Lilyface

Lily's babyface has given way to the most expressive little girl face on the planet.  It goes from smile to grimace to pout to cackle and back to smile again as she narrates her day, asks "Daddy, what's that?," sings a made-up song, or just gazes out the window.

Spraypark!

There is a rec center a couple of miles from our house that we frequent often (see: our home away from home, swimming lessons and birthday posts). Last weekend, the rec center opened its brand new spraypark! Knowing how much Lily loves the water, we couldn't wait to take her there. In addition to being close by, it's also free to the public, so we have already been three times! She loves it. I imagine we'll be spending an awful lot of time here this summer!

Strawberry Picking in NC

We went to North Carolina this weekend to visit my parents. It's prime strawberry season and my parents are lucky enough to have a wonderful strawberry field 10 minutes from their house. We had a great time picking four pounds of berries (not counting the ones we ate while picking!). Lily quickly became an expert strawberry picker, with the help of her grandmother, Mimi. Lily's favorite part was taking a bite of every other berry before she dropped it into her bucket! Lots more strawberry pictures here.

Bathroom Shenanigans



I took these with my cell phone camera, so pardon the poor quality.

This is what happens when parents are trying to catch a few more ZZZZZs on a Saturday morning and Lily decides to entertain herself in the bathroom. She was chattering to herself for five or 10 minutes then it suddenly got very quiet. That was my cue to go see what she was doing.

You can't see it but her baby doll is under that giant pile of toilet paper.

When I went in there, Lily said, "Shh, Mama. Striped baby is hiding." 

Easter 2011

 We had a great time celbrating Easter. The Easter Bunny paid Lily a visit and brought her an apron to wear when she's helping Daddy make cookies; a Lily-sized umbrella for when it rains; a butterfly headband and of course, candy and a chocolate Easter bunny.

After Mass (where we sang "holly lua,") we went to Cathy's for our annual Easter dinner. Some friends brought their daughter, Sydney, who's not quite 2-years-old. She and Lily conquered Cathy's house as a team, jumping on the bed, eating tons of candy and chasing bubbles all over the back yard.

  

Tax Day

We did our taxes this weekend. Lily got very upset that we wouldn't let her "help" us. She kept wailing, "I want FORMS!!!" and would not take 'no' for an answer. So we got creative and paperclipped a bunch of papers together for her. She really enjoyed carrying her "forms" around the house. Maybe she's a CPA in the making? 

Smoothie Mustache

A chat with Lily about cake, numbers and mustaches as she drinks her fruit smoothie

Backseat Driver

Lily and I have a great time in the car driving to and from daycare. We sing, count and talk about the day. Lily also likes to give me pointers about driving. Some of her favorites:

"Mama, slow down!"

"Mama, put down your coffee and drive with both hands!"

"Mama, you honked."

After teaching her that green means go and red means stop, I have created a monster (a cute one!). Any time the stoplight turns green, Lily starts saying, "Mama, the light is green. GO!" That's easier said than done in D.C. traffic, which is hard to explain to a 2-year-old. She gets more and more frustrated if the cars in front of me aren't moving but she takes it out on me.

"MAMA, GREEN MEANS GOOOOO!" (over and over, until we start to move.)

Hey, at least she knows her colors.

Sarah, Bob and...

With Easter coming up, I gave Lily a set of stuffed Peeps to add to her stuffed animal collection. I asked Lily what she wanted to name them and she said:

(to the pink one) This one's a girl. Her name is Sarah.

(to the yellow one) This one's a boy. His name is Bob.

She gave a lot of thought to the blue one and came up with...

This one's a boy. His name is MACARONI!

Every day, I ask her what the blue Peep's name is, and she insists it's Macaroni.

I call him Mac for short.

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!