Ugggh

I've updated this site with a new masthead, colours and even an option for your dad to post, but it's not viewing properly on a PC...what else is new? (But of course it still fabulous on the Mac.) Will have to work to make it lovely.

In other news, with the 13 cm of snow in the last 24 hours I decided a nice springy masthead would make me feel better. While not appropriate or proper, no one's even accused me of doing what I'm supposed to before. Maybe you take after your mom after all...

First snow and the onset of xmas

Considering it'll be December by the end of this week, we've only just gotten real snow. There was actual accumulation on the car and everything else when we woke up this morning. We went to Wal-Mart this morning so your dad could get some work done. When we got out of the car, you tried with all your might to jump out of my arms and onto the snow covered pavement. Luckily my grip was stronger. You choked a little on the cold air just before we got in the store, but you looked happy and refreshed from the cold. I can see now why Christmas is so intense for kids. Everything you saw in the store made you point and want to get closer. We looked at trees and lights and ornaments, but the cutest was when we saw a little plush reindeer from the claymation Rudolf show. Enhh, enhh, you demanded with pointed finger so I handed him to you and squeezed his ear to make him start singing. It must have been his child-like voice, but as soon as he spoke and then sang, you hugged him like you loved him and hadn't seen him in years. I almost bought it just to see you do that everyday... You must have really been in a lovey mood because you hugged everyone you knew - Dora and Pablo and Winnie the Pooh. It was so sweet.

Speaking of sweet, you've been such a good girl this weekend. The other night we pulled the plug in the bath tub and you waved to the water going down the drain. And last night, we were looking at an Elmo book. You pointed at Elmo and I said that he was laughing. You looked up at me, grinned and went, Ha, heh, ha. Then we asked you to laugh and you did. I don't remember discussing with you what a laugh actually was...

Anyway, you'll be waking up from your nap with your dad right away and we're going to go swimming. You kept forcing your bathing suit and swim diapers on me yesterday and I felt awful that we didn't have time to go then, so today it is.

Words

Words and phrase you can speak (or have spoken) - but only on your own terms when no one is pestering you to talk:
cheese, cat, mama, nana, Hi Daddy, Bye bye Da Da, gow (the sound a lion makes)

While you can understand hundreds or words and can point to what we speak of, you're somewhat stubborn in repeating them. But that would mean you were 'obeying' your parents and that's just not in your free spirit...

I wish my memory was bigger

You do so many great things, I feel bad that I can't remember them all. One day last week, you pulled a toque or blanket off of my head leaving my hair in my face. You so sweetly swept the hair out of my eyes like I do for you every day. For you to have such consideration for me really melted my heart. Your constant kisses are 'just because' you want to now, not because someone asks you to.

Your play has really evolved, too. You push around objects or your little plane and make vehicle sounds. You try very hard to imitate your dad's motoring sounds but it takes a lot of concentration to do that and play at the same time. A major breakthrough from the last couple days is your newfound ability to answer questions. Of course, when you do answer, the answer is always a head-shaking 'no' but it helps in our communications. (Yes answers are met with excitement or action or indifference.) You've even gotten to the point where destruction isn't first and foremost. For example, you will stack a couple blocks or put some mega blocks (big lego) together BEFORE you knock them over or take them apart!

Something I'm not super keen on is your ability to take off your diaper. Just because you tend to pee on the floor everytime you are naked for half a second. It's funny how that surprises you. I think you know how to pee on command because everytime I mention it, you do. (Whether it's in the tub or sitting on my knee when your bum gets very warm!) Anyway, I'm sure nana would remind me that I was potty trained by now, but she hasn't said anything about taking on the project of training you. Not that she would find much success getting you to sit still and read stories on the potty like your calm mommy did...

We went to Grandma and Grandpa's new second home this weekend. It is definitely not a cabin, even though it is on a lake. The ride home was much quicker than the Friday evening trip up - even though you didn't sleep a wink once buckled nicely in your carseat. Elmo kept you nicely sedated, so we're lucky for him. We tried to get you to nap when we got home at 2, but you just wanted to play. I set up the camera because the light was so beautiful and you, me and dad just played and relaxed. The pictures turned out really lovely, so all the ones from this post are from then.

To look at you tonight in the tub, I couldn't believe how big you looked, how long your legs were. (Oh, and at the doctor's office last week you weighed a whopping 19.84 pounds, up from a measly 18.01 pounds exactly two months earlier.) I'm already starting to miss you as a baby. You are getting so big and I can't slow time down, as much as I want you to stay small and cuddly and my baby forever.

Thankfully we got extra carpet padding

Lily climbs - under her dad's supervision on Vimeo

A wonderful/crabby day

I don't really have alot to say, but you are sleeping with your dad and I don't want to address xmas cards so I'm stalling. I suppose I could gush about how much smarter you are this week than last. So here goes...

Okay, you woke up so now it's seven hours later and you're back in bed. I just finished getting some photos ready to put into Flickr and wow, are you cute. Your hair, and subsequently your pigtails, are getting very long. But they glimmer in the sun and make you even more glowing than usual.

It was a pretty good day. You and dad let me sleep in until 9, which was great. I got up and you had a cookie for breakfast and me and dad had pancakes. Your dad really wanted sausages but we need to be more on the ball for that so tomorrow... Anyway, to occupy some morning time, we went to Rona to check out their fireplaces and xmas stuff. We've really been wanting a fireplace to keep us all nice and cozy in the family room for the winter. Since you were born, our thrifty heat consumption has turned into 'heat is no object' so we've been keeping the house quite a bit warmer so you don't freeze your little hands. But we can't crank the heat to make the family room (with only two registers) as warm as it should be.

Anyway, they didn't have anything we liked so we came home for a quick lunch, only to be interrupted by you pointing upstairs to be taken to bed. Luckily you are easily distracted and we packed back half a jar of lemon chicken and veggies. You slept with your dad from just before noon until about quarter to two when we decided to hit the road again and go to the art gallery. Well, we didn't get out until after you and your dad had some salmon salad sandwiches and I chased you around with the camera.

We went to the MacKenzie Art Gallery. While we've been taking you there since you were a few months old, I think you really appreciated it this time. You walked around and pointed in awe at how amazing and different everything was to you. And your dad and I got to walk around and look at art, something we used to do all the time. You laughed while you pointed, as though what you were witnessing was really absurd. But it was appropriate because all the exhibits were about humour in art!After we left the galleries, we went down to the lobby and hung out amongst the trees and concrete people sculptures for over half an hour. It's nice to be somewhere where you can touch everything and run around without getting in anyone's way. When we left the building, you walked across the grass with this lovely look of freedom on your face, like we hadn't been outside in weeks. (Please, let it be a mild winter. Hello global warming!) But then it all changed once we got home...

Oh boy, did we have a grouchy girl on our hands. I haven't seen you so crabby in ages. No matter what, we couldn't appease you. You wanted to eat the green beans and distribute them evenly across the floor, you wanted me to open a cereal bar and then wouldn't even take a bite, you were a little violent with the rice at supper time and ended up trying to stab me in the eye with my own fork. You had had it. I nursed you on the couch while dad finished eating and cleaned up, then you played hide and seek with dad and that also seemed to take the edge off. But once bedtime rolled around, you bit me. Not once, not twice but a third time after I said 'don't bite your mommy or dad will put you to bed.' Then I realized that it must be those molars coming in. Yes, hello. It took me that long to realize that there was a physical problem to your unusual ornery mood. So I filled up a baby-safe feeder with frozen brocolli stalks and you seemed so relieved to sink your gums into that. And a shot of Advil probably helped. You were asleep by 7:30 so hopefully you were feeling a bit of relief.

Sick days

Oh you poor girl. As I had mentioned, you were waking up every half hour or so on Halloween evening and night which made for a miserable baby on Wednesday. As the day progressed, though it became apparent that you had caught a cold. So, I stayed home with you on Thursday (and today, but I had already booked that off). It is so much harder to stay home with you when you are sick than go to work. You are moody and did not want to sleep in the afternoon yesterday which makes for a long time before dad gets home... Today you are showing signs of improvement, but not in your mood. There was a lot of pouting going on when I tried to get ready so we could all go to Wal-Mart after supper and while it's so very adorable in a sad kind of way, it does make me feel like toting you with me when I do everything instead of you hanging out with your dad while he was adjusting your new car seat. You always do adjust and quite happily play with the pliers and screwdriver, but you are still very much your mama's girl. And that still works for me.