Lily's Pad: 20 and 21 Months

Dear Lily,

I know these past couple months have been really hectic for us all, with mommy being so sick! You haven't slowed down your growing and learning though! Sometimes I really wish I could stop time for a bit, and preserve you just the way you are now!

The biggest change we've noticed over the past couple of months is in your vocabulary! As has been the case over the past several months, you are picking up word left and right. You are starting to repeat everything you hear. The most drastic change in your vocabulary has been that you are speaking in two and three word sentences now! Some of the sentences you say a lot are "I don't know!" (always in reference to where your binky is!), "I want______ (insert object or food here)", "Are you ok?", "Daddy's home!", and "I love you". It's so amazing watching you learn to communicate more effectively with us!

You have become such a sweet heart in the last few months. You're starting to really show some genuine sympathy and concern for others. Whenever you see someone crying, you like to give them a big hug and say "Awwww". If someone coughs, sneezes, burps, yawns or hic-ups you drop everything to come over, pat their arm or back and say "are you ok" in the sweetest concerned voice! You'll do the same sometimes if the cats are meowing!

I have a couple of anecdotes that relate to this. The first one involves the kitties. One day I was holding Orion for you to pet nicely (which it appears you have finally learned to do!!). You kept giving him nice pets on the back, nice scratches behind the ears, and gentle hugs. It was clear, no mater how gentle and nice you were being though, that he did not want the attention at the time. So I was trying to keep him calm so you could get more practice at being nice to the kitties...and you started copying what I was doing. You were giving him kisses, and getting close to his ear to say "sshhh..." softly, and patting his face gently and saying very sweetly "you're ok...you're ok!" A few hours later you did the same thing with Ouija!

Last week I spied you walking around the house with one of your baby dolls in your arms. You were carry it around in a craddle hold, and I heard you saying to the baby "Are you ok? Are you ok?" and patting it's arm gently...then you would say "You're ok...you're ok...shhh" And you were giving it hugs and kisses, and just being so sweet to your dolly! I've seen you do this a few times since! (ok...so maybe that belongs in the 22 month blog post...but I know I'll forget it if I don't write it down now!) It's just so nice watching you be a little sweet heart!

One of your favorite things to do since the weather has turned nice is go outside and play! You LOVE going to the park down the street. Daddy's been taking you a lot the past 2 months because I've been sick. You love the slide and swings! You like to climb up the stairs to the slide all by your self know, and even try to climb the slide the wrong way once you are at the bottom. You always say "wee!!" when you go down the slide or get on the swings!

Another favorite outside active is drawing with side walk chalk! You love to take every piece of chalk out of the box and draw straight lines. You also love to do the same with crayons inside! I think you may be starting to learn the colors too. You repeat all the color names, and will sometimes say pink green or orange correctly while holding up that color. Though you also often times hold up another color and say orange! But sometimes you get it right! haha!

Probably my favorite thing you've been doing these past few weeks is singing a lot more! You sing along to all your favorite songs...and you even made up one of your own a week or so ago. You sing "Ah, ah , ah, ah, ah...Babies!" Maybe you were trying to tell us something?! haha!

Lily, being your mommy has been the very best thing in my life! I'm so happy and blessed to have such a wonderfully spirited daughter! I'm worried about you getting the attention you deserve now that we've got twins on the way. I want you to always remember that no matter what...you are my baby, and Daddy and I love you more than we can express! Keep growing and learning baby girl!!

Love always,
Mommy

Onto the much overdue pictures:

April 18th we went to a Pawsox game. Here's Daddy and Lily at the game:

She as it turned out was still sick at the game...so she didn't enjoy much of the game. Here she is watching at one point:

Cheering on her favorite team:

Being a goof:

After the game posing in her chair...I think this was the only time she sat in it all game!

20 month photo shoot:

Working hard on something....maybe her stock crashed?

Posing again:

Getting tickled:

We went on vacation to Cape Cod at the end of April with a good friend Jon Becky and Kyan. I still have to sort through those pictures, but here is a shot of the kids goofing off one night. they were kicking their legs really hard and laughing at each other!