On Tuesday, Lily got freaked out when I went into the basement to get some food out of the freezer. She was watching for me through the cat door and apparently kept yelling for me but I couldn’t hear her because I had my head stuck in the chest freezer trying to rearrange it and had the furnace running right next to me. When I came back upstairs she was crying hysterically in Paul’s arms and kept telling me it was “scawy” (scary). I didn’t even realize that she understood the concept of being scared. I felt horrible. She clung to me for the rest of the night and kept telling me over and over that it was “scawy”. Poor girl! When I picked up her ABC book to read her bedtime story that night, Lily recited her ABCs all the way to W. I was floored! However, she did say PPPPP instead of LMNOP. That’s probably my fault because when I sing the alphabet song to her before and after reading the book, I tend to go through that part pretty fast.
Lily had been crying at daycare drop-offs this week just like she was last week but when we arrived on Wednesday morning, all of the older kids were sitting on the floor playing with Legos. Lily couldn’t get out of my arms fast enough to get down and play with them and didn’t even care when I left. Apparently distracting her with fun toys is the key to easy transitions. Usually when she arrives, the kids are tired so they are just sitting on the couch watching TV. Thursday was another easy drop-off as all of the kids were on the floor playing with boats. It was so sweet because as soon as we walked in, Jack cleared a spot for Lily on the floor and brought over a boat and a book for her. He had a book for each of them so when she sat down, they looked at books together. So cute.
We had another early morning meeting on Friday but I had to get up even earlier because my good friend Amy came over and I drove her to the Sheraton in Ann Arbor before work so that she could catch a shuttle bus to the airport to go visit our friend, Anna, in Connecticut as a surprise. She parked at our house and took the shuttle to save on parking. Amy and I haven’t seen each other in a while so it was nice to see her and get some time to catch up, however brief.
It was a beautiful weekend so Paul spent most of Saturday working in the yard. Lily and I played inside then, despite being very tired, she fought her nap like a champion. She finally fell asleep on me in the rocking chair after lots and lots of tears. She hasn’t fallen asleep on me in forever. She is so much bigger in my lap now compared to the tiny little baby that used to only be able to fall asleep in my arms. It made me a bit wistful for the old days with my tiny cuddly little baby but she is such a fun and amazing little person now. After Lily’s nap, we all got ready and headed over to my parents’ house for a visit so my mom could get her “Lily fix” before their trip to Italy. My Aunt Margaret came into town this weekend because she will be staying with my grandmother and helping her out while my parents are gone. They came over to visit as well and Margaret was amazed at how big Lily is now compared to when we visited them in July. Lily got scared when she walked down the dark hall and kept saying “scawy”. Apparently she is embarking on a scared phase. I didn’t want to minimize her fear but didn’t want to dwell on it either so I just keep trying to tell her that there is nothing to worry about when she is with mama.
Daylight Savings Time ended on Sunday but, of course, Lily didn’t know it so she got up at her usual time. Since I didn’t get an extra hour of sleep, I took advantage of the extra hour in my day to get stuff done around the house like laundry, cleaning, and taking down the Halloween decorations. Paul worked in the yard and I went for a run during Lily’s nap. She woke up right when I returned and was very interested in the inhaler that I left out. I told her that it was mama’s medicine so she immediately took it and kept trying to give it to all of the cats. She then told her stuffed animals to lay down, rubbed it on their feet, said “all better,” and then had them jump up and dance. It was so sweet. She is definitely full of empathy and compassion even though she is quite young. That evening, we did a huge grocery shopping trip to Wal-Mart. While in line, Lily remembered the Pooh ride even though it has been almost a month since she’d last been to Wal-Mart and kept saying “Pooh ride, Pooh ride” over and over. What an amazing memory she has, especially considering that she couldn’t see the ride from where we were so she must’ve remembered going on it after check-out last time. We let her ride on it since she was a good girl while shopping.
Sunday was also my grandma's 90th birthday and the day my parents left for their trip to Italy. Apparently their flight out was a pretty scary experience. The flaps weren’t working properly on their plane from Atlanta to Rome so they had to dump fuel and circle the airport for a few hours before making an emergency landing back in Atlanta to switch planes. They landed at the maximum allowable weight so they were greeted by a fleet of ambulances and fire trucks. It was frightening but they made a safe, smooth landing and finally got to Italy unscathed, although a few hours late. I pray that the rest of their trip goes much smoother!
Lily wanted to eat candy all week which worked well with my plan to fatten her up but kept ruining her appetite for dinner so I ended up having to hide her candy on top of the refrigerator to be doled out when appropriate.
Going along with Lily’s pretend play with the medicine for her animals, two of my weekly baby update emails touched on that subject. From my update from babycenter.com titled Your 20 Month Old’s Social and Emotional Development: Terrible Twos Preview:
“Other developments: Pretend Play, Cuddle Time: Does your toddler love to try on your shoes? Does he attempt to put on your coat, hat, or eyeglasses? By stepping, literally, into your shoes, he’s showing you- and himself- that he’s aware he’s growing bigger and that he wants to be like you. You may also notice him pretend playing with stuffed animals and dolls. He’ll take over the “parenting” role by feeding his stuffed monkey a “banana” (which is actually a yellow wooden block) or by tucking the animal under a blanket and singing it a lullaby. He may kiss the monkey’s boo-boo and want to put a bandage on it. Pretend play like this is a great example of imitation, and a sign that your child is learning to empathize with others.”
From my update from our365.com titled Your Baby is 87 Weeks Old:
“How They Grow: Your toddler may be engaging in more imaginary play- holding a toy phone up to a stuffed animal or doll’s ear, for instance, or having pretend meals. Most of this sort of play is still imitating actions rather than creating them (actual fantasy), but that will be a next step. Another indication that her imagination is developing: she’s starting to show that she realizes how other people feel- she can imagine herself in their shoes. And this signals the beginning of a gradual lessening of self-centeredness.”
I see her engaging in pretend play all the time now and she has loved trying on my shoes since around the time she learned to walk. I definitely see her empathy growing, although she has always been a sweet little girl. She always wants to play “afweep… he’s up” with us and her stuffed animals. She also is always hugging and kissing us and her toys. She is very affectionate.
Here are some pictures from this week.
As soon as I got home from my after-work run on Monday, Lily insisted that I sit down with her to color:
We could not get our skinny little girl to sit down and eat so we were bad parents and allowed her to eat on the furniture in the living room while standing up and watching TV. Tsk, tsk:
Lily wanted to eat my dinner instead of hers even though they were exactly the same. Nolan wondered if his bite was next:
My pajama-clad cutie climbing on mama like a jungle gym later that evening:
Even hiding behind the VCR, Amber was not safe from Lily’s not-so-gentle petting:
Lily decided that she was completely done with her high chair this week and refused to sit in it any longer. Luckily, we were able to get her to eat at her Pooh table. Lily absolutely loved her McDonald’s fries for dinner on Friday evening:
Making music at grandma’s house on Saturday:
Lily made papi help her build a giant tower of Legos, higher than she could reach. She used every block they had:
Lily loves this book but was not happy that I was taking a picture of her quality time with grandma:
It was beautiful outside on Sunday so we took Lily on a walk around the yard. She loves shoulder rides but kept pulling Paul’s hat over his face which made the walk quite a challenge for him:
Happy girl on the Pooh ride at Wal-Mart:
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