Spring has sprung (for one day)

This past Sunday, Michigan finally tasted it's first 80 degree day. Pure bliss. For the first time Lily could remember, she enjoyed the sunshine. She refused to walk in the grass, but loved being barefoot walking up and down the sidewalk. She adamantly refused to wear flip-flops (of course, they're not pedipeds) and brushed dirt away before she stepped on it. Such a girlie girl for now. It was so fun seeing bare arms and feet on her again and enjoy the chubbiness before it fades away completely. She loved swinging on the porch swing. All in all, a great family day.

Working Lily

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More little moments

Tonite, we took Lily to P.F. Changs to share a romantic dinner with us. As you can imagine, it didn't end up so great and afterwards, our little girl needed to run! So, we took her on a walk around The Somerset Collection (aka "the mall") to make some more family memories. Lily loved all the windows out into the world and giggled at the jumping water droplets in the fountain. Her favorite, however, was the moving skywalks that we walked up and down listening to her squeals of glee. Great little family moments every day... Love it!

The Cutest Moments are the Littlest Ones

I started taking picture tonite with a few things in mind: commemorate Lily's first mini french braids and take some pictures of her new favorite thing, her big red chair. Like always, my plans took an unexpected twist and turned into something so special.

First.... Lily's new big red chair:

Now, on for the best part... After I took these big red chair pics, I figured maybe I should take some pics of her famous pediped collection of polka-dot shoes. I've been meaning to do this for a while, so knowing my Mom needed her camera back, I figured now was as good as any.

I went into Lily's room and gathered up her pedipeds and went into the kitchen to start photographing. Almost immediately, Lily stopped what she was doing and headed into her room (a place reserved for bed and the occassional stroll with Mommy or Daddy) and re-appeared with her boots. She came right over and arranged them in my mix of shoes and looked on proudly. As I kept rearranging, she jumped right in. She stacked and unstacked and made several more trips into her room for more props. (A lot of walking for tiny little legs.) The more pictures I took, the more she mimicked me, arranging and rearranging and adding and subtracting. Such a precious little moment with my precious little girl!

Lily Loves Legos!

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Peek-a-Boo

Lots of great new changes this week in the world of Lily and a few old ones I forgot to mention...

New: Peek-a-Boo (completely Lily initiated), nodding yes (something I thought wouldn't happen until I started giving her $$), "cup", LOTS of "Mamas" (a personal favorite of mine... It used to be a few mamas in btw a million dadas), climbing onto the couch, running hugs, walking unassisted in public places (which leads to long naps...yes!!!), discovery of zoo animals, "up", shrieking for no apparent reason and cracking up after, building huge lego towers bigger than her, high fives, moving furniture to climb wherever she wants, using the dog as a step-stool (such a good dog!)

Old: shaking her head furiously "no", "cat" and pointing to a cat, blowing kisses, climbing EVERYTHING, laughing at TV shows, trying to brush her hair and smiling when you say "pretty", throwing a tantrum anytime any shoes are put on her other than her Polka-dot Pedipeds or Uggs (thank you, Elaine and Alex McLain... there will be paybacks!! ;) )

Spring has sprung

Such a proud little girl...and excited, too! The weather warmed up to almost 60 today, so after a loooonnngggg winter, we finally got outside. Lily went wild!

The minute I told Lily she could actually step over the threshold of the door, the spot normally only crossed in the safety of Mommy's arms, she smiled from ear to ear. It got better and better. As she walked outside, it was like Christmas all over again. A slide! A swing! A picnic table!

Lily quickly mastered the rock climbing wall up to the slide...the spot she didn't even know how to pull up on when I put it out there. She beamed as she stood at the top, so proud of her accomplishment. She went down the slide and began climbing right back up it. Minutes later, she climbed to the top of the "big girl" picnic table (to Mommy's horror!!).

As if this weren't enough, I had another trick up my sleeve, a new (used) wagon. The rest of the afternoon was spent climbing in and out, working the door and riding around the block. As soon as Lily learned that standing up while moving was not allowed, she stood up over and over with a big smile each time. I couldn't help but laugh to myself...imagining a smiling girl of 16 sneaking out with the car keys.

The first day my little girl walked, climbed and played in warm spring air...a day to remember.