4/10

Where did the month of November go? Well, we were busy to say the least, which is my excuse for not updating Lily's blog sooner.

How busy?

In November, we celebrated my birthday, had brunch with Cathy, went to Jude's birthday party, had a visit from Grandpa Dan and Grandma Charlotte, attended Everett's baptism in Baltimore, went swimming with Daddy and made the drive to N.C. for Thanksgiving. And those are just the things I can remember off the top of my head!

Lily was a superstar through it all. She is quite a charmer in her sweet, bossy way. She definitely knows what she wants, how she wants it and who she wants to do it. She's very fond of telling those around her who's supposed to go first and who's supposed to go second. Lily is also quick to tell anyone trying to help her, "NO, I do it by myself!" All just part of growing up!

Sorting jelly at brunch with Cathy.

Taking a rest in the bouncy house.

Worn out from all the activities in November!