Unless…
This morning I got Lydia out of her crib and was getting her dressed.
Alethea walked into the room, held out her index finger to Lydia, and said…
“Hey We-ya, I have a booger. You want it?”
We’re always telling Alethea to share with her sister, so it must be mystifying to have me tell her, “That’s very thoughtful, but we don’t share our boogers, Honey.”
Stop confusing me, Mom!
Lydia turned eight months old on Labor Day. Happy birthday, honey!
I can’t believe how much Lydia has changed over the past month, most of all in her social skills. Lydia now reaches out to someone if she wants to be picked up (which absolutely melts this mother’s heart, since she stretches her hands out to me nearly every time I walk by). She also is developing a sense of humor and has a funny scrunched up face that she uses to get my attention and make me laugh at her.
As far as physical changes go, she is growing more hair (I know you probably can’t tell from the pictures, but I promise you, she does have more in the back than she used to!) She also finally got her first tooth (lower front right) and is gnawing on everything in sight. Her eyes have gotten a tiny bit deeper in color. In fact, people frequently say, “Oh, she has brown eyes like her mother.” However, she really doesn’t have brown eyes like me, because mine are just plain brown. Lydia’s eyes though are a really cool combination of brown around the center and gray around the outside and the two colors mingle together in between. I don’t know if they will go all brown at some point, but for now, they are not “brown eyes just like her mother’s”.
Lydia is not yet crawling in the true sense of the word, but when she wants something, she can generally find a way to get over to it. Her mode of transportation is sort of inchworm/pushing with toes/rolling over multiple times, but involves little to no use of her upper body, which is sort of impressive when you think about it. She does sometimes try to use her arms, but it ends up looking like a push-up and doesn’t actually get her anywhere. Makes for a funny picture though! Drop and give me 50!
Her current favorites include feeding herself finger foods, chewing on things (especially books), her stuffed lamb that she sleeps with, being tickled, baths, playing peek-a-boo, and getting her hands on anything that she isn’t supposed to have, especially if it is one of Alethea’s toys.
The things she dislikes aren’t many, but do include being fed with a spoon (she’d rather do it herself), being put to bed and having Mommy walk out of the room. The more tired and/or hungry she is, the worse it is if I leave while she’s watching.
Lydia’s relationship with her big sister continues to be a rather one sided conversation where Alethea tells Lydia what she feels, likes and what she ought or ought not do. “Stop pulling the quilt, Eeya! We’re trying to take pictures!”
Lydia takes it all in stride (I’m sure it helps that she doesn’t understand what Alethea is saying) and continues to assume that any attention from her big sister is a good thing. Really, Lydia soaks up attention in general and always has a smile for anyone who comes along, provided she can bestow her charm from the safety of Mommy’s arms.
Thanks for being a bright ray of sunshine in our lives, Lydia Grace! We love you to pieces!
This morning Alethea pointed to a spot on the living room floor and said, “Crumbs!”
Looking up from the lunch I was preparing for her, I replied, “Yes, honey, I know, I need to clean the house.”
She looked at me and said quite matter-of-factly, “It’s very dirty.”
Sigh… just what I need. A two year old criticizing my domestic skills.
But she’s right. The house is a mess, piano lessons are starting tomorrow, we haven’t finished potty training (will we ever?!?!) and of course, I’m in over my head with projects in my house, projects at church and projects that are still in my brain, but boy would I ever like to find time to get them out of there. Oh, and Lydia hasn’t pooped in days (can we say craaaankeeeey)!
Gaaaah!
On the bright side, Alethea seems to be finally getting over this mystery illness that has been plaguing her during the past week, the weather is amazingly gorgeous and well, it’s hard to be too frustrated when your kids are just so doggone cute.
Because purple boots go with anything…
And because there is nothing quite so funny as a baby with a mustache…
And with that I’m off to sweep my floors.
Happy Wednesday!
Have you ever seen a fancy restaurant salad with beautiful candied nuts and thought, “Wow! Bet those were hard to make!” Well, I always thought so too until a friend told me the truth. They are neither complicated, difficult or time consuming to cook. In fact, they are so easy that this afternoon I whipped some up while simultaneously entertaining my almost-eight-month-old.
Here’s how it went:
Step 1: Distract eight-month-old with piece of lettuce
She’s a sucker for anything food related that she’s allowed to put in her own mouth, so the lettuce was a big hit.
Step 2: Combine nuts and granulated sugar in a small non-stick skillet
Use a ratio of 1½ to 2 tablespoons of sugar for every half cup of nuts. (I went with walnut pieces this time, but it works equally well to use whole or sliced almonds or pecans as well.)
Step 3: Cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally
While I wouldn’t necessarily advise trying to potty train a toddler while cooking these (speaking from previous experience, you may end up with a burned mess), they don’t need to be constantly watched. Just a periodic stir will do nicely.
In fact, you can do this step while simultaneously completing the next one, which is:
Step 4: Take hilarious picture of eight-month-old imitating a rabbit
Isn’t she goofy!?
Step 5: Continue stirring occasionally until the sugar begins to melt
This takes about 8-10 minutes. After sugar begins to melt, reduce heat to medium.
Stir constantly until sugar is fully melted and coats the nuts (about 1 more minute).
Step 6: Immediately remove from heat and transfer to a dish or cookie sheet
It’s best to stir once every couple of minutes until they are cool to avoid clumping.
Step 7: Clean-up kitchen, beginning with the bunny… er… baby on the floor
As you can see, the lettuce served its purpose nicely.
Step 8: Enjoy!
The finished nuts are perfect to top your morning oatmeal, dress up your afternoon yogurt, be the finishing touch on a salad at dinner or to eat anytime as a tasty treat all by themselves.
Don’t forget to store leftovers (if there are any!) in an airtight container.
Bon appetit!
Lydia turned seven months old on the fifth of this month. Happy birthday, my Sweet Girl!
The thing that stands out to me the most about the past month is how much Lydia seems to be learning every day. We’ve discovered that Lydia is a lot happier if you don’t give her toys that she’s recently played with. She quickly grows bored with them and wants something new to manipulate and explore. Perhaps it is too early to tell, but I think she’s going to be very analytical (a scientist maybe?)
Lydia analyzes people too, especially Alethea. She’s a little copy cat! It’s almost scary just how much Lydia sounds like Alethea in the way she laughs and the silly little noises she makes. Sometimes when my back is turned I can’t tell who is making a particular sound. Undoubtedly there will be days to come when Alethea will be annoyed to have a shadow, but there can be no denying that Lydia’s motives are pure. She thinks the sun rises and falls on Alethea’s command and wants so badly to be noticed by her. It’s gotten to the point that I’m having a hard time teaching Alethea to play gently with her sister because even when she smacks Lydia with a toy, she’ll receive an adoring smile that says, “Wow, my sister is paying attention to me! So cool!”
Although she is not the least bit assertive with Alethea, she is becoming increasingly more so with everyone else. Currently she is very interested in feeding herself finger foods, will not ever drink out of a bottle under any circumstances, hates to be put down for a nap if she hasn’t been recently fed and is positively insulted if you offer her a nuk when she’s crying.
She sits up for longer and longer periods each day and no, she isn’t crawling yet, but she’s gotten to be quite a pro at rolling, pivoting and stretching, so that she can generally reach anything in a two food radius around her when she’s on her tummy.
She still doesn’t have much hair and even though she acts like a little beaver, chewing on everything in sight, there is no sign yet of any teeth poking through. Despite the fact that she is almost certainly teething, she takes two solid naps a day and sleeps reasonably well at night. Hurray!
The highlight of Lydia’s social calendar this past month was that she got to meet all three of her living great grandparents. Naturally, they thought she was as delightful as the rest of us do!
Keep growing and learning, Lydia Grace! We just can’t get enough of you, our happy, assertive, analytical little girl!
I’ve got about half a dozen posts in my head right now and I just can’t decide which one to write.
Decor post? Handy laundry tip post? More landscaping photos? Birthday party planning post?
I know I ought to write Lydia’s 7 month update, because she’s actually almost 7.5 months old, but since I haven’t taken the pictures yet, that post is going to wait another day.
Maybe I’ll just ramble and throw in gratuitous cute kid pictures and hope no one notices my lack of blogging focus.
Here’s a life lesson for you: if you are trying to think of funny words to say to get your kid to smile for the camera, avoid the word ‘booger’ or you might just get a shot like this!
Here’s another life lesson: When going into a ‘pick-your-own’ field with a raspberry-aholic two year old, carry the basket yourself, or it may be empty every time you go to toss another berry in it!
Happy Monday everyone!
No, that’s not what happened to me. You might think so being as it’s been over a week since I’ve written a post, but it’s not true. I spent the whole week on the planet. I was in Iowa some of the time, but contrary to popular belief around these parts, Iowa is not an alien nation. Here’s a summary of our week, to corn country and back!
Visiting Great Grandma and Grandpa
We spent three lovely days last week visiting my grandparents in Iowa. Everyone seemed to get along well and it was fun to have Grandpa Jim and Grandma Ruth meet Lydia for the first time.
We took one afternoon to visit the local water park. The girls thought that was pretty cool.
I jumped at the opportunity to play photographer out in my Grandmother’s garden. (Someday I hope my yard looks half as beautiful as her’s.)
No wireless for my computer, and lots of nature all around. Ahh… some rest for my soul…
And Then… Back to Reality
I don’t have any real excuse for why I haven’t posted since our return from Iowa last Thursday. Just life. You know, things like dropping a boat load of money on a tent and other supplies at REI so we can take our 2 year old and six month old camping. (Yes, we might be insane to try it.)
Also, getting my fall registration materials out to my students. I like being a piano teacher, but typing up forms, writing studio policies and creating a calendar isn’t my favorite part of the job, so at least that’s done for the year.
Got to go downtown and have lunch with Peter today while his mom so graciously watched the girls. I can’t remember the last time we had lunch. alone. together. Sort of a weird feeling… but I like it!
Insert various other social engagements, church, errands and assorted things that would not be in any way amusing to read about and that about sums up my week (and a day) falling off and then back onto planet Earth.
I have at least one little girl who won’t mind if ‘Do Dishes’ ends up on her chore list. Any time I tell Alethea, “It’s time to clean up the kitchen!” she eagerly responds, “I help!” Then she drags a chair over to the sink and begins splashing, scrubbing and making a huge soapy mess.
No, she doesn’t really get anything clean and yes, it would be easier to just do it myself, but seeing her so proud of her accomplishments is definitely worth a little hassle.
Maybe some day Lydia can help too and then I’ll quit doing dishes altogether, but for now, she’s content to sit in her carrier and watch the occasional soap bubble float by.
Scrub-a-dub-dub!
I can hardly believe it, but Lydia turned half a year old on the fifth of this month! Happy six month birthday, my Dear Girl!
Wednesday was Lydia’s check-up with the pediatrician. Turns out she’s been doing some growing! Her current stats are: Height – 26.5 inches, Weight – 19 lbs 14 oz, Head Circumference – 44 cm. That means she is in the 74th percentile for height, 97th for weight and 86th for head circumference. It also means that Lydia is only about 6 inches shorter and 6 pounds lighter than her big sister! A new car seat is in the not-too-distant future for this girl…
In addition to doing a whole lot of growing Lydia spent her sixth month working on her motor skills. She is quite the pro at rolling over now and will at times even roll multiple times to reach a particular destination. She is also perfecting her sitting-up skills and can make it a couple of minutes before toppling over. Lydia loves the view from way up there!
Sitting up is Lydia’s new favorite thing to do. She also loves watching her sister do goofy things, ‘talking’ to Mommy and Daddy, and playing in her exersaucer. Toys are a big hit, as long as she can get them into her mouth. Really, anything that fits in her mouth is a delight to her including (but not limited to) solid foods, stuffed animals, paper, ice water, nuks and of course, her fist!
We have been wondering if all this chewing on things means she’s teething, but so far, there’s no sign of her pearly whites, so we still have that to look forward to in the coming months. Also, Lydia still hasn’t gotten up onto her hands and knees, but there is a very determined look in her eye at times, so I think crawling will be happening sooner rather than later.
All in all, I’d say the past month was a resounding success and while Alethea may be living in terror of the day when Lydia can finally get herself over to all those toys she’s been kept from, Peter and I are excited to see Lydia grow in her independence and discover new things in the world around her.
Last Thursday, I was going to write a post about how Alethea picked one of my childhood dresses from her closet when she got dressed in the morning and how she looked so cute in it.
I was also going to mention that her favorite book right now is Bats at the Library and whenever she ‘reads’ another book outloud, she quotes from Bats. Thus, instead of being about a mother’s undying love for her little one, The Runaway Bunny ends up sounding like this, “We’ve feasted, fluttered, swooped and soared, and yet we’re still a little bored.”
It was going to be a very amusing post. I’m sure you would have enjoyed it.
On Friday (and then again on Saturday) I was going to write a post about how I was working on Alethea’s “Year 2” photobook and in the process I rediscovered some photographic gems that never made it onto the blog. Pics like this one of Alethea at the zoo for example:
And this one of the girls right after Lydia was born:
It was going to be a really fun post and I’m guessing you would have been so inspired by the pictures that you’d have gone out and made a photobook of your own.
Sunday was Father’s Day, so naturally I was going to write a post about Peter, saying how I think he’s the best Dad in the whole world and how the girls and I are so blessed to have him in our lives.
I was thinking that I would also wish a Happy Father’s Day to my Father, Father-in-Law and Grandfather who are all such loving and supportive people.
I have no doubt that it would have been a very touching post. Most likely you would have been moved to tears while you were reading it.
However, as you know, I wrote none of those posts. Maybe this week I’ll find the time to be amusing, inspiring and moving. Or at the very least, maybe I’ll find the time to write a couple posts, even if they are nothing more than random thoughts floating out in cyber space. We’ll see how it goes.
