March 2007

Lily's vocabulary keeps growing, and her use of grammar is getting more sophisticated. When we were out somewhere, she said, "I not feeling good. I want go home." She wouldn't have been able to put words together like that a couple months ago. Also, when I was trying to swat a mayfly in our garage, it flew up too high for me to reach, and Lily said, "Need ladder?" That was impressive.

It's amusing to hear her copy and use things I say to her. When we were driving yesterday, Lily was saying something about bugs or bunnies, and I asked, "You mean Bugs Bunny?" Her reply was, "That's right, Daddy! Good job! You're so smart." Heh!! (I say those phrases to her all the time.)

Michelle is picky about what clothes Lily wears, and the two of them clash when Lily wants to wear non-matching clothes. She loves a pair of black shoes she has. Michelle picked out a pink outfit, and Lily picked out black socks and her black shoes. Michelle said to put the black shoes away, because they don't match. Lily held up the black socks and said, "Matches! Matches!" Michelle was pleased and said, "She used logic to argue against me!" So Lily got to wear her black shoes.

One word I may have been wrong about is "runner" for dinosaur. Although she does call them that, she also pointed to a rhino and said "runner". She may not be able to tell the difference, but that means she may have been calling the dinosaurs "rhinos" but pronouncing it "runners".


The weather has gotten nice here, so we took Lily out to one of the parks around here to play. She always likes going outside and had a lot of fun at the park.


We tried a second nearby park too, which she liked much better because it has more toys. Later on we walked around the park and left the camera behind, which was a shame, because Lily started introducing herself to all the geese, trees, birds, and people she passed. "Hi! I'm Lily!" She kept saying that over and over.


By far, her favorite part of the park is the swing. The first time we went, she divided her time between the slides and the swing; the second time, she spent practically the whole time swinging. She cried hysterically when we finally had to go home.


We had several outings with the Willises this month, which is always fun. Lily and Madeline are so happy to see each other. Here they are running with Cameron through the Willis' kitchen over and over as soon as we got there!


I'm sure the highlight of our visit for Lily was jumping on the Willis' trampoline. Notice how the buildup of static electricity is making Cameron's hair stand up!


Here's a Quicktime movie of Lily jumping on the trampoline with Madeline and Cameron. Click on the picture to view it, or download it here.


This month was Colin's 4-year birthday party. It was held in a party room at the zoo, and one of the animal caretakers brought in a small owl to show the kids.


I tried to get a picture of Abby and her family at the party, but Abby made it clear how she feels about the paparazzi!


This month Lily has started "climbing up Daddy", as shown in this movie. On one occasion, she asked if she could drink beer like Daddy, and I said she can someday when she's big and tall. Then she climbed up on me, stood on my shoulders, and said, "Now I'm tall!" (But still no beer!) (Click to view, or download here.


After Colin's party, we walked around the zoo, and Lily and Madeline rode together in a wagon we brought. However, any time one of them wanted out of the wagon, both of them got out.


There were Easter activities (a week early) for small kids nearby, so we took Lily and met Madeline and Cameron there. Lily jumped in the Moon bounce, played with Madeline on a large mat, and climbed on a playset. We waited in line for her to see the Easter bunny, but up close she was terrified of the huge bunny. Only Cameron went so far as to sit on the Easter bunny's lap.


Michelle helped Lily do somersaults on the mat.


There was an Easter egg hunt for the 0-2 year-olds. You can see in the first picture how difficult it was to find the eggs! Where are they?? A huge mob of kids and parents rushed the field, and my girls brought back plenty of eggs for the family -- all the plastic we would care to eat. Good job, Michelle and Lily!


We also went to the Children's Museum with the Willises. It was the first visit there for Cameron and Madeline. Although Lily has often been there before, she played in more areas with her friends there.


Michelle has been following a Weight Watchers program very strictly since the new year, and has lost 37 pounds!! Go Michelle!


She also chopped off half a foot of her hair. (There's one way to lose weight!) The first picture is the "before" photo. I like her hair long, so I was anxious to see a bunch of it gone, but it's still a nice length.


Michelle crawled into the toddler bed with Lily. She's more daring than I am! Looks too easy for an adult to break.


Here a couple of really cute pictures of Lily and Michelle!


Lily's started riding her motorcyle more. She leans way back in it for some reason!


When we moved to this area four years ago, we bought a used Kia Sportage named Krystal. She's needed some expensive repairs recently, and this month would have been a $1000 repair, but we decided to get a new car instead. Krystal was the car Lily came home from the hospital in when she was born, and she's served our family well. We donated the car to a charity (the American Association for Cancer Research, which I'm a member of).


Our new car is a Mazda Tribute named Athena. It's a compact SUV like Krystal, but is roomier inside, and has a sun roof, which is kind of cool. Now that Lily's been in it, she points to the roof of my small black car and says "Open it!", but I have to explain that my roof doesn't open!