Here she is a cross between a giraffe and a mini snowman.

More giraffe hat craziness.

There is something to be said for a hat with ears, no? Although frankly, I think Lilli is cuter than a giraffe. . .

There is Randy reading a book to Lilli and Kenneth and there is Lilli poking Kenneth in the nose. Randy and Kenneth were both being very patient.

A Long Long Post for a Long Long Weekend

Sorry it's been awhile since I posted. I know, you've all been on the edge of your seats! What's going on in Lilli land you're all dying to know! Well. We had a very long and a very exciting weekend. It was hard being away from my email and the internet, and then wouldn't you know the internet wasn't working when we got home. But now we have been reconnected and so you and I can all breathe a sigh of relief. *ahhh*

So, I posted a few pictures my grandma took, but I'm sure there will be more coming, what with the cameras that were present this weekend. My dad also took a lot of video, which I'm sure will be used in future humiliating DVD productions.

We spent Wednesday getting ready for the weekend, then Thursday we spent with Bob's family, then Thursday night we drove to Lummi Island to be with my family and then we came home Saturday afternoon. There was quite the crew at Lummi, because my cousin Shawn brought his wife Kirsten and three boys, ages 12, 3 and 18 months. Small children are kind of a new thing in our family, and I think all were a bit shell shocked. I mean, we had three small children in the house at the same time! Now that my other cousin has a baby too, future holidays should be very very exciting. Anywho, the two youngest boys, Kenneth and Cole (yes, they are aware that is the name of a designer), are very cute, but are very active. Kenneth has the most adorable voice: he sounds like a cross between an Ewok and that gerbil/hamster thing from the Quizno's commercials. It's kind of hard to understand, but he has a pretty large vocabularly. It's crazy to think that Lilli might be that communicative in six short months. Anywho, the boys were excited to see Lilli when we first arrived, but then I think the novelty wore off. I mean, she doesn't light up or play sounds or anything! Lilli mostly ignored them too however. I'm fine with her ignoring boys until she is at least eighteen or so. So we all enjoyed watching babies, and playing with babies, and feeding babies, and on and on. Probably some of us more than others. The one thing I got out of watching them all play was that I didn't realize how calm Lilli really is. The boys were very adorable but they were so active is probably the only way I can put it. In comparison, Lilli just kind of sits around and plays with her toys a lot. I mean, her favorite things are nursing, dancing to music and reading books. And, she's not too picky with her food. So I guess I have it pretty easy really. It does make you think twice about having another one however. If Lilli is relatively easy, who knows what the next little bundle of joy will bring? It might be more then we are bargaining for. You also realize what different personalities every baby has, and just realizing that Lilli has her own little personality made me love her that much more. Which I thought was impossible :)

Blah blah blah right? Well, there's more! Lilli has also started standing on her own! She's done it like three times since Thursday night. That night she just kind of let go of the couch and stayed in her transition semi standing pose for about five seconds before she went down for the crawling. I was AMAZED of course. But then she did it again! And again! She is very hesitant about it, and she usually has to not realize she is doing it. Like today she was standing in her crib with one hand on the rail and the other hand holding a shoe. When I waved at her she let go of the rail and waved back until she realized, oh my god! I'm not holding on to anything! and immediately grabbed onto that rail for dear life. I'm not sure what she's afraid of. It's not as if she doesn't plop down on the floor on purpose all the time.

AND, she said "cat" this weekend. And other people heard it! And she said it while pointing at an actual cat! I've had a lot of skepticism on other words and phrases that I think she is saying, but I'm sticking to my guns, because I've seen the progress that she makes. I'll be unsure about something she is saying, but usually it ends up that I was right and that she was just having a hard time with it at first. But on this one I had witnesses and they all agreed that it was crystal clear :)

Also, have I mentioned how funny it is how she moves other people's hands around to make them do what she wants? I think I might have mentioned it in passing, but it is really too cute for words. Usually she does it when she is reading books and wants us to touch something or move something or she drops an object and wants us to pick it up. Today though she wanted to nurse, and I wasn't obliging her quickly enough even though she made it clear through her own sounds and movements that she wanted my boobies, so she took BOB'S hand and moved it to my chest like, Dad! Get those boobies out for me! Maybe it's one of those things where the parents think it's so cute and other people are horrified. That baby is making that man touch that woman's boobs! That may be worse than me trying to get Lilli's boogers with my bare hands.

Who's that on your screensaver? Why! It's me!

Lilli helps Grandpa on the computer

Mary took this at Thanksgiving on Lummi Island.

The Stats

We took Lilli to the pediatrician today for her one year rite of passage check up. As usual the diagnosis was: she's big. But healthy. To those who are interested (ie the grandparents) here are the details: 26lbs 2oz, 32" tall, and a 18 1/2" circumference head. All were in the 99th percentile except for her head, which was in the 90th percentile. Dr. Grossman says this means her body growth may slow down to come more in line with her head. If not, she may end up being an amazon. A small headed amazon. I guess I never realized that her head wasn't proportionate to her body. It looks ok to me. But, I have seen a lot of "big headed" babies out there. Maybe they are the norm and Lilli is the weird one. Maybe all the other babies are calling her a pinhead. Who knew. Anyway. If you want to compare her growth to the last checkup at nine months, three months ago she was 23lbs 14oz, 30 1/2" tall, and had a head circumference of 18", similarly in the 99th, 99th, and 90th percentiles. At least she is continuing to grow and so I am at least reassured that I am not starving her. But I already knew that from the size of her poops. AND, from how doggone heavy she is.

She did get one vaccination although we are waiting on the Measles, Mumps and Rubella shot for another year as it is supposedly less risky (if you believe in a vaccination/autism link) the older the baby is. She cried like a baby at the shot, but then again, that's what she is. Also, Dr. Grossman says I can start giving her whole milk if I want, and weaning her off the breast. It is so hard to change this good thing we've got going though. We shall see. I will write more about that later. Anyway, I guess that's all we have to report. You may breathe a sigh of relief. . . now.

One year and one day

We survived Lilli's first birthday: the party, the nostalgia, the emotional roller coaster. She was completely oblivious of course, being rather unaware of our calendar system, but I *think* she enjoyed the attention. :) Thanks to everyone who came and of course, to all those who brought food! Patty brought some lovely cucumber sandwiches (which I LOVE) and bean dip, my mom brought seventy seven (!) pieces of inari sushi and a cabbage salad, and Cindy brought two huge trays of sandwiches and a fruit and cheese tray. I am my mother's child, and thus I am under the impression that each person will need to eat their weight in food. Therefore, I was worried we wouldn't have enough food (what was I thinking??) so I also had my dad get a veggie tray and we had cheese and crackers and such too. Needless to say, we had some leftovers.

What did I make you may ask?? I attempted to make some pumpkin and cream cheese frosting cupcakes. I had never made them before but I wanted something semi healthy for Lilli's first cupcake. To make a long story short (kinda), I used the wrong kind of salt and some of the cupcakes had little bursts of saltiness. Schuyler kindly likened it to eating chocolate covered pretzels. Salty! and sweet! at the same time! In any case, some of them were better than others but I have been left with about twenty cupcakes. If anyone wants some, please stop on by. The non salty parts of the cupcakes are delicious and the frosting is lovely. I also made an eggless chocolate cake for the non egg eaters. Have some of that left over too. Oh and I forgot to mention Andrew's pumpkin pie. See? Soooo much food! At least we won't starve over the course of the next week. Then Thanksgiving should hold us over for awhile longer. Geez.

So, anyway, we ate and drank and were merry. And THEN. My dad broke out his big surprise. A retrospective DVD of Lilli's first year. And where did he begin? At her conception! That's right. My Dad put it out there in front of my whole family and Bob's whole family the biological fact that WE HAD SEX to make Lilli. That's right internet! Now I'm putting it out there for you too! Now, we all knew it, but certain of us don't want to think about it, and certain of us (ME) didn't want to think about other people thinking about it. Very traumatizing. THEN. He included a little segue scene that, ahem, SHOWED ME ACTUALLY GIVING BIRTH. That's right, my dad, without asking my permission, put my butt and thighs on screen for all to view and then everyone saw a baby come out of my cooter which was just around the corner. My Uncle Randy, ever the optimist and quick to see the silver lining, tried to cheer me up by mentioning that I'll be glad to have that DVD when my thighs are twice the size. Thanks. But I'm not done. No. Then my dad PASSED OUT COPIES as party favors. Now everyone in our families can see Lilli come out of my vagina anytime they please. However, I must state here that what came after the birthing scene was very lovely. My dad put photos together in choronological order from Lilli's first days to just a few days ago, in slide show format, and it was so cool to see how much she has changed over the course of a year. There were some videos thrown in there too, and I know for a fact that there were a few tears shed out there. Bob for one (ha ha ha! I told!). So, although I suffered personal humiliation, the video itself was incredible and I know my dad put a lot of time and effort into it. I guess I'm willing to make the personal sacrifice for an overall very cute video of Lilli. Anything for the cuteness. :) Anyway, thanks Dad.

Then Lilli ate her cupcake. We knew Patty was all excited for Lilli's first taste of sugar so we let her do the honors. She got a big dollop of frosting on her finger and scooped it into Lilli's mouth. Lilli kind of mouthed it and swallowed it, but didn't seem particularly excited. Patty was skeptical. "Did you actually put sugar in this frosting?" she asked. I don't think she could believe that Lilli wasn't more excited about actual sugar. Bob then tried to give her a bit more and I heard health food tyrant Randy cough "child abuse" under his breath. I just wanted to mention that because he was wondering when he would get mentioned on this blog. (Actually that's twice!) She ate a bit of cupcake too but overall I don't think it agreed with her. She smelled very pukey later, and although I didn't see her throw up, she must have spit up a bit into her sleeve when no one was looking. I'm kind of glad she wasn't that into it. I was scared the cupcake would spoil all my hard work getting her to like vegetables.

Finally, we opened the presents. And boy were there presents! Actually there were more because certain family members have been sneaking her early presents. Bob declared that I would not need to shop on eBay anymore, and she has enough toys to last her at least until Christmas I think. I kid, I kid. If we get anything more at Christmas, I don't know where we'll put it. Seriously. Anyway, it was fun for me to open up all her presents for her and I can't wait for her to wear some of the cute things she got. Don't worry. I'll take pictures.

Whee! Birthdays are fun!

Mama gets to help to open the presents. Byron and Megan got her that hat. The mittens are still attached but I think later we'll let her wear them on her hands.

The throng gathers to watch the first bite. . .(there's Randy whispering *child abuse*) :)

Finally! But now she's not so sure.

If you're not going to serve me when I say, what's the point of wearing this crown?

helloooo, people, how long is this going to take?

The princess awaits her first cupcake.

Although in danger of beating a dead horse, and I'm sure that certain members of my family find it amusing how outraged I got, I must return to the whole "comment" debacle in which someone said I should stop complaining. (By the way, no one has 'fessed up, so I am assuming it was a random person who wrote it. Either that or said person is fearing for their life. Rightly so.) Anyway, as you know, I was pretty mad. But I argued with myself, is this something to get so mad about? And so I asked family members and friends, and some thought I was justified, while others clearly thought I was losing my sanity and sense of perspective. (Being home all day will do that to you.) But then today, I read this article called "Debunking the Motherhood Myth" (http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/04/11/20/opi_goodman001.cfm), and I realized that I was mad at the person who wrote the comment but more angry at the fact that it was expressing a generalized feeling of our society. Yes, people, I was railing at society. You see, this article, through the very academic medium of Desperate Housewives, discusses how today in our society women who don't absolutely LOVE being stay at home moms or even those who don't radiate joy and happiness at every moment of their child rearing existence are deemed by society to be bad mothers. This is so totally unfair. After all, we are doing a difficult job and a service to society. Ellen Goodman puts it much more nicely than I ever could, so please read her article. I feel so vindicated. See! It's not just me! I don't think that just because we are mothers we should have to pretend like everything is perfect and happy all the time. Other people with other jobs don't have to just suck it up all the time!

OK, so onto another (semi related) topic on which to harp and rail at society. (My Aunt Linda thinks I should subtitle this blog "mommy rants" which from my last few weeks worth of posts would be appropriate. Hey, sorry for all the parentheses today.) Several people have commented to me how lucky I am that Bobby is such a great hands on type of father. I agree that this is wonderful. However. I wouldn't expect or accept anything less. And I don't think society should expect of accept anything less. By praising a dad for being "hands on" seems to me to send the message that being "hands on" is something extraordinary and special and that they are going above and beyond the call of duty. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying we shouldn't encourage and compliment fathers for the good work they do. We just shouldn't act like it's something special. I mean, how many times have you heard someone praise a mother for being "hands on?" Are you kidding? If a mother wasn't hands on she would be considered a very bad mother. On the other hand, a more distant father is just considered normal and traditional. I'm sorry, but I don't think we should consider Bob to be avant garde and progressive just for being a good father. That's his job. Yes, I'm lucky to have him and to have married him because he's a wonderful person. But I wouldn't consider Lilli lucky to have a great father. She's just getting what she deserves.

The words keep comin', hot and fast. I am constantly amazed, not because Lilli is a genius (which perhaps she is :)), but in a general scientific sense at how quickly babies progress. She now says mostly clearly and mostly in context, in addition to her already documented words:

bye bye
woof woof (as in the noise a dog makes)
mi mi (as in the noise a cat makes)
here (when she hands me something)
again
boobie (wonder where she learned that?)
what is this?
one more time! (some might argue with me on this one)

It seems like I'm missing a few, but don't worry! I'll be sure to keep you updated! :) She's just in general a much better communicator. She lets me know pretty clearly what she wants, like when she wants to nurse or go to bed or read a book or just be cuddled. And she makes so many funny expressions and faces, I think sometimes just to make us laugh and sometimes to exercise all those facial muscles, but also because she is exploring the different reactions she gets from different faces. It's fascinating, I tell you, fascinating!

FYI, Gymboree is having a special 30% off everything sale this weekend! I think you need a special code or something (which I can give you if you didn't get the email), and we REALLY don't need more clothes from Gymboree. . .but maybe I can buy a few sizes ahead! yeah! That's it! Dilemma solved!

Lilli totally SHOCKED me this morning. How you ask? She wouldn't eat her vegetables. This from the vegetable eating QUEEN. Maybe it's the cold dulling her tastebuds, but she sniffed at those vegetables like they were dog poop and made the most awful faces. THEN. She DEMANDED by yogurt. Really. She pushed those veggies out of the way and she pointed at my yogurt and she hollered at the injustice of our arrangement. But, but, but I said. That's my yogurt. But she wouldn't listen. And so little miss fussy pants ate my yogurt. And a huge block of tofu. But not vegetables. I hope this isn't the start of something new.

And here's Lilli when you open it up!
It reads, "Hi. My name is Lilli. Please come to my birthday party. I will be one year old!!!!!!!!!!!"

Here is the cutest birthday invitation in the world.

My Dad took this this morning while he was good enough to watch her while I got a nap. She was a bit grumpy too, and if you look closely, you can see the snotty nose. Mmmm.

House of Fog

We are all living in a fog over here. We all have colds, but worst of all is that Lilli has a cold. When baby has a cold, no one can be happy, least of all baby.

Last night we put her to bed around 9 but she kept waking up every half hour because the poor thing couldn't breathe very well. And, she's used to nursing to sleep but that was near impossible because that involves sucking in through the mouth and breathing in through the nose at the same time. Finally, we managed to sing her to sleep, and the one bright spot of the evening was Bob's joy at finally getting her to go to sleep all by himself! Of course, that didn't last long and she was up again. Finally I went to bed so that she wouldn't panic everytime she woke up and we managed to get a little bit of interrupted sleep. She must've gotten tired of the whole thing though around 5 am because she was ready to go. She was a little less stuffy so after playing a bit we managed to get her to nurse but then up again at 7, very fussy. As I tried to calm her, PROJECTILE VOMIT all over my front. Then Bob took her and HE got slimed and the whole floor too. I felt so bad for her. It definitely wasn't a little spit up. It was the horrible, uncomfortable, heaving kind of throw up. Mmmmm yummy. At that point we gave up and Bob was nice enough to get up with her so I could sleep another hour.

But now we are all very very tired. Sorry this post isn't very interesting. I don't have the energy for interesting. I am keeping my fingers crossed that she won't be as congested tonight. I don't know if we could survive more of the same. Dear Lord.

I have been thinking this morning about why this person's comment bothered me so much: http://lillirei.blogspot.com/2004/11/will-she-ever-be-predictable.html#comments

And I realized, I hate the idea that some might misunderstand my purpose or intent. Obviously, I've put my thoughts and feelings on the internet, and if that's not making things public, I don't know what is. So obviously, even though this blog is primarily for friends and family who are interested in my little family's lives, I've opened myself up the reaction of others to my thoughts and feelings, or at least those that I publish. I understand that is my own doing. And I am totally fine with people disagreeing with me. What I am not totally fine with is people taking advantage of my attempt at honestly expressing this experience and judging me after taking things out of the context in which I intend them. Yes, sometimes I get tired. Sometimes I wish Lilli would just take a nap already so that I could get a shower. Sometimes, as much as I love my life, it starts to feel a little monotonous. Do I feel guilty about feeling that way? Yes, sometimes. But I'm not perfect, and I don't want anyone to think I'm a perfect mother and this is just a tra la la good time. However, that doesn't mean that I'm not a good mother or that I don't love my daughter with all my heart. Or that I would ever "complain about having to spend time with her." I LOVE spending time with her. But it is HARD WORK keeping a baby entertained for many many hours and keeping her out of trouble. And so frequent breaks are nice. :)

Also, this is MY blog. And therefore I have the right to write whatever I desire. Out of respect to friends and family I try to limit the content to things relating to Lilli. But out of respect for myself, I have to write honestly and truthfully. And I don't really feel that I should have to defend my honest thoughts and feelings on MY blog. Obviously I have taken that step here, although Bob thought that I should have just ignored the whole thing, or trashed the comment entirely, which is my power as the site "administrator." But I think that we mothers are constantly being made to feel guilty for wanting a small slice of life away from our children or for not being in a perpetual state of maternal euphoria. So I felt that this was a good opportunity to rant. Plus, now I feel better.

Schuyler made the CUTEST birthday invitations ever for Lilli's birthday party. I can't wait for people to get them. And since Schuyler didn't bother to put that he made them anywhere on the card, people will think I did it, and be amazed at my creativity and artistry! Anywho, once I get one over to Dad I will make him take a picture of it so I can post it. But I wouldn't want to do it before you got yours in the mail anyway, and spoil the surprise. . .:) Of course, many of you live far far away and so I probably didn't send you an invitation so you will not get to enjoy the cuteness until I post it. Sorry. :( But on the bright side, you get to avoid coming to Lilli's birthday party, and pretending that it is not totally self indulgent to throw a huge birthday party for a one year old who doesn't know what is going on anyway. And pretending it is fun watching two idiotically loving parents coo over their baby's every bite of birthday cake (or the healthy equivalent thereof). So, be grateful :)

Anyway, on to other observations. You probably know anyway that my self deprecation is totally false. I will shamelessly coo over her on her first birthday. And think you are happy to watch. So. Lilli has been practicing standing on her own today. She only does it in the crib, probably because, weenie that she is, she knows that when she plops on her bottom that is the one place where it won't sting a bit. She'll stand up at the rail, very deliberately let go and stand a second until she decides she's losing her balance and so purposefully plops on her bottom before she goes sideways.

She's also being a very bossy little girl this week. She definitely has definite ideas about what she wants to do and what she wants US to do. She has taken to pulling up my shirt and making very demanding and loud noises when she wants to nurse. She will also poke emphatically at my bosom. And when she wants me to hold some toy or object and play with it, she will actually physically move my hands to wear she wants them and them open them up and place the object in my palm. If I do not then understand what she wants and to the WRONG THING, God forbid, she objects forcefully. Some of you know I was a bossy little girl. Maybe it is in the genes.

Will she ever be predictable?

OH, and have I mentioned how Lilli seems to be on a schedule of her own determining now? She usually wakes up around 8am and then she starts to get fussy around 11:30am and wants to take her nap. That means that after 3.5 hours she is so tired she needs another hour to three hours of sleep. Then. You would then expect her to go to bed pretty early. For example, if she wakes up at 2pm, you would expect her to go to sleep at least around 9pm. But no. She now seems capable of staying up happily for ten hours at a time. The day before yesterday she woke up at 1pm and so I tried to put her to bed at 8:30pm even though she didn't seem too tired. I reasoned that I was the adult, and that she SHOULD be tired. BIG MISTAKE. I spent two and half hours trying to get a struggling Lilli to go to sleep and she finally succumbed at 11pm. She probably fought it longer than she would have, except she wanted to prove her point. Typical. So yesterday I decided I would watch for her tired signs before I put her to bed and finally around 9:30 I heard a little fuss and rushed her under the covers and onto the boobie. She did go to sleep but she was awake for eight straight hours! I know that babies start needing fewer naps and can start being awake for longer periods, but I'm not ready!!!

Also, what is TOTALLY UNFAIR, is that Bob has had to work all day for the last three days, usually until 9:30 pm so I have had Lilli ALL DAY LONG, ALL TO MYSELF, and she has been awake nearly THE WHOLE TIME. Where is the justice in the world?

Dr. Phil should do a show on babies who are too cute for their own good.

Mmmm, books taste good. . .I can't wait to eat this one.

Playing at GMary's.

Are we DONE yet?

Yeeees, it is rather interesting. . .

Perhaps I could deign to be amused by your "slinky."

Hmmm, minions, your amusements are starting to wane. . .

More pictures from our "photo shoot." Mary took these. . .

Oprah and Julia

Did anyone watch Oprah the other day when Julia Roberts was on laughing like a hyena and talking about her twins? Did anyone hear when Julia mentioned off the cuff that you shouldn't eat peanuts when you are pregnant? Was anyone else as SHOCKED as I was? What??? I missed something after reading twenty gazillion books? It couldn't be! Julia must be wrong! After all, she is only an actress! I was totally in denial. Then I got on the trusty old internet, which should always be trusted, and it's TRUE! Oh my god, I consumed like five thousand jars of honey roasted peanuts while I was pregnant! And it's not just while you're pregnant. While you're lactating too! I am lactating! And I have consumed I do not know how many peanut containing products (Reese's peanut butter cups, Butterfingers, peanut sauce. . .)! Eek! (Sorry for all the melodrama and exclamation marks.) But I kind of feel betrayed. After all the research I did, and NO ONE saw fit to tell me this? Not one of my trusty baby book authors? Not my pediatrician? I guess maybe some baby experts do not agree with this research. And it is totally possible, like so many other things that supposedly scientific experts have put forward, that it is all bunk. The theory is, that if you have allergies or if anyone in your family or your husband's family has allergies, you should avoid peanuts because it has been shown that your child may then develop a peanut or other type of allergy from the tiny amount of peanuts that enters the baby's body either through the placenta or breastmilk. Now, since Bob is allergic to shellfish and cats and there are other people with allergies in the family, I might have actually tried to avoid them, although as a vegetarian I do try to eat peanuts as a protein source. Oh well, I guess it's too late now. All those little allergens have already entered Lilli's body so we will just have to wait and see. I'm guessing she'll be ok. In fact, I'm just remembering that I FED her peanut butter for dinner so I am so totally stupid. Oops, all that panic for nothing. Sorry.

Who's feeding who here?

Maybe because I spend SO MUCH time feeding Lilli, Lilli thinks that all we grown up humans do is feed each other. In any case, Lilli has taken to feeding me, and she takes the job very seriously. When I feed her her meals, I often give her some finger food to keep her occupied. Something like tofu or cheerios. Well, lately, when she's full of cheerios or whatever, she's been very insistently putting them in my mouth or placing them carefully in my hand for me to give to the dog. This evening she demanded that she put the cheerio in my mouth and when I told her I didn't want it and to put it in my hand, she looked around first to see if the dog was there. When she discovered he wasn't around, she refused to put it in my hand. It MUST be put in my mouth and I MUST eat it. If she doesn't see me chewing she is not satisfied. After she ran out of cheerios to stuff me with, she started picking up imaginary cheerios and putting those in my mouth. Much less filling, but I still had to pretend. I guess it's only fair if that she eats for me that I eat for her. The dog likes this arrangement anyway as he is often the beneficiary as well!

On her own two feet!

Lilli stood today, all by herself, for five WHOLE seconds. I've been pretty confident that she's had the ability to stand on her own for awhile as she is very sturdy, but she's also so cautious that I had to kind of trick her into doing it. She crawled up to me as she often does when she wants to be picked up, and she climbed up my leg until she was standing. Then, she usually kind of puts her hands up (usually one hand touching my leg for balance) until I pick her up. Well, today, feeling sneaky, when she put her hands up I kind of stepped an inch back and stalled a bit and, lo and behold, she stood there with her arms upraised and feet apart just standing away. Then, all of a sudden, she realized I had tricked her and that she was standing WITHOUT SOMEONE THERE TO HOLD ON TO and she got all nervous and plopped on her bottom and was really pissed at me for tricking her. Hopefully she will forget how I tricked her and I will manage to do it again. Mua ha ha ha!

Then I had to buy her these overalls because I had the matching sweater. They were like $14 including shipping but they were never worn and fully lined. Plus they have the cute matching skater girl. So I was totally justified! Right? She does look really cute in them though. My dad even said so, and what does he know? (just kiddin' dad)

Bought her these leggings the other day for very cheap. Man, I am so addicted to buying cheap things. But look! Tulips! I love tulips!

Hey! Look at me and my scary eyebrows! (Sorry, it had been awhile since I'd been in public with makeup, I kinda forgot how to do it!)

http://www.nwsource.com/shopping/columns/kschultz/kathy_110404.html

Super Baby Food??

As I've blogged here before, I've been feeding Lilli a diet based on a book I got her called "Super Baby Food." It's a little long winded for a pretty simple premise but it has a lot of good ideas in it. Anyway, I tend to feed her a lot of healthy vegetables, some that do not seem too palatable to me or very many other people, when in pureed form. However, Lilli LOVES the vegetables. She'll eat the fruits and is starting to like them a lot more now, but for a long time vegetables were her favorite things and pretty much the only thing she'd eat with much gusto.

ANYWAY, I've been thinking about this, and I think that we, as adults, have a lot of prejudices about what is palatable to babies. I mean, I was perplexed that Lilli preferred green beans to peaches. I mean, that was fine with me, but I didn't understand it. After all, I prefer peaches. I also had a hard time with some of the vegetables the book recommended I feed Lilli. After all, pureed kale is kind of gross to me, so I assumed it wouldn't be very enticing to Lilli. But she loved it! Maybe if we had all eaten kale as babies we'd love it as adults!! So then I realized that my own prejudices were getting in the way. I had assumed that Lilli would prefer peaches to kale when in fact all these foods were equally new and exciting to her!And really, (stick with me on this one) what is "gross"? Isn't it a subjective term? Don't we think that pureed kale is gross because we were taught to think it was gross?

I think that a lot of parents go through this. We like pureed fruit and other sweets, so we think, oh, baby will love it too. So we give them fruit more often and skimp on the vegetables. And therefore we raise babies that prefer sweets and hate vegetables. We often want our children to enjoy sweets because we enjoy them and want to share that with them, but who's to say they won't love vegetables just as much if that is what they learn to enjoy?

After all, have you heard about the Australians who love Vegemite? Have you ever tasted Vegemite?? Well, I haven't either, but I've heard it's a very acquired taste. And do you know how Austrailians acquired it? By eating it as kids. Or Japanese people and their nasty fermented soybeans. I should probably start shoveling them into Lilli early, before she realizes how completely disgusting they are. See? See the prejudice? If it's obvious to Lilli that I find fermented soybeans disgusting, little absorbent sponge that she is, won't she learn from me to find them disgusting too? So, unfortunately, I think we also have to live by example. . .

So, anyway, I'm committed to trying to get Lilli to like healthy foods and not assume that just because I like sweet foods, that Lilli should like them too. I want Lilli to enjoy food, but I want her to be the healthiest she can be too. The best way for that is to get her to love healthy foods. The author of the book says her baby eats brewer's yeast. If she's managed that, well, I can manage to get Lilli to eat a little kale.

Finally, I'm not going to name any names, but there are some grandparents out there, on both sides of the family, who can't wait to get Lilli alone and start corrupting her with ice cream and sweets. :) I appreciate that they love her and want her to enjoy these things that they enjoy themselves. But aren't they assuming that Lilli will enjoy these things so much just because they enjoy them? Maybe, someday, if I am very lucky, Lilli will say to me "mom, do I have to finish my ice cream and cake? Can I have more broccoli instead?" That will be the day.

The Next Apprentice?

Lilli's hair, well, I think she is a cutie pie, but I think her hair is starting to look like Donald Trump's. She has the thin, cotton candy airy, tall, growing in a weird direction hair thing going on. The thing is, what can we do? I don't really want to cut it because I want her to grow it out a little and look like a little girl. At the same time, she often looks like a mad scientist with her hair sticking out over her ears (think the crazy guy from Back to the Future), or, Donald Trump. Neither are very good. I wish it was a little thicker so I could make it lie down. Well, soon enough. I guess now she still looks very babyish and I am grateful for that. It might be too much for me if she looked like a little toddler already.

New thing she is doing: helping me when I'm getting her dressed. She still doesn't like it much and protests a little but it's so cute how after I've put her shirt over her head how she sticks her arms out one by one and pushes them through the armholes. Makes my life easier anyway. Used to be it was like, well, I was going to make a birth analogy here, but it sounded kind of gross. Suffice it to say, uh, it is not a struggle anymore. Now if she would only help me with the pants!

The Words Keep a Comin'

Lilli has made a ton of language developments today. Gosh, it is so weird how babies progress so quickly. Literally they can be totally different from one day to the next. The first thing she did this morning was something I didn't want her to do. She was touching something I didn't want her to touch and usually the way I get her to stop is to say ah ah ah is a loud halting voice. Usually this gets her to stop in her tracks and sometimes she does it again but she always does while looking at me with this look that says she knows she's not supposed to be doing it. WELL. Today she stopped, looked at me, touched it again, and said ah ah ah back to me like that was what she was supposed to do and I was teaching her what to say when touching said object. Hmmm. So now I am going to have to figure out a new way to get her to stop doing things. She is getting sneaky :)

Then, I meant to blog this yesterday but she did it again today: when Bob asked her where his nose was, Lilli touched his nose! And very gently too with her delicate little index finger. No grabbing and pulling like she sometimes does with my nose in the mornings. So I asked her to touch my nose and lo and behold, she touched it!

THEN, we were reading her Happy Baby ABC's book, which she loves, and she kept saying "happy baby, happy baby." That's right. She said a WHOLE PHRASE. I knew she was a genius! Maybe she's also learned "happy" because we've been singing Happy Birthday to her in preparation for the big day. Oh, AND, she's been bringing me books all day to read to her. She'll drag a book over and then put it in my lap or hand and look at me expectantly. When in the world did she become such a little person!?! Did I mention she's a genius?!?