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!