Friends and Fun

Since the last post, Lily started doing to most amazing thing. She brings a book to me, hands it to me, and reaches up to get on my lap. "Mom, please read me this book!" I love, love, love, this! She clearly prefers some books over others and now, instead of the reader picking their favorites, Lily gets to voice her own opinion and choose the book she would like to hear. She still likes to page through books on her own (as evidence shows in the picture above), but sometimes prefers to curl up in my lap and hear the story she's chosen. I'm so glad we have a book lover. Reading books creates so many opportunities to learn and have fun!

We celebrated having Daddy home for an afternoon by heading to the Como Zoo. Above she is pointing at the zebras (even though it's in a different picture). I think she appreciated it a bit more this time since she's older. However, since she is learning to walk, she kept wanting to get down and walk on her own. This is fine, however she is still unstable holding just one hand and often falls (and walks in circles!) so we have to bend over to reach both hands to guide her along (major backaches!). Plus, she really has gotten a mind of her own and sometimes refuses to walk in the direction we want her to. Although chasing her will be exhausting, I'm looking forward to being able to just hold her hand and walk together:)

"That's alright girls, I'll take it from here" - Lily
Lily's friends Hailey and Taylor graciously allowed her to try out their car. Hailey did a great job pushing Lily. I was skeptical that she would like to sit on it since she's not a fan of sitting on anything for more than a second however, she loved it! When her ride was over, she started shaking the wheel as if to get it to move forward again!

Yikes! Is this foreshadowing of Lily in 15 years? Vroom, vroom!

We spent the day in New London on Sunday for the annual Quale Family Corn Feed. Lily had lots of fun splashing in the pool, walking everyone around the yard, and chasing Dave's Aunt and Uncle's dog. Because of this, we officially know she can say "puppy". Well, it sounds like "puppa", but it's clearly her version of puppy since she kept repeating it while going after the puppy. Also, I'm pretty sure she can say "ball" she more clearly states it when playing with her balls at home. I also swore she was trying to say "butterfly" the other day when I was pointing to butterfly wall hangings in her room. It sounded like "butherfy". Ok, that might be a stretch, but she is clearly trying out more sounds and words. Sometimes she just jabbers away and it sounds like she is using real words but you just can't understand it. I'm sure she understands so much more than she can verbalize. She appears to understand Mom, Dad, hug, kiss, ball, puppy, and let's go. It's so amazing to see her beginning to develop language skills. Eventually, we'll be able to hear what is going on in that sweet little head of hers.

Lily kept splashing so hard she would get water in her eyes. She would sputter and blink and keep on splashing...much to our amusement:)

Lily got to play with Dave's cousin's little boy Conner. He was so nice to pour water for her to feel. Adorable!

Lily visited her boys, Dex and Jax, for a belated celebration for their 2nd birthday. As you can see, the wrapping paper was a hit! I'm so thankful Lily has friends in our housing complex. She started squealing with excitement as we walked the stairs to visit the boys because she heard them inside!