The Most Wonderful Time...

What a wonderful Christmas we had together! I have cherished so many moments with my daughter, family, and friends this December, it will be hard to recount them all, but I will do my best to sum up.

We put up and decorated our new tree shortly after Thanksgiving - a process that took several days and a task which consisted of many steps forward (5 ornaments up) and a few steps back (2 ornaments down). Lyla was particularly fond of the vintage Sesame Street ornaments I made sure to hang right at her eye level. They were hung and rehung all through the month.

Lyla's school had a "Family Blizzard" where they invited family to come eat chili and participate in various holiday activities. Lyla loved playing at school with Mommy, making ornaments, pinning the nose on Santa, writing a letter to Santa (ha!) and eating all kinds of sweets. She did not enjoy getting her face painted.

We took Lyla to the Grapevine Parade of Lights with my family and close friends. We bundled up in many layers and extra thick coats (because it was unTexasly cold) and brought some hot cocoa in a thermos to share. Lyla seemed to enjoy it, her favorite part being Santa at the end. She waved and waved! It was great having our family and close friends there with us!

In preparation for Christmas cards and the December portion of the annual grandma calendars, we attempted to do a mini-photo-shoot of Lyla in front of the tree. I must have snapped a-zillion pictures and managed to get ZIP that I really liked, but I guess the whole ordeal was pretty humorous. I am surprised Lyla hasn't developed a seizure disorder from all the flashes...

We took Lyla, Rain and Faryn, along with Grandma and Grandpap, to the North Pole Express. It's a vintage train that normally goes from downtown G-vine to downtown Ft. Worth, but during this time of year, they send it 15 minutes in one direction, with caroling and the whole bit, then they just head back to G-vine for a 30 minute trip, all after a 30-minute preshow complete with hot chocolate, dancing elf girls in tight clothes, etc. Lyla didn't fair so well with the pre-show. It was a little lengthy and not particularly geared toward 1-year olds and she was very anxious to see the "choo-choo." When we finally got on, she was worn out, but managed to enjoy it nonetheless. Santa made an appearance (briefly) on the train, and she was excited by that. I thought that might be evidence that she wouldn't be terrified afterward when we went to take pictures with Santa. How foolish of me! The poor girl sobbed big fat tears of sheer terror, even with Mommy and Daddy sitting with her. As Grandpap put it, though, you always have to have at least one picture of "crying with the Claus."

Christmas came around super-fast after that. Really, though, I should say "Christmases," since we shared Christmas with our families and friends at separate special times. We had "Roommate Christmas" with our close friends (dubbed so because most of these friends have been roommates at one point or another), "Quattrochi Christmas" with Luke's dad's side of the family, "Pearson Christmas" with my side of the family, and "Nonna Christmas" with Luke's mom's side. Not to mention our own Christmas! Phew!

Somewhere in the midst of all that, we managed to bake cookies with Grandma, too. Lyla enjoyed painting the sugar cookies old-school style, with colored egg yolks and paintbrushes. Mostly, she enjoyed eating them after they baked.

Lyla's favorites among her Christmas prizes this year have been her little piano that Santa brought her, her kitchen that Mommy and Daddy got her, and her dollhouse from Grandma. She seems to rotate between the three throughout the day, occasionally distracting herself with her other goodies and bringing us new books to read.

And last, but not least, here she is "performing" in her school sing-a-long show:

We hope you had a Very Merry Christmas!!
We sure did!

Our Turkey(less) Day!

We had a fun-filled, food-filled day, as usual! This year, we spent Thanksgiving at Grandma and Grandpap's house. Aunt Shannon and her family joined us, as well. It was a typical Thanksgiving and there's not much else to be said. We ate too much, the house was chaotic and loud, I took too many pictures, we ate too much food, there was football on TV, and we ate too much food. Still one of my favorite days of the year!

Lyla had a blast because she got to spend the day with her cousins. Rain, Faryn, and Grandma taught her how to play ring-around-the-rosie. She loved the "falling down" part best, naturally.

Here are a few pics from the day. You can see more at my Picasa!



She loved her turkey shirt, and so did everyone at her school, despite the vegetarian propaganda. She did, however, perform her very first googly-eye-ectomy. Twice. Poor bird.

Fall Flying By!

We've been having a lovely Fall, for the most part! Lyla is ever-so-chatty lately. Bossy, too, I might add. She has officially learned that she can say, "No" in response to things she doesn't want and activities in which she would prefer not to partake. I have been trying desperately to teach her to say, "No thanks," or even just not scream, "NO!" as if I were trying to pour lemon juice onto a boo-boo. Will keep you posted on how that's going. She definitely has her own agenda and her own ways of expressing it.

Since our last post, we've started at a new daycare. Lyla switched to my school district's Early Childhood Development Center and we're very pleased with our decision to move her there. I was hesitant, naturally, about having to transition all over again and go through that horrible month-long crying at drop-off, wondering how she is all day, sick to my stomach at the thought of her being scared and confused at daycare phase. But honestly, it's been great. She had only a few days where she was upset at drop-off (and it only lasted briefly), and she usually just walks right on in, happy to be there. Daily reports from her teacher, Ms. Maria, are always positive. She is happy to be there, too, which is how it should be. It's way out of our way, but totally worth it. Lyla is going full time, with the exception of Grandma and Grandpap being right down the road and able to pick her up whenever they need a little grand-toddler time.

I have welcomed Thanksgiving Break with wide-open arms and a huge smile. Man, I needed a break! Teaching this year has been kind of tough, and I miss spending time with my little girl. I did forget, however, that all those things-to-do on my mental preferred priority list will simply not get done over the holiday because, well, spending time with my little girl means just that. She's certainly not going to volunteer to help repaint and redecorate the bathroom, or sort through garage sale items. Although, yesterday, she wasn't far from helpful when I steam-cleaned the living room carpet.

Monday, my first official day vacation, Lyla and I took Faryn and Rain to the park so their mommy could get some school work done. We packed a picnic and spent a couple hours at Bear Creek Park. The weather couldn't have been better! The kids all behaved well and we had a lovely time! They were rewarded with slushies from Sonic on our way back home.

Tuesday, Lyla and I joined Ms. Ray from work and her sweet, adorable 2-year-old, Regan at the Gaylord to wander around, look at the (*cough* premature *cough*) Christmas decor and snap some pictures. We then grabbed a bite at Panera - yum! The girls were ever-so-cute together and at one point even had an actual toddler conversation, consisting mostly of the sounds animals make and also lots of random noises blurted out, copy-catted, and followed by immediate giggles. Regan set an awesome example for Lyla, so I am hoping we get to hang out more often!

We got our 18-month pictures back from Visual Empathy. Visit Visual Empathy to have a peek at our sweet girl - just enter session code lyla18months. Thanks to Kristina for another great session and beautiful pictures!

To see other recent pictures and additional pics from the park and the Gaylord, go to my November Picasa album! There will be plenty more after Thanksgiving, I'm sure...

I also uploaded some videos recently, when it was on my mind. Here are a few more recent clips:

Ladybug, Ladybug...

Happy Halloween!

Lyla had a blast this year! Of course, the only other year she has to compare it to was her first, and she didn't exactly have the capacity to understand what was going on. She was just a fluffy pink lump. This year, she understood her costume, thought it was fun that others were dressed up, too (at least I think so), and especially liked the part where she got to knock on doors and get candy! It was a little difficult, at first, to distract her from her desire for instant gratification, but once she got the swing of the whole door-to-door thing, she seemed to enjoy it.

We started Halloween Day off with a little old-fashioned pumpkin carving. Lyla was interested in what her mommy was getting into, but not quite attentive enough to participate in the whole task. She played with the slime and helped poke the shapes out once I carved them... then off she ran. Once we lit the pumpkin in the dark bathroom, her interest was again peaked, although more so regarding blowing out the candle inside than in the jack-o-lantern, itself.

Halloween Night, we were happy to have Grandma and Grandpap join us at Aunt Shannon's house for trick-or-treating. We got to spend some pre-sugar-rush family-time with cousins; Faryn dressed up as a pink lady and Rain as a punk-rocker. They were so adorable! By the end of the night, Lyla had consumed her day's worth of calories in sugar and chocolate, and despite my belief that she would sugar-crash and fall asleep easily after such an active night, she was buzzed until almost 11:00pm!

As always, more pictures at Picasa!

Pumpkin Time!

October, 2008

October, 2009

A year ago, we toted our chubby pink-bunny-to-be to the Pumpkin Farm by Grandma and Grandpap's house and let her explore all the excitement of Fall, holding onto our fingers to walk unsteadily around in her very first pair of shoes. I couldn't wait to see what this year would bring for our soon-to-be-lovely-ladybug at the Farm, this time with some additional family. Papa Sam was in town, so we planned to go with him, Nonna, Aunt Mia, Uncle Les and the cousins to share in the fun of hay stacks, old tractors, face-painting, kettle corn, hot apple cider, the ever-daunting corn maze, and of course, piles and piles of pumpkins!

What a busy day! Lyla's day actually started out bright and early (or should we say dark and early?) in order to get her 18-month pictures taken with Kristina from Visual Empathy. We met at the Botanical Gardens in Ft. Worth and had a wonderful time wandering around and snapping pictures wherever a good shot caught her eye. Lyla managed a good hour of spotlight action before she got tired and hungry. As always, we can't wait to see what beautiful moments Kristina captured.

We then met up with the rest of the Q's for a picnic at a local park, since the Pumpkin Farm didn't open until 1:00. We stuffed our faces and ran care-free around old Kidsville, played some sand volleyball and of course, I snapped a few pictures. We hopped back over to the Farm shortly after for all the aforementioned fall festivities. Napless Lyla wasn't quite as exuberant as I had anticipated, but a good time was had by all. She went through the corn maze with her Uncle Les, we snacked on fresh kettle corn and apple cider, played on the old tractor, posed in the farmer cutouts, picked out some pumpkins and packed ourselves up to head back to our place. Of course, I took some pictures along the way... Lyla crashed before exiting the parking lot.

Have a gander at the additions to my October album.

Beach Baby!

Well, we just returned from our first family vacation! It would be a bold-faced lie to say we're happy to be home, with a new workweek looming just 8 hours away, a dishwasher to unload, laundry to tackle, carpet to vacuum, poop to scoop and bills to pay...

On Wednesday night, we packed my sister's Tahoe up with beach clothes, enough food, toys, and games for a long weekend. Thursday morning we dropped the dog off at Grandma's and headed southeast about six hours to Surfside Beach. We were a bit nervous about how Lyla would fare being in the car for so long, but she managed to shock us with a surprisingly painless trip. She cat-napped a few times, snacked, busied herself with toys and books, and of course, a couple Elmo videos. Just as we were reaching our limit, we arrived!

The weekend weather wasn't all that great, but even being inside from the chilly rain was relaxing - how can it not be with the gulf coast waves rolling in just over the dunes? We were fortunate enough to have a couple of afternoons in the mid to upper seventies - what we deemed "sitting on the beach" weather. The rest of the time, we took short walks and I, of course, experimented with the camera, all the while adoring my curious toddler as she explored all the wonders of the seashore. We collected some shells, traced letters in the sand, made sand "cakes" and sang "Happy Birthday" (then blew out the shell-candle and ate the cake, of course), poked at a dead jellyfish, filled the bucket with water, buried our feet and then tried to find them, got especially sandy, and all in all had a lovely, relaxing time.

Sunday, getting a little stir crazy from being stuck inside, we decided to take a little nap-time drive into Galveston to go to the Moody Gardens Aquarium. Being nap time, we thought our girl might actually sleep on the hour drive there, but she opted out, making for an interesting trip through the exhibits. She seemed a bit more interested in pushing her own stroller, climbing on each and every bench and hanging from any and every railing, than in watching fish through glass. The penguins caught her eye a bit more, and so did the one giant sea turtle that swam over us inside the water tunnel, but mostly she was just crabby and testing the limits. She took it upon herself to nap on the way home, instead.

Monday, we had to pack up and head back to life... back to reality (yes, it's been stuck in my head ALL DAY!). This time, the drive was a little less smooth, since our girl knew what she was in for, but we made it, thanks to Elmo and Shannon's fancy DVD-playing SUV.

It was a much needed vacation! I think we should do it every week. Well, maybe not every week...

More pics at Picasa, as usual!

The 18-Month Mark!

One of my little girl's favorite things to do is "watch Lyla." She grabs my finger and leads me to the office, guiding me to the computer desk, upon which sits the "watching device" - that magical thing with all its snippets of digital video that some crazy woman has collected over the last 1.5 years. At random throughout the day, even in the midst of some of the most exciting toddler-geared activities, she will emphatically nod while asking (demanding), " 'atch 'yla?!" Whether it be the techie side to her (thanks, Daddy) or her egocentric 18-month-old ways, she sure knows what she wants. She's even figured out how to browse the thumbnails and point out exactly which video she wishes to watch, very rarely selecting anything from her younger year, as she doubtfully recognizes the strange blob inching her way around on the carpet, drooling and making strange gurgling noises. No, that's not Lyla. That's a baby.

That doesn't stop Mommy, however, from reminiscing about that precious blob. It seems so very long ago and hardly a glimpse of it remains in my memory, so I am ever-grateful for that crazy woman and all her video-taking.

No other year will make such a difference in her life. At no other time will she not be able to
recognize herself or at least make a connection from one September to the next. How odd! Looking back just one year ago, the changes are astounding. Here is a snippet from this time last year, when I was utterly shocked that the first six months had already passed.

And here she is now:

Daycare update: We were just hitting smooth waters when both of Lyla's teachers left Premier. She has had to transition again, now to two new teachers. Thankfully, one was able to shadow Mrs. Ashley before she left. She hasn't been crying at drop off this week, but for some reason cries when the class goes on their walks. And her teacher asked me today if she ever talks. HA! It made me laugh because well, yes. She talks non-stop at home. But it made me sad, too, because she is clearly not herself when she's there. Maybe a few more weeks and she'll open up a little more.

Our Trouble-Making, Ice-Cream-Eating, ABC-Loving, Daycare-Hating, Chatting-it-up Ham!

So... I forgot how rough it is to blog regularly when working full time and continuing to [attempt to] run the house and manage the family!!! Pheww! (Yes, Luke, I am the manager. ;p )

Little Miss Lyla has adjusted fairly well to daycare, though it continues to be a slight struggle for Luke to drop her off in the mornings, when she is reluctant and teary-eyed. Her teacher says she calms down within a minute or two, though she has a hard time all morning long as people come and go, and during the various transitions from one activity to the next.

Ever since she started, she's had either one very long cold, or perhaps several normal-length, overlapping colds. Ugh! After week two, I offered Grandma double what we pay the daycare. I just cannot stand the image of her anxiously watching the door, or the horrendous sob she blurts out when I come to pick her up and she instantly recalls the terrible heartache and stress she has bottled up all day. After this week, which will complete a full month, I offered Grandma triple, but she's still not sold.

In other news, she is growing leaps and bounds in language development. She cracks us up daily with her hammy personality and new-found chattiness. She definitely thinks she's speaking in complete sentences, although usually only a handful of sounds are recognizable Lyla-words. I specify "Lyla-words" because I'm pretty sure the average so-and-so wouldn't necessarily understand what she's saying, but I know that "Aya" is "Maya," "Aht-sees" is "ABC's," "It's Oss" is "It's a mess!" and "s'keem" is "ice cream." She has been pairing more and more words together to make two-word phrases, usually claiming, "It's [a] ____." Among my recent favorites are "Sit Momma?" when she wants to sit on my lap, "Bye-bye Dada" when she wants to play Hi and Bye with the door, closing Luke out and welcoming him back in, and ordering the dog: "Aya sit... goo guh (good girl)."

She is loving her ABC's - obsessed with her magnetic letters, foam bathtub letters, letters from various puzzles and books and most recently, tater-tot letters (thanks, Ore-Ida). She readily names or points out A, B, C, F, S, X, Y, L, and O, and we're working on learning all the others. I *adore* when she randomly notices words on books, signs or packaging and excitedly shows them to me, pointing out the letters she recognizes. I am pretty proud of her advanced literacy skills, and at just 17 months! :p

And now, a couple of long overdue video clips:

Also, check out my Picasa. As usual, there have been some updates. I am trying to select photos to publish rather than publish them all. Since I got the Rebel for my birthday, I've been even more shutter-happy than before... ... ...

August, 2009 (You'll be happy to know, I spared you approximately 600 photos.)
Fun at the Pool
Children's Museum
Watch Me Grow!

Big Changes for Our "Big Girl"

Well, it's that time of year again - back to school! Only, this year, Lyla is heading to "school" as well. Complete with her tiny backpack and adorable lunchbox, she strutted confidently into Premier Academy yesterday for her first day with Mrs. Ashley and Mrs. Cheryl in the "Upper Ones" class. She's not quite the right age to be considered "upper" (18-months +) but she will be soon enough, and we figured it wouldn't be worth all the transition trouble in a month to have her readjust to new teachers and routines.

Despite the early rise time and lack of breakfast, she was off to a good start, wanting "inside" as soon as possible. She bolted toward the toys and was immediately surrounded by a few curious faces, all poking, pointing, and sharing exciting toddler gadgets with her. But she soon decided she was fulfilled by this magical place and promptly sought out Mommy, demanded "up" and thoughtfully told her new classmates "bye-bye," all smiles. It took some coaxing to get her playing again, and sufficiently distracted so that Mommy could slip away. Peeking in a moment later, she was clinging to Mrs. Ashley with a look of desperation on her face, her knuckles white where she grabbed hold of Ashley's shirt. And if it hadn't already cracked a little by this point, Mommy's heart split open and burst into a million pieces. Just like that.

And so began the worst day ever. It was very difficult not to fly over to school and rescue her, but our grand plan was to spend the week before Mommy goes back in transition, in hopes that going back to work might be a smidgen less difficult. I called about three times during the day and forced Luke to call once so I didn't look like a nut, although the staff at the school seem very supportive and understanding of how insanely hard this really is. Those check-in calls proved to be more upsetting than comforting, though, as Lyla was never in a good state. She wasn't uncontrollably upset, but she was out of sorts - weepy and confused, not eating, not drinking - all day.

Today and forever, Luke is taking her. Reports this morning are worse than yesterday, which we expected, since she knows what's happening. Last I heard, Mrs. Ashley was taking her for some one-on-one time. Sounds like a good plan...

It'll take time, I know, but it doesn't make me (or Lyla) hate it any less.

Lyla's first day of school, classic "in front of the fridge" shot.
(She didn't like the backpack or understand why she was supposed to stand in front of the fridge.)

Fun with Food

Last night, Lyla got a special treat after dinner. Fruit always follows dinner, but this was different... this was... delicious! Strawberries are super, but add whipped cream and, well, who knows where it'll take ya! Here is the fun that followed...

And then the inevitable...

To see the rest, visit the July album!

Boom Boom!

Hi all! I know it's been a while since my last post... one would think with the summer off I'd have more time, but really it's just a matter of my time being used up in new ways. Admittedly, I am far more exhausted at the end of a day with my little stinker than I was all year after a day's work at school. She certainly keeps me busy (and curtails any chances I have of keeping up with housework).

We had a wonderful 4th of July with just our "own selves," hanging out at home and keeping cool. The night before, the 3rd, we went to my sister's house in Roanoke to watch the city fireworks display. She has a great view from her backyard - they shoot them off from a field right across the street. Every year it seems this party gets bigger and bigger. By the end of the night, Shannon had over 100 guests at her house. Good thing her yard is ginormous.

As expected, Lyla loved the fireworks. I prepped her the day before by showing her some fireworks shows on YouTube. Yes, I am a dork that has been trained in preparing students for situations that might cause some anxiety... so these sorts of things come to mind a lot. I think she would have been fine even without the prep, though, as she simply sat back and watched, saying, "Boom!" and, "Noisy" every so often, with a bouncy nod of finality. That lasted only about 3 minutes... then she was ready to run off and play despite the noise and lack of sunlight. Baby attention span = not so long.

We were so glad to spend the evening with our closest friends and even got see a special visitor from out of town. Lisa and Jake were down for the weekend with Elizabeth - she has grown so tall (although our 6-month younger monster outweighs her!) and beautiful. It was wonderful to see them!

Mary Jo and family, Kerry and Craig, Mac and Kristin, and Melissa and Haydrienne came, too, and we had a blast eating hotdogs and partaking in cool beverages while waiting for it to get dark. The show wasn't too bad, either!

15 Months!

Lyla had her 15-month check-up yesterday. Here's the scoop:

Weight: 26.5 lbs.
Height: 32 in.

You read that right. According to Dr. Dickey, that's about the size of an average 2-year old. Her head measured about the size of an average 3-year old. That's just how smart she is.
She had 2 shots, and although that's less than half of what we're used to, it was probably the worst vaccination session thus far. She's just so much more aware of things... she cried a horrible, traumatized cry. You know, the one where you can't catch your breath - it's not a full cry because you're just so shocked at what's occurred? Yeah, that's the one. It went on for around 5 minutes before Mommy calmed her down via distraction. Hooray for counting on Lily Leap!

We've been keeping busy (aka staying away from our boring, unclean house) mostly by keeping wet. In the last week, we've been to a local water park, Grandma's pool (x4 or 5), a local city pool, and of course, the little pool in the backyard. Lyla is a fan of her-size waterslides and shallow water she can wade in on her own (Miss Independent?).


In our backyard, having fun with the hose.


Chillin' at the local city pool. She's so cool.

Today, we went with Kerry to the Grapevine Botanical Gardens. Lyla loved exploring the beautiful gardens and playing on the playground. She tried to pick a strawberry in the herb garden and delighted in feeding the koi in the pond. We had a picnic lunch in the shade in an attempt to stay cool and Lyla played in the water fountain, ensuring complete clothing saturation.

At the Botanical Gardens:

Our Chatter Box!

I am currently on Luke's computer, which means no access to the pictures and videos that I typically load up. So, this post will have to come to you with - *gasp* - no pictures or video! Tomorrow is Lyla's 15- month checkup, so I will be sure to post again very soon with pictures and everything. I'll need to get my computer hooked up again. In any case, here's out latest news:

A few days ago, I tried to make a list of all the words Lyla knows. I am now wishing I had been keeping a list all along, with dates to document. But hey, I guess I can't keep records of EVERYTHING! The list, which Grandma helped me try and compose, consisted of more than three dozen words. I was shocked! I can't believe how much talking she is doing already. It's got to be one of my favorite things. I get so excited every time she says something knew, or attempts to, even if it sounds completely ridiculous. It's amazing!
Most recently, she is dedicated to labeling all that is "noisy," which sounds more like "ois-chee" with an emphasis on both syllables, because all noisy things are apparently very noisy.

School is out, and we've been trying to think of creative ways to occupy our time so we don't go stir crazy at home. Last week, it rained buckets and Lyla we were couped up inside quite a bit. She also had some yucky virus and was running a fever almost all week - up to around 104 some of the time. Other than the fever and a red throat, she had no other symptoms and she tested negative for Strep. "Just a virus" for Lyla mostly meant continuing baby business as usual with a little added fussiness and occasional lethargy. It was completely heart-breaking and I am definitely not looking forward to future fevers. Yuck.

Perhaps all the extra pampering last week aided her in this discovery, but she has certainly made some strides in typical toddler behavior. She's picking up on whining and carrying on -- verging on throwing fits, but it's more like the dropping to the ground or swinging her feet when she doesn't want to go somewhere - usually "inside" -- so we're doing our best to curb this by ignoring as much as possible. It was hard to be too tough on her when she was under the weather and continuing to teeth. I am pretty sure she's finished cutting all four molars (I don't dare reach in and feel... too risky!) but now she's on to her inscisors. She doesn't seem to mind, though, so I guess we are (and she is) very lucky!

Now that it's nice outside (aka ridiculously hot) we are definitely spending more time in the sun. Over the weekend, we went to NRH2O and yesterday, we visited a local pool for a few hours. She's definitely a water baby. Will have more on that in a future update - one with pictures!

Dancing and Splashing

We've been BUSY! Since our last post, Lyla has cut two molars on her left side, and the other two on the right are working their way out. We had no indication she was even teething, so that's good! She's learned a bunch of new words, including some animal sounds, and she has started expressing her wants/needs much more consistently and insistently (especially "side?" for "outside"). She readily points to her eyes, nose, ears, mouth, teeth, head, tummy, belly button, feet, and knees. She overly-curls her lip and cries out dramatically if she doesn't get her way. She's just been an absolute hoot and a ham and of course, the videos have really piled up, so it's been tough deciding which ones to share this time around.

Lyla has always really enjoyed music, but this SkyBox song particularly caught her fancy. She can't resist tapping to the beat or dancing around, and for some reason has deemed it necessary to do this from a seated position. At one point, you'll notice, she even gets up to distract herself with another task, but once the music picks up again she has to sit and continue rocking out.

Lyla has been having fun cooling down in her new lil swimming pool. Mostly she steps in, splashes her feet, makes a goofy grin and rough laughing noise, steps out, then repeats. She has been loving the outdoors, and makes requests (or demands?) regularly to go out and play by standing by the door, pointing and asking, "Side?" She will then nod emphatically as if to tell us, "Yes, people. Yes. This is what I'm asking... DO IT!" We are in for a lot of "side" this summer, so hopefully the Texas sun won't burn us up too badly!

Ah, to be so secure and blissfully ignorant as to dance around freely and splash around completely naked and carefree...

I won't bog down Blogspot with too many videos (I already tried and it didn't work!). I'll try to post the others in the next few days.

Until then, catch up on our Picasa Web Albums:

See April if you missed it! Mother's Day, 2009 , May (so far), and... Watch Me Grow has been updated to include her most recent pictures. Apparently, there was some bug and it wasn't loading my updates, but it's all up to date, now!

--Emily

Parks and (Family) Recreation

Last weekend, we went to the park as a family and had picnic dinner in a gazebo by the creek, watched (and chased) the ducks, then played on the playground. Lyla loved her first family park outing. The slide was, by far, the best part - she wanted to slide over and over again! We had a great time, especially since Luke's allergies seem to have been cured by the miracle drug we now know to be Singulair.




Lyla is blowing us away every day with how much she is imitating and trying to communicate. Her signing has improved along with her vocalizations, although she is a little stubborn about repeating things on command (*cough* Little Luke *cough*) . Her newest favorite is "doh," which translates to "go," particularly when preceded by "Ready...? Set...?" and especially when paired with swinging. We'll have to include a swinging video next week.

Papa Sam came for a visit over this past weekend. Our plans to take the boat out on the lake were spoiled by rain. Bummer! But we had fun at home, instead. Papa bought Nerf guns for all the kids and they went to war. Inside my house. We are going to be finding those little Nerf darts for several months, I'm sure. We also went to the Watenpaugh's and Papa and Les couldn't resist taking the boat out, just for 20 minutes or so. Zoe and I went along (I'd never been out on one before) and despite the chilly, damp air (and at one point, some rain), it was really fun. We hope we get to go out in nice weather again soon. Lyla will love it!

The next day, after a blueberry pancake breakfast, we all spent the day shooting zombies (Hooray Resident Evil) and relaxing. It was a really nice visit!