Month 15, April 2006

I was away at a conference at the beginning of this month, so Michelle asked her mom to fly in and help take care of Lily while I was gone. Grandma Blackwell was only too happy to come!


Colin had a birthday party April 1st, turning 3 years old. Here he's enjoying his cake and presents.


Cailey snatched a handful of frosting off the cake! Madeline got messy and needed an outfit change, so she borrowed a Baby Tux shirt I bought for Lily. This means I've turned Madeline into a Linux user now!


The kids had fun on the big playground set in Colin's backyard. Lily went on a real swing for the first time, and slid down the big slide. Notice Lola is with her, doing a great job of babysitting.


Grandma had five days to play with Lily while I was gone, and there is a lot of photographic evidence that she had fun with her grandbaby.


Lola gave Lily an Easter basket, complete with bunny ears.


Here's Lily's opinion on Easter candy. Her shirt says, "Too much candy is a good thing!"


There was another Easter party at day care. Lily, Madeline, Shawn, and Cailey are here eating their snacks.


The Willises invited us over to make Easter eggs and cookies. My job was watching Lily and playing with Cameron, while Michelle helped make the treats. Cameron made a sugar cookie (third picture), and boy did he pile on the sugar!


We had yet another party this month! Michelle and her friends threw a party for coworker Ryan's recent engagement to Kayla. That's one serious engagement ring on her finger! Better not look directly at it.


Cailey and Madeline clearly liked the engagement party cake. I'm not sure if Lily had any. She eats plenty of chocolate and sweets, but doesn't have a taste for cake frosting.


Lily took one of Madeline's push toys outside to play with it, and had fun running up and down the driveway. She always likes being outside.


This month Lily threw her first big temper tantrum. I'm not sure what brought it on -- I think she wanted us to pick her up, and we wouldn't. She screamed for so long that I had a few minutes to go find the camera, which was in the garage in my car's glove compartment, and without needing to hurry back, she was still going strong when I returned to take these pictures. Eventually we had to calm her down, because I don't think even she remembered what got her started.


One evening Lily started climbing on top of this musical toy. I was cheering her on while Michelle was telling her to get down. She smiled and looked proud when she was on top of it! That takes some balance, after all.


Michelle fed Lily small pieces of ice, and Lily would position the ice in between her front teeth and show us (zoom in on the second picture to see her holding it between her teeth). All three of us laughed. (Your sense of humor triggers easily when you have a small child! Maybe it's the chronic sleep deprivation.)


Lily's wearing a shirt appropriately marked "Daddy's girl". She follows me around everywhere I go, and starts crying if I leave the room without her. It's cute, but a little obsessive!


We bought Lily shoes that squeak every time you take a step (Madeline had a pair first, and we could tell Lily wanted them). She had a great time stomping around making them squeak!


Here's a movie of Lily in her squeakers. Click on the picture to view it, or download the Quicktime file here.


These are a couple outfits she wore this month. I think they look like shrunken grown-woman clothes. Cute, though.


All the partying this month takes its toll on a kid! She usually fell asleep on the ride home from each party, and here she is napping on Michelle and me. When she's sleeping soundly, she's peaceful, so it's kind of comforting to hold her.