The Scowl

As anybody who has met Lilly knows, she is a very opinionated little girl.  She knows how to play to her audience, and this is her newest trick.  I first saw Lilly's scowl when she met Carolyn's boyfriend, Jeremy, at Easter.  Lilly would look around the room, smiling at Jim's sisters, waving to Jim's mom...Jim's dad was the subject of an occasional scowl but Jeremy took the brunt of her scowling.  She pretty quickly noticed that everyone laughed when she scowled and gradually, this has become her favorite way to entertain people. 


Most recently, when we were in Austin, Joseph seemed to be on the receiving end of Lilly's scowls.  For some reason, whenever Joseph talked to her, she scowled.  If you asked her to bring something to Joseph, she'd take a few steps towards him, scowl and then walk backwards. I've received a few scowls...when I tell her that she shouldn't be playing with something, like my cup of coffee.  Or in the case of the picture above, she opened a bathroom cabinet, found some dental floss and Jim and I were in the process of taking it away--hence the scowl.  We've been trying to get a picture of it for ages and were pretty excited when we captured this.  I think if we look back at baby pictures of Ellie, there are definitely some of her making this face.  When I find one, I will put it up next to Lilly's.  Like Godmother, like Goddaughter.  


I no longer tell Lilly to "say hi" to people, because she has interpreted that as scowling at them.  It's not the most friendly greeting, but everyone seems to laugh and as long as that keeps happening, Lilly will keep scowling.  She scowled at Edward's friend, Brogan relentlessly in Austin.  Joseph's friend, Meredith, received a scowl or two, until Lilly warmed up to her and then the scowls disappeared.  Anyone who happened to be in the lobby of the hotel received this look anytime Lilly happened to be toddling her way through the lobby.  The people who worked at Starbucks received their scowls first thing in the morning when I got my lattes.  We are still trying to figure out why Lilly scowls at certain people and not others.  When we had dinner at Uncle Billy's, our waitress came up to Lilly, said hi and told her how cute she was, which is usually grounds for an immediate scowl.  Instead, Lilly smiled and reached out her hands to go to this waitress.  She gave her a hug and even patted her on the back--a sign that she really likes you.  She then looked back and scowled at Joseph.  


Maybe one day we'll figure this little one out, but for now, she's the one who has got us figured out.