Thank you Auntie Monica and Paula

So how adorable is this. My friends mom, Paula, made this adorable shirt for my girl. It has two trains on the front and the caboose is on the back. Please excuse all the photos but it is just so cute I couldnt help myself.

Feel the pressure

Let me start off by saying that Lily has done everything LATE. I have learned not to pay any attention to the developmental scales and baby books because they made me sick with worry. Lily started crawling six days after her first birthday she walked nearing the end of her 18th month and didn't start talking until well into her second year. If you know me you know I am a worry wart. I had a lot of scenarios and theories in my head. The funniest is that when we got her referral pictures it looked as if her ears sat low on her perfect head. Low ear syndrome is what I named it and so I searched the internet for anything that had to do with low ears. My friend Monica told me with utmost patience that her ears looked perfect. Auntie Monica was right, perfect ears! So for the most part I have accepted the fact that Lily will do things when she is good and ready and have completely stopped comparing her to other children her age. Until.......................................................

Wednesday at our staff meeting a woman who works for my district, who happens to be, literally the smartest educator there is, came to speek to us. She was talking about how vocabulary development is so very important especially for the population of children I work with. She was saying how children who come from professional families know 1100 words by the time they are four. Children of poverty know 600 words. Yes, you saw that right 1100. And the amount of words they know is directly correlated to how well they will learn to read. How well they read by 3rd grade is directly correlated to the level of education they will persue. I felt small beads of sweat forming on my brow. The worry has snuck back in. I was like well I only have about 700 words to teach my sassy girl in like 7 months time. Holy SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!! That is 100 words a month! So Wednesday I came home and just started talking to Lily about anything and everything. After about an hour or so of hanging with me she looked at me and said SHHHHHHHHHH mommy stop talkin to me! 6 words she knows 1094 more to go :)

Happy Valentines Day

This is our very first fridge art I'm a true mama now. Although Lily insists these are Dillon's hands. She is funny.Lily said that she would be her Papa's Valentine.
She wore a spinny skirt just for him.

She got some good loot from Nonnie and Papa.

Papa got his Valentine a teddy bear.

And he took her to the Merry go Round. That is an unsure smile if I ever saw one.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Feel the Love!

Today was a party at Lily's school. I just had to go so I left work a little early and Nonnie and I took Lily to her preschool. She was so excited about the valentines she made. She kept telling us how she was going to make her friends happy. Super super sweet. We got to the party and she was to shy to move off my lap but I am so happy I went.Hiding behind Nonnie.

Sofia wondering what in the world could be wrong with this girl :)

Hearts on the butt is too cute and gasp she is wearing a skirt. It took a little bribery but it is possible.
Home in her comfort zone she is all smiles.

Toddler Logic!

We as aspiring wonderful parents who are trying to raise a child who is sensitive, responsible, conscious of her environment ect ect............ well we gave Lily her first chore. Aren't we smart. so Lily's chore is to feed her dog. Every evening she runs to his food bin with joy in the responsibility we have given her and sits and watches Stuey eat his food and then picks the bowl up and puts it in the sink. Just thinking of it makes me want to pat myself on the back aren't I smart. I wonder if you can tell this is going to backfire and backfire it has. Lily not only loves her puppy but also thinks she is a puppy. She often barks at our company crawling on all fours she even shakes her little bootie saying look mommy I waggin my tail. Can you tell where this is going. I walk into the kitchen and Lily is sharing the dogs food. She is on all fours right next to Stuey and they both have their little faces in the dog dish. Luckily we have quite a tolerant dog. I take Lily to the bathroom so that she can spit the food out and I say Lily little girls don't eat dog food. That food is just for Stuey. She looks at me with the most earnest little innocent eyes and says "but mommy I a puppy!" Well who can argue with that logic. Guess I'll go back to feeding the dog.

Makin Valentimes

Lily has a Valentine Party to attend at school on Friday. She has been talking about making Valentime cards for several weeks. So we went to our local craft store and got some supplies. It was absolutely heartbreaking that a nap had to be had before we could do our crafts. When she woke up we got to business. She was very cute telling me who each valentine was for. Matthew got three Valentines. I think she really hearts him. I can't wait to meet everyone in her class. I drop her off before school and my mom picks her up so I've never met her little friends I hear so much about.

Random facts about Lily

I haven't been carrying my camera everywhere lately so there are no good pictures of sassy lately but Lily is just doing so much it is hard to keep up with her so here are some random facts.

1. Lily loves to tell me I not comin mommy in several situations bedtime, bathtime, dinnertime all those daily mundane things one must do. The funny thing is she is always happily following me even though she has said she is not coming. If daddy is near she grabs his finger and says we not comin mommy.

2. Lily is becoming increasingly creative about extending bedtime. First she tries clining to me in big pathetic sobs saying I just want you. Next she has to pick out her socks. Then she must decide which foot will be first then she needs to decide where she is going to climb into her crib next we must cover her up with all three covers no matter what the weather. She then says something not right and we must fix the covers. Finally we kiss the princess goodnight and she reminds me I must sit outside the door. Are you exhausted yet. I enjoy her little routine.

3. Yes you read that right she is still in her crib and because I enjoy sleeping right straight through the night without interruptions I am doing nothing about the problem at the moment.

4. Lily must put on her glow in the dark thomas shirt and shorts the minute she gets home. She wears them every evening until bathtime. She can not wear them to bed cause it makes getting dressed in the morning impossible.

5. Her newest phrases are: "Thats hilarious" "I want you mommy" "I gonna check that out" "You talk" (when someone asks her a question) "I not gonna eat I too sick"

6. Much to our little dogs dismay Lily's infatuation with Stuey is still in full force. She chases him until he begs to go outside and escape. When we arrive home she ask me if I would like to come in her house and pet her dog.

7. Lily earns 3 M&M's each morning for doing her jobs. She requires these M&M's to be complimented with cheese.

8. Lily loves me to read her books. She must turn the pages when I am done she reads me the book. One of my favorite thing is to listen to her recollection of the story.

9. Lily will not wear dresses or skirts will only wear croc shoes on her feet. She has worn the same purple croc shoes just about everyday for the last year. Her toes are almost on the end and I can not wait to put them up for good.

10. Lily gets really angry when I call her by her full name. She says I no Lilyana D***** I just wiwy. She screamed this at the top of her lungs at her dentist app. last week.

11. She often tells me she is a boy. The other day she said I am a boy and daddy is a girl. I said really what is mommy. She said you Sarah D*****.