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!

Hair Cut and Easter Eggs

Last weekend, our girl had her first "big girl" haircut at Cool Cuts for Kids. We met Mrs. Mary Jo and her kiddos for lunch, then tagged along to get kiddie cuts. Lyla was mostly ambivalent toward the whole experience. She did fuss quietly for just a little while whenever Mommy wasn't right beside her. The lovely stylist popped in an Elmo video, which captured Lyla's attention enough to distract her sufficiently. Much to my relief, her hair looked just the same, but shaped up and without the stringy baby quasi-mullet thing she had going on. Pheww! Countless times during the week, I complimented Lyla on her new hairstyle and proudly restated that I was so glad I took her to have it done. The very nice lady took some of Lyla's hair and placed it in a card for us.

Easter Sunday, we helped Lyla "find" her Easter basket, which the bunny conveniently hid right on top of the chair in the living room. She was pleasantly surprised to receive jelly beans first thing in the morning and had a great time tooting her new recorder. She can already play one whole note!

We then headed over to Nonna's house for lunch and an egg hunt with the Wise-guys. Lyla immediately caught on to carrying the basket around and soon after that understood that she should put eggs inside of it. She was having a blast being outside with her cousins, and the candy was a definite bonus for her.

After Nonna's, we went to Grandma and Grandpas for a very similar meal, only this time it was dinner. Lyla enjoyed Grandma racing her through the backyard in her wagon and we enjoyed another lovely meal with family.

HAPPY SPRING! For more pics, go to my Picasa!

New Pictures, New Words and Fresh Giggles!

One-year pictures are up at Visual Empathy! Just go to Kristina's site at http://session.visualempathy.com/ and type in the session code, "lylacake." As always, we are more than pleased with her work. She always does a fabulous job and captures just the right moments in just the right light to capture just the right Lyla. She made some pretty goofy faces this time around. We are going to have a hard time choosing which ones to order!

Lyla had a blast with a runaway neighborhood dog that we took in for a day while we located his owner. Although Luke named him Vincent after his look-alike on "Lost," Lyla just called him Maya. So for one night, we had two Maya's. Turns out his name wasn't Vincent or Maya. It was Logan... and he was very happy to be reunited with his owner.

Lyla has been spending her first month as a one-year old shifting quite rapidly into toddlerhood. She doesn't look like a baby anymore and she doesn't really act like one, either. She's all toddler these days, with the attitude to show for it. She has learned a particularly annoying (loud) cry that she emits when she doesn't get her way, a favored item or food is taken away from her, or when the ever-dreaded "going inside" must occur. It's horrendous and dramatic... but her parents know better than to give in to the racket.

She's communicating a lot better now, mostly by nodding and pointing, but she is regularly using the words that she has mastered. Among her favorites are "uh-oh" when she drops something, "Dada," especially when Luke opens the door to greet us after we arrive home, "Aya" for Maya, "Pap-Pap" for Grandpap, and "no," though she mostly mimics that one after she hears it (and she hears it quite often). She has decided to hoard all the "mama's" that she previously babbled non-stop, much to her mother's disappointment. But occasionally from the back seat in the car, she will belt out a nice, clear "mama" just to get the over-the-top shriek and applause that normally follows after that particular word is announced. And just yesterday, I overheard her and Luke going back and forth with "mmmhmmm's." She is such a ham!

There are a few updates to the March album at my Picasa and I just loaded some for April as well.

Until next time, I leave you a short clip of my favorite giggler:

Happy 1st Birthday, Lyla!

On Lyla's birthday, March 19, Mommy and Daddy took her to the zoo! The zoo was "a zoo," as they say... meaning it was super crowded. We found out from a zoo dude that the previous day was a record-setter. I can't imagine it being any more crowded than it was when we were there Thursday. Lyla did really well despite the heat, crowd and being confined to her stroller most of the time. Her favorite part was the aviary - she got to hold a popsicle stick with some seeds on it to feed the smaller birds (parakeets, love birds, doves). It took a little time for some hungry birds to find us, but when they did, our girl was delighted. She was so intent watching the colorful birdies and held perfectly still (mostly) while they ate off her stick.

We also got to see an orangutan showing off to try to win over another zoo patron's orange. She stretched out her open hand as if to say, "Please toss your orange this way." When the lady did not oblige, the orangutan feigned utter sadness by burying her head in her arms and hanging her head sadly. We were cracking up. Lyla stared the whole time... I think she was a little confused by the humanish animalish creature.

When we got home (Lyla crashed in the stroller before we even got to the parking lot), we rested awhile, then helped her open presents from Mommy and Daddy. She caught on pretty quickly, but wanted to play with each gift rather than open them all. We encouraged her to get through them, though, so we could get it on tape... then we taped some playing. She got another Karen Katz flap book, a set of Sesame mini-books, an Elmo puppet, a mailbox shape-sorter, a bubble-blowing hippo and a summer outfit. We went outside to play with the bubbles, which Lyla really enjoyed. She loves to be outside!


The next day was party prep for Mommy, Grandma and Aunt Donna. Lyla had a flower/garden theme. We had to get food ready, decorate cakes, and set up tables/party supplies. Lyla also had her 1-year checkup with Dr. Dickey. Here is the low-down:
She weighed in at a healthy 24 lbs (89%), measured 30.5 inches (88%), and her head was 47.5 cm around (96%).... meaning, she is about the height/weight of a 22-month old and her head is the size of a 3 year old's. It's because her brain is so giant and full of intelligence already!

Saturday, we had all our closest friends and family over to celebrate our daughter's first year. We had a wonderful day - the weather was perfect (although poor Luke couldn't tolerate it for long due to his allergies), the kids had fun painting flower pots, planting daisies in them and breaking (decapitating) the butterfly pinata. They took turns pulling Lyla in the new red wagon Grandma and Grandpap got her. Overall, a good time was had by all and although the big "1" was slightly bittersweet, we made a huge deal out of it and it was totally worth it. Next year, though, Mommy will definitely be scaling down!

See the rest of our birthday pictures at Picasa!