Lilly (and Daddy and Mommy) had a tough time at the mall over the weekend - Lilly got bit twice and choked by a mean little boy in the play area. On our way home, we stopped by the grocery store pick up dinner. Mommy decided beer was needed because of the trauma we had gone through (grabbing your child from the grips of another toddler and hearing another mom say "He bit her", tracking down the mom/grandma and carrying your wailing child through the mall.)
Cut to Sunday and Lilly was at the table pretending to eat her dinner - she is back on her not eating kick. I had grabbed a beer and joined her while Daddy watched football. Lilly asked what was the green bottle was - actually she said "Who is that?" and I said it's "beer, only grown-ups drink beer." That began the chant of Mommy's beer. Then Lilly said "Mommy drink beer." So Mommy did. That kept up until the beer was gone and Lilly said "Beer gone."
I wonder why they don;t ever have that game listed in those "How to Entertain and Interact with Your Child in a Creative Way" books? It certainly had Lilly and I interacting in a creative way and it kept Daddy entertained listening to us!
Lilly has become quite vocal in expressing her displeasure in things she does not like. When she gets in a situation that is a bit stressful for her (a new place, crowds) she adds things she does like to her I don't like list.
For example, we visited visited Granny down at the beach awhile ago and went to the aquarium. She likes looking at turtles, otters, fish, etc. but she decided that she did not like otters and told everyone in the otter exhibit. We ventured outside to visit the snakes (for some strange reason she seems to like snakes)and she told everyone that she did not like the wind. Granted she really does not like wind but this was a gentle breeze we were in.
Sand is probably in the top of Lilly's I don't like list. On the beach trip, she refused to touch the sand. Even at playgrounds that have sand, she will refuse to walk in it once it touches her feet. We may have conquered part of our dislike of the sand however. Her new tennis shoes keep the sand from getting on her feet and she will actually walk on the playground now. She still is not sure of the sand on her hands and you have to keep wiping her hands clean.
Over the weekend, we took Lilly to the BugFest. We looked at baby bees and she said she did not like them. So we left and went to the games/rides section. There was a game that the kids were supposed to roll a ball with your head around a course. Lilly did it with her hands but made sure the teenagers working the game knew that she did not like bees. She stood there screaming "I don't like bees!" There were no bees around her. At home she follows them on the flowers.
You can't hear her but if you read her lips, you can make out that she is saying "I don't like bees." She also is shown with her new gestures that go along with her I don't like ramblings. On the video it is subtle but she will stick her tongue out and runs her hands over her tongue while screamong. We have yet to figure out where she picked that up.
She repeated the bee tirade when she was on the inflatable jump around ride. She climbed to the top of the stairs but refused to go down. She stood there crying and screaming about the bees. She nearly had a full blown melt down when the attendant came over to her to get her off the slide. Daddy had to crawl in and get her.
The next day we went to the Caniac Carnival. Here Lilly is all decked out in her Hurricanes outfit. There was an inflatable muscle man at some ride that Lilly caught sight of and that became her I don't like item of the day. She also does not like the Dijdaree Man on her Wiggles Safari DVD. Lilly calls him the "skodoo" man and at least 5 times a day she tells you that she does not like the "skodoo" man.
She will also tell you that she does not like the Wiggles while she is watching them, she does not like pumpkins as she wants to touch every pumpkin at the store and so on.
Last Saturday the NC Museum of Natural Sciences held the annual Bug Fest. We have been attending every year that we have been here so we carted off Lilly to the event. She was in rare form that day - she did not like anything we did/saw. We went inside the museum for bug storytime and Lilly made herself known. The other children were sitting quietly listening to the story. Lilly decided that was much too tame for her - during the reading, she went up to the front of the room and started taking all the books that were displayed on a table. The storytime lady did not seem to mind. Lilly would bring the books to Joe and I and we would ask her to put them back on the table she would. But she would go get them again! Joe kept telling me to control my child but I said as long as she wasn't screaming, I had no problem with her taking the books. We did make her hand all the books back to the storytime lady. She was even nice enough to sit down with Lilly and read a story just for her. Of course Lilly did not go for that and quickly ran for the door!
One of the highlights of the festival is eating a special meal prepared by a local chef. Given the nature of the festival, all dishes had bugs in them. Joe always tries the dishes and says most of them are good. We figured we would offer the food to Lilly to try. Here is the bug plate special:
There was shrimp dip, bug dip, jello with ants, hushpuppies with waxworms, mealworm lasagna, stir fry with various bugs, buggy watermelon, and a chocolate chip waxworm cookie. Sounds yummy. Her first taste:
She liked most of it - the bug dip she was not fond of. Lilly's favorite of course was the cookie and the jello. Joe went back and got her another cup of the jello:
As I told Joe the first time he ate the bugs years ago, don't say a word about my cooking or you can take a shovel, go in the backyard and dig up your own food. Maybe next time Lilly won't eat her food, I'll just find some worms for her to snack on!
Last Sunday the Carolina Hurricanes hosted the Caniac Carnival at the RBC Center. Once again we carted Lilly off to an outdoor event where she could tell us all the things she did not like. We got her decked out in her outfit (which still fits from last year, just a bit short) and brought the wagon with us so Lilly could ride in style. If only we had red sunglasses for her to wear!
Lilly got to eat her lunch in the wagon as we pulled her around. She ran into one of her friends from playgroup and got some beads. But her favorite thing was running around the entrance to the ticket office while we waited for Daddy in line. Yes she is only wearing sock - the only shoes we had for her at the time were sandals and they just did not match her outfit. Her new obsession is standing under these placard signs.
Another hit were the pinecone in the parking lot. There was quite a bit of fussing when she realized they were not coming home with us.
We have some very ripe bananas around the house so I decided to make some banana muffins. Lilly was in need of some direction, so I told her she could help me cook. She has been walking around the house with mixing bowel and various utensils pretending that she is cooking. So far she has cooked soup, pancakes, scrambled eggs and sausage. But his was her first real cooking exposure.
I set her up on a chair next to the counter and let put the silicone muffin holders in the muffin tin:
Next I let her help me mix the dough:
All went well until the final stir and she tried to eat the batter:
I guess that's what happens when you take her to Pottery Barn Kids on a weekly basis to play in their kitchen!
Last week Lilly overheard me tell someone that she is 18 months-old and has been shouting that at the house - usually in the bathtub while we work on our numbers - (she can count to 20 but will not do it in front of the camera!) Yesterday she was shouting her age at the mall and continued when Daddy came home. Of course when she realizes the camera is on, she gets very quite and shy. We have also been telling her that she needs to eat her food and drink water so she can grow strong and get muscles. She will even strike the muscle pose. Enjoy:
Lilly had her 18-month pictures taken last week. It took us two trips to the store to get them taken. The first trip started and ended with her crying and clinging to my arms. So we rescheduled for another day. On the second day, our photographer was the only one working at that time and there was no one else in the store. The photographer set us some toys in the studio and let us go back byourselves and play for a little while and then checked on us. Lilly was having a good time and even let the photographer touch her so we got started. Lilly did not cry through this session and didn't want to stop posing!
Today was Lilly's first day at Kindermusik for the fall semester. Over the past two weeks, Lilly and I went to the demonstration days at the various Kindermusik locations around us. Even though there is a location right down the road from us, we chose the Wake Forest location. The teacher, Ms. Kathy, was very sweet and helped us pick the right class.
When I got Lilly up this morning, I asked her if she knew where we were going today and she said, "Ms. Kathy." The class Lilly is in is all girls from 18 months - two years old. Lilly remembered from from the demos we went to some of the movements to certain songs and did not cry when it was time to put the toys/instruments away. However she did cry when we were done playing Ring Around the Rosey. She stood behind me and cried "More rosey, more rosey please!"
Part of the curriculum is a home packet with books, CD's and toy/instrument. This semesters toy is a pair of zig-zag blocks. Lilly really likes the song that goes along with them. She had to take the blocks into the grocery store after class and here she is all tuckered out from the morning with the zig-zag blocks in her hands:
Lillian came into this world on February 18, 2006. She was pulled out of mommy at 9:15 pm. [Lillian wants to say something - Yes, I was being stubborn and decided after getting the labor process started at 12:45 am, I really just wanted to go back up and rest! But no, the doctor wouldn't let me. They put these suction cups on my head and tried to get me out but I held strong. Finally they came and got me through mommy's belly!] Lillian weighed in at 7 lbs 12 oz and was 21 inches long.
