First Visit to the Beach (Jersey Shore)

Dear Lily,

Yesterday was the first time you ever saw the ocean, sand, real boats in the water, kites, arcade games, and more. It was one of the hottest days of the year and yet you had a great time. Here we are walking to beach:

You quickly started to help Daddy dig a hole for the umbrella:

You finally figured out how to drink from straw:

You spent most of the time running around the beach with your bucket on your arm. You didn't want to put anything in the bucket. I think it was more of an accessory. Also note that you are wearing shoes. You did NOT like the feel of sand on your feet but you were just fine as long as you had shoes on.

Taking something out of your bucket (that Mommy probably put in there):

You loved walking in the water and laughed a lot when the waves crashed. You got knocked over a few times but didn't seem to mind.

Taking a walk with Daddy:

After the beach we went to Carmen's beach house to shower and cool off. You were very happy hanging out on the porch watching all the boats drive by.

Close up of you eating a cookie:

Then we went to the board walk where we ate gelato. Your first experience eating gelato and it was pretty clear that you love it:

You and Daddy posing in front of all that gelato:

Then we went to the nickel arcade. You fell in love with this ball game:

After skee ball you got to ride in this car with all the animals. You were turning that steering wheel just like you were really driving. You did not want leave here and probably would have stayed in that driver's seat the rest of the night if Mommy and Daddy had let you.

Posing like the monkey:

Looking at the seagulls.

You were an excellent traveller and I can't wait to do it again!

Love,

Mommy

Boardwalk

We had a fun time at the beach today. More to come later.

Day at the Please Touch Museum

Today your friend Tierney invited you to the Please Touch Museum. Your friends Charlie and Grace also decided to join us. I was never able to get a picture of you with any of your friends because everyone was running in every direction. As usual, you took a long time to warm up. You spent a solid hour making observations and sizing the place up. I imagine that you were walking around making mental notes and computing all kinds of factors (such as: Is Mommy leaving me here? Is that carpet, I don't like to touch carpet. Why is that kid crying? I am waiting for the perfect time to play. Careful, don't smile yet, Mommy doesn't need to know that this is already fun.).

We actually did have a wonderful time (even before you warmed up). The music room and pianos was by far your favorite. Here are some pictures of the day:

Riding the carousel:

You loved pushing this button that made air blow the balls up:

Shopping in the play grocery store. You picked out food to put in your cart. Very cute:

The same door you opened last time you were at the museum except now you are much bigger:

You got a little spooked in this Alice and Wonderland room. The floor was on an incline:

You seemed most comfortable at the tiny baby grand piano:

Here are some videos:

Love,

Mommy

Update: 15 months

Dear Lily,

Yesterday you turned 15 months old. You are growing up so fast. You learn new skills everyday. With every knew skill you learn, Mommy and Daddy have to quickly learn new parenting skills. You went from barely walking to running. You are good at indicating what you want and you aren't very happy when you don't get your way. We are trying to teach you to share and take turns but you are not exactly on board with these ideas. It's a work in progress.

You are a tiny person with a big sense of humor. Sometimes when we are just sitting around, you'll reach over to start tickling me. Then you tickle Daddy. Then you tickle yourself and make us tickle you too. You constantly point to each one of us and say "Mama," "Dada," then of course "Lily." You love to pretend you are talking on the phone. You put any kind of toy that resembles a phone up to your ear and have long conversations.

You have shown a recent interest in drawing. You love to scribble and watch Mommy draw pictures. Yesterday I traced your hand. You got a big kick out this and starting waving to your hand on the paper. I drew a clock and told you "now we have to put hands on it." You immediately slapped your hand on top of the clock. I had to explain that clocks have different kinds of hands.

Your fascination and knowledge of letters is astounding. We never directly taught you any letters, but it turns out you can identify and say most of the letters of the alphabet. You can read your name like a pro! You have memorized some of your favorite books and will say some of the words before we do!

Your ability to say words has exploded in the past month. You will try to imitate almost any word. You have 30 word approximations that you consistently use on your own. Since Mommy is a speech-language pathologist I'm going to list them all here:

Mama more shoe Amy (your babysitter)

Dada lae (flag) ball duh (duck)

Lily up moo ka (quack)

no nana(banana) mea (meow) Elmo

baby doo (juice) baa tihta (tickle)

bye-bye mih (milk) beebee (binky)

moon ka (clouds) night night

boo-boo one seepee (sleeping)

boo(blue) two tee (tree)

I would still consider you a picky eater but you have made much progress in the past month. Most notably, you have discovered the awesomeness of fruit. You love grapes, bananas, peaches, and pears. You are even eating a few vegetables.

You are still sleeping through the night BUT you are also still waking up super early. You typically wake up around 5:30am. Mommy dreams of the day you sleep until 7:00am. In order for Mommy and Daddy to get a little extra rest, we bring you into our bed in the morning and let you watch Sesame Street. This morning was the first morning you pointed to the TV in request to watch your show. I am not thrilled about this. There are those things you say you will never do when you are pregnant and this is one of them. You have developed a love for Elmo that probably won't subside anytime soon.

You bring so much love and energy to this house! Can't wait to see what next month brings!

Love,

Mama

Big kid at the library

We still go to the library nearly every week. Your interests have
changed from pushing around a toy shopping cart to sitting at the
table to read books and do puzzles. I am amazed by how much you grow
everyday!

Knock knock

Who's there?

Swimming

You seem to have already spent a lot of time in your swim suite this
summer. We have been going to our local pool and you have become a
real water baby. You LOVE to go in the big pool and splash with Mommy.
You are good at kicking your legs in the water and jumping off the
edge of the pool into my arms. I can never get a picture of you in the
water because I'm always holding you. Here's a picture of you playing
with toys in the baby pool.

Alphabet

Dear Lily,

We knew you liked letters but you gave us a bit of a shock tonight. You kept pointing to the letters on Mommy's shirt during dinner and when we asked you what they were you got them all right. So we took out your alphabet puzzle to see what you could do. As you can see from the video you proved yourself quite capable.

Though we are always asking you questions and teaching you about the world we haven't done much with the alphabet. You must be picking the letters up from the Sesame Street books we read to you every night before bed. Maybe we should start reading you physics textbooks. Or maybe books on how to count cards at Black Jack for whenever we go to Vegas.

Fourth of July

Dear Lily,

The highlight of this Fourth of July was going to our township's parade, which lasted all of 8 minutes. We got all kinds of candy, that Daddy ate, some pinwheels and flags. Later that night we had a get together at our place. We originally planned to take you to the fireworks show like we did last year, but you were all tuckered out from having such a busy day. Oh, the life of a one-year-old socialite.

By the look on your face, which we've never seen you make before, you are quite concerned with what's going on in this parade. This is especially funny to us because you are usually so good at keeping your poker face on during all situations where one would normally express shock and horror. This, however, was an exception.

Out For A Swing

Swings are one of your top 8 most favorite things in the world.

Tree Hugger

Save the trees!

Soccer With Daddy

Here we are in the basement watching last week's USA match against Ghana. Though our boys weren't able to pull out a win, we had fun watching.

Up From A Nap

"Please, no pictures right after I've woken up! It's in my contract!"