Bye-bye Sweet Toothless Grin

It's time to say goodbye to Lily's sweet toothless grin. Thanksgiving day we noticed her first little white tooth trying to pop through her bottom gum. Yesterday I felt her bottom right tooth when she was chewing my finger. Soon both bottom teeth will be evident when she smiles and the toothless grin will be gone forever. These milestones are bittersweet.

Oooo

Lily's newest sound and my favorite so far...oooo, like she is really amazed by something. It's so sweet. She also did two other big things yesterday. She stood up by herself without pulling up and she took off with her push toy/ walker thingy. It's been out for a few days now, but she really started using it yesterday. I expected that when she started using the push toy it would get away from her sometimes because she was leaning on it, but she seemed to use it effortlessly. Well, until she got stuck on furniture or at a wall. Sometimes she would just walk around and use it backwards, but mostly she fussed at it until someone came and got her unstuck. She has really been enjoying the walking. I don't think she got off her feet for more than 5 minutes after she discovered the joy of walking(with the push toy of course) last night.
*video coming soon

Baby Sounds and Preschooler Structures

I've grown accustomed to hearing lots of noises from Lily. She is particularly fond of da-da-da-da, she also likes to say baba, ah-ba, na-na-na , ah-ee and the occasional ma-ma. None of these have associations for her yet, but she loves making noises. She gurgles, she giggles, she out and out laughs. These are all familiar and wonderful, but last night this crazy thing happened. Last night Jay handed her an Arrowroot biscuit and said, "This is a cookie." Then this little tiny voice said, "Cookie" and she put it in her mouth. Wide-eyed I looked at Jay as if to confirm that I had just heard what I just heard only to find the same expression on his face. "She just said 'cookie'!" I exclaimed. I was in such shock I'm not sure how he responded, but I know he confirmed my statement somehow. Of course she doesn't really know what she said, she was just imitating, but wow- just wow. We tried to get her to say it again, but she just grinned at us, ate her cookie and made her usual sounds.
Not to be outdone by his little sister Ryan had his own accomplishment yesterday. He built this...

(not the greatest picture of him, but look at that structure!)

If you do not have a toddler preschooler (I just can't get used to calling him that!) or your kid is just some kids of super genius who has built mega towers out of blocks already maybe you do not understand the significance of this particular structure. You see how he built a base and then two pillars to hold up the roof? Yea, that's pretty dag-on amazing to me. I really couldn't believe that he didn't have any help, but he didn't. I mean piling block on top of block that's cool and everything, but this is...well, wow- just wow.
I am amazed at my kids many days, but some days are just extraordinary.

Congratulations

Congratulations to my friend Philo and his brand spankin' new fiance, Madeli! Be on the lookout for bumming California bound tourists, Philo!!! I've always wanted to visit the west coast;-)

Happy Birthday Mom!

In the words of Frosty the Snowman, "Happy Birthday!"
I hope your day is special and fun! Ryan and I made cookies today and he is very excited to send some to you in the mail. He just can't figure out how we are going to get them in an envelope. Don't worry I explained that we will use a box, but it was funny when he asked.

It was Inevitable

This post is a while in coming. Lily now wants to be fully involved with her spoon feeding. Oh yea. Doesn't she look pleased with herself?
Check out the mess highlighted below. Notice the hair, the freshly cleaned high chair and that tray. Our general routine at this point is to start with two spoons. I get food on one and head toward her mouth she grabs on as soon as the spoon is within range and I help her guide it into her mouth. She will hold that spoon for dear life until I load and position the next one. At that point she drops the first one or she is distracted enough by the new spoon full of yumminess that I am able to coax it out of her kung foo grip. This is then repeated until all the food is gone. In order to get the spoon from the last bite I call in reinforcement finger foods. I strategically drop cheerios or puffs in the least messy place while I wipe her face hands and tray. She gets annoyed, but is then distracted by the second barrage of cheerios/puffs. I still usually end up with a shirt that should be changed(if I'm not going somewhere I usually just wear the food all day-sad, I know). After all that I try to eat some of my own food. Maybe I should come up with a better system.

Pretty Cool

Bet you didn't see this when you were trick or treating last night!

We went to our church's "Trunk or Treat" event last night. It was well done as usual. There were some really good trunks. One was all decked out like a 70s prom, there was a very well done Wizard of Oz trunk, the barn one, an elaborate Cinderella's Castle complete with Cinderella and Prince Charming and those a just a few of the great ones. Jay's favorite was a lifted truck with HUGE wheels where the people sat in the bed and sent the candy down through PVC tubes. We didn't even get to all the trunks, but the kids did get a turn in the moon bounce. TJ even came up to trunk or treat with us. That was special. The kids were excited to have him with us. I feel a little bad for him though because he mostly just totted Ryan's tools around. We were so glad to see him though:-)

Zach's costume was a BIG hit. It seemed like every person we passed said, "Look! It's Sponge Bob." One woman giving out candy even asked who his mom was then told me his costume was very clever. There was an older kid who was like, "Sponge Bob! Cool! I wish I could be Sponge Bob." There were some Green Bay fans who called him a cheese head, but that is a complement in their language. Ryan got recognized by all the kids his age and their moms. One of the kids thought his tools were great and spent several minutes going through them asking their names.