Dirty Knees

As I think I've mentioned, Lily is crawling. By this point, she is unstoppable; she's crawling everywhere and getting into everything. As a result of all of this crawling, the knees on her pants end up absolutely filthy. I put a load of Lily-laundry in to wash this evening, and I had to Spray-and-Wash every pair of her little pants. Perhaps I should buy stock in the Spray-and-Wash company (along with the diaper and formula companies)....

Spring Break in Dallas

It was Spring Break this past week, and we celebrated with a little family trip down to Dallas. We stayed with Aunt Janet and Uncle Tio (who were eager babysitters) and spent quite a bit of time just visiting. We also spent some time shopping and browsing; we went to a big mall, a really cool shopping center, and the most amazing grocery store I've ever seen. Jimmy and I had an evening out and went to see a movie. (This was my first trip to the movie theatre since Lily was born. We saw Knowing. It wasn't nearly as good as I had hoped. There were aliens. I wasn't expecting aliens. The previews didn't mention aliens....) Nonetheless, it was still nice to have an evening out sans Lily. Lily seemed to enjoy the trip. She got to hang out with Aunt Janet, had her first taste of chocolate cake, and talked to Prozac, Uncle Tio's parrot. She also acquired a very special friend on this trip -- a teddy bear named Rose that was made just for her....

John Deer Green on St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day!! Jimmy forgot that he was supposed to wear green today, and he told me that people at work pinched him. I wore one of the shirts that I bought in Ireland; it wasn't a green shirt, but it had "Ireland" embroidered on it in green letters. Lily wore the only real green shirt that she owns: her John Deer shirt. (She has some baby/mint green onesies, but those aren't really "green.") I thought she looked so cute in her slightly over-sized t-shirt and little denim skirt....

A Master of the Sippy Cup

Lily has mastered the art of the sippy cup. She does pretty well handling it by herself, though sometimes it still ends up on the floor. I haven't given her juice yet; I'm trying to hold off on that just a little while longer. So far she's only gotten water in her cup, and she seems to like that just fine....

400!!

This is post number 400! I don't really have anything exciting to write about, but 400 posts means I've written a lot of words on this site....

Return of the Mosquitoes....

We've had beautiful spring weather here the past few days. The grass and trees are beginning to green, and I even have a pretty yellow dafodil in my back yard. The weather's wonderful, but with the warmer weather came spring's unwelcome guests: the mosquitoes. I had hoped to enjoy a few days outside before they arrived, but the little bloodsuckers have managed to find me and turn me into lunch already. (As far as I can tell, they haven't bothered Lily.) We're going to get some citronella torches and candles to put in the backyard to keep the peksy little critters away....

Experimenting with Gravity

Lily's learning how to pull herself up and how to stand. Consequently, she's also learning how to fall down. Though she usually manages to land on her diapered behind, she's had a few face-plants that resulted in screaming followed by bruising and sometimes a few drops of blood if she managed to puncture the skin. We've done a fair amount of baby-proofing, but there just isn't any way to protect her from everything. (Regardless of what we do, there are still hardwood floors and wooden doorframes.) She's beginning to avoid doing things that hurt....

Mozart Update

Lily has now figured out that she can play piano without the assistance of Mommy or Daddy. She can use the piano bench to pull herself up to standing, and then she can reach up and press the piano keys. Talk about determination....

And Now...The End of the Story....

'Tis a sad day for those who listen to the radio. Stand by for news: Broadcasting pioneer Paul Harvey dies at age of 90.

My Little Mozart

Lily's taking up one of Mommy's favorite hobbies.... Lily loves music, and (as far as we can tell) seems to have a pretty good sense of rhythem. She dances to some of her toys, and she enjoys making music on her toy xylophone and on Mommy's piano. She actually does a pretty good job when she plays piano; she doesn't pound on the keys, but instead she plays them gently and delicately. However, she does have a great interest in Mommy's piano books and she likes to turn pages....

Crawling!!

We now have a crawler!! Lily has been mobile for quite a while -- rolling everywhere and doing an army-type crawl, but now we have traditional hands-and-knees crawling. She's moving quite quickly now, and she's pretty well-balanced too.

Lily's also beginning to develop her personality -- and a bit of a stubborn streak. She now knows how to shake her head 'no' and is beginning to refuse to eat some of the new foods that we're trying to introduce. She's also beginning to protest her carseats. She screams for a minute or so every time we try to put her in a seat, and she's also figured out that she can prolong getting buckled in if she arches her back and stiffens her whole body. Luckily, she can only hold that pose for so long, so Mommy and Daddy win and Lily ends up safely buckled in her carseat.

Happy (Belated) Valentine's Day!!

Here's a smiling baby to wish you a Happy Valentine's Day. (And even though it's a day late, what more could you ask for!?)

Oh, the Irony....

Okay, this made me laugh....

I just read a newspaper article entitled "Error on State Test Slips Past Everyone -- Except East High Student" which talks about a high school student finding a proofreading mistake on a standardized test in Kansas. I think perhaps the newspaper staff should offer that kid a job....

Scout Sunday

This past Sunday was Scout Sunday at church. While it was nice that the scouts were assisting with the service, there were two things that I noticed that were a little disturbing and disheartening. First, only boy scouts were participating in the event. All of the boys were in their scouts uniforms/shirts, but none of the girls seemed to be observing the occasion. (Also, it was only the boys who assisted with the service.) I know our community has a very active girl scouts program, so I was a bit bothered that the girls weren't participating in the event. And my second observation, and the one I consider to be the more disturbing of the two, is that all of the boy scout leaders were moms. Shouldn't the boy scout leaders be dads, especially since the boy scouts was completely closed to girls until just a few years ago? It doesn't seem right that moms are running the boy scout's troops. All I have to say is that if I ever have boys, they won't be a part of boy scout troops that are run by moms....

Teeth!!

Lily's teething!! One bottom tooth has managed to break its way through, and I think she's working on another. So far she seems to be doing pretty well with the whole teething thing. She's a little fussier than normal and wants to be held more than usual, but otherwise things have been pretty normal so far. She hasn't had a fever, but I have given her Tylenol a few times to help ease her pain. I just hope she does this well with all of her little teeth....