my beautiful morning girl

Every morning, after we've been up for a bit and had breakfast, Lily loves to climb into our bed and, "get comfy", as she says. She'll watch a little sesame street or scroll through photos on my iPad. This is a relatively new thing for her. She is not a big TV watcher (at all, really), so it is nice to see her just relaxing. I still find myself so taken with her natural beauty. I am so blessed to be her mama. 

  

When I printed out my blog from last year and made it into a book, some of my favorite things to look back on are the, "what Lily is doing now" posts. As I don't want to forget a thing, here is a current summary of what our little jelly bean is up to.

Her speech is growing by leaps and bounds. According to her speech therapist, she has mastered two word phrases. yay! We are still working on articulation of some letters (that "f" is hard not to make sound like a "p"). She is just beginning with three and four word phrases. She can give simple and appropriate commands, actually she loves to! Like, "mama get up" or "mama lay down" or "pick up Lily". She can sing "ABC" of the alphabet song. She can count out 2 things and is just starting to count three of something. She labels things "big" and "bigger".

She thanks us for everything. In the sweetest sing-songy voice ever, she says, "thank you mama or thank you dada". Will brought her home some mac and cheese one day. Now, every time she eats mac and cheese, she says, "thank you Woo". Peter is her go to guy for fixing broken things. She still really wants him to fix that half moon in her bedtime story, "Pete, Pete, Pete, fix it" she says with a smile.

She has been working with an OT to improve her core strength. Can you say baby sit ups? We are still practicing how to jump. She's close and working hard. She bends those little knees of hers and tries for lift off. She's almost got it.

She knows all of her colors. Wether it is her beloved nail polish collection or her box of crayons, she'll get the color right every time. Sometimes she'll mix it up and say what the color isn't! She likes to group similiar colors together, like pink/red or green/blue or white/grey.

A thousand times a day, I hear "Lily do". She wants to do everything for herself and if she can't, she at least wants to try. She also likes to be, "like mama". She loves when we wear the same color shirt or sweater, or both put on a little lip gloss :)

Her favorite books right now are Spot pop-up books. We have to read all of them before bed. Occasionally, she will mix it up with Goodnight Moon. Another popular one is My First Chinese New Year. She remembers attending the Chinese New Year party. She loves the pages with the red envelopes and the lion dancers. She'll say "more next time" as we read through the book.

She has discovered chocolate and loves it! Chocolate, she says, "smells so good"! She also loves edamame. She can eat an entire order herself. She tries to shell them but will usually ask for help. Of course she calls them "green beans"!

She loves to go to the park, throw pennies in the fountain and ride the penny horse at the grocery store. She still calls horses "dos" and loves to carry pennies in her purse. She calls this her "do money". She loves to ride in her jogging stroller and take Woody on walks. She constantly will tell Woody that he is a "good man". so funny!

When I am rocking her to sleep, she has to say goodnight to just about everything in her room. It is sweet and  tender. She takes special care to put blankets on her babies and give her favorite stuffed animals hugs and kisses.

She plays a game with us where she will give us a kiss, giggle, and then say, "one more time". One more time usually turns into twenty more times and we love her sweet kisses.

I know there is more, but at least I got some of it down. I want to try and not forget any of this :)

Lastly, if you are still reading, keep Lily in your prayers. Not to get into too much detail, but she has recently developed some fears around certain things. I truly believe it goes beyond typical toddler behavior. Her therapist thinks that she may be processing some difficult things that occurred earlier in her life. Not really on a conscious level, but certain things are triggering powerful emotions in her. It breaks my heart to see her anxious or worried. We are working with someone to help her work through the things that cause her to feel insecure. Above all else, we are loving her. Always and forever loving her.