January 2008

Three of Lily's daycare friends had birthday parties this month: Abby, Brendan, and Cailey. Next month has three more birthdays: Lily, Madeline, and Sean. So despite being the dead of winter, it's party time!


The first birthday party this month was Abby's, at a kids' party place called Pump It Up. They have lots of large, inflatable slides and moon bounces to play on. Abby is in the middle of the fourth picture, between Whitt and Cailey. But where's Lily?


Here she is, not playing on any of the big toys. She just walked around holding a disposable camera we bought for her. Maybe she didn't like the loud noises from all the inflatable things? Or the crowd of kids running around? Or maybe it just seemed too unfamiliar?


The best I could do was get her to play air hockey, with a girl from her day care named Arabella. But she still didn't want to go on the inflatable rides, even though historically she has always loved big slides.


Michelle had an idea. She told me to get lost! I left the play area and went to the lobby area for 15 minutes (surfing the web on my iPhone to pass the time). When I returned, Lily was zooming down the inflatable slide with Michelle, over and over! Apparently Lily is more daring and independent when I'm not around. She kept sliding even after I came back, so she just needs to get started and realize it's fun.


Here's the birthday girl, Abby, with Whitt, a boy who has moved through all the day care rooms with her. They're very close, and it was cute to see them hugging.


There was a throne for Abby to sit on, and she let Whitt join her. Whitt's mom said, "Give Abby a kiss!" Whitt leaned in toward Abby's cheek, but Abby swiveled her head for a liplock! Go, Abby!! The other kids soon usurped Abby's throne.


The next party was for Brendan, who's also in day care with Lily. It was at a place called The Little Gym, with gymnastic equipment everywhere. Unlike the last party, Lily was immediately excited to play on all the things. Maybe it was quieter, with no noises from inflatables? Or there were fewer kids when we arrived? I don't know. The birthday boy, Brendan, is in the fourth picture, and also appears headless in the second picture (he has different shirts on in the two pictures).


Lily was eager to play on all the gym equipment. We'd been thinking about putting her in a gymnastics class for fun, since she enjoys lots of physical activity. Seeing her play at this gym makes us inclined to bring her here more often.


Cameron, Madeline, and Cailey were at this party too, and also played on all the equipment. Lily usually refers to Cailey as her "sister". Madeline is sometimes her "sister" and other times her "friend". When Lily realized that she had no brother (and isn't getting one, so don't even think about it), Madeline said Lily could have Cameron as her brother. Awww! (Was she being nice, or trying to get rid of her own brother?!)


The Little Gym staff led the kids in several activities, and one was lifting a big parachute up, and then ducking inside of it. Lily was very eager to follow any directions the staff gave. This is in stark contrast to how she takes direction from her parents!


The kids were allowed to lay on this inflatable thing while the staff blew it up. Some of the kids moved away when it started inflating, but not Lily! She looks very comfy. (This shoots a hole in my loud-inflatable-sounds theory of why Lily didn't play at Abby's party at first. Maybe the big-crowd theory?)


Brendan's cake looked really cool -- it was the Scooby Doo Mystery Machine! A friend of his mom's made it.


Next came Cailey's party. It was at another Pump It Up location. However, on Lily's second exposure to this party place, she started playing right away. (Hmm, maybe the "unfamiliarity" theory?)


Madeline wasn't at Abby's party, so this was her first exposure to Pump It Up. Like Lily before, Madeline needed some coaxing and adjustment time before she was ready to play.


Lily didn't want to go into the moon bounce until Michelle went with her.


There were princess crowns in the party favor bags, which Cailey and Lily are modeling here. Lily also ate a reasonable amount of pizza, juice, and even cake, which is rare for her.


Another party participant was Cai, the blond boy in this picture. Lily likes Cai! I told her sometime this month that I married Mommy, and she said, "But who will marry me?" I said she could marry whoever she wants, and then added, "Cai could marry you," which made her happy! She repeated it back to us on subsequent days: "Cai is going to marry me.", "I'm going to marry Cai," etc. And she likes Cameron too, so apparently she's into blue-eyed blondes.


With this month's birthday parties over, Lily could return to playing with her toys at home. This tool set is not really hers, but I let her play with it when I'm with her. This should help balance out all the pink-princess B.S. she's been into.


This is the glare I get when I ask her to put the tools back. I also get this look on other occasions when I displease her.


We normally give Lily baths, but we tried putting her in the shower. She wouldn't go in. She finally agreed after we let her wear a raincoat and sunglasses, which totally defeats the purpose! But we thought it would be a first step to getting here used to showers.


Lily and Mommy are enjoying some bonding time here. In the first two pictures they're eating Cheerios and watching TV. In the second two pictures, Lily was hurt or sad about something. Depending on the cause, I'm not always sympathetic, so then Mommy comforts her!


Lily took these pictures. She is getting better at taking photos herself. Her finger is often in the picture, but now she usually gets our faces in the frame rather than just elbows or knees. Now she can start contributing to ObenauerWeb herself!


Michelle allowed her Mac to rest on Lily's chair. Lily likes playing two computer games, one about Dora and one about Green Eggs and Ham. She's gotten much better at pointing and clicking the mouse since she's been in "Gigglebytes" class at school.


This month we had to go to Lausanne so Lily could take an "entrance exam". I've heard it involves letters, shapes, numbers, and colors. A staff member at the school said at the tender age of almost-3, the evaluation is mostly to see whether the child listens well, behaves, is not disruptive, and things like that. They wouldn't tell me how she did yet!


Michelle had to go to Minneapolis on business for a few days, so I had to take Lily to day care in the mornings and pick her up. Unlike in previous months, she didn't want to leave school when I came to get her! So I stayed and we played for a while each time.


We ate a lot of McDonald's while Mommy was gone, too!


At the end of this month, Lily and Cailey had a small combined birthday party at school. We bought Jell-O, Cheetos and juice boxes for the kids. Lily's real birthday party will be at our house on Feb. 2nd.


Here are a couple photos Lily took during the school party. Hmm, looks like Mommy is obsessively checking her work email again! She does this a lot.