Can you guess what our new pet is?

She is part monkey, cat, and human (we think); she is very angelic and devilish (usually at the same time), very demanding yet sweet and sympathetic, a finicky eater and very pretty.

Give up? Look at the picture:


Lillian has found that the cat tower is a wonderful pace to play, even if there is a cat in it trying to take a nap. This morning Lillian climbed up and got her legs stuck in the tunnel. Poor cats - this used to be safe place to get away from Lillian!

Two Year-Old Pictures

Robert Planet and the Other Girl

Usually during our travels in the car, we have two listening options: the Wiggles or KinderMusik. While both are fun to listen to, sometimes you need to have more variety. If I try and turn the radio on, Lillian says, "I don't like to listen the weather." Occassionally I can slip a Black Crowes CD in there for a little while.

We recently bought the new Robert Plant/Allison Krause CD and I have been playing that in the car. At first Lillian said she did not like it but then she started asking what the name of each song was. One song "Gone Gone Gone" she kept asking to hear again and when it would play, she would start to shake her shoulders. I told her that Daddy also liked that song. The next time we all were in the car together, she said "I want to listen to Gone Gone. Daddy you like that song." Once the song was over she would say, "Again. You like that song Daddy." Isn't that nice - she was willing to sacrifice her Wiggles and KinderMusik song time just for Daddy. I guess all the shoulder shaking was also for Daddy's sake and not because she happened to like the song.

She then moved on to asking who was singing the song. I told her and she made her song request with this statement next time; "I want listen Robert Planet and the other girl." She now can say each of their names but I wonder if Robert Plant knows he is a girl and I don't know how Allison Krause feels about being known as the other girl.

Here is the video of "Gone Gone Gone."

Happy Valentine's Day

We had a great Valentine's Day even though Lillian was sick and developed a somewhat high fever in the afternoon. Mommy gave her a Valentine Mr. Potato Head and Daddy brought home a rose and balloon for her. When Joe came home I told her to go see what Daddy had for her and after she had her rose and balloon, she said, "What else you brought me Daddy?!" She saw a dessert box with a Valentine cake in it and said, "That's for me" even though it was being given to Mommy.




Lillian had a special treat at KinderMusik from Miss Kim and Samantha and her dinner was even Valentine related. Not the food actually (a BLT, cheese, frozen blueberries and Ovaltine) but I did make it into hearts. She promptly took the sandwich apart and ate only the bacon (soy bacon!) and asked for more blueberries.




She helped me make a cake for Joe to take to work and even frosted some chocolate heart cakes for him. She did eat most of the frosting.

Ballerina

Here is Lillian practicing her ballet skills:

My name is

One day I was calling Lilly by some of her nicknames (Pee-Pie, Pilly, monkey, silly goose, etc.) and asking her if she was a (insert nickname). She looked up at me with a very quizzical look and said, "Mommy, my name is Lillian." Apparently I had forgotten and I thanked her for reminding me.

The skin of Lillian

Lillian is ultra observant of her surroundings and noises. We have had several incidents recently revolving around her skin and what is on it.

• I was taking a bath with her when she asked me what was on her leg. I looked at it and didn't see anything. I asked her to show me what she was talking about and she pointed to some lines around the top of her ankle. It was the mark her socks had left on her leg. She began crying and demanding that I take them off. I tried showing her that I had sock marks too and they would fade after awhile but she was not having it. So daddy comes in to see what is the matter and make the wonderful suggestion that we put some cream on it. This Lilly liked and said that she also needed a band-aid. So as we were getting her ready for bed, we put cream on her ankles and band-aids and covered them back up with socks. She had to have cream and band-aids on her ankles for three days but no longer screams when she sees sock marks.
• At another bath, Lillian asked me what was on her finger, her thumb to be exact. I looked and all I saw were the prune lines from being in the water so long. I told her that it was just wrinkled skin from the water and showed her that my fingers were also wrinkled but she did not accept that and began wailing to get them off. I was on my own this night but used the old cream trick and that worked.
• Yesterday in the car, Lillian asked me what was on her hand. Of course being in the driver's seat I had to wait until we were at a stoplight. I looked and did not see anything. She kept rubbing and when I asked her to show me what she was rubbing, it was the lines on her palm. I have no idea what those lines are called so I called them palm lines and she told me to take them off. I said that they don't come off, they are just a part of you she screamed, "NO! I don't want them." Not so much crying this time, just lots of rubbing and fussing. I sat in the car trying to think of something for these lines and finally came up with kissing lines. I told her that the lines are where mommy and daddy can kiss on Lillian's hand and then close her fingers around the kiss so our kisses are always with her. She did not seem too sure of that story and kept rubbing at them saying, "I just take them off."
• The other day she pulled out her hair bow and a piece of hair was stuck on it. She pulled the hair off and asked me what it was. When I told her it was just a piece of hair that came out, she started crying and asked - no told - me put it back in.
• Lillian found a cat whisker one day on the floor. She asked daddy what it was and he said it was a whisker from Elsie. Lillian started walking over to Elsie with the whisker saying, "Here Elsie, put back in." Elsie was very smart and ran away.

I am hoping she will outgrow this phase quickly. It seems to only upset her the first time she notices these marks. She has spotted the sock marks since and has not had a fit - she just wants cream. So we have PLENTY of cream around to erase her marks.

A sweet cookie monster

Last night as we were finishing dinner, Lilly was dancing around the kitchen. She grabbed onto the back of her big girl chair - no more baby booster seat for her, she demands to sit in a regular chair both at home and out - and said to me, "Do you want a cookie Mom?" I said that I was still eating dinner so she turned to daddy and asked him the same question. When daddy said no Lilly then said, "I would like a cookie!"

At this point, both Joe and I start laughing because she is just too darn smart and funny. Which in turn sets Lilly off into a crying jag - simply for the fact that we were laughing at her. I picked her up and tried to explain that we were laughing because she made us giggle and we were very happy. I think she has laughing confused with crying and gets very upset unless she is laughing too.

Why she asked for a cookie, I don't know. She does not get a dessert every night and if she does it is usually an all-fruit popsicle or a homemade yogurt popsicle. It just so happened that we have miniature alphabet cookies in the freezer (a birthday experiment in the works) so I said she could have one cookie. She said "No, I want three cookies." It was so cute that she ended up with three cookies - but she had to name the letters before she could eat them (she had a Z, S and L).