We started out this month by celebrating my 31st Birthday. I made so many goals to accomplish while I was 30, and while I only accomplished about half of them (that's better than none!), so much happened in the past year: we bought a home, we were on 'House Hunters', and we had a baby... just to name a few.
This month, to encourage Lily to tell us when she needs to go Potty (instead of Mommy asking her every hour), we get Ice Cream as a treat - every time she tells me she has to go. And to discourage pooping in her big-girl-panties... she gets to wear her 'Frozen' dress every time she tells me she has to go poo-poo and goes in the potty. So, the majority of pictures this month - Lily is wearing the exact same dress. Laundry has had to be done almost every other day to make this possible. However, it's so worth it instead of changing diapers!
This month, Lily keeps talking and talking and talking. But now she has upgraded to singing along with me. She especially loves to sing songs that have hand motions. Here are the songs that she will sing along with me:
~ ABC Song
--- Any time Lily sees writing on our shirts, or puts together her ABC puzzle we have to sing this song. It is also sung quite often in the car, when washing our hands, when arranging letters on the refrigerator, and when in the shopping cart at the grocery store. She will sing this song for any stranger. And each time she sings it, she gets more and more clear with her letter sounds.
~ "Apple Song"
--- Apple, Bus, Cow, Duck, Elephant, Fish, Girl, Hat, Igloo, Jungle, Kitten, Lamb, Moon, Nest, Orange, Pig, Quack, Rainbow, Star, Train, Under, Video, Whale, Yoyo, Zebra (She can say all of these on her own and I have video to prove it... but... it's most endearing when she's sitting in her carseat and we are passing a bus and she starts rattling off this song. And Yes, I didn't teach her X - Xylophone was just way too hard for anyone to remember, to explain what it is, and to pronounce).
~ Bunny Song
--- There was a little house on the middle of the hill, a little old man by the window stood, he saw a little bunny hopping by, knocking at his door, "Help me. Help me. Help me." He said, "or the hunter will shoot me dead.", "Come little bunny, come with me. Happy we will be." (She can sing this one all by herself with the hand actions. All I have to do is instigate the song, she's never sang it on her own like the others).
~ The wheels on the bus
--- Wheels (round and round), wipers (swish, swish, swish), doors (open and shut), money (clang, clang, clang), horn (beep, beep, beep), Lily (stand up and sit down), babies (Waa, waa, waa), mommies (shh, shh, shh), Driver (move on back).
~ Daddy finger
--- This is the song that she has sang the most often. (Next "Apple Song" then "ABC Song"). She pops up each of her fingers as she sings about them. Here is the song: "Daddy finger, Daddy finger, where are you? Here I am. Here I am. How do you do?" (Thumb). The song is then repeated with each finger: Mommy (Pointer), Brother (Middle), Sister (Ring), and Baby (Pinky).
~ Teach me to Walk in the Light
As a bragging Mommy moment, one day Lily was putting together her puzzles and I walked in on her and as she picked up a puzzle piece she said the name of the letter she was holding and then placed it in the correct slot. She then repeated this process two more times. (The letters were J, then Y, then I). It makes me feel like I'm doing something right when she continues to learn and show such progression and understanding of what I'm teaching her each day.
Marco has upgraded to sleeping nights in his swing. When he sleeps nights in his swing he only gets us up 1-2 times. When he is on his back we are still waking up 2-4 times a night and not falling asleep until midnight, or later.
Poor Marco has been neglected as a second child. I'm having a hard time taking as many pictures of him as I did of Lily when she was a baby. I'm trying to make up for it. But here are the (only) "highlighted" pictures I have of Marco.
Lily has gotten us up for the first time in a year in the middle of the night. We are already so tired with getting up with Marco, it's a nightmare to get up with Lily. She gets us up because of doll-doll. Her doll has to be swaddled and if the blanket has come loose or off, she wakes us up so we can fix it. After two nights of little to no sleep, I safety pinned the swaddled blanket in place making it impossible to take off. Problem solved. This particular night, we had to go "Potty" and sing "Daddy Finger" a dozen times before she would go back to sleep. I included two photos so you can see her using her fingers to help dictate her song.
Michal has worked like crazy. I haven't been happy about it, the only thing that's helped keep my spirits high has been the weather getting better and better each day. One particular Sunday, he came home from work and was able to go on a short walk with us and help me put the kids to bed, and then had to head back to work. I took advantage of the opportunity and we took Lily to the swings. I had to document that he was in our life this month - and behold - we ended up with our first family photo of all four of us. However, neither of the kids were looking at the camera (typical).
Speaking of swings, with the weather getting warmer and warmer... it has become a (bribing tool) regular occurrence for us to go out to the park when Lily is a good girl and we just need a break from the monotony of our boring home routine.
The only hard thing about getting outside has been this tree. Don't let it deceive you. It looks beautiful, but it has terrible consequences. Those consequences:
allergies. Last year I didn't have allergies once, this year - I've been miserable in the middle of the night and in the morning while this tree bloomed. I couldn't wait for all those beautiful flowers to fall off so that I could get my body back to normal. But last year, I didn't live anywhere near a Bradford tree. Next year, I will be prepared!
Poor Lily hasn't been around many other people this month. So when she sees someone, she's either overly excited and loves on them. Or she is terrified and has to hide behind Mommy.
When I went back to church, for the first time after having Marco, I went solo - and it was
a bad idea hard. Lily, who once was so easy to drop off to Nursery, freaked out when I took her there. I had to hang around for the first half hour and then snuck back in early to leave church early - but it was singing time, so I couldn't deny her her singing time. She was back to normal, because Lily just loves to sing!
A few other funny quirky things about Lily this month:
-- Whenever I drive around with her in the carseat (which is every time I get in the car) Lily dictates what she sees. "Tree", "Cow", "Bus", "Car", "Truck", "Moon", "Sun". I hear every new word that she is learning... and I have to admit... I love it!
-- It took me several days to figure this one out, but Lily thinks a squirrel is a chicken. It came about because she was looking out the back window one day and said, "Chicken, Outside." So I said, "Yes. Chicken, outside." I didn't figure out what she meant until she added, "Chicken. Fence. Outside." And I realized that there wasn't a bird (or chicken) on the fence, rather a squirrel. So every time she sees a squirrel she lets me know by saying "chicken."
-- In addition to being obsessed with Frozen, Lily has become obsessed with Minnie Mouse and we have to wear our Minnie Mouse pajamas as much as possible. She has to show me, at every opportunity she gets, to show me Minnie Mouse. Whenever we go to Wal-mart, the first word out of her mouth is "Minnie Mouse" because they have these balloons at the registers which are large helium filled mylar balloons of Minnie Mouse. She is one smart girl.
-- Lily has become more and more independent and now likes to dress herself (when not wearing her frozen dress... and sometimes when wearing her frozen dress too). In this specific occasion, she decided to put on my sports bra and show off.
Nap time has become... interesting. Lily still has to fall asleep on me or next to me. By herself, or in her crib, is just not an option. And when she wakes up... I never know which Lily I'm going to get. I try to always be prepared and have some applesauce on hand so that she is not hungry (thus the cause of ornery-ness), or make waking up into a game.
Lily is such a good little helper. It doesn't matter what I'm doing, from taking dirty diapers to the trash, or closing doors, she is always willing to help Mommy. My favorite picture below is the one of her wiping a book. I was nursing Marco and Lily knocked over my water on my nightstand and it went all over the floor. I was frustrated. But, didn't want to show it, so I asked Lily to go grab a towel and wipe it up. I assumed she would go to her laundry basket and fetch an old towel used to wipe her after her bath... but instead she went downstairs and grabbed a beach towel (that I had used the day prior as a blanket when we went out in the backyard). It was folded on top of the chair... so Lily went all the way downstairs, grabbed the towel, and lugged it back upstairs to wipe up her mess. This heavy beach towel was like the equivalent of me trying to haul a heavy duty blanket up and down stairs... I can't imagine how hard this must have been for her to carry, but she did it... and as she came upstairs, she promptly wiped up the mess without complaining. She really was trying to be such a good helper - I can't even be upset that there was still water everywhere and I had to clean up the remaining mess. It just melted my heart how hard she tried to help.
She even wants to share everything with Marco, including her Doc McStuffins stethoscope. Marco doesn't particularly like this toy around his neck, but Lily just wants to share and play with him so badly.
I just really love how much she loves her little brother!
Lastly, Lily has become more and more independent and her personality continues and continues to shine through.
