Baby, it's cold outside!

Lily is bundled up to go Christmas Tree hunting. She loves her hat and scarf! When Carrie took Lily to school last week, she refused to take it off. Her teachers said she kept it on till 10AM!

Say Cheese!

Sorry for the delay in posting. Here is a link to Lily's 18 month-ish pics.

LOST-Day 7, Friday

Today, we went back to the Wailana diner for breakfast, this time enjoying waffles and bacon!

When we got back to the room, Lily was a little tired, so we decided naps were a great idea. Afterwards, we headed down to the pool. Again, Lily put on quite a show for those sitting near the edge of the pool.

That afternoon we decided to take another walk around Waikiki, although it was MUCH hotter than I thought it would be. On the way back to the hotel, I tried to take a short cut through the parking garage of a shopping center. I thought this way, we could at least walk in the shade. As I came out the other end of the parking garage, I apparently ended up on the second floor, with no elevator in site. Anxious to get back to the hotel, I decided to pick up the stroller and carry it, with Lily strapped inside, down a flight of stairs. I am pretty sure that is not the recommend approach.

That evening we had dinner at the Benehana on the hotel grounds. I think Lily really enjoyed the excitement of our chef....and the open flames. On thing she does not like-teryaki.

That evening there were fireworks on the beach. Lily wasn't too excited about these either but we had a good time on the balcony that night.

Here are some pics from friday.

Lost-Day 6, Thursday

We started the morning with breakfast at the Wainlana coffee shop again. This time we tried the banana pancakes with a little cinnamon rasin toast, which she loved. She ate nearly a whole pancake by herself. I also learned that once you heat a banana, it keeps it's heat...for a long time.

In the morning, we headed out in search of wood stores. Lily felt this was a perfect time to sleep. I also threw in a trip to Best Buy to find an Elmo CD, as Lily has adamantly requested "ELMO!" everytime we got in the car.

Later, we went to an actual wood gallery that I wanted to visit. Lily, fresh from a long morning nap, was very interested in running around, touching everything. This was a bad situation. I tried to hold her and keep her entertained, but it wasn't working. She wasn't happy. I wasn't happy. I am sure the proprietor wasn't happy. We made a quick and loud exit.

We needed lunch, and after some chicken strips via a Jack in the Box, we made up, and headed back to the pool.

That evening we headed out to a the Pali lookout, which has great views of the north shore of the island. After that we went to dinner with a friend of Carrie's, and her man-friend. Lily, again, put on quite a show.

Here are some pics from that day.

LOST Day 5, Wednesday

Today was the first official day of the ASHG conference, so Lily and I were going to be on our own. We started off by going to breakfast together at an IHOP across the street, which went pretty well. I thought the Honolulu zoo would be good morning activity, so packed up our things, and hoped in the car for a quick trip to the zoo.

When we got there, the parking lot was all meters, and I had no change. This was not good. I had also forgotten the sunscreen. Also not good, as we are in Hawaii. I quickly spotted an ABC store, which are ubiquitous convenient stores in Hawaii, that carry just about everything. In Waikiki, you can literally stand in one ABC store, and look down the street to find the next one, and so on. I found a dime under then passenger seat that bought me 6 minutes of meter time, and darted across the street to get more change, sunscreen, and some cold water.

The Zoo was very nice, however, 9AM on a Wednesday is not exactly the best time to go. There were very few people there, which was nice. There were also very few animals there…which was a little disappointing. Many of the animals were behind the scenes while the exhibits were being cleaned or repaired. We got see most of our favorites thought (elephants, giraffes, rhinos, birds, tigers, monkeys, and lots of birds). Lily was particularly interested in a peacock that was roaming the grounds.

After a few hours at the zoo, we headed back to the hotel to meet Carrie for lunch and naps.

In the afternoon, we decided to head to the pool, in full pool garb, including our super-stylish sunglasses. The pool at the hotel is surrounded by patio chairs full of people. Lily liked to play on the steps, close to the people, putting on quite a show of splashing and jumping for those watching her.

That afternoon, we decided to find a local bike shop. It was kind of a pain to get the car back from the valet, so we decided to walk. It was only a 1.5 miles, in the afternoon, through the middle of Waikiki. Three (3) miles round trip, with an 18month old in a stroller is a lot farther than you think. Thanks for that, google maps.

Lily handled our sojourn quite well though, and was excited to touch the bright little tricycles.

Here are some pics from that day.

LOST-Day 4, Tuesday

Now that everyone was feeling a little better, we decided to see the sites of O’ahu. We started the morning with a light breakfast of muffins and cinnamon roles from Starbucks, and headed out to Diamond Head. Diamond Head is a large, nearly perfectly round volcanic crater. There is a path that you can climb on one side of the crater, that takes you up to a rim, once occupied by the US Military. The path is 1.7 miles in total, but it climbs up the side of a volcanic crater, so you can imagine it is pretty steep.

As Lily is getting older, she is getting more independent. Currently, she is focused on feeding herself using spoons and forks (with limited success) and walking everywhere on her own (no carrying or hand holding allowed!). On top of that, her new favorite word is “No!” As we started up the climb, we walked along a paved, gently sloping pathway, several feet wide. This is a very popular tourist destination, so we were not alone.

Despite her best intentions, Lily tends to meander a bit, and is pretty slow, as she stops to visit every plant and inspect every rock. At a certain point, I had to scoop her up and start carrying her. This went better than expected, and she seemed mostly content to ride on my shoulders. There were a few parts that were fairly steep, and when you are carrying 30 extra pounds (Lily + backpack with water, camera, candy), you need to take a breather every so often. Lily didn’t really care for the rest stops, and urged me to move on. Her motivational techniques include sticking her fingers deep into my ears, and pulling backwards very sharply, as well as trying to pinch my actual eyelids. Message received.

Diamond Head was first and foremost a military installation, with several cannon batteries, which were still in place (no cannons though). The idea to make it a tourist destination, was clearly an afterthought, and surpising sketchy. The path up the mountainside is extremely narrow, extremely uneven, with minimal safety installations (railings, falling rock protection, etc). The top of the rim was no exception, with 100+ people crammed on to a small platform. After about 20 minutes of looking around, jostling for a rail position, and taking some pics, we decided to head back down. Lily felt that she needed to take a little bit more control of the situation.

For the trip back down, she was hell bent on walking it herself. After a few minutes of struggling, I thought I’d give it a go and see how she did. Honestly, it was admirable. I was able to negotiate a few points of order (I had to carry her down the two story spiral staircase, as well as the flight of 100 steep concrete steps. In return, I would let her walk the trail on her own). She is a very shrewd negotiator. It helps that her only initial response to anything is “No!”.

Eventually, traffic started to back up behind us, and I had to cancel our arrangement let her ride on my shoulders down the path. This did not go well, as she made entire mountainside aware of her displeasure. The squirming, hair pulling, scratching, and biting lasted for several hundred feet, before she realized that riding was way better than walking. Carrie and I focused on trying to distract her with a selection of best loved Elmo songs that we have been forced to listen to for hours on end (current favorites include 1. The wheels on the bus, 2. Itsy-bitsy spider. 3. If your happy and you know it, etc). Eventually her mood changed, and she began to dance…on my shoulders. My sun-burnt shoulders. We did not realize the show that we were putting on for the weary travelers following us.

From there we headed over to Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona memorial. Part of the tour is a 20 minute video about the Pearl Harbor attack, which was very informative. Lily was not quite as engaged. She did like riding in the boat to the memorial, and the “pfishies” swimming around.

It was nap time so we decided to drive to the north shore which is less populated, but said to have giant waves this time of year. After a little shopping in the small town of Haliewa, we headed to the beach, where lily wanted to play in the sand, and apparently started eating it. Gross.

For dinner we went to Haliewa Joe’s, which was easily the best dinner we had the whole trip. Most of the seafood was freshly caught from local waters. We ordered Lily the Kids Fish and Chips, which she liked. Neither of us could identify what kind of fish it was, so we asked our waiters. Freshly caught Yellow Fin Tuna. I am not a fan of tuna, but even I know that frying yellow fin is wrong! Needless to say, she loved it.

Here are some pics from that day.

LOST-Day 3, Monday

Today was Daddy's birthday, and Lily wanted to start celebrating at 5AM. Yay?

We decided that eating every meal at the hotel was unsustainable, and so we visited the the Wailana Coffee House across the street. I like pineapple and pancakes. These guys were able to put those two together for a proper birthday breakfast.

Lily draws a bit of attention, good and bad, everywhere we go. Our very nice waitress stopped an talked to her several times, but Lily would always clam up. We tried getting Lily to say Aloha, but it only came out as "HA!" She sounded a bit like she was mocking our poor waitress.

Later that morning, we drove to Hanauma Bay, which was absolutely gorgeous. You park on the top of a cliff practically, and walk down to the beach. The water is very calm because of the coral reef, and the aquatic life is quite literally everywhere. They do a good job of conservation here, by requiring you to watch a 15 minute move before giving you access.

Hanauma Bay is a national park, with very limited access, so the amenities were sparse. If you want an exercise in spatial reasoning and logistical problem solving, try changing a squirming 18-month old from normal clothes, to a swim diaper and bathing suit, in the stall of a public restroom, without touching any actual surface. Like I said on Sunday, we are not good at "going to the beach".

Based on our first experience at the beach, I decided it was a bad idea to see if Lily could snorkel. But due to the proximity of the reef, little fishies would swim right up to us, which tickled Lily quite a bit. After a while, she would point at just about anything in the water and go "pfishie!"

Later that night we ventured back to town for dinner. Our first dinner was in a very touristy shopping strip. It was OK, although Carrie insisted that she was entitled to fully cooked fish- ceviche, anyone? We decided that we wanted to try some real "local food", not a tourist restaurant. Naturally, we decided to go for Mexican food.

Mexican food can sometime be a risky move in foreign lands (yes, I know, Hawaii is a state, but lets be honest here, there are birds flying around my head that would be in a zoo anywhere else). While traveling in France, we decided that we would give a Mexican restaurant in Versailles a shot. I think it is safe to say that no one employed by the restaurant had been to Mexico, and they were quite unfamiliar with the cuisine. We enjoyed such offerings as cheese quesadillas (made with chevre cheese), and Fajitas (with green beans and broccoli). Delicious.

This time we got lucky and the food was great, the service was great, and the ambiance was very much "local Waikiki", if there is such a thing. Lily enjoyed her cheese quesadilla (with quesadilla cheese, whatever that is), Spanish rice, and generous amounts of sour cream, guacamole, and salsa. Someone likes to "dip" as she says.

Here are some pics from Day 3.

LOST-Day 2, Sunday

I woke up at 3:30 HAST to find the bathroom, and walked past Lily's crib. To my surprise, there she was, wide-eyed and smiling. I was not. I knew the time change would be difficult for her (-6hrs), but this was not good. I spent the next 90 minutes or so giving her a steady stream of toys in twenty minute intervals to get her to relax in her crib while I tried to salvage some "restful sleep". By 5AM it was all over and we were all up, awake, and planning our day.

First things first, we needed food. We were pointed to the nearest Safeway grocery store and sent on our way. We left with only the bare essentials, fruit, sunscrean, cookies, diapers/wipes, candy, water, beach toys. Like I said, the essentials.

We decided to take it easy our first day in order to figure out what sort of schedule the Lily-monster was on. Off to the beach!

Living in Kentucky, you don't really get a lot of exposure to the beach. We are not good at it. Sand was everywhere. Things were blowing away. It was hot, and we needed shade. After about 10 minutes of chaos, we regrouped, reflected on our many Florida vacations, and snapped into action. We scored some beach chairs and an umbrella. We rolled our bamboo mats and weighted the corners. This was more like it. Bring it on, Ocean!

On this trip I was learning a lot of things about myself, as well as my travel companions. At this moment, I learned that Lily is very little, and the ocean is very big. This point was lost on Lily, as she has continued to call it the "pool". We walked out to the edge of the waves, and marched right on in. The next wave, if you can even call it that, knocked her right on her back, water up her nose, water in her mouth, salt in her eyes, and somehow, I was to blame.

After a few minutes of coughing, heaving, and distrustful looks in my direction from multiple sets of eyes, we waded a bit further out, which was acceptable to all, but only briefly. We spent most of the morning playing in the sand.

In the afternoon, we decided to check out the pool situation, which was more familiar territory for Lily. At the moment, Lily's favority thing is jumping off the steps, whether anyone is there to catch her or not!

Here are some pics of Day 2.

LOST-Day 1, Saturday

Carrie had submitted some data to the American Society of Human Genetics conference, which was accepted for a poster presentation. It's kind of big deal. This year, the conference was held in Hawaii. Unfortunately, Lily and I decided that Mommy couldn't be trusted to be on her own, so it was best if we came with her.

Two months ago, that seemed like a really great idea. As our departure date got closer, though, I realized that we had just decided to take an 18- month old on a 5hr plane trip to Seattle, a 6hr layover, and then a 6hr flight to Honolulu. Not only that, but for 4 days it was going to be just me and Lily (no mommy). It may sound strange, but I have never been entrusted with that many consecutive days of unsuperivised baby supervision. What in the world were the two of us going to do all day? What were we going to talk about?

Finally, the day came and we were all up at 5:30 AM. Bags? Check (there were more bags than people). Activities and toys for Lily (and me)? Check. Cautious optimism? Check.

The journey through the Cincinnati Airport was smooth sailing. We got there with >2hrs to spare, however there is a time warp in the security area of the CVG airport. Just like a worm-hole, you emerge with 5 minutes less than you need to get breakfast/lunch and still make it to your gate. There are mysterious quantum mechanics at work there.

The flight to Seattle was as good as could be. Lily was a little restless, but able to be coralled in our own private row (Although not required by FAA law, we decided to get her a ticket, so she had a seat. best. decision. ever.).

I think Carrie was a little more nervous about keeping her entertained than me. By the time we had flown through Illinois, Mommy had whipped out the nutritious snacks, the new toys, the dvd player, more new toys, the candy, and finally the blanket. We had four more hours to go.

We arrived in Seattle around 12PM PST (3PM on Lily's clock), with 6 hrs to kill. I had spoken to a friend of mine who flies through Seattle a lot and she had informed me that the Seattle airport had a playground in it, that could occupy some of Lily's attention. After lunch, we quickly found it.

I am not sure "playground" is the word I would use. Maybe a more appropriate name is "Baby ThunderDome". The play area was a collection of rubber covered play things centering around an airport theme (an airplanes, luggage, air trafice control tower, movable walkway, fire truck?!?). To put it mildly, the other children were tired, cranky, and wildly unsupervised. One young child in particular was on his way back to Juneau, Alaska. I believe that maybe he had gotten too much sunlight while in the "lower 48" and had caused him to lose all self control. His father was deeply engrossed in his iPhone. I wanted to introduce him to the term "behavior management" and ask if there was an app for that!

Eventually 6PM PST (9PM on Lily's clock) rolled around and we took off for Hawaii. Lily slept most of this flight, which was icredibly boring due to the lack of any sort of video display device on the plane (Thank you, Alaska Airlines). She woke up right before landing in rather cheery mood.

We touched down in Honolulu at 8PM HAST (that is 2AM on Lily's clock). She was awake, happy, and running through the airport.

We had made it with only a couple of tearful meltdowns. Lily on the other hand did great!

We spent the rest of the evening taking a shuttle to the rental car, installing an unfamiliar carseat in an unfamiliar car, in the dark, in the rain, with the wrong instructions.

We drove to the hotel without getting lost (thank you Garmin!). Our hotel reservation however was nowhere to be seen. I took Lily to look at the fish, while mommy introduced the hotellier to the full force of her personality.

By 10PM we were all three ready for a Mai Tai and some sleep (4AM on Lily's clock!).

Aloha, Hawaii!

Here are some pics from Day 1

Go CARDS!

Here are some pics with a new camera!

Here are some recent pics. Sorry for the delay!

Pumpkins!

Last weekend Lily made went to her second corn maze. This year was much better as she is independently mobile, as you can see here.

Here are some pics of our trip

Zoo, Part Deux

Given the stunning success of our last Zoo trip (and because we have passes) we were anxious to give the zoo another go. The weather this past weekend was great and the animals were really active. We of course visited the elephants (one of our favorite animals), and fed the giraffes. This time we went to see the zoo babies and the petting zoo of sorts.

At the moment turtles are far and away Lily's favorite animal. She knows the sign (although, she has adapted it slightly), and recognizes them everywhere. Over near the petting zoo and barnyard animals they had a volunteer watching a tortoise crawl around. This was here big chance to get up close and personal with a turtle-type animal and she didn't disappoint!


We also made another trip to the Lorakeets and escaped unscathed (at least Lily did). For some reason, those birds love to take a bite out of me!

Here are some pics from the day.

This shirt is so last 2008

Lily is something of a fashionista. She has several personal shoppers and a closet full of clothes. Now, she has decided that she has her own opinion of what not to wear. Last week, I was getting her dressed for school and we then watched a little Sesame Street. I noticed she was tugging at her shirt a bit. She then looked at me, made the sign for "help"(and actually said the word "help", and then made the sign for "clothes". I asked her if she wanted her shirt off, and she proceed to pull her pajama shirt over her head.

I believe she had decided that she did not like her pink polo shirt with little cherries, and instead preferred to wear her yellow PJs with oranges (yes, her clothes are often fruit themed). I am counting this as our first discussion about what she can and can't wear out of the house. I think I am in for a long road ahead.

Here are some new pics, and some more here.

You can't keep me down

Lately, Lily has been trying to climb on everything, as you can see. Here is an album of her recent high altitude adventures. Perhaps, I should focus on getting her down, before taking the pics. Although, I do have documentation of her escapades.

We Have Ways of Making You Talk

Nothing really exciting to report, other than Lily is picking up new words and new signs everyday, which is helpful.



She also has a bit of mean streak. Apparently, my daughter is a biter. She bites us, she bites her friends, she bites herself. The other night, she was mad that I wouldn't let her open the oven, so she bit it. Nice.



Further to that end, she also has a little Torquemada in her. I had cut my foot on a piece of glass, or splinter, or something. In order to expedite the healing process, I put a little neosporin and a bandaid on it. Now, in Lily's defense, it was a Finding Nemo themed bandaid that was very colorful. Made my injured toe look like candy. Very dissappointing candy.



The rest of the evening, Lily took pleasure in squeezing that toe. A lot. Both me and the toe are doing well.






Below is some video of us playing around the other night. I have also posted some good pics here.

It's a jungle out there

We read to Lily every night before bed. One of her favorite books is called Dear Zoo. It involves a child getting free pets from the zoo. At first, I was concerned about the message it was sending regarding lax animal trading policies at the country's zoos, as well as a seemingly unqualified zoo keeper. I let it go, though, because Lily loves it!

Almost everynight, she pulls that specific book off of her shelf and brings it over to one of us, sits on our lap, and opens the pages as we read it (at this point, it's more of a recitation than a reading!).

We are also teaching Lily sign language, which is going pretty well after a slow start. The book is a great opportunity to teach animal signs, because there are pictures of each animal in question.

The animals signs however are very literal, in that the sign for an elephant is long trunk gesture. The sign for a giraffe focuses on a long neck-type gesture. My concern, however, was that as she has never actually seen an elephant in person, the long, defining, trunk my be lost on her little pigeon-sized brain.

The only answer was a field trip to the ZOO!!!

Lily loved it. We went immediatly to see the elelphants, which she really liked. We next went and actually fed a giraffe, which she also liked. Later, we went to pet the lorakeets, which she did not like. One of the lorakeets pecked her little hand which I think startled her, and probably hurt a little (they love to peck me). After that she was pretty much done with all birds for the day.

The most lasting outcome of the zoo however has been related to a simple desert tortoise. Until then, we have never practiced the turtle sign (I know a tortoise is not, in fact, a turtle. Lily, however does not, so I roll with it). She picked up the sign almost instantly (it uses 2 hands in a sort of Paper beats Rock motion), and put her own twist on it; Lily prefers more of a Paper beats elbow gesture. She also says the world "turtle" pretty well, and recognizes her turtle stuffed animals as...well...turtles! What surprised me was the volume of turtle themed decor we have in our house. Everyday she spots a new one. She is very bright :)

Here are some pics from the zoo, as well as some random pics from home.

Where do you think you're going?

Lily goes to day care 4 days a week at a place called Little Red School House. Carrie and I have really been pleased with the facility and staff and Lily always seems to have a good time. Carrie and I both knew that at some point our morning drop-offs were going to go bad as Lily's separation anxiety kicked in.

It has.

Usually, Lily was all smiles when we walked into her classroom. She always wanted to be put down to go play with a toy or a friend, or even go to the teacher. In the last few weeks this has not been the case. She is fine until we get into the room, but after that, any move to put her down or in a seat results in an emotional meltdown. Being the engaging parents that we are, we immediatly pick her up or try to distract her with food, toys, funny dancing etc.

This is all fine, until you realize that you have an audience. There are about 7-8 other kids in her class who all gather around when a new one is brought into the herd for the morning. As you are trying to cheer up your distraught daughter, you realize you are the being swarmed by 2-foot-tall onlookers who are more engaged in your improvised variety show than your emotionally betrayed little girl. It's awkward. The best you can really hope for is to get her to look away long enough so you can quickly escape without her seeing you.

We have been constantly reminded that she cheers up within minutes of us leaving, and is happy for the rest of the day. Apparently, she has a short term memory of a pigeon.

Here are some recent pics.

Hi! Nice to meet you!

Nothing special here. I just liked this pic and wanted to share; her shirt says it all:)

Here are some more pics.

Can you hear me now?

Lily fell and hurt her lip at school one day. The doctor actually prescribed a healthy dose of popsicles to keep the swelling down. I think Lily would agree that this was the best medicine ever!









Recently, for whatever reason, Lily likes to yell. A lot. She especially likes to yell into things. I think she likes the funny sound coming back at her....I am not sure I am thrilled about this...

Here is some video of her in the act:



Here are some more pics from that week.

Say Cheese!

Lily recently qualified for her 1 year pics. Here you go!

Dance, Dance Revolution

Lily and I have been listening to a lot of new music together; she definitely has her favorites. Lily's toy room is directly across from my toy room (read office). In the evenings when I am playing music through iTunes, Lily will drop everything, walk into the office, and cut a rug for a few minutes, then come back to whatever she was doing. I am not an expert, but I think we should take her to So You Think You Can Dance Auditions next year.

Here is some video of Lily in action:



The music in the background is Ray LaMontagne, "You are the Best Thing". We like it, and we agree!

I am a material girl

Now that Lily is a walking pro, we realized it was time to break out the baby shoes (or toddler shoes, in her case). True to form, there was some strong resistance to change. We had found some lightweight "summer-y/sandle-y" shoes to start her out. Unfortunately, every time we put them on, she would completely meltdown. There was crying, convulsing, tears, screams, sad looks of desperation. Lily was also very upset. She refused to put her actual newly-shod feet on the ground. Instead, she would pull her legs up to her chest, or stick them straight out like a gymnast on the rings (Paul Hamm style). From a distance, it was a little funny.

At some point, seemingly overnight, something had changed her mind. I don't know if she was falling into a gender stereotype (so soon?!?) or maybe the peer pressure from her classmates (again, so soon?!?). Now, we have to hide the shoes, because once she sees them, she MUST have them. Does matter if they match, if she is already wearing shoes, or if there are even two shoes. Last week, I had to put a single shoe and watch her march around the house all morning....lopsided. Carrie took her to the Shoe Carnival where she went crazy grabbing every shoe she could reach, pulling them out of boxes, carrying them around....shopping.

We've created a Shoe-Monster!

I have a lot of pics to post here. We'll start with some of Lily in her toy room and the Greater West Chester Kite Festival, here.

The following weekend was Easter. I think this is the first time Lily has worn a real dress since Christmas. The dress was a little long, and so everytime she stood up, she'd end up standing on the hem, unable to straighten herself out. She looked too cute to change her clothes though! Here are Easter morning/day pics.

Last but not least are 1 year birthday pics! I can't believe it has been a year already. She looked fabulous in her pink tutu ensemble. Here are the pics. You can ignore the ones of her playing with my garbage can!

Long time, no see

Nothing really new to post here. I just thought it had been a while since there were any new pics.

Here are some pics of her playing around with me earlier this week.

Who loves science?

We recently took Lily to the Cincinnati Museum Center. The have an area in the basement that is really kid friendly. She seemed to really have a good time, but looks very serious in all of her pics. Lily takes science seriously. Nice.

See for your self here

Well. Isn't that the cutest?

Lily has definately picked up some new skills and is changing the way she plays with things. At the moment, she is quite enamoured with both plastic balls, and her two cloth dolls. Below is some recent video of her playing.

Do I know you?

For Carrie's birthday we went to a local Indian restaraunt. This was Carrie's idea, as she is addicted to the chicken curry, and they have a seemingly quiet, yet family friendly environment.

As we walked into the restaraunt we were greeted by the owner, who instantly recognized Lily and reached out for her. This was a little odd....for several reasons: 1. We don't typically hand over our child to local ethnic restarauntuers, and 2. We have never seen this man in our life, unless Lily has been cutting school and hitting the indian place for lunch.

Throughout the evening we got 1st class, slightly creepy service (although, very well meaning). Lily was given some rice pudding, compliments of the chef, and was even carried around the restaruant by the owner...again...as Carrie and I looked on nervously.

A few minutes later, the owner asked where her brother was. It then became clear to use that the owner had us confused with another family, and in actuality had no idea who we were. Lucky for all of us, Lily has not yet developed stranger anxiety, although, after we left, I am not sure if you could consider us strangers any more!

Here is a link to some recent pics of the Lily-monster. Bonus points for anyone who "gets" her t-shirt in the picture above!

Where did Lily go?

This is too funny to hang on to until I have something witty to share.

I have also posted a random collection of holiday pics here that haven't made it online yet.

Lily's first New Years Eve

This year we took a trip with the family to Florida for New Years, as we have done in years past. This trip would create quite a few "firsts" for the Lily-monster:

• First plane ride
• First ride in a rental car
• first night in a hotel
• first time to wear 3 of her 4 bathing suits (what baby has 4 bathing suits, some two-pieces!)
  
• first time seeing the ocean
• first time on the beach
• first time in public swimming pool
• first time to throw up in a hotel room (unrelated to the swimming pool)
  
• first time to wear shoes for any length of time

All in all it was a great trip. Lily tolerated the plane ride very well. Carrie also had the opportunity to change Lily's pants in an airplane bathroom. Lily loved the sand, and surprisingly attempted to eat very little of it. I think she was OK with the ocean. It was a little frigid so we dipped our toes in and that was about it.

The swimming pool was a whole different story. The water was actually warm, and she loved flopping around in it, like a giant bath. She seemed to know just what to do as she kicked her feet and waved her arms.

I have posted some pics here.

Lily's First Christmas

I know this is late, but many people have asked about Lily re: 1st Christmas. Carrie and I were really looking forward to Christmas with Lily for all of the usual reasons, including new toys. Santa was sure to bring Lily a crate full of new toys, and we could hardly wait. We've spent 8 months playing with the toys she had when she was born, and I think that all three of us were getting a bored. Lily's new Christmas toys were much more interactive, with their singing,and dancing, and music, and lights, and noises........so many noises.

It was hard to predict what she was going to like, so we got all sorts of different things. Here is a rundown of the highlights:

Foam blocks-loves them, as long as they are stacked up and ready for her to knock over. If she sees you building something, she drops everything, and army crawls like a wounded soldier across the room to knock it over. She then expects more clapping. I think this is the after effects of playing with stacking cups for so long.

Gumball Machine- this is a toy that looks like a bubble gum
machine and dispenses very cool little balls that are filled with things that move, shine, rattle. It lights up and plays music while in the act of dispensing. Lily has learned that there is no need to wait patiently for each ball to come out when she can just turn it over, and get them all at once.








ELMOte-Like her father, Lily loves remote controls. Any shape, any size, any function, if it has buttons and makes things work without causing you to work, she loves it. It is no surprise that her favorite toy at the moment is her Elmo remote. It has the added benefit of being portable, so we can take it with us wherever we go, and just like a real remote, we are certain to lose it between the cushions of a restaurant booth before too long.

I have posted some pictures of Lily's first Christmas here. I particularly like the picture of her in her Christmas dress. Coincidentally, we went to dinner Christmas Eve with the whole family, and I happened to see the CEO of my company at the same location. I thought I would take this opportunity to capitalize on Lily's Christmas-dress cuteness, by introducing the two of them. Let's just say, I won't be getting that promotion any time soon, as my lovely daughter went straight for my bosses eyes, before moving on to her broach. Nice.

If your happy and you know it...

This video was taken shortly after Christmas, and I have dubbed it Clapping Redux. She has a much better coordination, and has learned that by opening both hands, you get a very satisfying thwack sound. I believe this is also the first documentation of her FABULOUS new hair style. Typically we use tiny little butterfly clips to pull her bangs out of her eyes. Due to the discovery and subsequent chewing on one of these clips by a fellow classmate, her teachers have asked that we not send her to school with the clippies, preferring the more stable rubber band. Ironically, Lily was never really bothered by the clips, nor did she really try to take them out and eat them. I like to keep it nature, so her little ponytail sticks 3 inches, straight up (like Cindy-Lou Hoo). Carrie likes to add a little water to it, so that it curls in to a very fashionable "palm tree" look.

YAY!

I have sort of taken a hiatus from the blog posting, but since it has been over a month, I need to hop to it!

I'll keep this short, and just post one of Lily's improving skills-mockery. Some say she is just mimicing what carrie and I are doing. I chose to believe that Lily is more advanced than that, and she is just mocking our foolish behavior. This could lead to trouble down the road....