23 months! Last month I get to say months, so sad! Its crazy to think that Miss Lucy has been here for almost 2 years. Sometimes I wonder where the time went and other times I think how has it only been 2 years? Not sure how she can just amaze me everyday. She learns new words every day. She plays new games and comes up with little songs all the time. She is like a little ninja, she can be quiet and sneaky, one min she is here petting Frank and the next thing I know she has a book and wants me to read it. She remembers where I hide things from her and hours later retrieves them and has them in the front room, or she remembers there were cookies or some kind of treat in the counter before her nap and will ask for it the minute she wakes up. I love, love, love the way she tucks everything in, her baby, lamby, or even Frank. She will tuck herself in, in the most random places and act like she is sleeping by snoring really loud. She will do a summersault and clap for herself. She loves to spin around till she is dizzy and fall over. She sings her favorite songs (ABC's, twinkle, twinkle and itsy bitsy spider) and will do some of the hand motions. We've been working on Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes with the movements. While picking raspberries the other day she caught on rather quickly and was picking mostly the red ones every now and again there was a pink one but she was rather pleased to be helping. When I go out to my garden she is quite the little helper. I can hand her a zucchini, cucumber, pepper, basically anything she can carry and she will go put it in the bowl next to the door. She sometimes will help herself to the cherry tomato bush or just pick a tomato she demes worthy and bites into it like an apple. She still loves food, but seems to be getting a little pickier. She loves strawberry, peach or key lime yogurt but was not a fan of vanilla. She has figured out that when I use a whisk there is something tasty on them and will come beg for them while I'm mixing. Lucy loves balloons, even ones that I just blow up. She throws them in the air and kicks them around. If they have helium in them she loves to pull the string or hold them and hit things with them and then laugh and laugh. I love the sound of her laugh I can't get enough, especially when you really get her going, its just contagious. She uses please and thank you all the time. If she is really excided about something she begs "peas, peas, peas!". When she starts throwing fits I ask her to use her words and it ends up being "peas! mama!" which isn't a lot of help. But it is pretty cute.
I've figured out that she eats so much better if I will sit down with her and eat. So the other day I gave her, her bowl and went back to get mine. When I sat down she folded her arms and bowed her head and started saying prayer (not one that I could understand, just for the record)...Talk about a humbling moment! When my little girl reminds me to pray over food.
Yesterday in the car I put in Finding Nemo and when Nemo got caught by the scuba divers Lucy go worried and kept saying "oh 'no", "mama, oh 'no!" it was so cute. I couldn't help but laugh out loud. She loved the rest of the movie kept yelling "fishes!" and clapping.
She had started catching on to all the animal noises. I think my favorite is the growling that she thinks alligators make.
Still loves books. Every night I can go room to room and pick up at least 3-4 books she drug in there to "read". She also reads to Frank and her baby.
I think she is ready for potty training but I'm not sure I am! The other night she said "pee, pee?" so I pulled her diaper off and she sat on her potty, making faces and funny noises and when she stood up she had actually gone potty! She was rather proud of her self. I guess I should catch up!
I have a feeling this little cutie is going to give me a run for my money. But I can't wait, I love every moment.
I was looking forward to this camp out for quite awhile. We have been only doing this for a few years and it is crazy to think back to all the fun that we have had. Its odd to think of all my nieces and nephews growing up. Looking around I realize that everyone is adjusting to some sort of of change. Some more obvious than others. The Counters are sending their oldest Megan to collage. The Solomon's suddenly have 3 teenagers and Anna. The Melville's are adjusting to living in Utah and in a place of their own. The Schmalboch's just moved to Utah as well, and Luke is getting so big. It is nice to know I am not alone in this world of change. I do not often willingly admit to this but, I miss my mom. I miss knowing I can call her and get advice on anything, or just to talk. I miss the feeling of comfort and protection that a mother can provide. Often when I let Satan get the better of me he convinces me that I am alone. That I am on my own to figure things out. But as I drove away from camp today I had such an over whelming feeling of comfort, and love. I realized that I am surrounded by mothers, each and everyone of my sisters are incredible mothers. I can call them for whatever, whenever, I know that they love me. I realized just how protective they are of me, and that they truly want what is best for me. I am so thankful for the family support system that I have. This amazing network of people that help to fill my life with so much. I know that I do not have to morn the loss of my mother figure in my life because I have been provided with many. Thank you to my sisters for being who you are. I have missed time with you all, which is why now I hold on to traditions like these with a white knuckle fist. I know their importance and am thankful for all of you for humoring me in my endeavors, and forgiving me of my short comings.
Anyways Redfish didn't disappoint! We had so much fun. Lucy was spoiled by everyone,and became a little explorer herself. She enjoyed stomping through the dirt and playing with the gravel. Walking in the water and being chased by cousins. I enjoyed watching her thrive in an environment of people that she knew loved her. The first day we got there we were a little down because we were 20 minuets down the road from the lake, but first thing the 5 of us ladies hunted down camp spots and successfully landed 2 that would work. After an afternoon of moving we went to play in the water and with jet skis. The second day was a nice relaxing day of playing and eating too much. We headed to the lodge for ice cream and some music, where a few of the cute cousins were spotted for a Redfish commercial. The next day we organized ourselves and headed on a hike to 4th of July lake, everyone made it. We got back in time for some dinner. After most of the crowd headed for the hot springs and a dip in the river. And we all gathered for a last night of s'mores and hot chocolate. Here is to another successful year up there.
Lets see...where to start. Lucy loves to sing and dance. She watches Dinosaur Train and Sesame Street. She loves to color with crayons in books or chalk on the side walk. She is always so happy, always singing songs of her own tune. She has started to tell stories and thinks she can carry conversations. As long as you say oh really or ok or you think so in the right spots she'll continue in her gibberish. She likes to pick and eat cherry tomatoes. And still loves to play in the water or sprinklers.
She feeds Frank in the mornings, I ask her if Frank needs food and she goes and gets a cup of his food, She loves to run back and forth and fill his bowl. And now Frank always gets fed, yay for Frank.
We went to Jerome a couple of weekends ago and Lucy got to play with her cousins. And see her Grandparents. She will look through photo albums and point to each person and say their name. She seems to warn up to people a bit faster. She is always waving at who knows what and saying hi or bye.
She is so smart, and is truly like a little sponge, she picks up everything. We have started to work a little bit with colors, but mainly numbers and letters still. For some reason she doesn't say three, she'll count 1,2,4. Either way it pretty cute.
She is starting to put more words into sentences. And almost always says please. When she get really excided about something she says, pea, peas, peas!
Lucy loves her books, she will sit and look at books. and always brings me books to read to her.
She kneels, folds her arms, and closes her eyes during prayer now, and even says amen. It is super sweet. Sometimes in sacrament meeting she will clap her hands and say yay after, its pretty funny.
Kind of funny, but not. She says Frank, Food, Feet and Foot all of which if you don't listen closely sounds like a rather bad word.
She loves to "meow" at Mittens and "ruff" at Frank. She says "cheese" when you take her picture and gives you the biggest corniest smile she possibly can.
I can't believe how many people she has under her spell. I love this little girl so much and am amazed by her every day.
Took Lucy to Roaring Springs last Tuesday. It opened at 11, and we were there at 10...so we wondered around for a hour before we got in. Lucy seemed to have fun but was tired after an hour. So we went home, napped and ate lunch before heading back. Round two was much better. She loved the wave pool and when it stopped she'd point and look at me saying "oh'no." She found a tube in the kiddie area toward the end of the day and was rather happy to just lay in it and let us drag her around.
Lucy helped herself to breakfast the other morning, apparently I was not fast enough! She took a bite out of every one of those buns! On the bright side she was willing to share :)
Lucy, Lucy, Lucy...where to start! My little firecracker! All month for some reason I was thinking Lucy was already 21 months and that today would be 22 months, so today I feel like I gained a month! Anyway, she is growing and learning so much everyday. She has added ring-around-the-roses, to ABC's, Twinkle, Twinkle, Itsy Bitsy Spider, and many other tunes that are hers. She still dances and sways whenever there is music. Loves to play in the water!
Every morning she comes into my room, runs around to my side and says "mama, milk?" or "mama, bar" or "mama, cheese." Normally I pick her up and put her on my bed and she yells "Frank!" and is then distracted for 15 minutes or so.
The other day she was ripping apart my flower so after repeatedly saying "soft" I slapped her little hand and said no. She went, got into her pool sat down and started pulling herself around it in circles, crying, no not crying but more of talking back to me!...She has the funniest little personality.
She has started to come out of her shell a little bit more, waving, saying bye and blowing kisses to people. As long as they are a good distance away.
We have been working on saying prayers before bed and she will now kneel beside me and fold her arms. So the next step is saying amen. She was too cute at dinner on Sunday. We said prayer and began to eat and then she would fold her arms and talk and then look up and say what kind of sounded like a combination of "amen" and "all done." She picks things up rather quickly. I really have to watch what I do around her.
Her other recent trick, is putting her babies in bed, turning on her fan saying "night,night " and closing the door.
She is getting really good at all her puzzles and we are working on recognizing the first 5 letters in the alphabet, and continuing numbers. She can do some animal noises as well as point out some animals she knows. My favorite is when she "ruffs" at Frank, or will bring me the duck puzzle piece and quack.
