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Lily's first graduation

It was so cute to see Lily's graduation from daycare!  She was so proud to receive her "diploma".  Some of these girls she has spent 5 years growing up with.  It was really sweet to see how grown up they all have become.

Kindergarten

Believe it or not, Lily has started kindergarten!  She has grown up so much.  She is attending her neighborhood elementary school along with her cousin Isaac.  They are both in bilingual kindergarten classes, just not the same one.  It is a scary experience for her and she has had some problems with the transition.  The biggest sign of her problems is her incredible fussiness every morning when she is dropped off.  We are hopeful that this will pass as it is emotionally draining on all involved.  Once she is at school and Mom, Dad or Tony are gone, she stops crying and gets into the routine of the day.  We wish there was more we could do to help her feel more comfortable with this new experience.  I know it will just be time until she just wants us to drop her off at the curb and not come in with her. 

Lily's drawing

Lily decided that she wanted to draw yesterday.  She asked me what she should draw and I said "a house" and this is what she came up with.  I think it looks fantastic!

Dr. Seuss is only 4?

On Sunday, Lily told me about the new kid in her class, named "Seuss". I thought that was kind of an unusual name, but hey, whatever nowadays, right?

So I arrived at school yesterday to sign her out, and noticed a new name on the sheet. A light went on. I reconfirmed with Lily, "What did you say the new boy is named? ". Lily emphatically replied, "Seuss!" I said, "Did he TELL you that his name was Seuss?" and she said "No, but everyone always says "Hey, Seuss! Come here!"

Meet Jesus Alvarado.

Priceless.

Trip to Tacoma

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Originally uploaded by jopgaard.

Lily and I enjoyed a trip to visit the family in Tacoma. We had a great trip! We got to see almost all of the uncles and aunts and cousins. This picture is from one of two trips to the Point Defiance Zoo She had a GREAT time.

Lily riding her bike

Santa Clause got Lily a bicycle for Christmas. She has wanted to ride it but Dad's driveway has a slight slope to it. Lily has been afraid that she would go onto the street...or just get going too fast. On Saturday, I loaded the bike into the backseat of the car and drove over to the school in the neighborhood. She LOVED riding it around the playground. The more she rode the more comfortable she was with it. She REALLY loved chasing Dad.

Great evening for a four year old.

Lily had a fantastic evening this evening. First, she walloped Mommy at sword fighting. Then, she helped mow the back yard by pulling the long weeds that the reel mower won't get. After that, another sword fight, some chocolate milk and then our super hero climbed a tree. Actually, Mommy put her on the branch and wouldn't let go, but Lily had a fantastic time being up high. I think she's decided that she'd like to live in a tree. It was big fun.

On a side note, lately, whenever someone asks Lily how old she is, she says, "I'm four. But I'm almost four and a half. And I can buckle my seatbelt all by myself."

A proud accomplishment indeed.

The Climb

A great video of Lily singing her favorite song...until the end. Then she just got silly.

Thought for the day:

Lily's thought for the day (earlier this week but I just got around to blogging it):

"Clowns are funnier than hissy cats."

Yup. They are.

Skeletons in the closet

Overheard at the Lily/Mommy house:
Lily- "Mommy, how do you spell my baby's name?" (Note:this baby is a skull shaped eraser)
Mommy- "Well, I'm not sure. What IS the baby's name?"
Lily- "AAAAAARRRRRRAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH"
Mommy- "Gosh, I'm not really sure. What nationality is that?"
Lily- "Republican."

Someone's getting old...

The other night, Lily was in her room preparing to go to sleep, when an ambulance screamed down our street, siren's blaring. From Lily's room I heard, "Uh oh. Someone's getting old...." I asked her what she meant by that. She replied (as though it should have been perfectly obvious), "Well, an ambulance went by. Someone pwobly bwoke a hip...or an elbow!"

Suuuuurrreee....I can see that.

THAT'S my girl!

Lily was feeling kind of bad today. Having an asthma flareup. Little fever with it. So tonight we decided that she should go to bed early, and rather than going to sleep at the 9 (9:00 pm), she should try to go to sleep at the 8 (8:00 pm). In an effort to encourage this seemingly unlikely scenario, I started to tell her that I would give her a reward for her good behavior, should this actually manifest itself.

Mommy: If you go to sleep at the 8 tonight, I will give you...
Lily: *whispering* diamonds?????
Mommy: Um...I was thinking of a quarter but I like your thinking!

Unfortunately, she decided she would rather have the quarter. Maybe thats fortunate. She did decide that she wouldn't wait until the 8, but rather go to sleep immediately. And actually proceeded to do so. Poor tired baby!

Visit to Grandma's and Grandpa's

Lily and I had a great trip to visit Grandma and Grandpa in Tacoma. We flew out on New Year's Eve and were there for 4 days. Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Andy were there but they were not the stars. Lily's boys were there: Nathan and Matthew. Lily does love her boys! She had a great time playing with them and was very upset when they had to go home to Yakima.

While we were in Tacoma, we got to see the model train exhibit at the history museum. Lily thought that was great fun. We also got to visit lots of old friends and had a chance to meet some new friends. We got to the beach for about half an hour between rain showers. Lily really enjoyed throwing rocks into the water.

Lily was so well behaved during the trip making the trip enjoyable for everyone involved. Too bad it rained most of the time we were there. You can see the pictures on our flickr page.

Christmas program 2009

Lily's 2009 Christmas performance! Every year Lily's school puts on a Christmas program. Lily LOVES to sing.

Santa can hear you!

In our mall, Santa sets up shop by the kids play area, just past the escalator to the food court. This past week, we went and got Lily's Christmas picture taken at the picture place there, Studio 101, and then while they were being uploaded, we went sat with Santa and then got dinner.

After dinner, we were on our way back to the photo place (which incidentally is practically dead across from Santa's shop) and we passed the little stroller rentals that look like race cars. All of a sudden, our darling Lily went into full on fit mode. "I tired of walking! I wanna ride in the STWOLLER! I WANNA DWIVE A CAR!!"

John was completely taken aback, as was I. I tried explaining that we were only going a few more feet, looking at the pictures, and then going home. The extra loud whining persisted, and got more shrill and she began to collapse on the floor. Suddenly, a thought flashed in my head. Due to the proximity of Santa (especially) I said, "Lily! Santa can hear you!!!"

Lily was in the middle of shrieking, "I wanna RIDEEEE!! I wanna....." and she suddenly stood straight up, walked right and said, "Oh! Santa can hear me?"

End of fit. It was all that Mom & Dad could do to not burst out laughing. Our eyes got big and we both were very obviously thinking, "Wow, Santa IS magic!"

Autumn 2009

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Originally uploaded by jopgaard.

Lily helped me rake leaves. She wouldn't let me bag the big pile which is probably a good thing considering she was in the middle of the pile.

Lily has a boyfriend!

You may remember me talking about Jake several years back. They were in Miss Helen's baby class together and Lily was really upset when Jake moved up to the next class. Since then, they have had times that they were in the same class and really enjoyed each other. We also went to his birthday party this past June and had a great time playing in the water.

Well lately, Lilz has been commenting that Jake was on vacation and didn't come to school anymore. This went on and would be mentioned intermittently for about a month and a half, which was beginning to seem impractical. I kept thinking I needed to call Miss Kay about it and ask, but also kept forgetting.

Yesterday, as Lily and I pulled up to school in the morning, a car pulled up behind us and it was Jake and his Daddy! Lily was overjoyed and ran to greet "Jakers" with a hug. We all walked into the school together and I talked to Jake's dad a little bit. Seems that Jake isn't on "vacation" but rather is now in preschool, since he's 4! Well Lily and Jake went to visit Miss Helen and Jake's dad shared with us that Jake had been really asking to come back and visit and the only two people he had any interest in seeing were Lily and Miss Helen!

The two kids were really adorable. Lily asked Jake if he wanted to hold her hand and walk down to her classroom. He of course said yes, and they started holding hands and walking. Jake ran into the doorjam and muttered, "ow", and Lily giggled like this was the funniest thing she had ever heard. VERY cute. She was TOTALLY flirting. At age 3.

Oy.

Lily speaks Spanish!

Last night, we were sitting on the front porch eating our Popsicles, Lily, Daddy and Mommy. Bartlett decided to come out with us too. Lily suggested that she and Bartlett might like to go play in the back yard. Due to the incredibly odd weather this summer, we have an unusually high concentration of mosquitoes.

We told Lily that she couldn't go in the back because there were too many mosquitoes, she replied, "Well I will just tell them 'Shoo! Go away mosquito!'."

Mommy said, "Well thats fine, but some of the mosquitoes might speak Spanish, and you don't know how to say, 'Shoo! Go away mosquito!' in Spanish."

Lily replied, "Yes, I do!!!"

Mommy said, "You do?"

Lily said, "Yes! You say...'Shoo! Go away mosquito in Spanish.'!"

Guess she told me!

God is....

Lily has some new friends. The "Backyardigans". A group of 5 friends, Tyrone (orange moose) is sort of the leader of the group and Lily's favorite, Pablo (blue penguin), Tasha (yellow hippo), Uniqua (pink polka-dot something), and Austin (purple something). This is important only in that we had a very important discussion today involving these friends.

On our way to Jake's birthday party, Lily asked me, "Mommy, who made us? Who made everything?"

Being a good Unitarian Universalist, I said, "Uh....who do you think made us?"

Lily replied, "I know. I can't remember his name....whats that guy...AUSTIN! God is Austin."

However, upon further reflection, Lily decided that god couldn't be Austin, because he wasn't really that cool, so God must be Tyrone.

Send a fwee-year-old to a Baptist Church Daycare, and to the Unitarians on Sunday and this is what you get. God is Tyrone, an orange moose.

Monsters vs. Aliens-- the obsession.

Back in...what, April maybe?...we took Lily to see the movie "Monsters vs. Aliens" and somehow, it has consumed her life. It wasn't her first movie in a theater and we didn't see the 3D version either. BUT...it was the first movie she had ever seen that scared her. When Susan got big and the government came and took her away, Lily FREAKED. Like BIG freaked. Very strange. She is such a brave little girl, generally. She even told me once when I wasn't keen on watching something (fearing her reaction mostly) "Its just pwetend, Mommy! Its OK."

After the movie was over, she started having an imaginary friend named Susan (just like the lead character in the movie) and talked about it non-stop. I figured it was because she knew that she shouldn't have been afraid, as it was just "pwetend". So we devised a way to take her to see it again. She had to sleep well for X number of nights. She did. She was very keen to see it again. Of course, this time it was the 3D version. She still freaked out a little bit, but stayed in the theater for nearly the entire film. I was quite proud of her, being so brave.

But now...NOW...we have created a MONSTER (vs. alien). Lily is seriously obsessed with the film. Susan is still a staple in our house. But now she constantly talks about "Bob the Blob" and "Missing Link".

What does Bob the Blob say?
What does Insectasaurus do? Why is he bigger than Susan?
Why does Dr. Cockroach PhD make Susan's hair smoke?
Bob the Blob says, "I got it guys, I got it! I got it! Hot DOGS!" Thats what Bob the Blob says.

And every night, when I am putting her to bed she says, "Can we talk about Susan and Galaxor?"
Why is Galaxor mean to Susan? Can Susan beat up Galaxor? Does Susan like Galaxor? Why is Galaxor not really very nice?

Of course, every week for Movie Day she wants to take Monsters vs. Aliens. And EVERY week, we have to explain that its not yet available to take. I am loathe to feed into her obsession, but on the other hand, if it will make her STOP TALKING ABOUT THE STUPID MOVIE, I will gladly buy it when it is released. I hope this is not an indicator of her level of obsession or she may end up in a cult or something. The cult of Hollywood Cartoons. Super.

Are you thinking what I am thinking?

Tonight, Lily was supposed to be going to sleep, but hadn't quite gotten there yet. Suddenly, she sat up and said, "Hey Mommy?" I said, "Yes?" She hesitated a moment, then looked at me sideways and said, "Hey Mommy....are you thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?" I responded by asking, "Well, what are you thinkin'?

She grinned and said, "I'm thinking that eleven isn't a letter at all!"

.

A big girl at last!

Well Lily got her big girl bed finally! She was just CRAZY thrilled. She walked (no RAN) to her room and when she went in, her eyes got big and she got a huge grin on her face. She said, "Oh my gosh! Oh WOW! Oh my gosh! Oh, I LUFF it!!!"
Needless to say, she climbed up and down the ladder about 9485094837 times, and we had to go over the "no standing, no jumping, no climbing without Mommy or Daddy" rules with her. I think she's probably the most thrilled at all the room in it. After all, now she can sleep with EVERY stuffed animal that she owns.

Lily Singing

Lily LOVES to sing the songs from the musical Annie. Here is a video with her renditions of two of her favorites.

Ahoy, there!

Lily and I went to visit Grandma and Grandpa in Tacoma last week. On our way back, Lily wanted to talk to the pilots of our plane. Mom took her over to them and she asked them if they were pirates. Apparently, she thought we said that the pirates would be flying the plane. Well, after we got on the plane, the flight attendant asked Lily if she had talked to the pirates. Apparently, this little conversation made the pilots' day and they were thrilled to be compared to Captain Feathersword...the only pirate that Lily knows.

Chocolate anyone?

Originally uploaded by jopgaard.

What does chocolate, strawberries and a three year old equal? One very messy face!

Our little daredevil

My little daredevil
Originally uploaded by jopgaard.

Mom bought Lily some roller skates and Lily has been dying to try them. Finally on Saturday morning, Lily couldn't wait any longer. Despite the cold wind, Mom and Lily got their skates on and went out on the driveway. It didn't last very long until they both came in cold. We will wait until the temperature goes up a little bit more and they will try again!

Messy Lily

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Originally uploaded by jopgaard.

Lily REALLY liked the cheesecake chimichanga we got after we were done eating our tacos at the local taco fast food restaurant.

How a 3-year-old defines yucky

Over the weekend, I purchased a bottle of orange mint water. I thought it might be good. It wasn't. It wasn't even a little bit yummy. So...I sat it in the back seat, where Lily noticed it as we were driving from the Doctor's office today (BTW- 3-yr-old checkup all good, excellent verbal skills, 50% for weight, 25% for height). ANYHOW...

Lily saw the water and asked what it was. I told her it was something that Mommy bought but that it tasted yucky. She asked why and I told her that it was just not yummy to drink. She looked at the water and said, "Yeah! Its yucky! Its got puppies in it!"

Play that guitar!

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Originally uploaded by jopgaard.

Lily got a new guitar for Christmas from Santa. She very quickly caugh on how to play like a real rocker!

Big Kids

Well Lily is definitely growing up. Just yesterday, when she opened her package of fruit snacks for herself, she told me that "I'm getting to be 3!". She's quite pleased by that and she knows that she will be a Big Kid then. She tells everyone that on her birthday she gets to have gum. I am afraid it will be a bit anticlimactic....

The weekend before last, Lily took a nap in her big girl bed for the first time! Slept like a big kid. Before long, we will be sleeping in the bed all the time and looking at getting her a BIG big girl bed, instead of just a toddler bed. Her Christmas Program at school is next week, so watch for video of that to be posted. All in all, she is getting big, growing up, and ready to move out I think.

Pilgrims? Bah! Who needs 'em?

On Monday, November 24, we had Thanksgiving Luncheon at Lily's school. She was very excited for Mommy and Daddy to come eat lunch with her. Daddy arrived before I did, and got a table for us.

As I walked in, Lily was just entering the lunch room. She had a very large, black, felt pilgrim hat on and when she saw me, she exclaimed excitedly, "Mommy! I'm a Pirate!"

I asked her what kind of pirate she was, and with a disdainful look she replied, "The turkey kind!"

Well obviously.

This kid has timing....

This evening, as we were leaving a local bookstore, my mother called to have me talk her through the finer points of internet surfing (namely the difference between typing web address into "the Google" or typing it into the address bar).

I said, "Go to the very top of the screen and type the address."
I said, "Did it come up for you?"
She said, "I typed it in but nothing happened."
I said, "You have to hit enter. Hit enter."
She said, "Enter? Where is that?"
I said, "On your keyboard. The enter key"
She said, "Oh! Enter! I see! Its coming up now."

Lily, a child with absolute perfection in comic timing shouts from the back seat:
"Winner! Winner! Chicken dinner!"

Seriously, I laughed about that for like 2 hours. I'm still laughing. Holy crap, where does this kid get her material?