What a difference a few weeks make! July 4th weekend, Lily took her first wobbly steps in-between Blake and me or my Mom and me (see 1st video at bottom). The following weeks were frustrating for the both of us. She wanted to walk - crawling was all of the sudden not cool anymore - but did not want to let go of my finger. I, on the other hand, tried to tell myself that I should cherish this brief time when she wanted my assistance and companionship, but still grew tired of walking in super slow circles around our house all day.
At the end of July or the first of August we had a small break-through in the church lobby where - to the great delight of us and our friends nearby - she took off with 10-15 steps instead of 3-5. She was really enjoying herself, and the attention, until she fell and bloodied her lip on the floor.
A few more weeks passed - Blake and I went to Costa Rica and back - and she still COULD walk, but just did not seem to want it bad enough to let go. Then finally, early this week it clicked. Now there is no stopping those chubby little legs. She is a much happier kid.
Two key components of her new love of being upright are number one, her pink jellies and number two, her purse. She loves to play with all her shoes and will inevitably come to me with either both pink jellies or one jelly and one other random shoe and want me to put them both on her. Last night she slept with both jellies in bed with her and had them in-hand when we went to get her this morning. She also likes to have at least one of them in the bathtub.
Her purse contains a plastic girl in a bunny costume from Easter, the letter "T", two home-strung hot pink necklaces, plastic lipstick, a crayon or two, a few stray Cheerios and a plastic mirror - just the necessities of course. She loves to carry that think all over the house (see 2nd video at the bottom) as if she really has somewhere important to go. I am amazed at how Blake and I produced such a girly child.
Her "Faves"
Lily still loves animals and it has gotten to the point that if we are in a store with a display of stuffed creatures of any species, I know to schedule 5 or 10 extra minutes for Lily to hug each one (see pic below). Her favorite ones seem to be the ones that are as big or bigger than she is. At home she always goes for an old teddy bear that was mine and is a head taller than she is. She tries to carry him around without much success.
Lily has two new favorite people - my aunt Terri and our friend Grant. Her fondness for Terri may have something to do with the fact that she looks and sounds like Grana or the fact that Terri works in a children's store and is quick to pass out the above mentions animals anytime we stop by. Whatever it is, Lily is crazy over her. Anytime she sees her picture she gleefully points and either begins saying "Hi" or "T" over and over.
Grant is one of our good friends and has been around Lily all her life. She's always liked the fact the he typically has a ball cap on, but recently her crush has grown incredibly. She goes straight for him at our home Bible study and then when she gets there, she'll cock her head to the side and grin like she's shy or something. On Sunday mornings, even if she is fussy, when she sees Grant she perks up and starts pointing at him.
Eating apples whole is a new thing for Lily that she picked up at Nana's house. She gets so excited to hold the whole thing like she's really a big shot or something. When I started writing all of this, she was eating an apple in her high chair (see pic below) and saying app-le over and over and then she said Bi-ble. She just looked at me confused like she knew that wasn't right and then started saying app-le again.
What She's Learning
Her vocab has really increased from words that I think I can understand to clear and consistent declarations of whatever is in front of her. Her best-said words are: no, bye bye, hello, hi, drink, bread, apple, Bible, Amen (sort of), Daddy, Coop (or Goop) for Cooper, green, dog, bear, ball, more, snack (nack), light, and thank you (more like "taint too" - Grana taught her this one while we were out of town). She's got lots more that she's working on and it's so fun to hear her figure out how to say something new and then begin using it like she's always known.
She loves music and has learned to make motions to The Itsy Bitsy Spider, This Little Light of Mine (from Nana) and God Made Me (from Grana). She has also been working on her dance moves, although her rhythm is proving no better than mine or Blake's, poor thing. I'm also pretty sure she knows the color "green" and the letter "B", but that may just be wishful thinking.
The animal sounds she knows for the most part are those made by the dog, cat, horse (I am guessing Grana taught her this one), fish (this one is really cute and she picked it up at Nana's), cow, donkey (my favorite - although sometimes she does it backwards - "haw-he" instead of "he-haw"), and the tiger bear and lion - which are all are the same, a roar that she whispers.
I am sure I have left out some things - after all she is a genius (according to Blake) - but that is plenty of typing for now.
What an amazing little blessing she is to us and I am so thankful to get to sit back and watch in amazement as she grows and figures out the world around her.
This is what happens when I leave her alone with the Cheerios box.
Some walking action.
