Little Miss Chatterbox

One of these days in the not too distant future, I will sit down and write and post pictures about Lilly's birthday month...yes, her second birthday festivities lasted an entire month and she loved every second of it. I think she's in denial that it came to an end. Actually, I know she is. We called Jim's sister Sarah to wish her a happy birthday yesterday. When we were leaving her a message, I told Lil to say happy birthday to Aunt Ween, and she promptly replied, "no, this is MY birthday." It's going to take a little getting used to. Luckily, in the eleven months that she has to wait until her next birthday, she's got some pretty exciting things happening, including the arrival of a little brother or sister, which I'm sure will be just as much fun as a birthday.

Everyone asks me what Lilly thinks about a new baby coming into our family. She's still so little so she has no real understanding of what is happening. But she's big enough to provide a running commentary. Like the other night after dinner, when she pointed to my stomach and said, "Oh my goodness, Mummy, HUGE baby." Ahhhh. Nothing like a two-year-old reminding you that your stomach is quickly expanding. Wait until she sees me in September! I can't wait to hear what she has to say then. She's also been coming to my doctor's appointments with me this time. She's a pro at the whole doctor routine now. The appointments are nice and quick...a little conversation with doctor, a quick check of the baby's heart beat and we're on our way. When we get situated in an exam room, Lilly takes her place in a chair with a snack and tells me to "lie back Mummy." When they put the gel on my stomach to listen to the baby's heartbeat, Lilly provides the play by play..."Lotion, Mummy? Lotion on tummy? Baby's heart beep? (my personal favorite...she calls the heart beat a heart beep). Whoosh, whoosh (making the sound of the heart beat). Baby in Mummy's tummy? Mummy, all done? All done, Mummy? Bye Dr. Harma (Dr. Sharma), see you later." My appointments aren't quite as relaxing as they were the first time around, but it's quite entertaining to see my pregnancy through the eyes of a two year old. Lilly's excited about having a baby brother or sister, but when asked if she's going to share her room with the baby, she'll reply, "no, this is MY room." She's still got a few months to get used to the idea, and like it or not, she's going to be a big sister this fall. I have a feeling she's going to love it (after an initial shock period, of course).

Lilly's expanding vocabulary was the reason I wanted to sit down and write something tonight. This evening, we took advantage of the fact that it wasn't raining (it has rained all day, every day this week), I wasn't tutoring (which has been exceptionally busy given that it's finals time) and went and met Jim downtown for dinner. We sat outside and had pizza and pasta and enjoyed our Friday evening. Jim and I tried to chat, only to be interrupted by, "excuse me Mummy, excuse me Mummy, excuse me Daddy, excuse me..." until we acknowledged her. She told Jim how we went to the park today...how she saw her friends Claire, Stella and Christopher...how she played on the slide and dug in the sand. Then she'd get sidetracked by a car or a truck driving by and we'd hear, "Car like Big Bird, Daddy...oh look, car like Grover..." Yellow cars are like Big Bird, blue ones are like Grover, and red ones are like Elmo. Next time you're by a busy street, have a look at how many yellow, red and blue cars there are. You'll be amazed. With Lilly to provide the commentary, it seems like pretty much all the cars out there are those three colors. She opened her menu at the dinner table, and when we asked her what she was going to have to eat, she scrunched up her face and sat there saying, "hmmmm...ummmm...pasta?" Is there even another option? While we were eating, and Jim asked her if she'd like some more of his pasta, Lilly replied, "Ummm, no. Got some. Thank you though." Thank you though? Apparently that's an expression that we use and Lilly has picked up on, because she says it all the time. She also said to me today, "Sorry bout that" when she was holding onto my leg while I was walking and I tripped. She's such a little person with such great expressions. And just like the main character in one of her favorite books at the moment, Little Miss Chatterbox, Lilly's expressions never stop. She's got something to say about everything!

These two are always pretty excited to see each other at the end of every day :)

My favorite expressions are the ones that result from genuine excitement. Like today, when I asked Lilly if she wanted to go to the park. She started jumping up and down and gave me a hug and said, "I'm so glad to go to the park!" I was excited that it wasn't raining and we could get out, but Lilly was ecstatic. She kept saying, "I'm so glad! I'm so glad!" over and over again. She's my own little Pollyanna--possibly my all time favorite movie--so it seems appropriate that Lilly enjoys the littlest things in life.

I'm going to go and enjoy a relaxing Friday night with a sleeping toddler, a husband who's home from work, no tutoring, and a movie on the couch. This picture of Lilly sums her up pretty well at the moment. There's a giant green dog in Stamford, on one of the main corners. Every year, Stamford has some kind of street art exhibit, and this is the one from last summer: http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/local/article/It-s-Reigning-Cats-and-Dogs-in-downtown-515075.php#photo-2 If you flip through the slide show at the beginning, you'll see some of the dogs and cats that lined the streets. Anyway, all of them have been taken down, except for this one dog, perched on the corner by the library, and Lilly adores him. She waves and says hi every time we drive or walk by him, and loves the opportunity to go up to the dog and say hi and pat him. Well, we walked by the dog on our way to dinner tonight, and here is Lilly, giving him a hug goodbye. Happy Friday!