No Camera!

Ok, it's Halloween and my camera broke!!! I can't believe it. I can't live without my camera. So today I called Canon and they offered me an upgrade for a cheaper price (more than half off). Or I can have them fix my camera for $60 less than the upgrade. No brainer there - we got the upgrade. So Monday I'll have a new camera but until then I had to go to CVS and get disposables! They had 1 digital disposable and one old school wind up camera. I bought them both and so I can't share any Halloween pictures until I get them developed! Can you imagine I'm upset because I have to get film developed?! Boy I've gotten spoiled.

Lilly had a very busy day! She had music this morning (and was the only child not dressed in her costume). I could hardly live with myself during the class. But they didn't mention for the kids to wear their costumes so I put her in a Halloween shirt and hair bow. Note to self: On Halloween Lilly can wear her costume to any class she takes. She had fun and Kaitlyn was under control! I lost sleep over it last night. When we walked in Kaitlyn's mom came right up to me and said, "We've been talking all week about how 1 hug is enough for Lilly" and I told her (what I'd been rehearsing all week) that Lilly would love a hug from Kaitlyn before or after class but not during. I was so proud of myself. I finally stood up for my kid. And Kaitlyn was good and didn't try to hug Lilly but once and Lilly (as I had taught her all week) put her hand out and said, "No" very firmly and Kaitlyn backed off. Who would think that a 20 month old would understand it when you told them, "If someone tries to hug you and you don't like it just tell them no and put your hand out for some space." It sunk in!

Lilly came right home from music and went to sleep. I had everything ready for her when she woke up to get into costume and go up to my former school for the Halloween parade. But as Murphy's Law would have it, she didn't wake up until it was over. Every other day she sleeps about 1.5 hrs but today it had to be 2.5 hrs. So when she woke I got her dressed in her ladybug costume and we went and visited everyone during their class parties. I miss my job! I wouldn't trade staying home for anything but I can still miss teaching can't I? Lilly was a trooper. Let everyone poke and prod her and then we came straight home to trick-or-treaters at our front door. I reapplied her face make-up, we waited for Daddy to come home, and then off we went for Lilly's first trick-or-treating Halloween. And we didn't even use the wagon. She walked the long block (.6 mile) and went door to door with her little pumpkin saying, "Please!!" It was too darn cute. We got lots of video and pictures (on the old school cameras). Can't wait to share them.

After trick-or-treating we went over to our friend's house for their Halloween party. Lilly helped pass out candy at their house and ate dinner. By 7pm she was laying sideways in Andy's arms so we headed home and to bed she went. Jacked up on candy and raring to go it took both of us to get her to sleep but by 8pm we had success. I hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween!



WAIT! A friend from music emailed me these pictures! They're not great but they're something... Lilly at music class...

Boo to You

Has it really been five days since I posted?? Wow, life is keeping me busy.

Well Friday Lilly's nursery school celebrated Halloween. She dressed up in her ladybug costume and enjoyed seeing her friends dressed up, making pumpkin cookies with icing and a raisin face, painting a pumpkin picture, singing Halloween songs, and making pumpkins out of playdoh! We tried to get some cute shots of the kids but with eight 20 month olds it was very interesting. I think 6.5 made it into the picture. Lilly held tight to two little boy's hands like we told her to and didn't move (she does follow directions!).

She's getting so big and so grown-up. We can't believe it. I hope everyone's gearing up for a fun Halloween.

The Things the Books Don't Tell You

I had a true test in parenting today and I think I failed miserably. Lilly has taken music for 10 months with the same 8 kids and their moms. She LOVES it. Can't get enough of music and dancing. A little girl in her class, Kaitlyn, has always been a bit obsessed with Lilly. Kaitlyn is three. She loves to give Lilly hugs and tries to pick her up. Usually it's under control. But today was a nightmare and this is where I failed as a mom - chief protector of Lilly. Kaitlyn started grabbing Lilly from the minute we walked in. She continued through the 45 min. class giving her great big bear hugs oftentimes grabbing her neck. Lilly tolerates the "hugs" but clearly doesn't like them. Twenty minutes into the class Lilly started acting really aggressive and running all over the place. She stopped participating with the songs and was just wild. I have seen her act this way once before when a little girl in her nursery school class hugged her and took her down to the ground over and over. So that time in nursery school I took her out of the room to calm her - we walked and talked and when we went back she was calm again. So today I took her out to try to settle her but the minute we walked back in Kaitlyn ran over and grabbed her. Well my blood was boiling. The mother kept looking at me and shrugging with a 'sorry' look on her face. And she kept saying, "Kaitlyn, be gentle!" "NO!" I wanted to shout, "Don't be gentle, stop touching her!" But instead I smiled and tried to endure the attacks. At one point I did say to the mother that it was really revving Lilly up and she said, "I'm sorry."

As I got in the car and started driving home I looked back and saw Lilly with her head to the side in her car seat with her binky and lovey; passed out. Guilt overcame me. I knew I was angry with Kaitlyn's mom for not intervening but what did I do to protect Lilly? Nothing! I didn't want to step on toes or upset anyone so I did nothing. And in the end my child suffered. So next week I have decided to tell Kaitlyn from the start of class that she can save her hugs for the end of class but none during class. That's what I've decided and I hope it works.

Lilly's first friend moved away (and my first new mommy friend!). It was very sad. But they're only an hour away so yesterday we drove up to see Sophia and her mommy Christine. Lilly and Sophia hadn't seen each other in about 3 weeks. When Christine opened the front door Sophia was standing there and immediately put her arm out and lead Lilly to her new family room full of toys. Lilly followed her in and they started playing. It was too cute for words. We spent a wonderful morning catching up and watching the girls play. So cute at this age!

Amen

In church this morning the youth did a skit and led a portion of the service. I found myself crying through the whole thing. Partly it was the message they were sharing but mostly it was me projecting 12 years from now when Lilly is their age and hopefully up participating herself. Maybe I'm just getting old and sappy (well I've been sappy) or maybe it's hormones... Either way, each Sunday I find myself crying in church. I find so much comfort in the service and love the music. I leaned over and whispered to Andy, "I hope Lilly finds a boy that loves Jesus" and of course the look on his face was worth a thousand words. But I mean it. I can only hope that Lilly will grow to find a church family that she draws support from and looks forward to seeing each week. I know that I have.

Best Friends

Lilly's best friend in the world is a ten year old. Her name is Stephanie but we call her "Stephy". I was her teacher when she was in 2nd grade and since we have become wonderful friends with her family. They are our NJ family. Stephy is amazing with Lilly. She's a natural. Sometimes when I tutor (yes, I'm earning a teeny tiny bit of money!) Stephy will watch Lilly for me if Andy can't make it home. Yesterday Lilly was thrilled when Stephy showed up so I could tutor Carly. I bought Lilly a new Winnie the Pooh movie (she's currently obsessed with "Poooooh") and she and Stephy settled down to watch it together. Carly, though all smiles, was not very happy when I told her she had to come with me and miss the party. Poor Carly.

Facial Expressions

Lilly is a character. She's my little sidekick. People have always commented on her facial expressions so sometimes we play a game that she loves. It goes something like this: "Lilly, show me a scared face" and she does this:

"Lilly, show me sad" and she does this:


"Lilly, show me surprised!" and this is how she looks.

We go on and on learning new faces each day. The problem is capturing them on camera. I'm going to try again tomorrow and if I get some good ones I'll replace these. But for now, this is all she'd give me. The scared face can get much scarier ;-).

I was scrolling channels today while recovering from my Redskins loss when I saw The Lawrence Welk Show. I had a flashback from childood... sitting in my grandparents bedroom in the dark watching Lawrence Welk on a small black and white television after a long day of visiting with my family. Sometimes Stephanie or Sherry would be sitting with me and sometimes it was my grandmother. I didn't like it. In fact I really hated watching it. But there I sat on the edge of the bed two feet away from the screen watching. So today I laughed and said to Andy, "Ugh, remember this show?" then proceeded to share my memories with him. As we were chatting about it we looked up to see Lilly dancing her heart out to the wonderful Lawrence Welk singers. So we kept it on and she danced and danced. And you know what? It really wasn't so bad!

Pumpkin Pickin'

What a perfect day to go to Springdale Farm for a hayride! It was 50 degrees and there was a blue sky without a cloud in it! We were the first to arrive (predicting it would be a madhouse) and actually had to wait for another family to arrive so we could fill the hayride. Of course as I turn on the camera to take a picture it says "change batteries" which I've been seeing a lot of lately. We invested in rechargeable batteries but they too have an end to their lives and I'm just too stubborn to believe it. So I keep recharging them and trying to use them, only to get stuck somewhere with dead batteries. And I NEED to take pictures. So Andy, being the sweet husband that he is, got in the car and rushed home to get more. He actually made it back before the first tractor even left. I put them in the camera and... "change batteries". So Andy had the idea to mix and match the batteries and with a little luck and some help from up above, one of the combinations worked!!! So we do have pictures to capture one of my favorite outings of the year.

Lilly was a trooper since we pretty much ruin it for her by making her pose for a million pictures. She gets us back though because most of the time, she refuses to look at the camera. No wonder Ann Geddes puts the babies to sleep first!

We ate fresh cinnamon sugar donuts, picked out pumpkins, and enjoyed t

wonderful fall weather. A perfect day!

The Dog Ate My Homework

I've done enough bitching about the weather so I thought I'd say, "Thank goodness it feels like fall tonight!!!" Woo hoo! I loved putting a sweatshirt on - it felt great. I sure do love a big comfy sweatshirt. Now let's keep this weather and I'll be good.

Some of you may not know that I got braces in June. I was not happy with my bite and figured since I had extra baby weight and was staying home, why not just ugly it up while no one cared what I looked like! In all honesty, very few people even notice since they're clear on top. So three days ago the gum between my teeth started aching. By today it had turned into a throbbing feeling all day long. I called the dentist and their son is getting married so they're closed and referring patients to a different dentist. So I called my orthodontist and he said to come right over (thank you Thomas for sitting at our house while Lilly slept!). I went and they dug and dug to no avail. Finally they had to take part of the braces apart to get to the spot and then they dug out a small popcorn kernel... Yes, I hear you - no popcorn with braces. But if you read the blog there's proof that Lilly got a bag of popcorn (which I didn't eat any of) off the counter and began eating it. Popcorn is a choking hazard for babies. So in order to keep her happy and be a protective mother, I decided I would bite the kernel off and give her the remainder of the corn. Bad idea. Braces and kernels don't go together. Lesson learned. But the orthodontist found the story humorous at least. I'm sure he believed me...

Tank Top and Snow Boots

It's still hot. It's supposed to be cooling down but I'm not holding my breath. We did buy Lilly some snow boots for fear that a blizzard would blow through and everyone would rush to Target and buy out all the boots and we'd be left with none. Lilly loves them. She enjoyed watching our neighbor leaf blow our yard (I'm not lazy! He insisted on doing it to repay a favor). We did a snow dance to bring on cooler weather. It didn't work yet.

If There's a Will, There's a Way

Throughout my years of teaching I had a few kids (2 stick out in my mind) that I could completely rely on. Even at 7 years old they could help me with anything - my memory, my mail, changing the calendar, getting a sick child to the nurse, passing out papers, filing papers, you name it! They really stick out in my mind because at such a young age you don't expect it nor do you see it often. While it was usually girls I did have a boy or two in the running. I always related to these kids because as the youngest I think I too easily figured things out (and if it didn't come easy I sure as hell didn't stop trying), put things together and/or found a way to do it. I know my family can attest to this...

While Lilly may look like her father, it does seem she's picked up my "I can do it" gene (though in all honesty and to be fair - Andy is very much like this too). Not a day goes by where she doesn't surprise me with something she does. Today, I caught it on film. Granted she strayed from me during a diaper change so she's not put back together (no pj bottoms and onesie not snapped) but that's all part of the deal - she has no time for diaper changes. When she wants something, she finds a way to get it. She carried her art easel seat from the family room to the counter today just for popcorn. And she's really not allowed to eat popcorn! Major choking hazard. But she scoped it out and on her tippy toes got it. I did take it away from her after the picture of course. I think we're in for a long road ahead of us!

H-O-T

Everyone who knows me knows I love fall. Crisp cool air, hay bails, pumpkins, corn stalks, and mums. I do not love 88 degree fall. This weather is ridiculous! It's 88 degrees and full humidity! The air is so thick you can hardly breathe! It's way too hot for clothes in Lilly's opinion. We played outside for a little while but Momma got hot so we headed inside.

Go Skins!

1p.m. Detroit Lions @ Washington Redskins
You better be there rooting for my 'Skins.
We'll be clad in Redskins attire.
Sunday - a day of rest - a day to lay around and watch football!

"Stop it"

Lilly attended her first wedding today! Our niece Alicia got married and we had a great time. We woke Lilly up from her nap to travel to the ceremony and I figured she would be in rare form since she doesn't like to be woken up but in true Lilly form she hammed it up. She even opened and blew bubbles with the wand for the first time. She loved it. My question to Andy on the way home was, "Do you think we need to be more strict or something?" and his response, "She's too little." She's sweet, charming, funny, happy, and feisty... but man she's a bundle of energy! She goes and goes and goes only to crash when I lay her in her crib. She particularly liked Big Joe - Andy's cousin - taking her binky out to give him the only kiss when we said our goodbyes. Everyone else got a hug and a cheek to cheek. Maybe it's because he's just as wild, who knows. As we pulled into the driveway I was tickling Lilly until she gut laughed when we heard her say her first phrase... she managed to get out between giggles, "Stop it!" Of course I had her say it over and over so we could all listen to how cute it sounded and marvel at the amazing toddler mind. It was a long day and we're wiped out but a wonderful time was had by all.

September Pictures

Gotta love a monkey towel,
lovey, and binky after a warm bath.

"Cheese Mommy"

Expressing her distaste in my discipline.

Well that's one way to reach the chapstick.

Helping Mommy stack wood for Daddy.

Dixie Cups and Sitting Pretty

Today is Friday. That means we go to St. Andrew's nursery school for the Parent-Toddler nursery school class. Lilly loves it and that's all that matters, right? It's a class made up of 2 sweet teachers and 9 other 18-22 month olds and their mommies. There is a curriculum and a schedule that we follow each Friday. When the kids arrive it's free play for about 30 min., then on to circle time with a song and hello to Pokey the stuffed dog shoved in a milkbone box and a story. After that we go outside on the playground and when we come inside the children wash their hands and sit back down in the circle. The dreaded circle time. I'll get to that later. They find their picture and sit down to sing a few songs and have a small little lesson about the theme of the day (today was a farm theme). Then off to snack (10 toddlers and mommies at 1 round table with teeny tiny chairs for the kids - mommies on their knees). Then it's center time! Oh how I miss center time in my own classroom when I could sit at the reading table and feel fulfilled teaching youngsters to read. During St. Andrew's center time the children make a craft, paint, play play dough, have fun at the sand table, and read books. And finally it's clean up, one last circle time (ahhh!!!) and home we go.

Did I mention there's no binky's or sippy cups allowed? Or that all the kids drink out of a dixie cup at snack (we've been practicing and just about have it now)? And that Lilly looks a bit like a wild animal that's been caged? She's great, don't get me wrong. But she's not going to sit still in a circle for a story, or wait her turn to hug and kiss Pokey - that much we know. And centers? Oh, she's supposed to take time to do the activity? Not just throw some paint on the paper, toss some sand out of the sand table, take a playdough ball from another child and throw it (hey it's a ball isn't it?), or rush through a craft to be done?? Oh, well then we're all good! All jokes aside, she's adorable. Fits right in with the others and enjoys herself. She is exhausted when it's over and yes, we have a binky and a sippie cup of juice waiting in the car.