Ain't nuttin but baby talk up in here

Just some Lily chat and mommy thoughts here.

She still climbs everything and now can mount the futon by lifting up a foot, placing it on the seat and hoisting herself up. Very humorous to see (Eh-hem, Oli.).

Her comprehension of English and Spanish grows by a handful of phrases each week. Tonight I almost scared her with my shouts of joy when we were in the bath and I asked, "Donde esta el pie de Liliana?" and she franticallly searched the water for her foot, finding it and lifting it into the air with her hands.

Overall, we girls had simply the best evening together. A trip to the library to grab some baby books set us up to meet some little Mexican girls who switched from English to Spanish as soon as they realized we understood. They poked Lily, chased her, hugged her and kissed her, and were sad to see us go. It made me hope our life in Spain might be like that...

Lily ate a big dinner and I must say, I do love dinner time sometimes because I take the opportunity while Lily is tied in a chair to entertain her with all my talents. While Lily eats, I generallly do the dishes, then dance and make faces at her, getting her into hysterics by putting my back to her and then looking at her quickly over my shoulder. Somehow she manages to feed herself, and sometimes me, during all this.

Bathtime, another time for us to be silly, was stellar as well. Lately Lily is learning to wash people, including herself. The only danger is the old soap-in-the-eye bit. When that happens, Lily knows water needs to be dumped over her head, which she is rather ok with, so long as it gets the bastard soap out. Similarly, as much as she hates putting on or taking off clothing, she understands how it works and lifts legs, arms, whatever to make the process go faster...that is, when she's not yelling at you to let her go.

All in all, this post is a big Yeah to myself that I feel Lily and I are buddies, that we're communicating, whether it be about getting clothes on, new vocabulary, or blowing bubbles in the bath, and perhaps most importantly, that Lily understands I like and respect her. I sometimes worry that I'll focus way too much on intellectual development and just be a mean mom who's no fun, that I'll explain way to much to her and always try to show her how to do things "right" rather than letting her take the wheel. On the contrary, lately I've really been enjoying being goofy, teaching Lil through goofiness, and generally just letting her know that I think highly of her. I'm really trying hard to teach Lil without stepping on her toes, to let her know she is good, and to just generally respect her so that as she grows she'll be open with me. Our buddiness is the first sign that she's getting the messages I'm trying to send her! So, that's all, just a post to share my worries and a little personal triumph.

Louis Theroux

Loo-ee Ther-oo.

He's a television journalist for the BBC and you should check him out because:
a) He is excellent at acting dim to disarm his subjects, a la Colombo
b) He does great interviews
c) His topics are interesting and outcomes oft unexpected
d) He's pretty cute in a dual national hipster way

See:
1) Wikipedia

2) Most Hated Family in America (in several parts on YouTube)

3) Google or YouTube "Louis Theroux Weird Weekends" and you'll find episodes of his old BBC program

Today

My parents came out to Small Bar with us this morning to watch English football. Lily ran up and down Division enjoying the glorious day and Oli chased her around with a pool cue. Dad read the paper and Mom raved about the whole wheat pancake. And yes, Mom asked the waiter his name and introduced herself to him.

After that it was Humbolt Park, walking around the fishing pond, over bridges and through patchy trees. We pointed at geese, dangled our feet in the cold water, found a big egg, released cat tail silk into the wind, and found a most excellent scrubby stick to hit things with. A typical day in kiddom, where you're king if you've got a stick in your hand and rich if you find several Heineken bottle tops. Lily is a queen and a millionaire today.

Today's our anniversary

No big plans in the works yet, though we've set aside next Monday when I'm off work to celebrate.

It always seems to happen that I don't realize an event is important to me until it arrives, and by that point, there's no time to plan anything or do anything, and it passes away so that next year when we ask ourselves, "What did we do on our anniversary," we will have no idea. Caramba.

In any case, it's a beautiful day, much of which has been spent outside with our Lil, and Mr. Milner may be arriving from New York tomorrow to spend a few days with us, so hopefully we can remember that!

~

More proof that our child is cool, but you already knew that

Being Lily's mother, she impresses me in many ways. Her new way of impressing me is with her bravery. She's so tough and inquisitive!

Take for instance her fearlessness when it comes to dogs. No matter how giant the beast, when Lily spots it from 100 feet away, she begins woofing like a high-pitched poodle and moving toward the thing. We must then go accost the owner, make them stop their walk and let Lily commune with the dog, which means letting her woof at it and pet or pinch it. Dogs don't seem to mind.





Another example: her new interest in climbing. Boxes, stools, roadside curbs, steps. You name it, Lily wants to put her feet on it....but not without asking for a helping hand from Mom or Dad once in a while. This makes me admire her even more; she's not a reckless child, leaping off things or clambering up things she can't manage, but she still goes for it. When she sees something climb worthy, she sticks her hand out to us, asking for a little stabilizing hand hold, and then begins her assent, which sometimes leaves her in a horizontal position, feet on the high thing and hands holding on to us.

Tonight she started exploring the world of swimming, which only further impresses me. We were in the bath together and it was quite deep. She slipped and went right under at one point, only to stand up and shake it off. I'd like to think my not freaking out about her falls helps her to not be bothered by them, but in this case, it was all Lily. Her slip under the water got her interested and from there she kept experimenting with ways to slip or float on her belly or back. This experimentation led to a few other dips under, but she just blinked out the water from her eyes and kept trying it out. What a cool kid.

Anyway, here's one last photo of her playing in the alley like a real city kid.

~

Lily in her 14th month