I Love To Swing!

Friday, March 16, 2012

 

Lillian Grace: 10 Months Old

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Yes, that is the face of a ten month old.  A ten month old whose favorite activity is testing boundaries and exploring on her own.  Lilly has really developed a sense of self this month and it is delightful and frustrating at the same time.  Some examples to make my point clear ... during photo shoot time, Lilly wanted to do everything but stay in one place and smile, I have 100 pictures of her rolling over, crawling, playing with her tutu, taking her flower on and off, watching out the window and standing against the wall.  Of course, when I put the camera down she does nothing but smile and laugh.  She has also learned to walk while holding on to things.  I try multiple times a day to get her to hold my hands and walk around the house, because I know she will enjoy the mobility, but the minute I take her hands, she sits down.  Just today the little stinker took four or five steps on her own from TV to couch and then later she took four more steps just out in the open, with a free fall to crawl landing.  I guess she is going to learn to walk on her own with no help from us.

And speaking of mobility Lillian still really loves to crawl and chase and go through tunnels.  One of her favorite activities is trolling around the living room, looks for balls, rounding them up in her tent and then initiating a game of chase through her play tunnel or any blanket tunnel I have made for her.  Hide and Seek is a favorite activity these days along with standing at the baby gate playing a modified game of where are you.  Some-days the game gets a little out of hand and she gets worked up about being on the other side of the gate.  But nothing a good squeeze hug and kiss can't fix.

Lilly, still melts whenever she sees her dad and I don't think Matt has had a day where he didn't receive at least 100 smiles from his gal.  Most days she will babble for his attention and when he turns to look she lights up.  And she is now really starting to recognize other familiar faces and react.  She loves when Auntie Erin visits and excitedly crawls over to see her and she is starting to understand how to interact with her Grandparents Knoll via skype.

Lilly didn't have an official trip to the Dr's this month, so her stats are unofficially based on our scale and ruler.  Weight: 16 lbs  Height:  27.2 inches.

Open Season!

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Well, we finally did it.  We busted down a wall in our house and it signifies the start of the never ending home improvement season.  Up until this point we have only done small weekend type projects like painting rooms, installing a microwave over the stove, preparing for an on-demand water heater and having new windows and insulation installed.  Items that were important, but not time intense.  On Sunday as Matt and I were contemplating installing a simple upgrade to our hallway lighting scheme, we decided to just do it!  With one small crow bar, a hammer, a reciprocating saw and 2 hours while Lilly took her nap, we went from a kitchen wall with doorway to a large open pass through.  It is amazing how much it opened up the hallway and kitchen and the light just streams into the kitchen now.  We have always felt the kitchen was dark and dingy and this will help with that feeling and will ultimately help with a total kitchen redesign in the next few years.  Yea!  Let the improvements begin!

Lillian Grace And Daddy In The Pool

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Swim Little Fishy

Thursday, February 9, 2012

We have quite the little fish in our house and finally our little fish has a weekly place to flap her fins.  Earlier this week Lilly enjoyed her first "official" swimming lesson, which was very similar to what we had been practicing at home.  However, during her 30 minutes in the pool, she was surrounded by new friends and a super friendly swim instructor.  Matt and I had a blast working with her and we were ever impressed by how much she enjoyed torpedoing under the water between us.  The pool is awesome and is extra warm and has giant cut outs of Bright Stanley and his friends hanging from the ceiling.  So of course in preparation for the class we read Bright Stanley and the Cave Monster and listened to Laurie Berkner Band "The Goldfish."  

Lilly practiced floating on her back, jumping from the side of the pool and turning to grab the side, swimming on both her back and front, blowing bubbles and going under water.  Of course there were lots of songs and lots of praise to make the lesson fun.   It was quite comical at the end of class, Lilly let out an award winning belch that had the entire pool deck staring at us.  It is hard to believe such a little thing can produce such giant bodily sounds.  Oh, Lillybug, never a dull moment with you!

Who Me?

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

It is hard to believe with such a sweet little face that Lilly could ever get in trouble. But it appears she has a taste for excitement. She is officially known as the leader of the "Crawling Gang" at school.  It appears that she organizes games of chase with the two other crawlers and even gets them to investigate the contents of the diaper bags that are stored in the cubbies.  I can only imagine where this could lead...it is only a matter of time before she sends her "associates" to ransack the contents of the diaper bags and bring back the best Mum-Mums and yogurt melts for her to enjoy. Glad we don't have any horses in our neighborhood, they might not have made it through her teen years.  Shall we call you Donna Knoll?