We’re now within two weeks of Lily’s 2nd birthday, and we can’t believe how the time has flown by. We look at old photos and videos, and can’t believe how far she’s come in such a short time. These days, it’s all about mommy and daddy just trying to keep up.
Lily’s vocabulary has simply exploded – she’s now able to communicate her wants and needs fairly articulately, which is both a blessing and a curse. (“What do you want for breakfast?” “I want a cupcake!”) With this dawning of conversation, though, she’s also fully into the “being a two year old” stage. Lots of “no”, lots of “I want”, lots of whining and carrying on. But at the same time, she is lots of fun. Always playing, singing songs, “reading” to herself, talking to her stuffed animals, and generously giving out hugs and kisses. It’s the best!
In other goings-on, it’s February, and that means birthdays galore. I’m pretty sure there are already at least three parties planned for Lily. For my birthday, I’ll be on a plane, on a business trip – but I’m sure I can squeeze in some festivities at some point. But as always, birthday wishes go out to Aaron, Ryan, Becca, and about twenty others!
Check out the “new” video below, shot in early December (two months ago). Your classic toddler serenade.
Silent terror instead of screaming? That’s a win. (December)
Lily is a staggering 22 months old today, and celebrated by tossing a full bowl of cereal (with milk!) across the kitchen this morning. Gotta love this age. She’s not really old enough to be bargained with yet, but having just spent the better part of an evening assembling her big Christmas gift, I was tempted to inform her that Santa would now be skipping a certain house on Ashview Drive. But no – we’ll save that one for some other time.
With Christmas less than two days away, we’re busily preparing ourselves for holiday festivities. Each year, Christmas Eve is spent with the A’Hearn clan, and we’ve offered to host this time around. For the first time ever, we will also be spending Christmas Day by ourselves. No early morning travel, no suitcases, no travel cribs – just pajamas, coffee, and a toddler who’d like nothing more than to tear into some presents like Ralphie and Randy Parker. On the 26th, another first: hosting once again, this time for the Baerent/Mayland families! We’re very much looking forward to all the guests, but that also means a great deal of cleaning and prep.
I’ll be sure to post heaps of holiday photos once everything settles a bit and, as always, I’ve continued to update Lily’s photo album as her antics continue.
It’s been a while since I’ve posted because it just seems to be that time of year when there’s always something going on. I’ve been swamped at work, there’s been one event or another each weekend for a month, and there are still remnants of unpacked boxes and things to do around the house to get “moved in.” That will never end, I suppose.
Lily is now just over twenty months old, and there’s a new adventure every day. She’s communicating her wants and needs better, has been sharing “memories” with us lately, and is as spirited as ever. She was sad to get her flu shot last week, though, and has reminded us of this every day since then. Because of her egg allergy, her doctor wanted her on-site all morning, and gave the flu shot in three separate doses, monitoring Lily’s reaction each time. It made for a long day, but she handled it surprisingly well.
For those of you keeping track, I’ve added more photos to Lily’s album. We’re also well aware that it’s already November – our job for the immediate future is to ensure Lily’s (and our) wishlist is up to date for the impending holiday season. Because let’s not kid ourselves – presents are awesome.
The time just keeps flying by! Lily turned nineteen months old this week, and the wackiness continues. I’ve added some photos to her album, and have even more on deck!
The biggest news to report since last month is that she’s settled in to her new daycare far better than we could have hoped. The first week was tough – she’s at her prime for attachment and separation issues, and after a full, fun summer with mommy there were a lot of tears as I dropped her off each morning. Who knew a toddler could have such a strong grip? But each day we talked about the routine and got it into her head that she would play, have lunch, then mommy would pick her up. Now, of course, she squeals with glee as we drive up, and practically leaps out of my arms to join her new friends. And she’s clearly determined to get an early start torturing daddy:
“Lily, what did you do at Ms. Hamdi’s today?”
“Kiss Jakey! Kiss Noah!”
The past seven days have been nuts! Last week, I was out to Minneapolis for two days on business. The trip was productive but uneventful, except for missing my baby. I arrived home late Thursday night, clocked another two hours, then crashed. Friday morning the alarm went off, I smooched on Lily, and once again left for the airport – this time with Stephanie for a weekend in Lake Tahoe to celebrate a friend’s wedding.
To minimize disruptions to Lily, we left her home with a heaping bowl full of cereal, a water bottle, and a clean litter box. No, I kid. Steph’s parents mustered all their strength and stayed at our place over the weekend chasing Lily down and doing their best to keep up with her relentless antics. Everybody survived, and we cannot begin to thank them for their generous efforts.
The wedding was a blast! Despite the travel time, friends from all over gathered to celebrate and we had a weekend we won’t soon forget. All our love to Justin and Matt! We also snapped a few great shots of the lake thanks to a weekend of perfect weather.
Now it’s back to the grind this week, as we recover from that fun mix of champagne and jet lag.
Lily is a year and a half old today, and she continues to surprise, amuse, and enchant us. It’s been a really fun July and August for her with Stephanie on her usual summer break, which is great since I’ve been busier with work than usual lately. But Lily is as wonderful as ever – she expands her vocabulary daily, and astounds us with what she hears and understands. I’ll be the proud daddy and brag for a moment: she knows many of her shapes, colors, animals, and objects around the house, and never misses an opportunity to point everything out to us! That little smarty-pants is clearly going to William & Mary.
After just three months in our new house, Lily is completely comfortable in her surroundings and tears around the neighborhood with glee! It didn’t take long for most of our neighbors to meet her, as she’s apparently more interested in running down the sidewalk and into people’s yards than she is listening to mommy and daddy call out to her. What a monkey.
It’s also a load off our mind to finally find a child-care provider for Lily during the coming school year! Her babysitter from last year, Lyndsay, was blessed with the recent arrival of her own second child – so isn’t able to continue watching Lily. Fortunately, we found some availability with another local provider who came highly recommended, and we look forward to getting back into the routine come September. We’ll certainly miss the incredible care Miss Lyndsay provided, though, and wish her tremendous happiness with the new addition to their family!
We’ve taken a ton of photos and videos lately which I still need to get online – stay tuned!
