Bogle Family Blog: It was the best of times, it was the not-so-hottest of times

Greetings, readers! Yes, it’s been WAY too long, and that’s a real shame because this has been one of the most fun periods of Lily’s development so far. Do you even remember what she looks like? Here she is from earlier tonight:

Okay, so pretty much the same…but with new headgear! That’s a purse my mom made that Lily borrowed to haul her stuff around in. Also makes a nice hat apparently.

Last time I blogged, it looks like Lily was putting words together, and starting to make short 2 and a few 3 word sentences. Over the last month, Lily has continued to become even chattier, of course, and now regularly speaks in longer phrases and sentences.

And it

CRACKS

UP.

I mean, seriously. We hear her in the morning over the monitor when she wakes up, saying “Mommy. Daddy. Mommy. Daddy. Daddy mow lawns. Come back soon.”

This is all said clear as a bell, and I find it hilarious. (Remember, she thinks Michael mows lawns for a living? Wondering when we need to correct this so she doesn’t get too confused…) Who knows what goes through her sweet little head, but I believe she’s debating to herself who is going to come and get her. Maybe she’s deciding that she may have woken up too late and Daddy is already gone mowing lawns for the day (but will be back soon)? Who knows, but I love it.

I can’t even begin to cover everything I have missed blogging about. A trip to FL to visit my family, lots of football games, Thanksgiving, and lots of pre-Christmas training. I hope to go back and get some of that caught up, but for now, here are some funny things she says that stand out to me right now:

I LOVED it when she came over to me the other day, patted me on the shoulder, and said “best friend.” Melt my heart. However, when you ask her who her best friend is, she knows that saying anyone BUT Mommy is most likely to get a “Hey!” reaction from me, and she loves the teasing “Hey!” reaction more than anything. (e.g. “Heyyyy! I thought that *I* was your best friend!”; “Heyyyy! That’s MY chair!” etc.)

On Thanksgiving, I specifically remember her looking at us and saying “Read book one last time” when we told her it was time for bed. She has only gotten more insistent on negotiating since then. She LOVES to read at night (almost as much as she likes putting off going to bed!), and is always angling for more books. “One more book” and “one more minute” are common phrases. If you pick her up and she really wants to protest, she might escalate with “one more minute, one more minute, one, two, three, four, nine, TEN!!!!!!!!!!” (as she escalates the last into a despairing wail) Not sure why she counts like that when “negotiating,” but it’s almost always 1-2-3-4-9-10. When counting normally, however, she counts to 12 perfectly, and can count to 20 except for skipping over 13 and 15.

Tonight when we put her in bed after her unsuccessful requests for more books, she informed us she would “read all by myself” in her bed. I’m not sure if we were supposed to feel sorry for her or if she was just sticking it to us, but it was funny.

Oh, to clarify the title – one of the more recent reasons for my lack of blogging lately has been my bronchitis – not the best of times, for sure. I’m still not feeling so hot, but oh well. I have to admit that Lily has been catching up on some TV-watching lately on the days that I felt the worst. As you may remember, her favorite show is Yo Gabba Gabba (Nick Jr.), and one of the songs they sing is about how you should “keep trying…keep trying…don’t give up…never give up.” When Lily gets frustrated now (like if she is trying to line up some toys and they keep falling over or if she can’t get a puzzle piece to fit), she might get upset and even cry, but you can often hear her yelling to herself through her tears/frustration “keep trying! keep trying!” Love that persistence!

Oh, and then she throws the puzzle across the room.

I mean, she’s not perfect.

Lily has a few phrases she says oddly, in spite of the fact that she really COULD say them more clearly. For example, “gay gay” is how she says “thank you,” even though if you ask her to really clearly say “thank” then “you,” she will say “dank you.” Give her something she wants, though? “Gay gay.” Who knows. Another one is “way-way” said in a very high-pitched soft voice. She can say “wake up” very clearly, but will usually tell you to “way-way” if you’re pretending to sleep or if someone in a book is sleeping or if toys are sleeping or if anyone in her vicinity is even thinking about trying to get some sleep. It’s very sweet, and we finally thought to tape it the other day before she stops.

When I was feeling particularly awful the other morning, I had my head down on the table while Lily was eating breakfast. She kept telling me to “way-way” and “sit up, Mommy,” but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. Then, she gets a twinkle in her eye, leans toward me with a smile, and says very sweetly, “Sit up, cowboy.” Crack. Me. Up.

She LOVES cowboys. And mustaches. We watched part of Babes in Toyland the other day because it was one of my favorite Christmas movies growing up, and this is her favorite character:

Yeah, she doesn’t get that he’s the bad guy trying to do away with our hero and wed his grieving girlfriend, but Lily’s a sucker for a mustache.

Lily often looks like she desperately wants to sing along when you sing something she knows, and she will often dance and mouth the words with you, but won’t usually sing. She has a few phrases from songs that she’ll say on her own (that I think she’s trying to sing), but she’s really not singing yet. She does do a pretty good “ring around the rosie” on her own.

Recently, she likes to make her food play “ring around the rosie” on her tray whenever she’s getting close to the end of the meal. This is all on her own, as it’s certainly not something I encourage. However, it does cue me that her favorite mealtime finale is soon to come if I ignore the fact that she’s clearly “done” with the meal (i.e. something “accidentally” dropped on the floor), so it does come in handy at times.

Well, that’s all I can think of for now – she talks pretty much all the time, and blows my mind with the ever-increasing complexity of her language and the thought processes they reveal.

Lily – you won’t read this for many years to come, but just know that your mommy thinks you are one heck of a smart cookie. (Almost creepy-smart. Stop remembering EVERYTHING! Your father and I haven’t learned yet to watch everything we say in front of you and I’m afraid you’re going to pick up on my “Oh, I need to remember to shop for…I mean SANTA needs to shop for…I mean…Lily, look! A cat!”)

Speaking of smarty-pants-ness/nerdiness, I would like to close with a poll for you, my dear readers. Michael and I have a very serious debate that we desperately need your help in resolving:

Which of the following games that our 1 year old plays is nerdier?

Game #1:

Lily (or someone else) tries to make a small PVC animal stand up on a table. Because of poor design, the animal falls over every time, often in dramatic fashion that Lily finds quite amusing. When this happens, she laughs and exclaims, “Oh, tapir!” (You see, because it’s a tapir.)

Game #2:

Lily (or someone else) knocks a stuffed toy off of a surface, causing it to shake and make a trilling noise. Lily laughs and exclaims, “Oh, tribble!” (You see, because it’s a tribble…well, a tribble toy.)

Which of these items is nerdier for our tot to name? You cannot say BOTH, mind you. They are BOTH nerdy, my friends, but which is NERDIER.

Discuss.