Well, month #15 of Lia's life just snuck up on me today! Here is what the busy one has been up to this past month in the land of progress and
unprogress (I know, it's
not a word, but since I am an English major, I am entitled to making up my own words from time to time). So, drum roll please.....here we go in no particular order:
1. She's a full fledged walker. That's all there is to it. The knee
walking a
nd crawling have been left behind in the dust. She's on to the move 24-7 and Ron and I think it's the cutest thing (Yes, we are still in the honeymoon stage).
2. This is
definitely a highlight: Lia now hugs us sometimes when we first pick her up. It just melts the heart.
3. When I am sitting on the floor with my legs crossed, while playing with Li Li, she will sometimes walk over to me, turn around, and sit in my lap. It's so sweet. Although she has sat in my lap many times while we've played in the past, this is a first for her to initiate it.
4. This is a definite
lowlight: Lia finally discovered her nostrils. Great. As you just guessed, her little index finger finds her way up north for some exploration from time to time.
5. She discovered a new game....blinking. If you blink at her, she will blink back. This can go on for hours (well, not really) and with any willing participant. i.e. the people sitting behind us in church last Sunday.
6. To quote the Prince of Denmark himself, "Words, words, words." This has
definitely been the theme of Lia's past month as she has finally stopped favoring her one and only pet word, "uh oh." Although she has been babbling the words, "ma ma" and "
da da," for many months now, she is finally using them to refer to us. Also, due to her fascination with canines (dang it!), she
now says "
dah" whenever she hears or sees a dog and even barks at them. I'm just thrilled about that one. She was taught the word, "baby" by her grandma (from a book) and uses it frequently--especially to refer to other babies and children. In fact, I think Lia seriously offended the 5-year who was in line behind us at Costco the other night. After Lia identified her as a baby, the girl adamantly declared, "I'm not a baby, YOU are!"
Woops...it looks like she'll have to use that word with a bit more caution in the future. She also can say "
nana" for banana and "
chee" for cheese and "sh" for shoes. In
addition, her grandpa passed on his favorite question, "What's that?," while taking Lia on the walking tour of various clocks and nutcrackers in his house. As a result, Lia now says this question all the time. And, although she can't say it, she understands the phrase, "Put it on your head,"
thanks to a game that Ron has been playing with her since the beginning of time. As you can see, our daughter is practically fluent in English.
7. Another definite
lowlight: Lia's developing
pickiness for food has continued to expand.
Urgh! Not only does she now refuse lots of vegetables that she used to eat, she has begun to refuse meats. So, the glory days of just sharing food with her from the dinner table have come to a screeching halt. It's back to the
nasty lasagna and chicken noodle baby food. How can she prefer that over my own cooking? It's almost insulting.
8. The
lowlights continue: Lia now starts crying when I leave her with the babysitter in the morning on my way to work. This past week, she even manged to get such a tight, monkey-hold on my arm that I could barely pass her over to Jessica. I definitely do
not feel like mother of the year when I hear her screams while walking back to my car. Only four more weeks till summer....
9. She's invented some fun ways of expressing herself while she is excited. When it's regarding a food that she loves, she will wiggle back and forth and hum a little song. When she's excited about something while standing, she will sometimes lays on the floor (face down) and kick her legs. It's so funny to watch!
10. Since she is now walking full-time, I have finally gotten around to putting her sneakers on her little feet on a regular basis.
Sheez! As a result, she is fascinated with them. When not wearing them, they are her favorite toy and are found wherever she is. She loves them and even
tries to put her feet in them...unsuccessfully of course.
Here are a few favorite pics from the last few days....
Doesn't it almost look like she's dancing? Such a little show-off. Lia dressed in her Sunday finery on May 17th. This is the first time she's been big enough to wear one of the adorable white dresses she inherited from our wedding that four of our nieces wore (who were all between the ages of 10 to 18 months at the time).
Simply being happy in her happy place.
Lia finally started to become comfortable cruising around in the grass last weekend (she had never been a fan of the scratchy, green stuff). She went out into the backyard to enjoy the sun with her papa last Saturday, May 16th, and these are some of the photos I snapped of her.
I thought these two photos were so precious...One, playing with the grass and the other walking towards her father.
Well, there is cause for a little celebration in the Hartland today. Why you may ask? Today was my last day of work kicking off three whole months that my little one and I get to be together! Although nothing compares to the doozie of the school year I had last year, both my housewife-envy and I are ready for a break! This working mom thing is for the birds!
