Growing up

Since Lucy started preschool a couple months ago, we've been nothing but sick in this house.  Lucy brings the germs home, and then Mommy and Daddy catch them... It's an awful cycle, culminating in (very mild) pneumonia for Lucy, bronchitis for Mommy, and a bad cold for Daddy.  Through all the sickness, Lucy has had to hear SEVERAL times "Let Mommy/Daddy rest, he/she is sick," or "I'm sorry, we have to stay inside because you're sick," or any number of other such phrases.  Her response?

"I'm going to take care of you."

She tucks us into bed, pets our heads, sings us lullabies.  She reminds everyone else to be quiet so the sick person can rest, and tells us repeatedly how she's going to take good care of us so we can feel better.  Being sick is no fun at all, but it's indescribably heart-warming to see such empathy coming out of this little human we're raising. :)

Here are some pictures of her showing her caring side:

 

Parenting: It's not for the faint of heart.

Being mommy to a toddler is HARD.  Looking back through my blog posts, I remember how hard it seemed when she was little, too, and I don't know if it's easier or harder now, but the struggles are different.  She's a whole human being - a little person, who isn't always very good at communicating what she really wants or needs, or the things that are flying through her brain (possibly because she doesn't really know herself).  I want to give her confidence, independence, and a feeling of worth.  I want her to feel that I hear her and understand her.  I would also like for her to listen.  Not even all the time, but some of the time would be nice.  Lucy attends a Montessori style preschool now, less than a mile from our house, five days a week because Mom and Dad are both working full-time.  She loves her school, and I can tell that it's the right kind of stimulating and challenging for her growing mind, but I feel guilty all the time that I can't be at home with her more.  I think that often her behavior problems stem from stress that we get so little time together.  She often insists that she wants "Mommy, Daddy, and Lucy TOGETHER."  In the midst of exasperation, guilt, and frustration, I am overflowing with pride that she is capable of articulating so clearly what she wants.  She is stubborn, independent, creative, sensitive, considerate and caring of others.  She is a bright spot in the world.  She is my daily lesson in patience and temper management, but I wouldn't change her for anything in the world.

Just for fun, here she is at 18 months old, last September:

 And here she is at her 2nd birthday party, six month ago in March:

And here she is being the light of my life at 2 1/2, just recently:

She drives me completely batty, and makes me so proud, and so completely full of love. :)

1 down, lots to go!

Lucy is turning 1 on Friday.  I can't really explain how that makes me feel... I'm incredibly happy to be celebrating a whole year of Lucy-Bean, and super proud of who she is and what she can do and how much she's grown (and how adorable she is!)... But I'm also... Emotionally overwhelmed seems like the right term. She was just born.  I was just pregnant.  She couldn't walk, talk, reach for toys, tell me "No," understand when I explained things to her.  Now she's everywhere and into everything, and I'm looking at gymnastics classes for her because she needs a productive way to burn off some extra energy.  She's a little kid now, not an infant.  In honor of her big day, I thought I'd post a Lucy-timeline:

I can't even express how much love I have for this amazing little human.  Happy birthday, Luciella.  And many, many more.

Holidays!

I really need to get better at this blogging thing...

The holidays with our little Bean were crazy and awesome, just like holidays should be.  She learned to open presents (and play with the paper), and Mommy learned to open her presents for her, because after the first couple gifts she just wanted to sit and play with the things she'd already opened.

We also had holiday family photos taken by our resident photographer, Charlie Young (who also did our engagement shoot, some wedding reception photos, and engagement photos for John & Megahn).

  

 Lucy is now 10 months old!  Uncle Charlie was kind enough to do the editing for her 10 month photo shoot, after my program crashed in the middle of editing, and I got frustrated.  I think he did a pretty fine job :)

Walking is the new big thing in our house, and Lucy loves pushing her little truck around.  Mark and I decided to take her to the park on Sunday, so she could have a nice, big, flat space to run around.  She really can't get enough.

She's growing up way too fast.  Every time I look at her, she looks more like a little girl and less like a little baby... It's hard to believe her first birthday is right around the corner.  Sometimes, I still can't believe we had a baby, and here she is growing up.

I never knew I could love one little person so very, very much. <3

9 months, walking, and playdates!

I can't believe she's been out as long as she was in (actually, a little longer, at this point).  Her 9 month photos aren't as impressive as previous months, because she was just getting over a stomach flu, and didn't feel 100% on the day we took them, but here are a few:

Lucy impresses me and makes me proud every single day, with the things she is trying to do, and the things she succeeds with!  This week, she successfully started walking up to 5 or 6 steps across open spaces, instead of always dropping to the floor and crawling.  She's so mobile, it's incredible.  She's started putting things IN instead of always taking them out, and she learned how to stack two cups inside each other (although she usually prefers to bang them together).  Since she's getting bored with being stuck in the playroom all the time, I've started letting her loose in the kitchen area while I'm cooking or cleaning, and she loves to dig through the tupperware or the pots and pans cabinet.

She also has two teeth now! Her bottom front teeth came in, and now she can take bites of soft foods like banana and cooked carrots.

Earlier this week, Grandma and Grandpa Forest took Lucy to the park while Mommy and Daddy attended an adults-only event, and she got to see ducks and geese close up.

... Perhaps a little closer than she really wanted to...

Also this month, Lucy has had the opportunity to play with two little girls who are near her own age!  Last weekend, she had an evening playdate with Michaela, who is 11 months old, while Mommy and Daddy had dinner at a friend's house.  Today, her friend (who she doesn't remember) Anna came over to play.  Anna is only 3 days older than Lucy, and they seem to be experiencing parallel developmental stages.  Anna-Banana walks a little better than Lucy-Bean, and Lucy talks a little more than Anna, but they share interest in the same toys, and I think they really enjoyed interacting (and not interacting) with each other.  We definitely need to make this a habit :)

We've started thinking about Lucy's first birthday, and what we may want to do to celebrate.  Once the holidays are over, it will only be a couple months away, and time FLIES when you're taking care of a little one.  I feel constantly overwhelmed and blessed to be caring for such an intelligent, curious, determined little girl, and look forward to the person she'll be in the future :)

Lucy hanging out with Uncle Tommy :)

A Toothy Artist

Lucy is growing up so fast, it feels like everything is happening at once...

She has her first tooth! It's barely peeking through her gums so far, and she's very protective of her mouth (because it hurts), but her bottom left front tooth made its appearance two days ago.  The bottom right is about to break through as well, so pretty soon we'll have (as Daddy calls her) an upside-down chipmunk :)

Her hair is really growing in quickly, too, and is now long enough to put up in little pigtails or a tiny (tiny) ponytail.

Mommy and Lucy with a little ponytail :)

Lucy took her first step last Saturday! She only took one, towards her Uncle Tommy (who caught it on video).  Since then, she's taken a few more individual steps, mostly for her Grampa Forest, but hasn't quite figured out her balance to stand and walk yet.  Here's the video Uncle Tommy made the day she took her first step:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kL1q2PYWIc

Since she's so interested in standing and walking, I wanted to be able to walk her around outside sometimes, just for a change of scenery.  We went to the store a few days ago and bought her her first pair of real shoes to walk around in!  She's a little awkward in them, but it makes Mommy feel better that she has something on her little tootsies when we go out.

Lucy is also exploring her artistic side! I've let her play with finger paints a few times before, but yesterday she seemed to really "get it" in a way that she hasn't in the past.  She didn't immediately try to put the paint in her mouth, like she has before, and she was very interested in smearing the colors around on the paper.  She even turned the paper around when it got too messy, so she could smear colors on the blank parts.  After the first painting, she indicated that she wanted a fresh paper, and she made a second painting too!  Unfortunately, after the second painting she thought it would be fun to sample the finger paints again.  The verdict: Red tastes awful, but for a truly scientific evaluation, repeated sampling was required.

the aspiring artist

her artwork

I can't believe she's closing in on 9 months already!  Time sure flies when you're unbelievably busy... (and having fun) :)