The other night I mashed up some spuds for dinner
Lydia thought they were pretty tasty
She was proud of herself
And, yes, we gave her a bath after dinner
Do the Mashed Potato
2
Category Archives: Lydia Grace
Lydia’s Ten Month Update
Saturday was Lydia’s ten month birthday. Happy birthday, Sweetheart!
I can’t believe I’ve only got two months left before my baby turns one! Where does the time go? Remembering how quickly Alethea’s first months went by, I’ve tried to be very deliberate to savor every moment of infant closeness that I could with Lydia, but somehow it went even faster and now I’m sitting here, thinking about my pre-toddler, who shows me every day, “Momma, don’t cha know, I’m not a baby any more!”
This month Lydia did a lot of growing up. Most notably, she is now pulling up to standing all the time and everywhere. She still army crawls around the floor, but as soon as she reaches a chair, bookshelf or the stairs, she promptly pulls herself up to her feet so she can take a look around. She also does some cruising around while holding onto furniture and seems to be contemplating how she might be able to go no handed. This girl wants to get walking!
Lydia is also starting to communicate more. She regularly uses the signs ‘more’ and ‘all done’ when she’s eating. What really surprised me though was the other day when I asked her if she was all done, she made the sign, but then also said, “Ah da!” Her first words! I probably wouldn’t have even believed my own ears, but we were over at a friend’s house for a playdate and my friend totally heard it too. I shouldn’t be too surprised though, since Lydia clearly understands so much of what is being said around her. If you ask her, “Where’s your water?” she will look around and locate her sippy cup with her eyes and she makes excited noises whenever I ask her, “Do you want to nurse?” What a smarty pants!
As far as physical changes go, this month Peter and I have both noticed that Lydia’s eyes are turning brown and she is definitely getting more hair. She has a couple hairs that are maybe an inch long in the back. It’s still a ways from a full head of hair, but it is something. As far as the eyes go, they do still have a blue/gray ring around the outside, but the middles are pretty much solid brown. Oh and teeth, gotta mention teeth! After a marathon month of teething in September, we ended October with the same six pearly whites. However, the last few days have been a drool fest, so perhaps the remaining two of her baby eight are on their way in.
Lydia’s very most favorite activity is eating. She loves trying new foods, her recent favorites being turkey (lunch meat) and raspberries. You’d swear those berries have wings the way they disappear off her highchair tray! She is really starting to get the hang of her sippy cup and is interested in bowls and spoons, although she seems to view them more as playthings than eating utensils.
Speaking of playthings, she also enjoys playing with toys, as long as she’s sure they belong to her sister. She can spot a baby toy a mile away and regards them with utter contempt. But if she gets her hands on something that she’s seen Alethea play with, she’ll spend minutes on end trying to figure it out, even if it is nothing more special than a comb or bottle for Alethea’s baby dolls. This of course drives Alethea crazy and leads to a fair amount of conflict in our house on a daily basis.
The girls do occasionally have moments of playing together nicely. I think these will happen with increasing frequency as Lydia becomes more and more interactive. However, I still have to remind Alethea that Lydia is not yet so grown up that she can pretend to ride her like a horse.
I’m sure that it’s not wise to wish for time to stand still, but I’d almost like to hit the pause button in this month. And it’s not the impending holiday season that’s got me worried. I’m just not sure that I’m ready to give up my sweet baby girl and get a toddler in her place.
My dear little Lydia, your Mommy and Daddy love you more than you’ll ever know! Try not to get so busy growing up that you forget that we’d still like a cuddle ever now and then!
Happy Halloween!
Alethea was asking all day when it would be time to go trick or treating, so she was delighted when it was finally time to get her costume on and head out the door:
Before we left the house, we coached her to say ‘trick or treat’ and told her that she needed to say ‘thank you’ when someone put something in her bag. She followed the rules very carefully.
At one of the first houses we went to, Alethea got a kit-kat bar, but Lydia got a tootsie roll pop, and boy did she think it was cool!
From that point on Alethea was determined to find someone to give her a sucker too! She took her home-made trick or treat bag door to door in search of someone with cheap candy, but wouldn’t you know it, all of our lovely, generous neighbors seemed to have mini candy bars.
We were down to the last two houses on our street when finally we found someone with suckers. When I told the nice lady who answered the door that Alethea was in search of a sucker, she gave her not one, or two, but three!
At that, Alethea handed me her bag full of chocolate bars, unwrapped one of the suckers, and shoved it in her mouth. Then as we walked down the drive way, she looked up at me and said, “I’m cold.”
“Should we go home now?” I asked her.
Despite the dum-dum hanging out of her mouth, she managed a big, “Uh huh!”
Once home, we let the girls enjoy the spoils, although Lydia mainly just had cheese crackers, because she found the sucker a bit hard to eat.
Alethea was mystified by her sister’s apathy towards the tootsie roll pop and proceeded to polish off two suckers and a kit-kat bar before we cut her off for the night.
I may have slightly over-estimated the amount of candy we needed. I think our numbers were down this year. Still, by giving out handfuls at the end, we managed to nearly run out by the time we turned the lights out.
So, all things considered, I’d call it a successful Halloween!
Hope yours was great too!
A First and Some Fun
Today was a crazy busy day.
It started out with Alethea and I going to Cost Cutters for her first haircut.
We only got the back cut, because I’d still like the front to keep growing and I don’t want Alethea to have bangs. Still, I’m glad I went to a salon, because Alethea was pretty cooperative, but I think that was mostly the result of getting to wear a cool surfing penguins cape.
After her haircut, we went to Wendy’s for a mother/daughter lunch. Getting to have a meal together (just the two of us) isn’t something that happens all that often. We bonded over chicken nuggets and an apple chicken salad.
With tummy’s running on full, we hopped into the car and did some more errands, including the dry cleaners, which isn’t something I’d normally bother to share, but I’m super impressed with this one I found near us because they have a drive up window. LOVE IT!
Our last errand of the morning was Kohl’s where we used our 20 percent off coupon to procure a black hat for Alethea’s Halloween costume and new sunglasses for me, who foolishly let Lydia play with my last pair while she was sitting on our concrete sidewalk. SCRAAAAATCH!
I found a really cute new pair and so did Alethea:
After we put her selection back on the rack, we bought the hat and my sunglasses and then headed home for nap time. Or at least Alethea took a nap. I, however, took off again and picked up a pumpkin at the grocery store, take n’ bake pizzas for dinner and a paint sample for our main floor bathroom.
Then home again, home again, jiggidy jig, I tossed the pizzas in the fridge and grabbed a paint brush, determined to test a small square of the color before our dinner guests arrived. I’m wasn’t sure exactly when I’d get around to actually painting the bathroom, but I just love to see what paint colors look like up on a wall. So yeah, dinner guests coming and no plans to paint the bathroom soon. Should I have waited to try the color out? Oh probably, but I had a brilliant plan. Just paint a small square behind the picture frame on the wall and hang the picture back up when finished. Fool proof…
Unless one fails to realize that the screw in the wall only marks the top of the picture frame when the hanger for the picture frame is actually at the top. Not closer to a third of the way down the back, like mine is…
Oh well. Looks like I’ve got new motivation to move ‘paint main floor bathroom’ up on my to do list.
Our dinner guests arrived on schedule, but since it was my parents and Peter’s parents who came over, they were very understanding about the painting mishap and the tool box sitting on the kitchen counter. Besides, we were about to create an even bigger mess since they had all come over for our annual pumpkin carving. It’s quickly becoming a family tradition for the men to watch football and drink beer while the women-folk do the carving, but that’s okay. We all probably enjoy it more that way anyhow.
Naturally, step one of carving is to pop the top off the gourds and clean out the guts. The girls both helped with this. Lydia very willingly stuck her hand right into the pumpkin, but then had a hard time grabbing seeds, since they were so slippery.
And when she did finally get a seed out of her large orange friend, it went straight into her mouth. I was about to dive in after it when she swallowed it in one easy gulp.
And with that, her pumpkin gutting time quickly ended.
Alethea was definitely more squeamish than her sister, but eventually got into the seed finding fun.
With the guts cleaned out, we began the carving process. I worked on a puppy pumpkin as per Alethea’s request (yes, she had a puppy pumpkin last year too) and Peter’s mom Denny worked on Lydia’s pumpkin eating pumpkin, which was based on a photo I found online (I wish it had been my design idea, but it wasn’t). I’m super happy with how they turned out!
Small pumpkins and gourds of the world, beware!
We also took some time during the evening to have the girls model their Halloween costumes for their grandparents, who won’t be around on Monday to see them all dressed up. I just can’t get over how cute they both look!
The bumble bee costume was actually mine when I was about Alethea’s age, so I’ll have to dig up a picture so we can do a side by side comparison.
Alethea was disappointed it wasn’t actually time to go trick-or-treating, and honestly, I was too. It’s going to be a really delightful Halloween!
My little flower and bumble bee are snug in their beds now, and I think I’m going to join them and put an end to this very busy day.
A Big Big Bed
It’s official! Alethea in no longer in a crib and she’s no longer in a big girl bed. Nope, she’s been upgraded to a big BIG bed!
While it was nice to have a crib that converted to a toddler bed, we realized that Alethea’s time in it was limited by the fact that our second crib, the one that Lydia is using, is a drop-side model, also know as an “they no longer make them death trap”. So now that Lydia is on the verge of pulling herself up to standing, we figured it was time to pull the ol’ switcheroo and get Lydia into the safer crib and upgrade Alethea to a twin mattress.
Alethea’s transition from nursery to big girl room wasn’t completely smooth and her move from crib to toddler bed wasn’t exactly without bumps, so a few months ago Peter and I started strategizing how to make Alethea totally enthusiastic about her big, big bed’s arrival. So enthusiastic that she’d want to help take apart her toddler bed.
Plan Stage 1: Talk it up! We started telling her about the big, big bed, how it was going to be so big that it would go all the way from the wall to the bookcase and how she’d have room to sleep with all of her stuffed animals.
Plan Stage 2: Bribe away! Alethea adores Clifford, the big red dog, so I found a large plush Clifford dog at Kohl’s. Then we kept telling her that when she got a big big bed, her bed would be so big that Clifford would come sleep with her.
I’m happy to report that our two stage plan worked brilliantly. Alethea was begging to go bed shopping! And after we bought the bed, Alethea was so excited to sleep in it that when we offered her dinner, she said, “No thanks. Go to sleep!”
She did eventually come down for dinner, but right after she got her jammies on, she asked where Clifford was. I have no idea what she was expecting, but when Peter brought in the stuffed animal, she got a huge grin on her face, held out her arms, and said, “I want it!”
Of course, we couldn’t leave Lydia out, so she got a new plush too, Clifford’s best friend T-Bone!
Of all the sleeping transitions we’ve gone through, this was definitely the easiest. She was thrilled with the bed and her new Clifford (and only mildly bothered that she didn’t get a T-Bone too!)
And I am so glad that we finally got to make the bed with the gorgeous quilt that Alethea’s Gramma Denny made for her. It really brings her whole big girl room together so nicely!
A big girl, a big red dog and a big, BIG bed!
Lydia’s Nine Month Update
Lydia turned three-quarters of a year old on the 5th of this month. Happy (belated) birthday, my sweet girl!
Just today, I finally got her to the doctor for her nine month check-up. Here are her current stats: Height – 27.75 inches, Weight – 22 lbs 2 oz, Head Circumference 18.25 inches. That means she is in the 51st percentile for height, but in the 91st for weight. She’s also holding on to a respectably bobble-headed 95th percentile for her head measurement. You go girl!
The most notable change of the last month has been Lydia’s increased mobility. While she hasn’t started crawling on her hands and knees just yet, she has perfected her army crawl and is now a dangerous force to be reckoned with. She can get across a room surprisingly fast for one so small, especially if she has the motivation of Alethea’s toys to get her moving. She has cried a few times when Alethea has demonstrated just how unwelcome her persistent presence really is. And who can blame her, I’d cry too if someone twice my size tried to stand on me, or whacked me with a strainer from the kitchen drawer. However, unless she’s in a particularly bad mood, Alethea doesn’t do anything worse than poke at her and Lydia still thinks that’s pretty funny.
Other milestones this month include going from one tooth to four, and then to five and finally… to six! We’ve had lots of drool and some pretty whiny days, but over all, she seems to handle massive amounts of teething fairly well. And of course, now that she has the teeth she wants to use them. She almost exclusively feeds herself now (I only get to help with the sippy cup and yogurt, when she’s in the mood for it). Her favorite foods are peaches, bananas and crackers, but we have yet to find any sort of fruit, vegetable or bread item that she won’t at least gnaw on.
Her favorite room in the house is Alethea’s bedroom, since there are so many forbidden things to get into. Her favorite activity is standing up next to a piece of furniture and holding on all by herself. (She’ll stay there for minutes on end, being amused by nothing more than her own ability to stay upright.) Her favorite person is Mommy, followed by Daddy and then Alethea. Her favorite things to say are “ma-ma-ma-ma” and “ba-ba-ba-ba”. (I’m pretty sure she is just babbling and not refering to any particular person or object at this point.) Her favorite stuffed animal is her bedtime lamb and her favorite toys are Alethea’s baby dolls. She also likes books, but always tries to eat them and is not terribly interested in being read to, because if Mommy is holding the book, that means it’s not in her mouth.
Now we’re looking forward to Lydia’s first Halloween – she’s going to be a flower. Her first Thanksgiving – maybe she’ll be eating meat by then. Her first Christmas – I can’t wait! And after that, if you can believe it, her first birthday! How time flies!
Don’t grow up too quickly, Little Girl! We think you’re just right the way you are!
A New Family Member
No I’m not pregnant.
We’re not getting a dog either. At least not right now.
Nope, not talking about anything living or breathing, but about something that brought a breath of fresh air to our Living Room.
A NEW RUG!
As you may recall, it was love at first sight when I saw the Pottery Barn Mia Rug in their catalog a few months back. It was exactly what I had been looking for and I would have gone out and bought it right then and there, but it with all the summer landscaping projects, it wasn’t really in the budget.
Well, good things come to those that wait. Good things like a rug sale, a 10% off your entire purchase coupon, Pottery Barn gift cards procured by redeeming credit card points and being able to convince Peter that since we both were sick of the old rug, the rest would make the perfect anniversary gift to give each other.
So this weekend it was out with the old:
And in with the new!
I’m absolutely in love with this rug.
Lydia likes it too.
Although that may be due in large part to the fact that she enjoys picking fuzz out of it to chew on.
Oh well!
The rest of us are enjoying it’s colors, patterns and the fact that it is very cushy under foot.
Welcome to the family, Mia!
Family Fall Fun
Today Peter, Alethea, Lydia and I went to a farm for a little autumnal family fun. My friend Katie and her daughter Madelyn joined us and together we had an exhausting, but delightful morning.
First stop: The mobile chicken coop. Alethea and Madelyn both had fun making chicken noises, although at one point Madelyn was heard to say, “Rrrroooooar!” It was super cute!
Next up: The pedal cars. Daddy took Alethea for a spin! Then Mommy took a picture. (Can you tell someone has recently reached the ‘likes to make goofy faces for the camera’ phase?)
And then: Into the corn maze! Here’s Katie and Madelyn navigating the path. Amazing that we went through it with three kids under three years of age and didn’t lose anyone, huh?
A brief pit stop: Alethea was interested to discover that we were in fact walking through ‘corn on the cob’ and was happy to share her knowledge with Madelyn.
However: The novelty of walking through corn on the cob wore off quite a ways before we reached the exit. The scenery didn’t change much and the sun was beating down on us, which is a weird thing to write about an outdoor adventure in Minnesota in OCTOBER, but it was hot. And uncomfortable. So we cheated, looked at the map and got out in the most direct way we could. But, right outside the maze, the good times continued at the giant spider’s web.
Take two: After Peter got tired of bouncing Alethea in the web (which was definitely before Alethea was tired of being bounced!) Lydia took a seat and I snapped a picture of my girls sitting together (a rare occurrence, let me tell you!)
Sit down for a second: All of us together on a bright sunny day seemed to be the perfect opportunity to try and capture a family portrait. We have two little girls who don’t necessarily smile on cue, especially when they are hot and hungry. Fortunately, they do both like being tickled.
And then: We discovered the girls’ favorite fall activity, the corn box! ‘What’s a corn box?’ you ask. It’s like a sand box, but filled with feed corn. Alethea couldn’t get enough of the scooping, filling and digging. I told Peter I want one for our back yard. It was so much less messy than a sand box.
A jealous moment: We didn’t put Lydia in at first because we thought we’d spend the whole time fishing kernels out of her mouth, but she was clearly feeling left out of the corn box fun.
Still in the box: And who could blame Lydia for feeling grumpy about being excluded. Alethea was having a blast and Madelyn thought the corn box was pretty cool too.
One more in the box: So we let Lydia join us, and what do you know, she was pretty good about not putting the corn in her mouth (although all bets were off when it came to the buckets and scoops).
A wake up call: After Lydia almost fell asleep in the corn box, we decided we’d better finish up our farm tour before we reached the point of complete exhaustion.
Moving on: As we walked across to the barn yard to visit the animals, I tried to tactfully remove corn from places the good Lord never intended it to go (I bet we’ll be finding random kernels around the house for weeks after this). It turned out to be a good thing we had corn on us though because we visited the chickens, sheep, horses, ducks and geese, all of whom were looking for handouts. The funniest part of the visit was Alethea constantly talking to the animals as though they could understand her. “Hello, Mr. Donkey! How are you?”
And finally: No fall farm visit would be complete without a few pumpkins, so we purchased some little ones from the garden center and then took pictures on the big pile outside.
More pumpkins: Madelyn willingly took her turn on the pile of gourds.
Last, but not least: Alethea got her picture taken, but only after I told her she could have ice cream if she would sit on the pumpkins and smile for the camera. Perhaps I should have specified what kind of a smile was required to earn her reward.
Home again, home again: After devouring our well-deserved lunch at Dairy Queen, we headed home for naps all around! It was a glorious day!
Peek-A-Boo!
Lydia’s new favorite activity is playing peek-a-boo. She plays it with me using her washcloth after every meal lately. It’s just hilarious!
Where’s Lydia?
There she is!
Now where did Lydia go?
Oh, there’s my Sweet Girl!
Post Party Fun
On Saturday we had my 30th birthday party at our house. It was a super fun evening and I personally thought it was absolutely perfect. Just what I wanted it to be!
Saturday night after the party, we just managed to get the left-over food put away before we crashed. So, Sunday was spent cleaning up the house, since not only did we host a party, we also hauled all of our living room furniture to the garage and set up cocktail tables and a bar in our house. Needless to say, it was a delightful, but extremely exhausting weekend.
So this morning, after Lydia, Alethea and I drove the rentals back to the party store, we came home and decided to kick back and have an alfresco lunch under the pop-up tent that is still set up on the back deck, and enjoy the centerpiece left from the party:
After checking out the food situation in the fridge, I ended up filling my plate with an oddly satisfying combination of one mini egg roll, one peanut-satay chicken skewer, a nice helping of apple pecan lettuce cups and a slice of carrot cake.
I didn’t have enough chocolate to dip all of the strawberries I bought for the party, so Lydia got to eat some of the undipped extras along with her puffs and pureed carrots:
Alethea had reheated chicken nuggets left from the kids party in the basement along with veggies from the crudites platter and two cream-cheese and cucumber finger sandwiches. The later of which she completely devoured:
While I can’t say I’m dying to throw another cocktail party in the very near future, I will say that it’s not such a bad thing to have a beautifully decorated house, yummy (I just almost typed yuppy, but that might apply too) food in the fridge and a plate of chocolate truffles to keep you company while blogging.
So if the smell of carrot cake with cream cheese frosting comes wafting through the computer, don’t mind me, I’m just reveling in the the post-party spoils!