Fancy Nancy

Last week my friend Nancy gave me a little beauty kit for Lily that held some lip gloss, a tiara and some hot pink clip-on hair extensions.

Does that sound like something Lily would like?

Nice Kitty

Saturday Lil and I were in Target, looking for a new pair of mittens for her. We found some hat/mitten sets, and I let Lily pick her favorite. Naturally, she chose the pink knit hat that looks like a kitten, which comes with matching pink knit mittens. So excited was she by her find that she put the hat on right then and there and wore it around Target as we shopped. She looked incredibly adorable, and the cuteness was not ruined by the large tag that stuck straight up, nor by the the pair of mittens that were still attached to the back of the hat. In her mind, she was lookin' good.


She got a lot of smiles as we wheeled around the store, but also struck up a conversation with an older man in one aisle (once again proving that she loves men in their 60s). He told her how good she looked, winning her heart. As we walked away, she was yelling, "Bye, alligator!" to him. She doesn't quite understand the expression. Everyone in the aisle was laughing at her, but she had no idea she'd gotten the phrase wrong, she she kept waving and shouting, "Bye, alligator!" as I wheeled her away.

Once we were out to the car, she permitted me to remove the tag from her hat and detach the mittens, which she immediately donned. We went to Trader Joe's, where she walked through the store, hat on head, mittens on hands, pushing the small child-sized cart they provide for their junior shoppers. It was pretty cute, but then she threw a tantrum at the registers over who "got" to unload our cart for the cashier. Just as I was thinking I would sell her to the gypsies, we walked out the door of the store with Lily happy and smiling again. As we walked across the threshold to the sidewalk, we ran into a middle-aged woman who was on her way in. She looked like she was having a pretty terrible day, but she stopped when she saw Lily walking out, then smiled at us both and with tears in her eyes said, "Thank you. You just made my day." Ironically, this is the second time in Lily's life that a stranger in a store has stopped me to say that Lily has made their bad day better.

More Lily-isms

While discussing our Thanksgiving meal, I asked Lily if she was going to eat some turkey. Her response? "Whipped cream is kind of like turkey."

While I was crawling around on the floor with Lily, she got a glimpse down my shirt. "You're wearing a bra," she said. When I confirmed, she pulled out the neck of her own shirt, looked down, and said, "I'm not wearing a bra today."

Lily doesn't say "handfuls." She calls them "hamfuls." Then again, given her love of pork products, that might be what she intends to say.

I recently started telling Lily that I love her to the moon and back. One night after I'd only said it a couple times she was telling me goodnight and couldn't think of the right words, so she said, "I love you . . . in the sky . . . and the moon . . . and really a lot." (She has since figured out the right way to say it, but usually says, "Mama, I love to the moon and back . . . and that means I love you a lot."

The other day Lily and I were going to take a nap together. We were lying in my bed trying to fall asleep, but someone kept talking. Finally we had this conversation:
Me: Lily, it's time to close our eyes. No more talking, please.
Lily: I can't do that.
Me: Why?
Lily: It's too hard for me.

The Tunnel

When Gammy was in town last weekend, we took Lily on a trip to the Albuquerque BioPark. The best part of the day was the train ride from the zoo back to the garden. On the ride you go through a long tunnel. Gammy told Lily she was going to be scared in the tunnel, so Lily told Gammy she would her hand to help her be brave.

Lily was excited when the tunnel was coming.


She and Gammy mugged for each other as we went through.




Hooray! We made it through!

Ice Cream!

When Gammy was in town earlier this month, we made a little time for a trip to Baskin Robbins. With ice cream inhand, I bet Lily wishes Gammy were here more often.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! Lily and I had a good one. We lounged, we baked pies, we set up our Christmas tree. We also had Thanksgiving dinner with friends, where Lily ate some turkey, a crescent roll, and four (4!) helpings of mashed potatoes.

Fun with Connor

This past Friday night Gammy, Lily, and I went over to the Gaffney household to whoop it up.

Earlier that day my mom had taken Lily to Target to buy a birthday present for Connor. She got him a big fire truck and got a smaller fire truck for Lily. When Lily saw me putting Connor's truck in a gift bag, she requested a bag of her own and then carried it around like a purse. This was hilarious in part because the motion of her walking around kept setting off the siren of her truck. Her outfit (self-selected, of course) is also pretty humorous. The girl loves her polka dots.


While the kids focused on their trucks for most of the evening, they did make a little time for ring around the rosey.

New Apron

My sister recently sent a new apron for Lily. Once I explained what it was for, she was all over it.


We were making peanut butter cup cookies. Here's what Lil did when I asked her to "hold up the peanut butter cups." She is very literal.


I gave her little jobs, which she took very seriously.



But licking the beater was probably her favorite part.


When we were done, she insisted that she needed to "stay my apron on." She wore it around the house until bathtime.

Lily-isms

As Wrigley hopped up on the couch with us
Lily: Look! One more friend is coming!
Me: Yep. Wrigley is a good friend.
Lily: No, Mama. He is a gentleman.

At the zoo, Lily eating some crackers
Me: Can I have one of your crackers?
Lily: You have to say please, Mama.
Me: Lily, can I please have one of your crackers?
Lily: Yes. Only one, ok?
Me: Ok.
Lily: Here you go. Here's a great one for you.

While cuddling in the rocking chair
Me: You're my little pumpkin.
Lily: I'm your little punkin bread.
Me: [blank stare]
Lily: [hysterical laughter]

Ronald McDonald House

Back in July I helped coordinate a 5k charitable walk in my office to benefit our local Ronald McDonald House. For every person who participated, the company I work for donated $100. With 57 walkers, we strolled our way to $5700.

Yesterday was my office all hands, and I had five minutes on the agenda to present the check to Kristin, the executive director of Ronald McDonald House Charities of New Mexico. I got up and showed a couple slides to remind people of the event and list the names of all who participated, then turned the mic over to Kristin.

Kristin thanked the crowd and gave a blurb on what Ronald McDonald House Charities does. In case you're not familiar, they provide services to children (and the families of those children) who are being treated in local hospitals. Albuquerque is the hub for medical treatment in New Mexico, so families come in from all over the state to get treatment for their children. Often they have no local friends and family and cannot afford hotel stays (especially when you factor in those medical bills). Instead, they stay at the Ronald McDonald House.

After briefing us on the background of Ronald McDonald House Charities, Kristin jumped into the story of how she got involved with them. (Cue the tears.) Years ago she directed corporate giving for another organization in Albuquerque, and was part of a team of volunteers from her office who did an event at the local Ronald McDonald House. A man came into the house with his five-year-old daughter. He started talking to one of the volunteers, sharing his story. His little girl has a congenital heart defect and had been making trips to Albuquerque for three years for treatment. (They were from rural New Mexico.) They had no friends or family in ABQ, and could not afford a hotel. For the first two and a half years of his daughter's treatment, he didn't know about Ronald McDonald House, so every time they came to town, they slept in their car. He was so thankful he'd found out about the house, because it meant he didn't have to drive around to find a safe parking lot for him and his poor little girl.

As Kristin told the story, I looked around the room and saw some tear-filled eyes. She went on to explain that families are asked to give a $15 per night donation for their stay, but no one is ever turned away for their inability to pay. Our $5700 would go to a special fund they have that pays the nightly cost for families that can't afford to pay anything.

It's not every day you get to feel like you're making a community impact through things you do at work, so when it happens, it sure is amazing.

The Pinge

At 7 a.m. I called my mom in tears.

This morning Lily was in bed with me and Wrigley, cuddling and chatting away. Today's conversation was with Wrigley. He lay there on his back while she rubbed his chest and asked him questions.

"Do you like cuddle club, Wrigley? Do you like Ginger, Wrigley?"

I sat up at that one and asked, "Lily, who's Ginger?"

"Ginger is my doggie when I'm sleeping."

Suddenly the hairs on my arms all stood on end. Ginger was my childhood dog, and she died in March of 1992. She wasn't much to look at -- a scruffy little terrier who lost half her teeth later in life -- but she was the smartest dog I've ever seen. She was charming, spunky, and had a real love of Italian food. She was deeply, deeply beloved by every member of my family. And now it seems she visits Lily in her sleep.

The Jemez

Sometimes when you live in a city that has everything you need, you forget that there are beautiful things to be seen outside that city. In an effort to remember that, on Saturday Lily and I took a day trip to "the Jemez," which is the local way of referring to the Jemez Mountains, Jemez Pueblo, Jemez Reservation, and/or Jemez Springs, depending on who's doing the talking.

It was a gloomy day, but Lily and I had a wonderful time. All this is only an hour's drive from my house.

Good Morning

Last night I put Lily to bed at her usual bedtime, then went into the laundry room and started to fold some laundry. I was in my own little world when suddenly I heard, "What are you doin', Mama?" It scared the daylights out of me. I jumped about two feet in the air and said, "Oh, you scared me!" Lily responded by putting both hands up in the air like she was clawing the air (her impression of a lion) and saying "Rawr!" then laughing hysterically.

I tucked her back into bed and went about my business. When I went to bed around 10, I found Lily sleeping peacefully in my room. Somewhere between her being tucked back in and me going to bed, she crept quiet as a mouse down the hall and got into my bed. I left her where she was and went to sleep.

This morning I woke up and she was still sleeping. I lay in bed for a while, then watched as she woke up. She opened her eyes, saw me looking at her, gave me a huge smile, and said, "Mama, you're beautiful." She then gave a long monologue about how she likes "to sleep in Mama's bed because it's warm and cozy and snuggly and comfy and warm and cuddly and also cozy." Oh, that kid.

More from the Zoo

Here's some pictures from a couple weeks back when Lily and I made one of our regular aquarium/zoo trips.

In the aquarium, she sat a little differently on the starfish this time, then told me she was "a cowgirl" and asked me to take her picture.


They were having a special creepy crawly show at the garden, featuring tanks of bugs, snakes, and the like. They were giving visitors flashlights to help them see what was in the tanks. Lily quickly claimed the flashlight and started finding gross things.



As usual, the ride on the train was probably her favorite part of the trip.


Especially when this conductor (whom Lily kindly referred to as "old man") talked with Lily. She LOVES senior men, so she really chatted him up for the entire half-hour ride back to the aquarium, at one point even showing him her boots and asking him to tell her they were "cute."

Lily Pads

I like to ask Lily a lot of questions about things we've done as an exercise to develop her memory. After a recent trip to a pond, we were recapping all the things we'd seen there.

Mama: I saw a little bridge at the pond.
Lily: Did you see any lily pads at the pond?
Mama: Yes, I did see some lily pads.
Lily: And did you see some mama pads at the pond?

Oh, the hazards of being named after something found in nature. She also refers to lilies as "my flowers."

Treats

Last Saturday night I made some Rice Krispies treats to take to a dog adoption the next day. Lily wanted to help, and I obliged. Her idea of "helping" was to sit on the kitchen counter eating mini marshmallows while I worked.


Although in an interesting twist of fate, once she saw that bowl of apples next to her, she decided she wanted one of them instead.


How 'bout that?

I Look Cute

As I've said before, Lily picks out her own outfits each day. She has very strong opinions about what she likes to wear: lots of color, lots of pattern. Recently she put this look together, then announced, "I look cute. Take my picture."


Then she commandeered my empty laundry basked, climbed in with Baby Jessie, and asked me to take a picture of both of them.


Right.

Happy Halloween

This was Lily's third Halloween, but the first one where she's had any sort of idea of what Halloween is -- and her first time trick-or-treating. For her previous two Halloweens I picked her costumes (a lamb and a clown, respectively), but this year she asked to be a princess. For dress-up day at daycare, she wore a pink princess dress out of her dress-up box with a regular outfit underneath for playground time.


But for trick-or-treating, she wore this beautiful gown that Pop (my grandpa) sent for her.


After she got dressed, we went over to the Gaffney household and met up with Superman.


After a quick dinner, the kids grabbed their buckets (thanks, Gammy!) and we were ready to go. We had briefed them on what was going to happen, but they didn't fully understand what was about to take place.


And Superman seemed intent on finding bad guys in Emily's front yard.


We started the night at the Gaffney's next-door neighbor's house. Lily rang the bell and the kids stood there, not quite sure what was going to happen.


When the door opened, they said the right words (with a little prompting) . . .


And it worked! Candy! Candy! Candy!


Connor took one piece from this woman, and when she told him he could have another, he said, "Tomorrow."


One house was all it took for the kids to catch on.


After a few houses, they were feeling pretty good about life.


And had quite a bit of loot to show off.


After each house we went to, Lily would hold up whatever candy that house had given her and ask, "Do you guys like this candy?"


Once around the block was all Connor was good for. By the time we got back to the Gaffney house, he was literally dragging his pumpkin along the ground and staggering like a zombie.

Lily, however, was still raring to go. We got into the car and headed over to my friend Nancy's house. On our way there, Lily -- high off the oodles of "what a pretty princess" praise she'd gotten all night -- announced, "Mama, I'm beautiful. And my dress is beautiful too." When we got to Nancy's Lily showed off her candy bucket and got to eat one piece (a peanut butter cup that she crammed into her mouth whole), then Nancy went with us to go to two more houses.

By the time we got home it was nearly 8 o'clock, which is Lily's bedtime. She got into her jammies then (after realizing she didn't get to eat any more candy) announced she was "exhausted" and asked to go to sleep.