Picnic

Right There

Update: 19 months

Dear Lily,

Today you turn 19 months old. Playtime with you has taken on a new meaning in recent weeks. Your imaginative play has suddenly developed. You spend a lot of time at your kitchen making me coffee. You blow on your play food when it's too hot. We make many pretend birthday cakes and sing happy birthday. You will pretend almost anything is a phone and have long conversations. This morning you imagined this little area on the couch to be a sink. You thoroughly washed your hands with your imaginary soap. Then of course you made me do it too. One of your favorite things to say is "mommy do it." You are talking so much that I can't keep up with all the words that you say. You are starting to getting a little bossy. You constantly say "no talking" when Mommy and Daddy are talking. We are working really hard on teaching you that's it's okay for us to talk. Needless to say, you are happiest when you are the center of our attention.

The biggest word that I've heard you say lately is "octagon." The following are words/phrases that you say frequently: more again, Mommy do it, Lily do it, Lily wash hands, Mommy here, wakey up, pee-pee diaper, no Bowie, no talking, up Mommy, pick up Mommy, put on shoes, purple jacket off, Lily jump on bed, Lily's Kitchen, Daddy work, Lily's car. You often put three words together to make simple sentences.

You are impossible to video these days. As soon as you see the camera you say "cheese" and stop everything else you were doing. Speaking of cheese, this remains to be your favorite food. You are not nearly the picky eater you were before. You will eat anything but vegetables and you particularly love meat. You'll say "Lily eat meat." You are completely disturbed if there is any kind of food or mess on your hands. You ask for a towel at least a dozen times every time you eat. You follow rules like using a coaster really well. You don't follow rules like it's time to clean up very well.

You are at your happiest when you are learning something. Daddy recently came home with a puzzle map of the United States. You are very interested in the states. You can identify Texas, California, Pennsylvania, and Florida. If we ask you where Grandpa and Nonna live you will find California. You know many of your books by name. You will request "The Foot Book" or "Hop" for "Hop on Pop." You have started to recognize a few simple words like up, Lily, Mommy, Daddy, and hop.

Much to Daddy's dismay, one thing you are not interested in is sports. Your friend Xander was visiting yesterday. He was happy to play all day with the basketball hoop that Grandma gave you. You will say "basketball" throw it in once and move on to something different. We were watching football last weekend and out of nowhere you said "no football." I didn't even know you knew the word football. Maybe it's too soon to predict your future interests. Who knows perhaps you be a stellar athlete someday. But for now, purses and babies and animals have your attention (baby animals in you purse are even better!). It's becoming difficult to capture your personality in writing. You are a happy, creative, talkative child who amazes me every day.

Love,

Mommy

Happy Halloween

Lily,

You were a butterfly for halloween this year. We went to Tierney's house to go trick or treating. She was dressed as a giraffe. You two made quite a pair. It took you a while to warm up to the whole idea of trick or treating but by the end you were having a blast. You were very careful to take only one piece of candy from each house. You and Tierney giggled all night and talked about it all through the next day.

One house had this giant ghost scene. The two of you laughed and laughed at it.

It was a good time!

Peek-a-boo

Fishing

When we were in San Antonio Grandma bought you tons of games to play outside. Here you are fishing.

Habia Un Viejita

San Antonio Vacation 2010

Dear Lily,

We just spent a week in Texas visiting friends and family. You were great on the airplane rides. You slept when you were supposed to and you enjoyed looking out the window when you were awake. You said "up airplane!" and when we landed back in Philadelphia you said "more airplane." Here you are sleeping after the plane had landed.

We spent the first half of the vacation at your Aunt Vanessa and Uncle Mike's house. You quickly hit it off with cousin Sophia! We were happy that we were also able to see Nana and Papa. We rented a little crib for you. You and Sophia spent a long time giggling and pretending to "go night night" in that little crib. Of course, we couldn't capture your laugh in the picture (you were very opposed to posing for the camera during this trip).

Then we went to a pumpkin patch where we quickly remembered how hot it is in Texas.

I don't think you understood why we wanted you to sit on a pumpkin.

Then we went on a train ride which was really a tractor pulling a bunch of barrels. You thought it was pretty fun. Here is Aunt Vanessa and Sophia:

There were moon bounces at the pumpkin patch. Daddy and I thought there was no way you would have fun bouncing in one of those. Boy were we WRONG. You LOVE LOVE LOVED that moon bounce. We let you stay in as long as possible but then the time did come when you had to get out. You cried and cried because you wanted to jump some more.

Here you are getting some quality play time with Papa:

Posing with the girls:

I walked downstairs to find you along with Daddy and Sophia captivated by the tv:

Everything is bigger is Texas. Big hats:

And big glasses:

The next half of our trip we stayed in a house with a cool backyard. Here you are on the see-saw with Mommy:

The first time you ever swung on a big kid swing. Mommy was so worried you would let go of the ropes:

We went to Brackenridge Park twice to ride the trains.

Every time the train whistle blew you got a little freaked out and decided laying your head on my lap was the safest place to be:

We had a picnic in the park. About 10 minutes later you slipped into this water (at a shallow end). You had to ride all the way home in just a diaper.

At the Alamo with Uncle Mark:

You were fascinated by the mariachi:

With Uncle Mark and Uncle Scott:

Posing for pictures with Grandma:

Uncle Brandon, Uncle, Cristoph, Grandma, Daddy, and you:

We were very fortunate to get to spend some time with Aunt Linda, who came all the way up from Mexico to see you:

Second ride on the train:

Then Mommy and Daddy's good friends (Angie and Robert) drove up from Houston with their two kids (Alan and Jane) to visit. The last time we saw Angie and Robert none of us had kids yet. A lot has changed in less than three years! Three kids under the age of three in one room = noisy! Here you are having lunch at the San Antonio zoo with Alan:

Looking at the birds with Robert:

Lily and Jane:

Angie, Alan, Jane, Mommy, Lily:

Our last night in town we went to La Fonda. We had a great time with Uncle Mark and Uncle Scott (and Elmo):

You had a great time. It went by super fast. We got to see a large part of our family. Even though you were born in Pennsylvania, you mustn't forget that you are a Texan at heart. Can't wait until next time!

Love,

Mommy