February 2008

This month started with Lily's third birthday! We had a party at our house and had 11 of her friends over. Michelle's parents came from Virginia and helped us get ready for the party. We also went to birthday parties for Madeline and Sean.

Michelle and I both noticed a jump in Lily's vocabulary and pronunciation recently. We were watching the news on TV with a video of several tornadoes, and Lily said, "Wow, that sure is a lot of twisters!" And when we were walking upstairs once, Lily said, "Daddy, will you carry this DVD for me?" Twisters? DVD?

Also, as an avid watcher of Dora the Explorer, Lily's picked up some Spanish words, and she's also started Spanish class at day care. When Michelle was in the checkout line at the grocery store, a Spanish-speaking man in front of her said something to Lily, and she smiled and replied, "Gracias!" He then mistakenly inferred Michelle spoke Spanish and started speaking rapidly to her! (Michelle did know Spanish when she was Lily's age though.)


For Lily's party, we set up play areas for Play-Doh, a magnetic whiteboard, a fishing game, and a piano.


But mostly the kids ignored the play areas we set up and just ran around the playroom!


I was worried about all the kids being cooped up in the house and bored, but luckily the weather was warm and everyone could play outside. Here are Sophia, Lily, Whitt, Abby, and Cameron riding in Lily's purple "Disney Princess" car. She named the car "Kenny".


Colin, Cooper, and Cameron -- the older brothers of Cailey, Abby, and Madeline -- rode on Lily's smaller cars.


Two of the rides required an adult to push or pull them. Look at Michelle pushing one car and pulling a wagon at the same time!


Since it was so warm out and all the kids were outside, I laid out the tracks for Lily's train and set it up. This may have been a bad move. The chaotic but peaceful playing turned into several kids crying because they all wanted to ride the train! We said not to worry, that everyone could take turns, but there was still a lot of crying.


A neighborhood dog ran into our yard. I chased after him, shouting, "Ruff ruff ruff!" Cameron thought this was hysterical and started chasing and barking at the dog too.


Having all the kids outside gave some of the adults a break!


We bought cupcakes for all the kids and had a big cookie with a monkey face drawn on it in frosting for Lily. She blew out the candle.


Lily's party was a great opportunity to take an annual picture of the three girls, Lily, Madeline, and Cailey. They were all born within a month of each other.


We sent all the kids home with goody bags. There were safari animals in them (the party theme was a safari), and little binoculars, and a canteen, and I forget what else. We also had plastic safari hats personalized with each kid's name. Michelle bought some candy and plastic containers, because we were going to have an activity where the kids would pick out candy they like and put them in their containers. We forgot all about this activity during the party, so we sent the candy home with the kids instead.


Here is the brilliant party planner! Michelle always does a good job coming up with party ideas.


And here is the wiped-out birthday girl! She had a lot of fun playing with her friends.


Next we had Madeline's birthday party. The theme was fairies and pirates, with a "Welcome To Neverland" sign on the door. Madeline dressed up as Tinkerbell, and so did her friend Madison (last picture).


The birthday girl consented to a photo shoot!


There's an upstairs playroom at Madeline's house that the kids liked. It was also nice for the other parents who were downstairs!


Lily played with the Magnetix blocks, and was trying to make a rainbow (which she's done before there).


They had a fun activity where the kids could make their own mug by coloring a picture and putting it in the lining of the cup.


In the mornings Michelle asks Lily how she wants her hair ("Down? Pony tail? Braids? One or two?"). Today she wanted two braids.


Cailey and Madeline saw Lily's two braids and decided they needed them too, so Michelle obliged.


Madeline's Tinkerbell cake looked great. Here she is blowing out the candle.


Madeline and Lily turned into Pirate Princesses! When we were leaving, we told the girls to come downstairs, and they were holding hands on the stairs. It was cute.


The next day was Sean's party, at Chuck E. Cheese. Lily's been there about 20 times by now, and some of the staff know us when we walk in! I brought one of her refillable Chuck E. Cheese cups, and some of her leftover tokens.


Lily likes getting on Chuck E. Cheese's "TV". A year ago she was too short and you could barely see her head, but now she shows up in the screen better. Sean and Madeline are on TV with her.


Lily played with a lot of her favorite games -- this green car, a phone where you call Chuck E., and a small airplane.


This is a spider-stomping game Lily likes -- wherever the red light comes on, you step on it. Michelle helped her.


Here's a driving game Lily played, sitting on Michelle's lap. She often is drawn to the driving games, but can't play them at all, so seconds after I put tokens in she wants off. She stayed on longer this time, luckily -- though you can see she's going the wrong way (the last screen is commanding her to "REVERSE!").


Just like the driving games, Lily is drawn to the dancing game, but won't play it. I usually try to get her to at least step randomly around on it, but she often just stands in place. Madeline came by and joined in and was having more fun.


Lily had barely eaten all day and ate a lot of pizza (for her). Usually she picks a few toppings off and that's it. Here she actually took real bites, which is rare.


There was one more party this month: a small Valentine's Day party at day care. Michelle went and took some pictures. Lily and Michelle made Valentine hearts for her to give her friends.


As part of our pre-party housecleaning, we got the computer room as clean as it's ever been. I found a magazine dated July 2001 -- we didn't even live in this house when I bought that magazine!! With some new floor space opened up, we moved the futon in here. Michelle and Lily joined me while I was working on my computer (I think I was making the previous month's web page). They were playing and bouncing around. It was fun to watch.


We got a balloon for Lily's birthday that plays music and a voice sings "Happy Birthday To You". Lily and Michelle are singing along with it in this video. Click to watch it (AVI format), or download it from this link.


A theater group came into town performing "Go Diego Go Live", so we took Lily. She loved it. Since they were human actors instead of animated characters, she told us she had seen the "real Diego" and the "real Dora".


Lily drew this odd shape several times and described it as the letter Y, though it looks more like a T, if anything.


However, she told me she made a letter L for Lily, and showed me this paper. I was so proud! I showed it to Michelle, who at first thought I drew the letter, but then she was excited too. We made a big deal about it and now Lily draws the letter L all over the place.


Here are two pictures Lily took of us.


We had a painting table at Lily's birthday party, and for a few days after the party she still wanted to paint with the leftover supplies. We would do it more often, but it can get very messy.


Lily still plays with the slide we bought her over a year ago, though she's more adventurous now. Sometimes she'll go down headfirst or backwards, and sometimes she likes to land on her fold-out Winnie The Pooh bed.


We got Lily her own full-sized bed for her bedroom. She's been sleeping in it since a few days after her birthday. However, one of us sleeps up there with her (we take turns), so it's not as big a breakthrough as we'd like, but it's a step in the right direction. Next we'll put a baby monitor in there and try letting her sleep alone.


Some of the puzzles we got Lily have 24 pieces, and are too hard for her to put together by herself, so we're stuck helping her every time she wants to play with them. Which is often. Maybe we'll try some 12-piece puzzles.


Here Lily is following in the family tradition of sitting on the couch with some snacks and watching TV!