Stair Climber

We had a semi-surprise visit from Papa Pascal on Saturday morning! With a last minute change of plans, he ended up being in Seattle for the weekend for work and was able to get away to see us for a day! I was worried that Lilah might be a little shy or scared, but she didn't have any problem. I was away at work for a few hours Saturday morning, so I missed his arrival, but was able to be home again by lunch to join in the fun. Jonas and Papa worked outside a good bit, and Lilah loved peeking out the window at them. She is just tall enough now to rest her chin on the window ledge and see out pretty well. It was really cute and we LOVED having him for a visit. Next time it will have to be longer!

While the boys were outside, I let Lilah do some exploring around the house downstairs (we typically play in the room above the garage which is full of her toys). She hasn't had much interest in the stairs so far until about a week or two ago when Jonas let her explore a bit and she made it halfway up before calling it quits (he was right behind her). Yesterday I let her climb them. She made it to the top without help, and it took her about five minutes or so... less than ten at least. Today while I was working in the kitchen, Jonas watched her climb them again. It only took her about two and a half minutes! Her motivation is mainly our littlest cat Shelby. Lilah has become a huge fan of Shelby's favorite toy, a tiny wiffle ball with a bell inside. She loves to shake it for Shelby and watch her dance for it. Lilah just laughs. So she was chasing Shelby up the stairs, ball in hand. We are getting a gate next week.

In other news, Lilah has decided now in her eleventh month that she is too old for an evening nap. She is starting to take a longer lunchtime nap at least, which makes everyone more pleasant, especially Lilah. No new teeth since the last one, and not really any new words either. She does like to say, "yeah, yeah, yeah" and "whoa, whoa, whoa" but just to herself. I thought I heard her say, "yeah, boy!" the other day (can you hear that in your head? sounded like flavor flav...) - gives me ideas for what we should practice. It sounded pretty funny.

Birthday Season

We have started the birthday season in our playgroup. The first was one in late July, but we have had two this weekend, and then three in October. Hard to believe this huge milestone is almost here for little Lilah. It has been really neat to see these little babies change so much over the last year. Half of them are walking and it's crazy to see these short little people wobbling across the floor on semi-steady feet. After seeing some of the recent first birthday parties we have been to, I am realizing that I need to get busy planning! I was asking Jonas what sort of theme we should have for Lilah's party. He said, "How about a birthday theme, like balloons and cake". Looks like I will have to rely on the other moms for ideas.
Today's picture comes from this past Thursday when we watched Clemson's first football game that has aired out here this season. Lilah was around for a game or two last season but wasn't so interested in TV then. She still isn't much, but if you talk to her about what's going on she'll look for a few minutes. During Clemson's almost winning comeback, we were working on "TOUCHDOWN!". Very similar to "how big is Lilah" which we used for the picture. I like the latter anyway.

ps- This picture looks EXACTLY like Jonas did as a baby. It could very well be a picture of him.

One Smart Baby

Listen as Lilah says "stop, go!"

And we also had a day at the park yesterday. The kids had so much fun in the swings!

New Words

We have all finally recovered (mostly) from the stomach bug that ended up hitting all of us. Lilah seemed to have it pretty easy but is still working on getting her appetite back. She has been so funny lately, talking up a storm. She is always babbling to herself, but she has really started repeating a number of words lately. A few weeks ago she started with "uh-oh" and then once we got back from our trip she will sometimes repeat "meow" when talking about the cats. I told her to call daddy the other day though, and she said, "meow." We still have some stuff to work on. She says it in a really high pitch voice though, very different from her other words. On Sunday morning we were talking about toes; I was showing her mine and tickling hers and saying "toes." Like a little parrot she repeated it, "toes!" And then later that day (and several times since) when you ask her where her toes are, she grabs them! The next is a funny story from tonight. Jonas was making a strange noise very loudly, so I said, "STOP, STOP, STOP!" Lilah was right there in her highchair and joined right in! Her's sounded more like 'dop, dop' but I think we are going to have a talker.
One last one - She has been saying 'dadadada' for months now, but this morning I brought her to bed with us at 2am and she rolled over and saw Jonas and said "Dada!" This was a first time for the word 'dada' to be directed at him. Yay, Lilah!
She gets a kick out of doing things that we find exciting, and has started to clap for herself when we are pleased with the things she does. What a funny baby!
AND... Lilah has enough hair to hold a bow! No glue, no tape, no magic! Just a cute little bow (on a clip). I caught her finally with my phone/camera in a non-blurry picture. No John, she's not wearing make-up, just naturally rosy cheeks from playing all over the floor, and dry lips from always licking them when she's thinking. Jonas asked if we should cut her hair - just the part that is starting to come over her ears. YIKES! NO WAY! I told him that was boys not girls that don't usually have hair over their ears, but all bets are off under one year and possibly even two years old in my opinion.

Little Puker

We had an exciting day today. Lilah vomited for the first time. We had just dropped some shirts off at the dry cleaners and were headed to the park. Driving down the street, I heard Lilah coughing strangely, and when I turned to look, she was vomiting all over. What a big mess from a little baby! She was pretty scared, as was I. I was trying to think if I should get her out of the car seat, but I was in the middle of a busy road. Luckily, she didn't choke. We headed home from there to get a bath and a nap. This evening she seemed to feel better, even ate dinner, and now I have only heard a bit of fussing on the monitor. I hope we have a good night and a normal day tomorrow.
Momma bought her some overalls while we were home and they are so cute! I think we will put them to great use over the coming months, especially while she is crawling around and wearing out the knees.
With her recent increase in mobility, I've had a use "NO" a lot more than ever before. She certainly knows the word, and what it means. She does not like to hear it, but I think the tone is what makes her so sad. I try to reserve its use for more dangerous things, like outlets and climbing out of the highchair. The other day at lunch she was reaching for something on the coffee table from her highchair (and I was sitting right there) and was nearly able to topple out of it. So now she hears "No Lilah, you have to sit on your bottom." After about three times of physically turning her back around and reminding her to sit, she started busting out in the most FAKE cry I've ever heard. She sticks her lip out and does the most pathetic cry. I'll post a video but the face she makes is only in the very beginning. After that she gets distracted by a cat. But when she starts her fake cry, I start laughing (while I am trying to be stern) and then she quits fussing immediately and starts to smile too. Crazy child. Check it out, but it's only the very beginning where she's being goofy.

Back in Town

Lilah and I have returned safely to Washington. We were both thrilled to see Jonas again, although Lilah was a little shy at first. She still (three days later) gives him flirty sideways smiles, but I think she's just being silly and not shy. We had a really nice flight back - Lilah was able to have her own seat! That really made it a great trip. She is so squirmy in my arms now that trying to contain her to a small airplane seat that I am also occupying is ridiculous.
She is pulling up like crazy now, and is starting to cruise a good bit. She still sometimes likes to stand on her tip-toes, but manages to balance anyway. Anytime a toy plays music she bobs up and down in her own special dance, even if she is lying on the floor. She also got another tooth while we were away, bringing her total to seven. We have baby playgroup tomorrow, so she'll get to see all her friends she has missed over the last several weeks. So much changes with each child in that amount of time, it will be neat to see what they can do differently now.
Her favorite thing right now is when I act totally silly, making crazy faces and dancing around the room. She cracks up if I pretend I'm going to eat her arm or just click my teeth together and do funny things with my eyes. I'll post a video of her giggling. It doesn't happen often but it's so cute when she does!





This second video was taken at the beginning of July. We were in the car and Lilah was checking herself out in the mirror at her feet. Maybe she had just discovered the cute girl and the tricks she could do with her tongue?

All New Things

Lilah and I have been back east now for almost two weeks.  We spent the first weekend at Mimi and Papa's house in Atlanta and got to play with Jonas' sister and family.  Lilah loved seeing her young cousins!  They were so sweet playing together.  Since being home in NC, she has also taken a particular liking to my nephew Ben, who is seven.  He is usually the least affectionate of my sister's kids, but has also taken a particular liking to Lilah in return.   She especially loves kissing him, and he actually doesn't mind it.  Pretty cute!

She has learned an amazing number of things over the past two weeks - it's hard to keep track of them all with my baby's first year calendar so far away!  When were first got to NC, she started repeating a lot of sounds people made.  Saying ha ha ha, and uh-oh mostly.  I'll try to post a video.  She is starting to crawl more on her hands and knees now for short distances.  She still goes to her belly if she wants to go far or fast, but is able to stay up if she needs to.  She pulls up all the time and is becoming more stable on her feet.  She cruises around the edges of the playpen, but to change sides she will sometimes just dive for the middle, grab the top of it and pull herself up again.  Pretty strong baby.  Today she climbed her first step, and it was a big one.  My parents have a step leading out of the kitchen, and it has been a barrier in itself the past week to keep Lilah in the room, but today she follow Ben right into the hallway.  

We have been swimming a lot over the last week, and Lilah loves the water.  I think it's helping her sleep like a rock - I haven't gotten up once in the night since we've been here.  Diaper changes have become nearly impossible.  It has been increasingly difficult over the last several weeks but today it took me so long just to pin her down for ten seconds even.  It's especially bad with the dirty diapers.  What a mess!

It's been a lot of fun telling Jonas about each of the new things she does each day.  We miss him and it will be really neat to see him again.  I am curious to see how Lilah will respond.  I think she'll go nuts!

The second video features Lilah crawling like a normal child.  Hurray for cleaner shirts that don't have to mop the floor!