Backseat Driver

Lily has added a new skill to her arsenal: backseat driving. She has learned the meanings of red lights and green lights and likes to remind me of those meanings when we're on the road. "Red light, Mama! Red light! Can you stop?" When she asks me to stop she holds both hands up in a stop motion. "It's green, Mama! Can you go?" When she asks me to go she points both fingers forward. I thought I had a few more years before I got driving tips from the backseat, but apparently that was too much to ask for. Luckily for Lil, she's very adorable.

Interview

I got an idea from Pinterest to write up some "interview" questions. I turned the questions into a little sheet that I printed off. I'll interview Lily every so often, fill in her answers (until she's old enough to do it herself) and keep all the answer sheets in a little binder. I did my first one a couple days ago, with amusing results.

More Lily-isms

The other night Lily and I were heading into her room to go to sleep. She walked past Baby Kate and told me Baby Kate was very tired and needed to go to sleep also. She laid her out on the floor, gave her a goodnight kiss, and covered her with a blanket. We then went into Lily's room and started out nightly ritual of singing several rounds of "Old MacDonald Had a Farm." I started it off, "Old MacDonald had a farm, ee-i-ee-i-o, and on that farm he had a . . ." Usually when I get there, Lily quickly tells me what animal Old MacDonald has. This time, however, she said, "Mama, we have to be quiet because Baby Kate is sleeping." I whispered, "Ok, I will sing quietly. What animal did Old MacDonald have on his farm?" And she answered (also in a whisper), "A quiet chicken."

As you might have noticed, lately Lily loves to tell me all the things she's going to share with Baby Ben when he comes to visit her. She was naming things the other day, and I was naming other things. "Will you share your books with him?" "Will you share your bubbles with him?" Everything got a big thumbs up until I said, "Will you share your mama with him?" She looked shocked and said, "No! He will bring his own mama! You're my mama!"

Update on Potty Training

Lily is doing great with her potty training and is now using the potty several times a day. She's great at going when prompted, but I'm still working on teaching her how to listen to her body and recognize the signs that she needs to go. We'll get there soon.

Meanwhile, she's extremely proud of herself for using the potty so much. It's really cute. She uses a lot of phrases like:

"I can do it!"
"I do a really good job!"
"I go pee-pee and poo-poo in the toilet!'
"I so proud of me!"

Yes, I really do need to put exclamation points on the end of all of those, because she really announces everything with a lot of zeal. What can I say? She's my daughter; we have a lot of spirit in this family.

Get Ready, Baby Ben

Lily is constantly talking about Baby Ben's impending visit. (Occasionally she mentions that his mommy and daddy are also coming, but it's really Ben she's excited about.) Here's a chat we had the other morning about it.

Lily: Mama, listen to my words please.
Me: Ok, I'm listening to your words. What are you saying to me?
Lily: Baby Ben is coming. He wants to see me.
Me: Yes, he's coming.
Lily: Soon. Maybe Tuesday.
Me: He's coming next Wednesday. Almost two weeks.
Lily: Weeks?
Me: A week is seven days.
Lily: I will share with Baby Ben.
Me: That's very nice, Lily.
Lily: I will share my Dora with him. I will let him watch with me.
Me: It's nice to share with our friends.
Lily: I will not share Baby Kate.
Me: Ok. Maybe you can share a different baby with Baby Ben?
Lily: Yeah! Baby Ben can hold Baby Rose.
Me: Ok. We can ask him to be gentle.
Lily: Yeah. And I will check his blood pressure.

Lucky Ben.

I'm an Introvert and I'm OK

That subject line is half "tip-off to the content of the post" and half "nod to Monty Python."

The other day I came across this article about the myths of introverts. I related to it so much that it was like I heard the angels singing when I read it.

I am an introvert. A hard-core introvert. And like the author of that list says, it doesn't necessarily mean I'm shy or hate people or don't like talking (none of those things apply to me). It just means that I like to be alone a lot. And that being around people -- even when it's fun times with people I like -- is draining. I'm an introvert and I'm ok.

Sports Games

Last Wednesday night Lily and I had big plans . . . we headed down to the JCC to meet Emily and Connor for Thomas's basketball game.

We got there a few minutes before Emily and Connor, and Lily waited very anxiously for them to arrive.


Connor was pretty fascinated by watching his dada.


But Lily mostly just wanted to sit and chat.


I think the real fun for the kids was after the game, when we stood around chatting (and climbing like monkeys) on the front steps.



What? Did you assume that Thomas was doing the chatting rather than the monkey-climbing? You would be wrong. That is one good dad.

Chalkboard Door

Here's what the door from my garage into my laundry room looked like before, which is where I enter the house. Not super welcoming.


And here's what it looks like after three coats of chalkboard paint, some curing time, and a coat of chalk to "season" it:


I love it. For now I went with a Jane Austen quotation, but it will obviously be super easy to change it up whenever I want.


I also used the Pinterest-acquired idea of mounting a drawer pull upside-down to store chalk nearby.


Now I just need to paint the trim around the door a fun color.

Injured

This weekend Lily got her first big injury. She was at her father's house and was apparently jumping around by herself near his sliding glass door. She fell down and slammed the back of her head into the tracks for the door. It left a pretty gross gash. (I took a picture but decided not to post it because, well . . . ick.) He took her to the doctor, where she got two staples in her head. Poor little baby.

To turn these lemons into lemonade, I'll share a few Lily-isms the situation has provided.

Yesterday morning when I did her daycare dropoff I was letting her teachers know what happened so they'd make sure she's extra careful. Lily announced loudly, "I fell down and got a big owie on my head. I went to the doctor. I cried and cried and cried."

Today I woke up at 1:45 a.m. to the sound of Lily screaming. She knocked her staples against her crib in her sleep and the pain woke her up. I scooped her up and she asked to "cuddle in Mama's bed for a minute," so we did. I was trying to have us both go back to sleep, but Lily kept announcing, "I'm awake. I'm not tired. I'm awake." I gave up and we went out to the living room. Lil dragged her little blanket to the couch, lay down on the inside with her head on a throw pillow, then put another throw pillow next to her hear and said, "Here, Mama. You lay down with me. I got a nice comfy pillow for you." I lay down next to her on the couch and she spread her blanket over both of us and said "This is very cozy. I love to snuggle with you."

Rule of Thumb

Lily chooses her own outfits each morning, often employing the following fashion rules:

1. You can never have too much pink.
2. You can never have too many polka dots.
3. Wear hats whenever possible.


[Note: If you're wondering about the scenery, this was taken in my garage as Lily inspected my latest Goodwill find, pre-makeover.]

It Takes a Village

Yesterday I was talking to Emily about how the hardest part of being a single parent (particularly one who lives far away from all family members) is the lack of feedback. It takes a village to raise a child, and Lily and I (and the two dogs) don't exactly make a village. Sometimes when Lily does funny, cute, or amazing things I feel a flush of excitement and look around me, wishing there were someone there to share the moment with me. It makes me a little sad to know that there is literally no one in the world who knows Lily as well as I do, or who thinks she's as wonderful as I think she is.

In situations where someone else would call their husband into the room, I take a picture and make a blog post. This blog gives my friends and family some insight on what's happening in my house, but it also gives me an outlet, a place to say, "Look what we've made. Look at this wonderful girl."

I guess the bottom line here is that I'm a single mom, but I'm not doing it alone -- I'm doing it with you. Thank you for being part of my village.

New Mexico State Fair

The New Mexico State Fair opened this past Friday, so Lil and I headed down as soon as they opened Saturday morning.

We started with a trip to the Little Red Barn, where Lily checked out a ton of baby animals, including Li'l Sebastian here. (Note: If you don't get the Li'l Sebastian reference, you should start watching Parks and Rec.)


From there we walked over to McDonald's farm, which is an interactive farm area intended for small children. Perfect for Lily. You start at the entrance by getting a basket, then you have a "chore list" that requires you to walk around the farm, gathering items in your basket.




The farm also had some stuff kids can climb on, like a tractor and some "saw horses." Lily would not get on that tractor, but the saw horses were a big hit.




After leaving McDonald's Farm, we walked over to the petting zoo area and bought some feed for the animals. You can feed them directly out of your hand, but Lil opted to keep the food in the cup instead . . . so the goat just ate the whole cup right out of her hand.

I Love Pinterest

Pinterest is wonderful. I started out using it to pin inspiration images, but eventually realized I should create a pinboard of things I actually wanted to make for myself in real life.

I pinned this print and my sister liked it so much she bought one for herself and the girl version for me.


I hung it up at Lily's height next to the bookshelf in her play room. Eventually I want to get a little reading chair to put under the print to create a reading nook, but for now it's a nice place for Baby Kate to nap in her stroller.


And speaking of the play room, Lily's art wall was also inspired by a pin.


Here's a free printable I framed and put in the guest room after being inspired by a similar pin.


And it was a Pinterest image that inspired me to make this art for the kitchen (the currently empty pots below are seeds that Lil and I just planted):


Most recently, I fell in love with a chalkboard headboard on Pinterest and decided to make this one of my own:


My Pinterest inspiration doesn't have Lily's little fingerprints all over the bottom of it, but really, I think it's the poorer for it.

I Do Not Like Green Eggs and Ham

I recently signed up for produce boxes from Los Poblanos Organics, our local CSA. Their produce is amazing. It blows my mind how much better it is than the stuff you buy at the store. Compared to my CSA stuff, grocery store produce is all just watery and mealy. The tomatoes in my most recent box were literally the best tomatoes I've ever eaten. And the watermelon. Oh, man, that was good watermelon. And I never really thought I liked cantaloupe much until I had cantaloupe out of my box. In addition to giving me the best versions of stuff I'm familiar with, it's also helped me branch out and try new things (hello, pluots). I tend to just buy my old standbys at the grocery store, so it's good to be given a box of mixed seasonal items without choosing what goes in it.

Sunday morning I decided to make some scrambled eggs with some grated zucchini from my CSA box. I asked Lily if she wanted some eggs, but she declined ("I no like eggs") and asked for cereal instead. She ate her bowl of cereal while I cooked my eggs, still uninterested in what I was doing. I scrambled up a few free-range brown eggs with zucchini, some cheese, and a dash of salt. I sat down at the coffee table next to Lily and started to eat my eggs. She seemed to be getting curious.

I got up to go get a glass of water, and when I went back into the living room, this is what I found:


Apparently she likes scrambled eggs after all. When she realized she'd been busted, she gestured to the bowl and said, "These are for sharing." When I reminded her she "no likes eggs," she corrected me: "I no like eggs, I only like scrambled eggs."

She liked them so much that last night she asked me to make them for dinner, telling me they were "really yummy" and that she wanted "a lot of eggs." I scrambled up some eggs with half of a huge zucchini and some cheese, then put some into a bowl for me and some into a bowl for her. We sat down together to eat and she dumped all the eggs from her bowl into my bowl and said, "Let's share." Then we took turns (carefully monitored by Little Miss) taking bites.

Listen to My Words

I learn a lot from Lily's teachers at daycare. Her classroom has four great women, all of whom have different strengths. They make Lily's days fun, educational, and exciting. They also know how to maintain order in what could easily turn into a chaotic classroom. One simple thing I've learned from them is how to get Lily back on track when she's distracted. If I'm trying to get her to do something and she's focusing on something else (such as a toy), I say, "Lily, listen to my words, please." It's amazing. That is her cue to stop what she's doing, pay attention to what I'm saying, and comply with whatever request I'm making. Positive reinforcement is probably the most effective disciplinary tool in the box, so when she does "listen to my words," she gets a lot of praise and always, always, always a thank you.

The other day we were sitting on the floor in her room. She was fresh out of the bath and in the time it took me to grab a nighttime diaper and some pajamas, she had gotten herself deeply immersed in admiring her necklace collection. I sat down on the floor with her things and said, "Lily, will you come over here please so we can put on your jimjams." Without any additional prompting, she walked over and got herself dressed. "I listened to your words," she said. "It makes you really happy, so I listen to your words." Adorable.

On the flip side . . . Saturday morning we were driving to the fair and listening to a toddler tunes CD of hers. Apparently she wanted a new song, because she suddenly said, "Mama, listen to my words, please. I want a different song. The cowgirl song." I changed it to the song she wanted and got this in response: "Thank you. You listen to my words. I so proud of you."

Choo! Choo!

Our jaunts to the garden and zoo are very, very frequent, mostly because Lily lights up like a Christmas tree when you tell her she's going to ride a train.

Here she is on her way to the train station on our most recent visit, letting me know what a train sounds like. Note that she is wearing a bracelet. She explained that she needed it to ride the train. When we get our tickets to the train, I get a wristband to show that I've paid, but Lily doesn't get one because she's free. Apparently she has wristband envy, so she brought a bracelet as a substitute.


Once we were at the zoo with our first train ride behind us, feeding the birds took top priority. The stale bread we took a couple trips back all went to the ducks, but the crackers we took this time were distributed using the "one for you, one for me" system.





Also worth mentioning on our most recent trip was Baby Kate's big day out. Lil really wanted Baby Kate to experience the joys of the zoo, so we brought her along. And you can't just throw her in a backpack. Oh, no. Baby Kate rode in style, sharing Lily's stroller and "zoo hat." Yeah. A grown woman (that would be me) pushed a doll around all day in a stroller. I got many, many smirks. But man, I made Lily's day.

Rainy Days

Yesterday was pretty gloomy, but that is a welcome weather condition in always-sunny Albuquerque. Lily wanted to hang out in the backyard to enjoy the rain.




After playing with her dump truck and basketball, it was time to do some jumping. Lily is a big fan of jumping, and we usually use it to practice counting.


Eventually it was raining too hard and we had to go inside, but Lily wanted to keep "exercising," so she suggested some yoga and equestrian events.



This is a fun house.

Doctor, Doctor

After Lily's recent request that we take Baby Kate to the doctor for her "broken leg," I decided it was time to get her a toy medical kit. It's a little first aid bag that contains a stethoscope, a sphygmomanometer, a thermometer, a reflex hammer, and a syringe. Big hit.

Baby Kate and I got full exams.






And I got the most thorough reflex check of my life.

Bedtime

Lily and I have a very consistent bedtime routine. Part of that routine involves Lily selecting the books she wants to read as bedtime stories, then laying them out on the floor so we can count them together.

Here she is laying them out and demonstrating with her fingers (I think she got that from Gampy, a notorious finger-counter) how many she has chosen.



The irony here is that every night it's three books, and every night it's the three exact same books.

In a Pinch

I don't know how these two little gems slipped through the cracks.

Backstory Note #1: Back in June, Lily and I visited Gammy and Gampy in Texas. A week of our sunny personalities just wasn't enough for my mom, who came back to Albuquerque with us when we left. These videos feature her one evening during that visit, reading Lily a bedtime story. Tragically, she didn't have an actual story within arm's reach, so she improvised with a Pottery Barn catalog.

Backstory #2: Lily usually eats her snacks -- including bedtime snacks -- in the family room. I allow her to do this with the provision that her snack bowl must remain on the coffee table at all times. And Lily is nothing if not a stickler for the rules.

More Lily-isms

Upon being asked what she wanted to do that night:
"Let's have a dance party!"
[Note: We did have a dance party. It was hilarious. Lily and I shook our butts to some ABBA -- a favorite of hers -- in the living room while the dogs ran around, excited and confused.]

Carrying Baby Kate over and placing her in my lap:
"Baby Kate broke her leg. She has to go to the doctor. He will take her temperature and give her medicine and listen with a telescope."
[Note: Yes, she said "telescope." The next day I bought her a doctor's kit -- pictures to come -- and repeated "stethoscope" many times.]

Being told that Baby Ben will be visiting her soon and that she'll have to share her things with him:
"Like my books. And my toys. And I'll share my milk. And some hugs, too. Maybe kisses. Maybe."

Hablo Español

Last night I was teaching Lily how to count to five in Spanish. "Uno. That's one in Spanish. Dos. That's two in Spanish . . . "

Later in the evening we were playing with her play kitchen and she was putting away her plastic eggs, counting them as she put them back in the carton. I suggested we count them in Spanish. She happily agreed and started putting them in the carton one by one, counting "in Spanish" as she went: "One in Spanish. Two in Spanish. Three in Spanish . . ."

I guess we need a little more work on our foreign language skills.