Lily Rose

Lily's first graduation

2011-08-27T14:42:00.000-05:00

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

2011-08-27T14:39:00.000-05:00

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

2010-11-28T21:00:00.000-06:00

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?

2010-09-30T10:49:00.000-05:00

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

2010-07-25T18:02:00.001-05:00

100_4393
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

2010-05-23T20:00:00.000-05:00

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.

2010-05-18T21:40:00.001-05:00

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

2010-05-13T14:06:00.000-05:00

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

Thought for the day:

2010-03-25T12:03:00.001-05:00

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

2010-03-18T20:32:00.001-05:00

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...

2010-03-15T14:11:00.002-05:00

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!

2010-01-13T19:32:00.002-06:00

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

2010-01-07T18:41:00.002-06:00

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

2009-12-17T19:43:00.001-06:00

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

Santa can hear you!

2009-11-23T13:43:00.002-06:00

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

2009-11-01T17:39:00.001-06:00

IMG00061-20091031-14312
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!

2009-10-16T09:59:00.002-05:00

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!

2009-08-12T11:24:00.002-05:00

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....

2009-06-28T20:55:00.003-05:00

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.

2009-06-18T20:22:00.002-05:00

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?

2009-06-05T21:08:00.004-05:00

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!

2009-05-15T20:36:00.004-05:00

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

2009-05-14T20:33:00.003-05:00

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

Ahoy, there!

2009-04-29T16:14:00.002-05:00

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?

2009-04-06T21:05:00.001-05:00

Originally uploaded by jopgaard.

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

Our little daredevil

2009-04-06T21:03:00.001-05:00

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

2009-02-19T20:50:00.001-06:00

messy lily
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

2009-01-26T20:33:00.002-06:00

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!

2008-12-28T19:34:00.001-06:00

P1020923
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

2008-12-03T11:03:00.000-06:00

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?

2008-12-03T10:52:00.005-06:00

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....

2008-11-11T19:31:00.003-06:00

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?

Singing Frere Jacques

2008-11-10T19:20:00.004-06:00

Lily has started to sing Frere Jacques a lot. Mom has to sing it with her lots of the time, as well. She is adorable!

Are you kidding me?

2008-10-31T21:30:00.002-05:00

What 2 year old do you know who has a boyfriend?

Earlier this evening, when we were over at my parents house, Lily dropped a bombshell. Well, technically I guess she dropped it when she was still at school.

Mommy: "Lily, do you need to potty?"
Lily: "No! I alREADY potty at school! I pooped a BIG poop! Evan flushed it for me. He's my boyfriend."

Well of course, you can't let just anyone flush for you. That Evan...he sure knows how to treat a girl.

Tinkerbelle PRINCESS...and don't you forget it!

2008-10-31T21:27:00.002-05:00

P1020809, originally uploaded by Laurel Rose Mommy.

This year, Lily decided to be Tinkerbelle. BUT we couldn't find a Tinkerbelle costume. After she carefully considered her options, she chose this lovely dress. She seemed satisfied and I said, "So...you can be a princess! You are my princess you know, baby."

She quickly corrected me and said, "No! I not a baby. I a big girl and I gonna be Tinkerbelle PINCESS not other pincess."

So Tinkerbelle Princess she is. We let her know that if Tinkerbelle was going to be a princess, this is most certainly what she would wear. Especially note the fancy foofoo tights and shoes. They were an especially important choice.

Who's old?

2008-10-02T21:24:00.002-05:00

Miss Lori was babysitting this evening while we attended...what could very loosely be called the theater. When we got home, Miss Lori told us that she was really surprised at how incredibly vocal Lily had become. She laughed so hard when she told us this:

Tonight as Lily was chattering away, Lori asked her, 'Lily, how old are you?'"
"I two! How old are you?", replied Lily.
"Oh, I'm old." says Lori.
"HAHA," Lily laughed, "So's Daddy!"
Lori asked, "Is Mommy old?"
"No, only Daddy..." says Lily.

Bwahaha. I really enjoy conversations like this one, especially!

Lily plays basketball

2008-09-21T21:02:00.004-05:00

Lily has always been obsessed with balls. We have every type of ball imaginable. She started bouncing balls in our kitchen about the time she could walk. One day we were at Sam's Club and she saw a stack of basketballs that they apparently give away to people who get credit accounts with them. She saw them and went nuts. The staff their told us she could have one. Well, since then she has been practicing bouncing it. She has gotten fairly good. We don't know when kids first learn to dribble but Lily is well on her way.

Naked in earnest

2008-08-21T18:25:00.000-05:00

This evening, I was standing in the family room with Lily, who had all but completely disrobed following our dinner. We were having a nice conversation, which is mostly new-ish and always filled with unusual information. Lily had decided that the puppy did not need to go outside. You see, there might be flies outside. I agreed that yes, there might be flies out there. So mostly naked Lily turned calmly to Bartlett and explained earnestly, “You see, puppy dog, the flies are outside and they might make you throw up.” She then turned to me, tugged her underpants up, and said very matter-of-factly, “If the puppy throws up, he won’t be able to catch Frisbees ANY MORE ever, ever, ever.” Which somehow, when standing with a naked child in the family room, didn’t seem like an odd discussion.

Gumbella Girl

2008-08-09T21:42:00.003-05:00

Lily has been saying for WEEKS that she wanted 'a gumbella'. For awhile, we had no clue what she was talking about...duh, Mommy! She actually was saying how much she wanted a purple (pohpooh) gumbella and Mommy looked and looked and couldn't find one anywhere. Today though, we went to The Toy Store in preparation for going on an airplane trip next week and lo, there smack by the door was a gumbella! It wasn't purple, but it has purple in it! That totally counts. Lily was instanty smitten and stated emphatically that she needed that umbrella. Since it was raining, Mommy agreed and now, Lily has her very own umbrella. The world will remain spinning for another day.

Potty Watch 2008- the results!

2008-07-14T09:04:00.002-05:00

For those of you waiting so eagerly the progress report from our home about our potty status…I think that we are potty trained! I don't know exactly how you decide for certain, as I know accidents will happen for some time. Her accidents are few and far between and when she does have them, she is really, truly chagrined. She had 2 in one day last week and the rest of the week was good. When she does have accidents, they are almost always "#2" and I think its being confused (easy to see how) with having to fart which she enjoys immensely.

She generally wakes up dry in the morning from the overnight, comes in bed with me while Daddy showers, and shortly after that, states her need to potty and goes into the bathroom and does the business. Oddly, there have been a couple of nights where she woke up and had to potty in the middle of the night (SOOOO not fun) but she goes, and eventually goes back to sleep. I think we doze off faster than she does, but then again, she gets a nap at school and at least at John's work, napping would be seriously frowned on. I think that maybe the night waking is due to her molars starting to come in. From what I understand though, once she gets these teeth, the teething is all done for a long time! YAY!

I believe that we had a taste of the 'two-year-old' yesterday. Lily was just a terror all day long. Tantrums galore. If there was something she was supposed to do, she didn't. If there was something she wasn't supposed to do, she did. She had umpteen timeouts which only barely fazed her. She was just NAUGHTY. I have to wonder if that’s the way that most two-year-olds behave in general and we have been lucky so far, or if it is an exceptional situation brought on by a great number of things happening all at once? Lets hope it was an aberration…yuck…

4th of July

2008-07-12T21:21:00.001-05:00

P1010927
Originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

Lily celebrated Independence Day with family at Nana Lois's house. She loved waving the flags and watching the "fireworks" which consisted of a few smoke bombs, a couple of sparklers and some black snakes.

Wow. Seriously?

2008-06-29T21:00:00.003-05:00

You know how you have to work and work at stuff to really make it happen? And you know how if something happens, like, super easy, you feel like you are missing something? Yeah.

So today Lily didn't have a single accident. Granted, we mostly stayed home, but Miss Lori came over to watch the kiddo while we finished picking up the house in prep for Auntie Jill, Cousin Lucas, Cousin Joey, Grandma & Grandpa O's arrival. Even over nap, while we put her in a pull up to be on the safe side, even then she didn't pee until after nap and until she told us that she had to go.

Now, while I know that this isn't it and she isn't done or anything, can you imagine that inkling of hope that this inspires in me? I am totally waiting for the other shoe to drop but in my own head I pretend like it was just that easy. Don't all spam me with the whole, "Delusional" thing. I know. But for tonight, I am pretending like she is the most brilliant kid ever.

Scatology and micturation: a primer

2008-06-28T21:15:00.001-05:00

P1010518, originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

Today was the big day. Lily woke up in a less than joyous mood BUT nevertheless, once the first morning pee pee was out of the way, we did a little dance (literally) and put on her underpants! For the first of the day, she chose a lovely little princess pair. Day one accident count: 3. Not bad, I think for a first day! I do have to say also in her defense, one of them was totally our fault as we did not make any kind of bathroom suggestion for over an hour. Whoops. I also have to say that her friend at school, Jake, and his parents did us no favors as his birthday cupcakes had blue and green icing and thus we are enjoying a very green poop day. But that’s not yucky at all, right? See here a very happy girl. Day two is upcoming...lets hope it is even better than day one!

Lily’s Big Day

2008-06-28T21:13:00.002-05:00

P1010521, originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

Do not only did Lily enjoy her first day of freedom from diapers, but she also rode her trike for the first time by herself! She went on the train with Mommy. She ate a taco for lunch. She went shopping at Sam’s. Lily was very tired by bedtime and so were Mommy and Daddy.

To pee or not to pee…

2008-06-25T10:33:00.003-05:00

As you may or may not recall, recently we decided to try to push the potty training. It really didn't go well. So we took the potty away totally, pulled a 'Tom Sawyer' move and told her she couldn't use the potty. That seemed to work mostly. A couple of weeks ago, she started occasionally telling us that she wanted to use the potty. We got it back out, and she would sometimes go in and use it. Then, she started telling us more frequently (weekends only, not at school) that she wanted to go potty in her potty. We would go in, take off her diaper, and more often than not, she would be successful. She seems to really like pooping especially. Now, she is getting really good at it. She will sit down, get a very sly look on her face and say, "It's coming! Here it comes, pee-pee!" then when she potties, the potty makes noise and plays a little song. She looks very proud and of course we cheer and make a big hoopla. AND she gets to flush. Thats the big reward.

She kept improving on weekends, so last weekend, we told her that we were switching to pull-ups and that she wouldn't wear diapers anymore except at night. She was very excited and all the reports from school have been excellent! Her teacher was very surprised and said that Lily was really doing exceptionally well staying dry. Her daily report sheet yesterday indicated only once that she went to use the potty and was already wet. Sooo….this weekend, we are going for it. Lily will get to put on underpants for the very first time! I asked her yesterday if she was excited about that, but she was busy playing rocks and told me so in as many words. Not sure what to think about that, but we are going for it anyhow. I figure one of two things will happen:

1) She will be so thrilled to be in underpants, love the feeling, and she will do really well. I figure an accident or two and she will be mostly done. I have a feeling she will be really mortified by peeing her pants. She doesn't like going potty in her pull-ups so I think this will be a good thing.
2) She will be so freaked out if/when she has an accident that she will immediately want to revert back to diapers.

Fingers crossed its the first one! We will let you know how everything…ahem…comes out.

Papa goes airborne

2008-06-20T15:52:00.001-05:00

100_0137
Originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

Lily's Papa got to go up in a hot air balloon this week. Lily was so excited that she couldn't stop talking about it for days. We thought that she would get frightened when they started lighting off the burners but she held fast. You see her pointing at the balloons as they were getting them inflated.

When Papa called after the flight, all he could talk about was their "crash." Let's just say that no one got hurt....not even the parrot. Check out flickr for the pictures.

How is this even possible?

2008-05-21T20:43:00.002-05:00

P1010257, originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

OK, I totally get the part where I am completely biased, but seriously people...Look at that girl! I have to admit though, that she would only consent to be photographed with the proviso that I show her the pics immediately afterwards. If it took me more than a fraction of a second to do so, she immediately would shriek, "I WANNA SEE LILY!!!"

This one was taken right after her last gymnastics class before summer break. Mommy & Daddy are going to have to figure SOMETHING out for the summer.

I don't think she will go into floral design...

2008-05-12T20:01:00.007-05:00

As a child grows, Mothers and Fathers inevitably try to guess what the child's chosen path in life might be. They try to see where her interests lie, what her talents might be, what her strengths are, all to help shape her and mold her into an adult who will be happy in her work and enjoy her life to the utmost.

We have decided that Lily will likely NOT be a florist. Of late, she has been very interested in picking flowers. Her favorites, as with many (dare I say most?) other two-year-old girls are the ever present dandelion. Especially with my hurt foot, she has been desirous of bringing me flowers nearly every day. (You know, sadly its nice to get flowers once in a while) She presents the lovingly picked stems with the prounouncement, "Here Mommy. Make you feel better!" Foreshadowing? Maybe so.

Do you think it is the gorgeous yellow color that influences her? Well you would be mistaken. Perhaps the gorgeous, fluffy down that comes as the flower ages? Not so much.

Lily loves the stem. No golden yellow petals. No downy crappy seeds on it. Just the stem. And the more withered and greyish the better. Hooray for Mommy's new most beautiful flower...dandelion stems!

If she doesn't go into floral design, maybe she will marry into the Adam's Family?

Lily's "Mad" face

2008-05-07T13:34:00.001-05:00

Lily's "Mad" face, originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

This kid...shes so funny!

The while ago (pre-surgery) I parked at Papa & Yaya's house and walked over to school to get Lily. On the way home she was being VERY slow-pokey so I suggested that we run. She said, "No wanna run!", so I replied, "OK, we don't have to run. Lets just walk."

A few seconds went by and Lily looked at me with THAT face and said, "Mommy! I'm MAD!" I said, "Why? What are you mad about?" and she stated emphatically, "No wanna run!". I assured her we didn't have to run.

About a minute or so later, she said, "I'm done mad....lets run!" and she took off like a shot.

Anyhow, since that day, she has been very pleased that she has developed a 'mad face' and will gladly show us when we ask. She was reluctant to allow us to photograph it, but we told her we would show it to her on the camera and she willingly obliged.

UPDATE: Potty Watch 2008

2008-04-29T12:11:00.004-05:00

So our big weekend of potty training was pretty much a bust. We had decided on a 'reward' based system. Sitting on the potty and giving it a go earned Lily a sticker. Sitting on the potty and peeing earned Lily a tiny snack bag of fruity Cheerios. Sitting on the potty and pooping earned Lily a toy out of my special toy sack filled with balls, rocks, and confiscated Happy Meal Toys. Long story short, at the end of the weekend, there were about 8937483298347 stickers on the board, all the special bags of fruity Cheerios were still intact, and not a ball, rock or Happy Meal Toy had seen the light of day.

We decided to wait a few weeks. My surgery was coming up and knowing I would have an "owie foot" for awhile, we thought it best to just wait until I had healed a bit and try again.

But Lily surprised everyone! Yesterday at school, she was out on the playground with her class. She approached Miss Melissa and stated that she had to go potty. Miss Melissa took her inside to the potty and "VOILA!" Lily sat down and pottied on the potty! Yay Lily!

Now, we have examined our situation and we know in our hearts that this was simply one incident. But in the back of my head, I have the lovely delusion that this weekend, Lily will decide that she is finished with diapers and will just be a potty kid all the time. That could totally happen. And she will have completely potty trained herself. In my head, thats what I am pretending.

Maybe its the pain medication?

Mommy's Owie

2008-04-26T15:57:00.002-05:00

Mommy had to have surgery on her foot on Thursday. For the past few weeks we have been preparing Lily for this. Mommy wore her "owie boot" around the house and we told Lily that she would have to be especially nice to Mommy. At first Lily was scared of the boot and wouldn't want to touch it. After a bit she would ask to touch it and kiss it. Yes, kiss it. That is what she wants to do to everything she is afraid of....the vacuum cleaner especially.

The surgery went fine but now Mommy is some pain Lily wants to kiss Mommy's owie and has expressed sympathy. She asks about Mommy's owie frequently.

Lily knows that Mommy can't chase after her so has been getting into everything. I have done my best to keep her corralled but it has been next to impossible to watch Lily and help Mommy at the same time. Finally this morning we decided it was time to call our favorite babysitter to take Lily so that Mommy could rest and I could do some laundry while Mommy rests.

Mommy should be much better in a few days and will get rid of the boot in about 6 weeks.

See if shes smiling on Monday

2008-04-07T11:29:00.003-05:00

P1010037, originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

This weekend we took Lily on a long trip to visit Baby Alan, and his parents & sister in Iowa. It was 6 hours in the car with a two-year-old and Lily actually did really well! Provided we kept her in her seat. That of course, was a problem because apparently diapers aren't meant to be on a butt for 6 hours in a car seat. We had several leaky incidents, but I hope that it will be further incentive for her to potty train….this coming weekend.

While we were visiting our friends, we persuaded their 8-year-old daughter to tell Lily how exciting it is to use the potty, and to go poo-poo and pee in the potty and how it makes you such a big girl. Then we pointed out how Baby Alan wore diapers and that’s how babies go to the potty. We took the Elmo Potty video along with us and read the potty propaganda "Everyone Poops" when we got home. I hold much hope in my heart that we will get this potty training thing started this weekend and all will go smoothly. I'm sure she will get it right off… It'll be cake….right?

ROAAAARRRRRR

2008-04-07T11:25:00.002-05:00

P1010054, originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

Lily is a very brave (and very imaginative) little girl. Behind our friend's house, was a big yard with a slide and a swing, etc. Also, there was a backyard barbeque grill across the fence at the neighbor's house. Apparently, that BBQ looked very much like a lion to Miss Lily. She pointed at it, and roared at it, and eventually made friends with it and waved.

A change in routine might be good!

2008-03-06T09:52:00.001-06:00

This morning, John had to go to work EXCEEDINGLY early. So Lily's normal routine was a tad disrupted. She woke up about 6:15 which was great because Mommy woke up at about 6:00 and was able to perform her morning ablutions, let the dog out and back in, and get Lily's milk before she awoke.

After we watched the end of The Wiggles, we watched the "kids" on Hi5 before she said she wanted to go into the other room. I said that we would have to get her dressed first, so we picked out clothing for the day. Then, I offered her the choice of playing in her crib while I showered or watching Wiggles in the Family room and she opted for the latter. However, she attached the condition that I provide cereal in a snack cup for her, and more milk, to which I agreed. She proceeded to eat the cereal, and asked for more. I provided that, and she put it in her pumpkin and stated she was going bye-bye. Then, while I dried my hair and did makeup, she took all of the cheerios out of the pumpkin and carefully stuff them up her shirt. She was quite surprised when she stood up and all the cereal fell out of her shirt onto the floor and the dog leapt on it like a ravenous hound. It was VERY funny. She was so mad she scolded him, "No-no PUPPY! That’s my cereal!"

Where's Lily?

2008-02-26T19:28:00.002-06:00

So I used to think that kids outgrew that whole "peek-a-boo" thing. For us, it has ceased to amuse her when we "peek-a-boo", however when she is the designated 'peeker' she really seems to enjoy it. In fact, when Lily hides her face, and we don't immediately say "Where's Lily? Have you seen her?", she starts giggling and says, "Where's me? Mommy, where's me?"

Yikey or no yikey?

2008-01-30T10:04:00.000-06:00

Lily has discovered the world of Like and Don't Like. When shopping for faucets at the local Lowe's she will definitely express preference. "My yikey dis one, Mommy!"

When eating snacks at Yaya's house she says, "Mommy, me no yikey dis one." She has her definite favorite toys- "Yikey" and her un-favorite activities (taking her vitamin)- "no Yikey". More often than not, however, things are "my yikey". Yikey puppy, yikey kitty, yikey 'my boys'. So far, she's fairly easy to please. Yikey rice. No yikey bubbles in the bath (bubbles make the water messy). Lils yikey milk and she yikey skirts but no yikey pants and no yikey juice.

Our Lily Rose is definitely a girl with opinions.

"Tallow" youth?

2008-01-08T07:13:00.000-06:00

Of late, our darling Lily has been having some exzema issues. The doctor had told us before that just about the best lotion around is by Eucerin and is called "Aquaphor". I hadn't tried it before, but we got a small bottle and it really seemed to help. So on Saturday we got a vat of it at Target and started using it on her. I can definitely see that it seems to be helping with the problem. Lily enjoys us putting lotion on her, especially after bath and before bed. I think she realizes it makes her skin feel better. Apparently her head has been itching too, and she didn't tell us. This morning when Daddy went in to get her up, we found she had decided to put some of the lotion on herself. In her hair. Lots of lotion. In her hair. It was basically glued to her head. Now she just looks like her Mommy and Daddy are lunatics.

What you see above is how she looked after two shampoos with dish-soap and one with shampoo. I have a feeling we will look this way for quite some time now. Lily has stated quite plainly, "I like it". She emphatically said, "Lily pretty! Lily funny!"

As for the vat of lotion, its about half gone. Her sheets, her little 'ba-ba', her big 'ba-ba', her cup of water, her halo bag, her pajamas, etc. are all soft and supple now. Another interesting note, Aquaphor in hair becomes something of the texture of rubber cement. Woot!

Sweetness

2008-01-02T19:55:00.001-06:00

Lily Rose 2007, originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

Here's our Lily Rose at Grandma & Grandpa's house. Even though she didn't feel super (and Mommy felt far from it) she had a great time.

Lily and "Her Boys"

2008-01-02T19:54:00.001-06:00

100_3843
Originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

Lily had a great time playing with her cousins Matthew and Nathan. She kept calling them "My Boys" and would ask for them every morning even after we got home.

Lily and Grandma

2008-01-02T19:52:00.001-06:00

100_3898
Originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

Lily and family went to visit Lily's Grandma and Grandpa over New Years. She had a lot of fun playing with Grandma and Grandpa and her other relatives. Here Lily is having fun with Grandma. Lily was outside on the deck while Grandma was in the living room.

The Ice Storm Cometh

2007-12-11T20:07:00.001-06:00

100_3771, originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

Lily had the day off from school and Mommy and Daddy didn't have to go to work either. Something about a little ice...I don't know, wasn't paying attention.

Lils and Daddy waited until the ice/rain stopped and went outside, carefully avoiding the trees and the snapping branches. Lily was VERY excited about the 'yice outside!!!' Not only is there ice, but there is snow as well and thats one of Lily's favorite things this year!

For anyone wondering, we're all safe, still have power (for now) and hopefully the worst is past. Family nearby fared well also, but we haven't heard a word from our Oklahoma friends...fingers crossed for them. For more ice storm pics, take a look at our flickr page (link on right).

Lily Jumping

2007-12-04T21:15:00.001-06:00

Lily LOVES to jump. Here she is jumping along with her other love: The Wiggles!

Lily's 2007 Christmas Program

2007-12-04T21:11:00.000-06:00

Sorry these videos are so dark. I will be editing them and making them easier to see in the near future.

All that counts...

2007-11-05T20:28:00.000-06:00

Tonight, while bathing, Lily surprised Mommy with some excellent counting! Mommy was counting the cups that Lils uses to pour water from one to another.

Mommy said, "One...two..."
Lily said, "Two....tree"
"Three..." said Mommy
"Fouw..." answered Lily, "Fie."
"Five..." said Mommy
"Ick...ebenen" said Lily, and skipping ahead a bit she finished, "TEN!!!! YAY!!!!" and she applauded her performance.

Mommy got a little tear but she clapped, too. When Daddy came in, she repeated the performance for his admiration. Lily is definitely growing up!

Princess Leia...ready to "tik-r-eek"

2007-11-01T21:22:00.001-05:00

Halloween was excellent for Lils this year. We went to the mall with her cousin Ike and Nonnie (Aunt Anna). Lily practiced saying "trick-or-treat" and did really well. She always said thank you, too. She discovered suckers. Her word for them sounds very much like her word for cracker and is unreproducible phonetically (by this author anyhow). A good time was had by all.

Check our Flickr for more great Halloween pics. A few of cousin Isaac, too.

The yox win the series!

2007-10-23T19:29:00.000-05:00

Lily has a new semi-obsession. Socks. She calls them yox. This evening, as I was putting her to bed, she got in her crib as usual, and I was sitting in the chair and 'rock-rock', not wearing shoes or slippers but I had on my socks. She noted with great interest, "Mommy yox?" I confirmed that yes, indeed, those were Mommy's socks.

She pointed to her hamper and inquired, "Wi-wee yox?" Again, I confirmed that was where Lily's socks were. Suddenly, she caught fire and we went through a list of all the people who had socks. "Daddy yox?" Yes, Daddy had socks. "Papa yox?" Yes, Papa (Grandpa L) had socks. "Puppy yox?" No, puppies don't wear socks. "Tyittee yox?" No, kitties don't wear socks either. "Sawee tyittee yox?" No, the kitty who is sorry for scratching you doesn't wear socks.

Then she hit it...I swear she was using this whole thing as a set up for the joke. "Ya-ya yox?" Yes, Ya-ya (Grandma L) wears socks. She finally quit with a very satisfied "Yes, Ya-ya yox." *snicker*

Lily eats a cupcake

2007-10-11T20:38:00.001-05:00

After
Originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

Lily insisted that Dad buy some yellow cup cakes when we were at the store. She thought it was very funny to get the yellow frosting all over everything.

Grandma reads to Lily

2007-10-11T20:36:00.001-05:00

100_3532
Originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

Grandma took some time out to read Lily a story. Lily really enjoyed the short visit from Grandma and Grandpa.

Lily and Grandpa

2007-10-11T20:35:00.001-05:00

100_3520
Originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

Lily and Grandpa enjoyed a ride on the train at Gage Park while Grandpa was visiting from Tacoma. Lily sure does love the Choo-choo!

Teeth and more teeth

2007-10-06T21:25:00.000-05:00

The past couple of weeks have been a time for new teeth. Mom and I were starting to get worried that Lily was going to go through life with only 4 teeth. All of her classmates and the other babies around her all had lots of teeth. Well, finally Lily has started to sprout teeth -- about 6 all at once. We can tell that it is just killing her. She is always sucking on her hands and has been exceptionally fussy. We keep reminding ourselves that this too shall pass.

Boo guys and other bad ideas.

2007-09-24T15:47:00.000-05:00

Can it really be over a month since we last put anything in the blog? Good grief! Bad parents! Bad, BAD, parents!

Lily is doing really well. She moved up a class in school and the new additional stimulation is causing a meteoric rise in her vocabulary. We are constantly amazed at new words popping out of her mouth. Last Friday, she started saying, "yePPPP" with a very marked emphasis on the "P". Yesterday, she learned to say "cracker" which sounded more like "kakker" but was most definitely understandable. And when Mommy accidently said a bad word, her repetition of it was CRYSTAL clear.

Her favorite thing to do is to play "Boo Guys". One afternoon on a trip to Sam's Club, the Halloween decorations were out. I didn't want her to be afraid of the moving skeletons and such, so I said that they were funny guys who said "Boo!". She liked that. Later on, she pointed in their direction and said "Guys?" and I said, "Yes, thats where the guys are! Don't say Boo to them though!" She giggled.

Then, about a week later, we were at Target. Again, Halloween decorations abounded and she pointed at the 'guys'. I told her that yes, we could go see them, "But don't say Boo to them!" She promptly said, "Boo guys!!!" and now, everytime she sees ANYTHING that remotely resembles a guy (on a bike, at the store, in a truck, on the sidewalk, walking down the street, etc.) she smiles slyly and says "Guy! Boo GUY!" to which I am supposed to say "OOOOHHH!! Don't you say Boo Guys!" Even at night, when she is putting herself to sleep, I hear over the monitor, "Boo guys, boo guys, boo guys, boo guys, boo guys, boo guys, boo guys, boo guys, boo guys, boo guys" ad nauseum.

Great. What a super fun game!

Trains, Choo-Choo & Toot Toot.

2007-08-18T20:15:00.001-05:00

Lily on the train in April

The train in the park has a really nice whistle. It definitely says "Toot ToooOOOT". So when Lily wants to go on the train, she says "Bye bye Toot Toot?" Well obviously we say, "Lets go!"

Last week though, in the 800 degree heat, the train derailed and was out of commission for a few days. It was supposed to be back up and running on Tuesday, so we figured by Friday it would probably actually be up and running. SOOOO after dinner, Daddy and Mommy took Lily over to the park for the last train run of the night. The engineer oiled the train up and said that he thought, if we wanted, he could get in an extra run just for us. We got to go TWICE and Lily was so excited she could hardly contain herself.

After the last train ride of the evening, we went up to the engine to thank the engineer. He offered Lily a shiny train token for his "ardent fan". Lily took the token and (after prompting) said, "Ta-tooo" which is Lil-ese for "Thank you". Then, of her own volition, she said "Bye bye! Ta-tooo" and blew him a kiss.

Awwwww!!!

Lily's Smile

2007-08-10T20:29:00.000-05:00

Lily has started to scrunch up her nose when she smiles. We think this is so cute. It has been almost impossible to catch on camera but Mom was lucky today!

Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease

2007-08-07T20:54:00.000-05:00

Yes, Lily is sick once again. This time it is the childhood ailment Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD). She started to show signs on Friday but we didn't recognize. In fact, we had never even heard of it before. At least it is not a serious condition. She will just be home from school for a few days. Lots of Mom time!

Lily smells the flowers

2007-07-27T20:52:00.000-05:00

Lily stops to smell the flowers.

Heave Ho....not so much

2007-07-21T20:12:00.001-05:00

Lily and Dad were suppose to go to Grandma's and Grandpa's 50th Wedding Anniversary party in Washington on July 15. We were going to fly out on Friday and back on Monday. Dad couldn't get any more time than that off work. Mom couldn't go at all because of her job. Dad was looking forward to seeing everyone at the party on Sunday.

Lily had been sick for several days leading up to the day we were going to travel. She had been running a fever and had a sore throat. Mom took her to the doctor who said that her ears and lungs were fine and that she could fly. So on Friday, Grandpa L. picked us up and we headed to the airport. Of course Lily slept most of the way there.

When we got to the airport, we checked in and went to find some food to eat. Before we were even able to order some food, Lily started to vomit.....all over Dad and herself. Two very nice ladies came to Dad's rescue bringing napkins and giving advice. Dad didn't really know what to do...do we travel and take a chance or do we turn around and go home. Well, we decided to keep going. Dad went and bought a t-shirt at the gift shop and went to change both Dad and Lily.

After getting cleaned up, we headed into the gate area through security. By this time, Dad was hungry so we went to get some lunch. Right after we paid for lunch, Lily started vomiting again -- all over Dad again. This time it was clear to Dad that we were not going to be able to fly anywhere. Our trip was over. Dad called Mom and tried to get Grandpa to come back and get us. Dad told the airline people that we were not going to fly and that we needed our luggage back.

Grandpa finally was able to get back to the airport to pick us up. Lily, thankfully, fell asleep in the car on the way home (we live about 1 and 1/4 hours from the airport.)

After we got home and got everyone changed again, Dad just held Lily on his lap. She did not feel like playing. All of a sudden, she started to vomit again.....all over Dad for the third time. Time to change clothes again. Back to the couch to sit. Then the dog started to vomit.

Mom was still at work when it was time for Lily to go to bed so Dad got her to bed. Then the cat coughed up a hairball.

Good thing we didn't get on an airplane. Dad ran a fever all weekend.

Poor baby!

2007-07-08T21:31:00.001-05:00

Pathetic Baby 1, originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

Lily had a bit of a dust up today. She and Mommy had gone outside and Lily thought it would be great fun to take off running down the sidewalk. Before Mommy could stop her, the giggling fugitive got going too fast for her own little legs and took a tumble, JUST as she reached the part of the sidewalk that is only gravel. She spilled onto her knee, scratched up her hand and worst of all, scratched up her pretty face and bonked her head on the cement. Poor thing.

She was very brave though and didn’t cry very much. Mommy and Daddy cleaned her wounds (this time legitimate ones!) and put band-aids on her knee, around her finger, and on her forehead. Poor little baby all bunged up!

The best baby!

2007-06-27T08:52:00.001-05:00

100_3333, originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

Well, really I guess I should say the best kid. After all, we have been saying all along that talking, walking and sleeping through the night are the criteria that make a kid and now she does all three!

Yes, thats right! Lily FINALLY slept through the night! From about 7:45 p.m. until 5:45 a.m. our girl slept and slept. For those of you counting, that is 10 hours and it only took 17 months, 17 days.

Lets hope it wasn't an anomaly and that it continues tonight! I suppose though, that even if it were an anomaly, it proves we are on the right road!

Dad has a job!

2007-06-08T20:32:00.000-05:00

After being unemployed for more than a year, I finally have a new job! I will start my new job in a little more than a week. While it has been a difficult time for our family, this job is nearly a perfect fit. I will still be able to drop Lily off at day care everyday and will be home in the evening and on weekends. It gets me into a new industry (hospitals) and out of libraries. It takes advantage of my diverse management experience and technology experience. And besides everything else, it pays more than my last job did! I look forward to getting into the swing of work again.

More new words

2007-05-29T14:11:00.000-05:00

Now she can say (or shout) "NEE!!!" which of course means knee. She is still calling elbow "bubble" but it is now followed by her pointing to her 'bubble', then pointing to your 'bubble' then kissing your 'bubble'.

She has also begun to say one of the most important words in the English language. Shoes. Its Lily pronunciation is "JOOSE" and of course it must be shouted at the top of her lungs. All the ladies in the shoe shop were tickled by that. She also points to everyone's shoes. Constantly. But hey, if she's going to have an obsession, I think shoes is a good beginning.

Sick baby follow-up

2007-05-29T14:10:00.000-05:00

Well Lily's night in the hospital has come and gone. Her pneumonia is much better. For the first 24-48 hours, we did breathing treatments every 4 hours, night and day. After that, she had her follow up appointment with her pediatrician. He said that if we wanted to reduce it to twice a day (morning and night) it would be fine and once we thought it seemed under control, we could just do it as needed. Right now, we are doing only one treatment, and that’s right before bed.

John has been sick now. After I got over my sinus infection and chest cold (which I now question), John had to go to the doctor and was treated for Bronchitis and a sinus infection. Our neighbors are sick, my mother is sick, even Isaac has been a bit poopy. I wonder if some biological weapon has been unleashed on Topeka?

Lily in the hospital

2007-05-20T21:09:00.001-05:00

Lily is spending the night in the hospital. She has been diagnosed with pneumonia. Mom is staying with her. Watch for the entire story soon.

Lily speaks! (If you listen very closely...)

2007-05-10T10:15:00.000-05:00

Lily's Spoken Vocabulary-
Dog
Cat
Mommy/Mama
Daddy/Dada
Ball (CONSTANTLY! Everything round is a ball)
Num-Num (food - mostly accompanied by the baby sign for 'more')
Book
Uh Oh! (CONSTANTLY!)
Bubble (this generally means bubble, balloon and elbow)
Boon (this is only occasionally said and it means balloon)
Bow (this is only occasionally said and it means elbow)

Animal Sounds-
Elephant (Raised arms for trunk plus a high pitched squealing trumpet)
Cat (very high pitched meeeeeeeeow)
Dog (mostly just grunting but it could technically pass as a bark)
Giraffe (chewing)

Lily's devastating wound...

2007-05-06T20:25:00.000-05:00

Lily has a terrible wound on her hand. We aren't sure how she received it but here, she points out the wound for all to see.....below...I have highlighted the wound so its full magnitude is understood.

As you can see, the wound is nearly the size of a pin head...or maybe a freckle. Lily has spent the greater part of the last several days walking around pointing it out to everyone. Its really terrible.....NOT.

Bedtime snack? Maybe not a good plan.

2007-05-06T07:55:00.001-05:00

Lily hasn't been eating very well lately. We don't know if its teeth, or maybe a touch of the flu that Mommy had, or something totally different. Anyhow, we thought that maybe some sugar-free pudding would be a good bedtime snack and help her sleep a bit.

After her bath, we got her ready for bed and went to do snack. Turns out, that may not have been the best order to do that stuff in....for more Lily pudding pics, check our Flickr.

She was a MESS.

Lily is a great helper!

2007-05-04T10:52:00.000-05:00

This week, Mommy hasn't been feeling all that well. Finally, on Wednesday night, Mommy finally came down with what she was going to come down with....the flu.

Usually in the morning, Mom gets Lily dressed while Daddy takes a shower. Then Daddy takes Lily to school while Mom showers and gets dressed for work. On Thursday, however, Mommy was too sick to get Lily dressed so she went and laid on the couch (conveniently located in baby jail) so when Dad finished getting the girl dressed, he could plop her in baby jail and she could talk to mom as she convalesced on the sofa.

It was pretty obvious to Lily that Mommy wasn't herself that day. She was just laying in one spot not moving or smiling, or anything. Lily knew that the only thing that made her feel better was her soft blankie. So she retrieved it out of the laundry basket (Daddy hadn't folded it yet) and brought it to Mommy and covered her up. Then Lily patted Mommy's arm reassuringly.

Such a thoughtful girl and a good helper!

Lily at the garage sale

2007-04-30T21:27:00.001-05:00

Lily with grandpa at the garage sale
Originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

Lily helped out at our garage sale last weekend. She had a very busy time picking the price tags off things. She was SOOOO tired after a busy day.

Lily slept through the night....or did she?

2007-04-24T10:45:00.000-05:00

The debate about what constitutes sleeping through the night has begun. Last night, Lily Rose Opgaard slept through the night. That is, according to Mommy she did. Daddy, on the other hand, disagrees.

The Facts:
1) Lily went to bed and to sleep by 7:30pm
2) Lily woke up during Heroes (bad timing Lils!) about 8:30pm for a sip of water but went immediately back to sleep. Daddy responded. Up time: 10 minutes
3) Lily woke up at 10:30pm wanting water. Mommy responded. Up time: 10 minutes
4) Lily woke up at 11:30pm upset. Needed Tylenol and water. Daddy responded & Mommy assisted. Up time: 15 minutes
5) Lily woke up for the day at 5:05am.

That means that from 11:45pm until 5:05am (5.25 hours), Lily slept.

We encourage you to weigh in. Did Lily sleep through the night or not?

Lily lovers unite!

2007-04-24T10:37:00.000-05:00

Remember a few months ago when we posted about Lily being such a ham at her Christmas Program? Well, apparently we weren't the only ones who thought so.

The other day, we were over at Sam's Club shopping. We were standing in line with Lily and an older gentleman was standing behind us. We were chatting with him, and he was admiring our girl (as people are so wont to do) and she was being silly and flirting a little bit with the 'grandpa guy'. All of a sudden, he got this look of recognition on his face and asked, "Did I see this baby at the First Baptist Church Daycare Christmas Program?"

John and I were astonished! I wouldn't recognize most of those kids there if I saw them out of context (and I see some of them almost daily), let alone one baby who I saw once 4 months ago! We confessed that yes, our baby was in that program. The man went on to say that she really made him laugh.

Lily has a groupie! Or….a grampy in this case!

Lily's fever

2007-04-18T13:13:00.000-05:00

Lily was sick most of last week with a high fever. We took her to the doctor on Monday with a 102.4 fever. The doctor says that it was only an upper respiratory infection. By 10:00 that night, it had risen to 103.5 so we called the doctor again. The nurse told us to give her Tylenol to lower her temperature and call again if it went over 104. She was soooo miserable and woke up every 15-20 minutes most of the night. It made for a sleepless night for everyone.

Dad had to take care of her for four straight days. The first two, she just laid on him and slept. She wouldn't let him put her down for even a minute. On Tuesday night, in order for mom and dad to get as much sleep as possible, dad took her downstairs to our guest bed and slept with her. She slept better knowing that dad was right there.

By Wednesday, she was starting to feel better but was still running a fever. Because she still wasn't feeling 100% she was exceptionally fussy. By Thursday her fever was gone and she was even more fussy because she was starting to get bored with dad.

On Friday it was BACK TO SCHOOL!

We were concerned that the progress that we had made in getting her to sleep would have been lost but it would seem that we are still on track. Last night she woke up only once for about 5 minutes!

Lily on Easter

2007-04-08T13:49:00.000-05:00

Lily is just kicking back on Easter Sunday morning.

Who is bigger?

2007-03-27T15:55:00.000-05:00

You might have wondered, who is bigger, Lily or Darwin? Well, as you can see, it would appear that Darwin is still bigger but that is deceiving. Lily is heavier by a couple of pounds but Darwin is longer when he stretches out.

Want some?

2007-03-26T14:33:00.001-05:00

100_3018, originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

Lily is very into "sharing bites" with Mommy and Daddy. On this particular evening, dinner was ravioli and bananas. As with all good babies, the palate is not as 'discerning' as that of Mommy or Daddy. Tonight, she liked to have the bananas and the ravioli at the same time so they mixed on the tray and made the ever popular food, "raviana" or "bananoli". I think she finds it odd that Mommy and Daddy don't really like the flavor of banana dipped in ravioli sauce....

Mommy!

2007-03-26T14:17:00.000-05:00

Well it took me awhile to get to this, but Lily has finally called me Mommy. I mean, she has been saying "Mommy" and "Mama" and "Dad" or "Dada" for quite some time, but it was always in a sort of general sense. Sort of "I say Mama in your general direction" kind of talking. But this time, it was deliberate, definite and darling!

On our anniversary, Lily was not pleased that I was doing whatever I was doing instead of paying attention to her. She toddled over to me, stood right in front of me, planted her little feet, looked up, raised her arms, and said "Mommy!".

Well, it was the absolute best anniversary present she could have ever given me! Sounds totally sappy but I know now what all those other sappy moms meant when they said that was the big moment for them. It was a rush, thats for sure!

Lily was born!

2007-02-26T12:08:00.002-06:00

On February 14, 2007 a certificate of birth was issued certifying the birth of our daughter Lily Rose. Apparently, she was born! With the arrival of this birth certificate, our adoption journey is complete! All the T's are crossed, all the I's are dotted. If we weren't parents before, we sure are now!

Tooth Update

2007-02-22T13:49:00.000-06:00

Lily has four teeth now! She got her second upper tooth just in the past few days. She has found all sorts of uses for these new things in her mouth from prying open her lotion to biting off pieces of cracker to clicking them together.

We were hoping that once she had cut her first four teeth she would start sleeping better but so far not.

Lily playing with Mom

2007-02-10T19:23:00.001-06:00

Mom making Lily laugh

2007-02-10T19:22:00.001-06:00

Mom was playing with Lily and Lily thought it was great fun!

Video of Lily Walking

2007-01-19T08:03:00.000-06:00

Finally, we got a video of Lily walking. Here it is!

Doctor's Appointment

2007-01-12T12:51:00.000-06:00

Lily had her 12 month checkup yesterday. She is doing GREAT! She is now 29.25 inches tall and weighs in at 20 pounds 15 ounces. She is getting to be such a big girl.