Deep Thoughts

by Lily Bogle

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After running for a while, she stopped and said:

“My tummy hurts.  I ran out of batteries.”

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L: Close your eyes.  You can do anything.  Use imagination.  (Pronounced with a hard “g”.)

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Lily attends a library program every Tuesday called Mother Goose on the Loose.  She loves it, but has really outgrown much of the content and lately has just been running through the middle of the circle of babies yelling, “You runnin’ so fast!”  The only thing that holds her interest is a cat puppet that one of the librarians (Amber) lets her hold AFTER class is over.  The entire class time, Lily doesn’t see anything wrong with walking up to Amber mid-song and reminding her that Lily gets to hold the kitty after class.  When the class was finally over on Tuesday and Lily got to hold the kitty, she said to Amber:

L: Didn’t have a puppy.  Just have a kitty.  Maybe you get one for Christmas.  Maybe I buy you one.

(With Lily’s pronoun confusion, she may have been asking Amber to buy HER one, but I’ll choose to interpret it the way she said it.  Isn’t she a sweetie?)

Voicemail

Whenever I call Michael at work and he’s not there, I try to have Lily leave a voicemail for him to give him a nice surprise in between all the work voicemails.  Here are two recent ones that he saved:

 

I kind of like the “Noooooo!” at the end…it’s certainly authentic!

Challenge

It has almost become a challenge to me.

Find a toy to play with Lily that does NOT turn into a game of “talk.”

It’s great for her imagination and all, but as I’ve mentioned before, I will go stark, raving mad if I have to play “talk” all day long.

I try to introduce different toys other than toy figures/characters/dolls at times when I’m feeling particularly talked-out. 

Thursday, I brought out a mini-light brite I had purchased at a consignment sale for $1.  I thought that since Lily likes the jumbo light brite at the museum, she might like this.

It took approximately 2 minutes before the light brite pegs were purloined for use as “crayons” for her characters in another rousing game of “talk.”

Lily – 1; Mommy – 0

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PS.  Can anyone remind me again what Lily’s favorite colors are? 

I can’t remember.

Pint-Sized Party People in the House

On Friday, Lily and I hosted her playgroup friends for a little Valentine’s Day party.  All 7 of the tots were able to attend with their mommies (along with 3 baby siblings), so it was quite the full house.  The kids had a great time exploring with most of Lily’s toys, although her Bigfoot Monster was not quite so popular (i.e. tear-inducing) with some. 

I tried to get pictures of all her little friends, but I missed baby Cole (Logan’s little brother) and Ana B.  That’s a shame, too, because Ana B. is my photography muse.  She’s the only toddler in the group who will sit still long enough for me to take a picture!  Here’s a picture I took of her from the week before so we can pretend I have pictures of everyone, okay?

Landon enjoying Lily’s pink cowgirl hat:

 

The kids aren’t old enough to be really into cooperative play yet, so here’s Lily playing “talk” by herself in the middle of the party.  She kept coming up and asking me to play, too, of course. 

 

Baby Blaine (Landon’s brother) in a rare, sad moment – I just love a good cry face, and he’s got a cute one.

 

Logan enjoying Lily’s kitchen:

 

After playtime, we tried a few toddler-friendly Valentine’s Day crafts (which should come as no surprise if you know me AT ALL).  They made tissue-paper heart tree pictures (which I didn’t get a picture of), felt heart collages, and another picture craft Ana B.’s mom brought.

Ana B.’s mom with baby Tate (or baby Tape as Lily calls him):

Katelyn making a collage with some gluing assistance from her mommy.

 

Lily making a collage (my friend Jasmin got some pictures of Lily with me actually in the picture – yay!).  Lily prefers the all-button-and-rhinestone look on her collages.  Fancy!

 

Emery was really into the sparkly gems, too. 

 

After crafts, it was time for a snack/lunch break, and then we made homemade sugar cookies that the kids decorated themselves.

I love the tongue-out-in-concentration look.  Sprinkles are serious business!

That’s Lily’s cookie in the bottom, right. A masterpiece, to be sure.

 

Ana P.’s mommy made the cookie dough for us. 

Ana P. tickles me.  She thinks I’m funny, and obligingly smiles for my pictures.

Lily is SO over my picture-taking, and will often tell me to put the camera down.  Stinker.

The kids all exchanged valentines, and Lily was quite excited to learn that some contained lollipops.  Oh, happy day!  She was eager to enjoy one after the party was over and I was busy rounding up sprinkles and wayward feathers. 

 

Haha…her serious “model” look.  Blue Steel?

 

I think she had a good day!

As promised…

Hold on to your hats, folks, because I am actually delivering on a promise! 

A family photo from the circus!  (thanks to Seri!)

And there was much rejoicing.

The end.

On a scale of 1 to 10…

How surprised are you that this is how I spent my free time tonight? 

Note that for the purposes of this rating scale, 1 = “I’m only surprised you weren’t already doing this in your free time, Kristin,” and 10 = “Shocked.”

This is my very first attempt and only took about 3 minutes – not too shabby!  I’m thinking Lily might wake up to a whole balloon menagerie at this rate…

I’ll title this later

If you don’t know that I’m embarrassingly famous for procrastination, then you haven’t been paying attention (still waiting for those birthday party posts, aren’t you?).

Michael, while not as impaired as I, has also been known to put off a term paper in favor of a Fiona Apple concert.

Umm…moving on.  It was a different era.

You would think that our angelic child, seen here traveling to the playground in style this weekend, would be at risk for picking up her parents’ unfortunate procrastination trait.

Looking through these playground pictures, however, reminded me of a story from a couple of weeks ago that suggested to me that she may not be doomed to repeat the mistakes of her mother and father.

The young one shows promise.

Do you remember my letter to Lily from a few weeks ago?  About how she should let Santa know in advance what she wants for Christmas so we don’t have another “maybe Jessie in this box?” Christmas next time.  Well, the Lil-ster has taken my advice, and has already begun planning for next Christmas.  She saw a swing set in Costco the other day, and wanted to play on it.  I explained that it wasn’t for playing, that it was just for sale.  She thought for a moment, and then announced “want it next Christmas.”  Oh dear.  I’d better take some good notes, because she has also asked for a Minnie and a Humpty Dumpty balloon for next Christmas.

Yes, a Humpty Dumpty balloon.  I felt this needed it’s own paragraph.  She loves Humpty Dumpty (the rhyme), and saw some potato balloons in Publix today (which, I’ll admit, make even LESS sense than Humpty Dumpty balloons, but they were for an Idaho potato promotion).  They actually did look like Humpty Dumpty, as they were ovals with arms and legs, and she quickly declared she “want[ed] a Humpty Dumpty balloon for Christmas.” 

Hmmm…how about I take care of the Minnie request, and someone else can cover the Humpty Dumpty balloon request? 

Thanks in advance!

Circus!

Last weekend, Lily attended her first circus with Michael, his parents, and me.  I wondered if she would be too young, but she really enjoyed herself.  She got a little squirmy during some of the less exciting events, but really did wonderfully.

I took more videos than pictures, so there isn’t much to show.  Lily’s friend Landon was there with his parents, and they got a picture so I’ll update this when I get it from Seri.  Here’s their family:

Lily loved playing chase with Landon during the intermission, and believe it or not, almost-3-month old Blaine slept through the entire circus.  What a good baby!

Checking out the pre-show from Daddy’s shoulders.  Looks kinda funny from the back, doesn’t it?  Umm…that’s why I chose to take it from this incredibly interesting angle.  See, Michael’s dad is on the left, Lily on Michael’s shoulders, then Michael’s mom on the right.  Great family picture, isn’t it.  [Sorry – let’s really hope Seri’s picture of us turned out better.]

My favorite part was when the circus first started, and all the performers were out there at the same time. 

Lily was speechless. 

Hallelujah! 

Well, for a moment, at least.  Then she wouldn’t stop talking of course.  “Where ringmaster go? Ringmaster come back soon.  Clowns come back soon.”  She would just repeat that to herself whenever she couldn’t find the ringmaster or clowns.  Her favorite part of the show was clearly the first overwhelmingly wonderfully busy act.  Individually, the clowns, ringmaster, and elephants were her favorites. 

Fun, fun!

Dear Diary

From my notes over the last few weeks:

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Me: Lily, do you want to be like Mommy when you grow up?

Lily: (after a thoughtful pause) No.  Minnie [Mouse].

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When I was doing dishes and she wanted me to cook with her.

Lily: (very seriously) Mommy, take a break.

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Me: Lily, did I tell you we’re going to the circus in 2 weeks?

Lily: 1 minute.  Go circus in 1 minute.

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When her toy Jessie doll (from Toy Story) fell down.

Lily: Jessie fell down.  I still love her.

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When outside riding tricycles.

Lily: Crash into mailboxes!

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When sitting at dinner with Michael, his parents, and me.

Lily: (looking around and smiling at everyone) Sittin’.  Like a family.

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When tasting Michael’s 1% milk.

Lily: Kinda water.

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After spinning in circles on the floor and stumbling around.

Lily: Floor turnin’.

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Unstoppable

Nothing can stop Lily on her mission to play “talk.”

Baby dolls?  Too easy.  “Talk.  Mommy talk.”

Animals figurines?  No worries.  “I be lion.  Mommy here elephant.  Talk.”

Star puzzle?  Umm…okay.  “This Foofa (pink star), this Brobee (green star), this DJ Rock (orange star), this Muno (blue star but with bumps like Muno).  Mommy talk.”

No toys at all?  Well…  Let’s see.  Aha!  Crib rails!  “Foofa…this one Plex…Brobee…this Muno.”

Yes, Lily was so bored in her crib tonight, we heard/saw her over her monitor naming her crib rails after Yo Gabba Gabba characters.

Just Playing

Okay, here is another post that approximately 2 of my readers will be interested in.  If you’re not related to Lily, you’ll want to skip this one.  It’s another “day in the life” of Lily play for anyone who doesn’t get to play with her as often as they’d like.  Just a too-long video of her playing “talk” by herself with me trying to clarify some of what she says. 

I think my favorite parts are the tantrum-y “keep trying!” encouragement she gives herself, her pretend struggling noises when the parent doll picks up the kid doll (hmm…wonder where she has heard that!), and the fact she clarifies she will have to use the dentist and just pretend it’s the doctor. 

24 out of 26

I don’t know if I have mentioned this here before, but although Lily is quite bright and is often eager to count and identify shapes and colors, she appears to have an active disdain for the alphabet.

If you try to direct her attention to an alphabet toy, draw a letter for her, point out letters in a book, or any other alphabet-learning activity, she will almost always turn away from you, tell you “no,” or just ignore you.

She does NOT want to learn the alphabet, and I have no idea why.

Now before we go any further, please note that she’s not even 2 yet, I am in NO way concerned about it, okay?  Don’t get all upset and start thinking that I’m trying to get her to read Wuthering Heights.  That’s not the point.  I know she can’t and shouldn’t read, but it’s just about trying to incorporate learning into her everyday life.

And the fact that she is actively resisting any ALPHABET learning being incorporated into her everyday life.

It’s very peculiar. 

Whatever, it’s no big deal and I know she will eventually get it and now I feel all weird about having written such a long, disclaimer-filled blog post, when all I was trying to tell you is that apparently she HAS been listening, because apparently she can at least sing the alphabet pretty well.   So here you go!

J gets dropped, and U is replaced with a second O, but I was pretty impressed considering I hadn’t heard her try to do this before.

No More Monkeys

Now with more realistic “bonking” action!