Water Park!!

Today was Lily's first trip to the local water park. (Actually, it was her first time in a big swimming pool.) Anyway, we'll be going on vacation at the end of this next week and going to the beach, so we needed to make sure Lily would get along all right in the water. We got her all sunscreened and put her lifejacket on, and Lily spent over an hour walking around in the wading pools and "swimming" with Mommy and Daddy in the bigger pool. Lily did pretty well; there were a little spitting and sputtering and a few tears when her head went under once, but otherwise she seemed to generally enjoy the experience. She wasn't all smiley and chatty, but we were just guessing she was trying to figure out what all of these people were doing in her bath....

A Very Busy Writing Camp Week

It's a busy week this week.... I'm teaching another Writing Camp in addition to my regular night class that meets twice a week. Our babysitter is putting in extra hours, Daddy is doing extra Daddy-duty, and Mommy is tired beyond belief....

Angela's Ashes Author Dies

Frank McCourt, one of my favorite contemporary authors, died today. 'Tis sad, the Teacher Man is no longer with us....

Daddy's a Schmuck....

(Disclaimer: Jimmy provided me with the title for this blog. Thus, I do not want to be accused of any pejorative name calling....)

It has begun.... Jimmy and Lily went browsing and shopping in the mall while I was at work tonight. When they came to pick me up, Miss Lily was sporting a rather large stuffed Tigger in her stroller. Apparently Daddy let Lily play with the Tigger in the store, and then she refused to let go of it when it came time to leave the store. Thus, Lily ended up with a Tigger. I'm just hoping that this is not the beginning of a trend....

Better Bedtimes

Bedtimes and naptimes were rough for a while, but they've been much better lately. Most days Lily goes down for her nap while the babysitter's here, so I'm not the one putting her down. However, the babysitter says she usually goes to sleep quite easily. Bedtimes have been a breeze lately. I've been giving Lily a bedtime-snack bottle, followed by a little water to wash the milk off of the teeth, and then I put her in her bed. That's usually followed by a "Good Night, Lily," which is then followed by about 30 seconds worth of screaming. After the 30 seconds of screaming she usually manages to find her thumb and then drift off to sleep.

This sure beats spending an hour or two trying to coax a screaming baby to sleep....

My Little Bookworm

I took some new pictures, and this is among my absolute favorites!! As I've mentioned in previous posts, Lily loves books. I'm just starting to let her move up from board books, and The Cat in the Hat seems to be one of her current favorites. (I don't actually read this one to her very often, but she certainly likes to look at all of the pictures. Also, she got a Cat in the Hat stuffed toy for her birthday, so the character is familiar....) Isn't she precious!!

Happy Half-Year!!

As of today, the year 2009 is officially half over...and I'm left wondering where it went. So far, so good, but it seems like it's going so fast. I find that I'm still trying to write "2008" on my checks every so often....

(And, in addition to today marking the exact middle of the year, today's also Daddy's birthday. Happy Birthday Daddy!!)