our budding artist

Lilyanna has begun a love of coloring and drawing. she spends a portion of each day creating masterpieces. this was a couple of weeks ago when she really got into it.

here she is telling me about her drawing......

 then back at it. blue was the color of the day. it still seems to get favored over the rest.

 

 gotta get it just right.....

 then we hung them on the dining room wall. I love her creativity. she often tells us what she drew that day. her chair faces the art, so she sees it every time we sit at the table. she likes to point out a rainbow, a cloud, and a car amongst a few other things.

cool vs. nerd

often when we're driving (hence the reason for this first photo being the best we've got), Lilyanna likes to wear my sunglasses. we call her "cool dude Lilyanna". I like to give her the glasses especially when I need her to stay awake as to not ruin her nap, ie. my precious break!

the other day we finally got Lilyanna her very own "cool dude" glasses!

 then we have the "nerd Lilyanna"! this usually only happens at breakfast (before I've showered and put in my contacts).

she sure loves playing with glasses and I'm so glad she finally has her own pair to play with.

books books books!

lilyanna loves her books. she's hard on them, which drives me crazy and usually causes her to lose them to the closet for a day or two, but she loves being read to and reading to herself. I just wish we had endless money to buy new books everyday. we often go to barns and noble to read and will be going to the library here in flowood, very soon, to see about a children's reading day. in ridgeland, we used to go every wednesday to the reading there. we enjoyed it so much. i hope they have a similar thing here. we shall find out.

 

here is lilyanna enjoying some reading time:

eating like a big girl!

Lilyanna has been doing a great job lately eating on her own. the mess is usually minimal and the throwing of food on the floor has almost stopped (helped, of course, by the fact that we need to get out the vacuum to clean it up. Lilyanna is scared of the vacuum and that has worked in my and teddy's favor!).

 

she still gets mixed up sometimes when getting the food into her mouth and tries the sideways thing with the spoon or fork, but for the most part she does really well.

 

scooping up some goodness.....

 using the other hand to help it get in her mouth!

 going back for more.....

corn!

corn is in season here and we have been eating it about 2x/week. Lilyanna loves it and we get to eat in peace while she does this:

 

uh-oh

during the last week of june the roof got replaced on our building. it was VERY noisy and I was so glad when it was over. twice Lilyanna got disturbed during her nap, waking up crying. the first time she awoke crying. "too noisy. too noisy." and the second time was "too bumpy." poor baby! what a way to be woken up!

 

before her nap on one of those days she watched as the workers threw the trash off the roof.

 "uh-oh"

big girl chair

 we got Lilyanna a new chair soon after we moved in. probably motivated by the fact that we don't have a sofa yet! she likes it quite a bit, but she often tests the "no standing in the chair" rule. if she does stand in her chair, the chair goes in the closet for a while. in fact, it's there right now! Lilyanna is at that rule testing age. it can be so annoying. we are trying to stick to the punishments, but it gets old fast. i'm hoping this form of entertainment for her doesn't last too long.

here she is sitting like a big girl!

relaxin' back to her shows.

 comin' at ya!

old videos

I was looking back at some old videos we took and I don't think I ever shared these two:

jan. 18th (15 mos)



feb 13th (16 mos)



Lilyanna, you are a bright girl. you absorb new things so quickly and amaze us all the time!

potty training fail

well we've reached that time in lilyanna's life........potty training. I have dreaded it for a long time and our first attempt didn't go so well.

 

we have talked (for a long time) about going to the toilet. Lilyanna has watched me go (mostly out of necessity, which I turned into education), we picked out a toilet seat, read potty books......even tried out the seat many, many times.........all to no success.

 

here is Lilyanna giving the seat a try while watching a video.

 getting quite relaxed on it!

 even staring up at her pee/poo prize (a lollypop!).....but nothing!

so I have decided to give potty training a break. a friend recently shared the 3-day potty training method book with me and we are going to try that. Lilyanna has already picked our her new "big girl" undies for the day we start this 3-day method. but in the meantime, she has taken to saying "I don't want to pee (or poo) in the toilet." everytime we change her diaper! I only hope the day I decide it is time to do the 3-day method, she has warmed up to the idea of going on the toilet, at least a little more than right now. I mean, does she really want to pee (or poo) on the pretty princesses that adorn her new "big girl" undies??!?

first popsicle!

last month Lilyanna had her first popsicle. orange was the first and seems to be the favorite.

 happy girl!

 sizing up where to take the next bite.....

 mmmm....mmmmm......yummy!

splash play!

Lilyanna loves water. she loves bath time, swimming pools and this splash fountain at a nearby shopping center.

 

not too sure what this face is about, but she does it a lot! haha!

 fun times!

 

 catching some water!

 

we might go to the splash fountain today if the rain holds off. it's overcast, so no blazing sun. it's too hot to be outside when the sun is in full shine, so overcast days are kind of a welcome thing here.

horray.....

for monsters!

sweet Lilyanna loves her monster shirt.

happy 4th of july!

last weekend in NS

our last weekend in NS was spent celebrating mother's day with our momma! we decided to do a few things over a couple of days. 

the celebration started off with a hotdog/sausage/marshmallow roast in scott's bay. the weather was so perfect. temperature was great, no wind and we enjoyed it so much.

these two faces say otherwise! what a funny shot! they were actually having more fun than that!

 

 

 here's nanny, with Mallory, opening her gift and surprise from all of us. we presented her with a menu for the next 4 days. we each took care of a meal, so that she could relax and enjoy all of us and not worry about feeding us.

 

 another first on this trip was lilyanna's first pedicure!

 we had to get ready for the tea party the next day!

 after the paint dried sweet lily ran around the back yard with Mallory picking dandelions. they had so much fun together.

 tea party!

 

 

 

 Lilyanna even got to have a cupcake!

it was so nice to be home. I wish so much that these two places were closer. oh, most of the scott's bay and tea party photos are courtesy of amy. thanks, aim!