"Cute Boots!"

Lily and I spent a few hours walking the mall today.... I took the car in for an oil change; they were busier than usual, so we had longer than usual to wander the mall. We had lunch and then proceeded to on our lap. After perusing the VeggieTales section at the Christian book and gift store, we wandered by a little shoe store that had a display of boots in the window (some rain boots, some Ugg-like boots, and a few other styles as well). As we passed the store, Lily yelled out "Look, cute boots!" and and doubled back to go inside. She then proceeded to pick up and examine every pair -- "cute black boots," "cute pink boots," "cute brown boots," etc. until she had looked at all of the boots at least twice. The lady working in the store just stood there and laughed; I wondered how much money I'll be spending on shoes over the next sixteen years....

"Mommy's a Princess!"

Recounting a conversation from earlier today....
Lily: "Mommy's a princess."
Mommy: "Awww, that's so sweet of you."
L: "Lily's a princess."
M: "Well, yes...."
L: "Daddy's a princess."
M: "No, Daddy's a boy. Princesses are girls. Daddy can be a prince, but not a princess."
L: "I'm a boy."
M: "No Lily, you're a girl."
L: "Mommy's a boy."
M: "No Lily, Mommy's a girl."
L: "Daddy's a boy."
M: "Yes, Daddy's a boy."
L: (after a little bit of thought) "Daddy's a boy, Mommy's a girl, and I'm a princess!"

Moon Party

Tonight was Lily's first Moon Party!! Lily likes to watch My Friends Tigger and Pooh, and one of her favorite episodes is about Lumpy's first moon party, which turns out to be a no-moon-moon-party.... Anyway, Lily has become fascinated with the things in the sky: the moon, white clouds, dark clouds, the stars, and the planets. We were outside last night and she pointed out a particularly bright "star"; she was very excited when I told her that that "star" was Jupiter. She was outside looking for Jupiter again tonight.

Anyway, the moon party.... Jimmy grabbed a blanket and a pillow and set up camp in the best star-gazing spot in the back yard. Lily and I then joined him outside and spent a good 10-15 minutes looking up at the stars and the moon. (I know 15 minutes doesn't sound like much, but with a 2-year-old and a swarm of mosquitoes, it's actually pretty impressive!) Lily enjoyed her moon party, and was asking if we could have another moon party before we even made it in the house. YAY for Moon Parties!!

"A B C D E F G...."

Lily sang her ABCs all by herself today!! While she's known her ABCs for quite a while, today was the first time we heard her sing the entire song by herself.

She can identify all of the uppercase letters and most of the lowercase letters by sight. She knows quite a few of the letter sounds, but we haven't mastered all of those yet. She likes her letter puzzles and games, and is a big fan of the Seasme Street "Letter of the Day" podcasts.

And Now Pears....

We've had the apples, the peaches, and the pluots...and now we have pears. A family from church brought us pears this afternoon, and now it's time to figure out what to do with them....

Playing with Grammy

Since Mommy was at a wedding and Daddy was stuck in meetings for the several hours today, Grammy came to spend part of the day with Lily. From the photo evidence left behind, it looks like they had a good time....

My First Wedding

I played piano at a wedding today...and survived!! I couple from church asked me about 2 months ago if I would be willing to play piano at their wedding, and today was the day. I was a little nervous as I'd never played a wedding before; I only started playing Sundays about 6 months ago, and then only as a fill-in when the regular pianist or the organist can't be there. (I generally do okay, but I'm nowhere near as good as either regular pianist or the organist.)

Anyway, I was quite surprised when I was asked to play the wedding. And then I was even more surprised when the bride told me to pick out whatever pretty piano music I wanted to play! She wanted the traditional Wedding March (Wagner) for the processional, but other than that I got to pick out all of the music. I kept the music pretty simple and traditional, and everything went well. If only all weddings were that easy....

Hiding Under the Bed

We had a little bit of a crisis with a babysitter a few days ago.... Apparently, about an hour or so after the sitter arrived, Lily was wandering all over the house looking for The Happy Bee and the book was nowhere to be found. They searched throughout the house, and then called me to see if I know where The Happy Bee was. I was no help, and The Happy Bee remained lost. When I got home from work in the afternoon, Lily was down for her nap and the babysitter informed me that the book still hadn't surfaced. When Lily work up an hour or so later, I asked here where The Happy Bee was...and her reply "Happy Bee under the bed!"

Apples, Peaches, and Pluots

Here's what's been occupying all of our free time--and our kitchen--for the last couple of weeks. It all started with all of the apples that came in from the back yard, and then it continued when Jimmy got several boxes of very cheap peaches at the grocery store. (And then, after the cheap peaches, he went back and the produce lady gave him a few more boxes of very cheap--almost free--peaches.) Following that, we bought a few pounds of pluots.... We made (in the order on the table) sugar-free peach preserves, pluot preserves, hot peach salsa, regular peach preserves, applesause, medium peach salsa, and applebutter. We're selling them at church to raise money to send Jimmy and few youth group kids on a very big trip next summer. We started selling tonight, and the table certainly doesn't look likd this any more....

Night-night at Grammy's

Lily had her first overnight without Mommy and Daddy last night. She stayed at Grammy's house while Mommy and Daddy were at a conference. Lily seemed to do just fine; as did Grammy. When we asked Lily about what she did at Grammy's house, she said, "I ate Grammy's chips!!" (And that was followed by laughter and giggles.)

"Mommy has coffee..."

I'm beginning to wonder just where my little girl is learning some of the things she knows....

I spent a few hours today working at the library, and Lily got to spend some time with Grandpa S. and Grammy S. I picked Lily up after lunch (right about naptime) and we started our little trip home. Lily promptly downed the contents of her sippy, and then began requesting more water, with ice. In order to accommodate her very reasonable request, I decided to go through a drive-thru at Starbucks. (We don't have a Starbucks where we live, so a good cup of chai is a real treat!) I ordered, and we got our drinks. As soon as Lily saw my drink, she exclaimed, "Mommy has coffee. Coffee's hot!" Now, I know this might not be particularly strange, but we don't drink coffee, we don't have coffee in our house, none of the babysitters drink coffee.... I'm left wondering where this child learn about coffee, and what it mean that she's already able to identify a Starbucks cup....

Wanted: Apple Recipes

We started picking apples today. We picked only the apples we could reach from the ground, and we only picked about half of the tree. If you have any yummy apple recipes, please send them my direction....

"Buh, Buh, Buh, Letter I"

Okay, so I was a proud Mommy when Lily started singing the "Letter B" song a week or so ago. I thought to myself, 'How wonderful, she's beginning to make and understand the sound that go with the letters.' I was doing a little I've-got-the-smart-kid happy Mommy dance too. And, though I still believe I've got the smart kid, I was put in my place today when I heard Lily walking around singing "buh, buh, buh, letter I!"

BNL's ABCs

Lily and I were listening to a radio station for kids this afternoon, and I heard a song that was so awesome I had to go hunt it up online. Thought I'd share....

The Happy Bee

The Happy Bee is the title of one of Lily's current favorite books. We read The Happy Bee at least half a dozen times a day, and she "reads" it to herself quite a bit as well. It's a cute little book and I like it too, but Lily's beginning to become a little too attached. Today she wanted to take it to bed with her at naptime. I let her do that, as I do sometimes let her have a book at naptime. Tonight, however, she wanted to take it to bed with her for night-night. The mean mommy said no, and the screaming ensued. Though I don't like hearing my little angel screaming, there's just something a little bit funny about hearing a toddler crying and screaming "I want The Happy Bee! I want The Happy Bee!"

(And, just to let you know, the screaming lasted about 45 seconds. She's asleep now.)