Playing at the Park

Lily has a new obsession: The SLIDE!!! :) (Or, as she calls it, the "side!")

Weee!

Since the weather has been so nice (read: not hot!), we've been walking down to Frank Park these last couple of nights. Lily will put up with the long walk because we bribe her with a stop at the park and SLIDES!

She has started sliding down on her own now--she loves it!

But Daddy and Mommy still walk up the jungle gym with her

She also enjoys dancing on the merry-go-round

And pretending she's in prison

But mostly, she enjoys making Daddy go down the slides too.

Oh, and some swinging time with Mama

Nothing like a good evening out in the cooler temps--it's fun and free!! :)

Fall Fun

Last weekend we took Lily to Wind Harvest Farms to pick fresh raspberries. Unfortunately, the raspberries weren't done, but Lily still had fun running around and playing in the hay fort!

Getting ready to go!

Do you think this child has enough hair?

 

Climbing around the Fort



Showing off how big she has gotten

Being a daredevil with Daddy

Don't you want to hold me??

 

Summer's End

Well, as much as we hate to see her go, I think Summer is on her way out. We woke this morning to 40 degree temps--and, at 12:30 p.m. we are still hovering at 45 degrees. It is a great day for some Husker football, but a little saddening to think that our days of running around the backyard barefoot and swimming in the pool are gone until next year.

:)

Enjoying the flowers while they're still here!

Lily *loves* picking the "owers"

We are doing well, otherwise. Lily and I are recovering from an early cold--probably due to the crazy temperature fluctuations we've been having. Brian is busily (and sometimes grudgingly) grading away. I'm still taking classes, though I'm considering taking a much needed break, if I can manage it without messing up my financial aid. Lily is talking more and more everyday! In fact, if she could, she'd tell all of you "Buh-bye!" right now. :)

It's Husker Season

And Lily is ready!!

The prettiest little Husker fan!

And so are we! They did a good job winning the first game of the season, so we are looking forward to more W's!

Isn't Lily too cute? I should add, however, that the headband only stayed on for *this* picture...no way would she keep such a thing on her head for a few hours!

Where'd the bread go?

Have you ever noticed that the older your toddler gets, the higher up everything in your house gets? The other day, we bought some fresh baked cheddar bread at the Morrill Farmer's Market. Lily had some with her dinner and she was a big fan.

Maybe a bigger fan than I thought...I was busying myself with some cleaning for a minute and, when I turned around, this is what I saw:

Hehe...she does look kind of like a Hillbilly baby here...

But still, it's cute!

On a side note, Brian thinks Lily looks like a poor hillbilly baby in these pictures. He is not a fan of her running around in *just* her diaper...but in my defense, she had just finished playing in the sprinkler...and I think it is cute!

Why do we spend money on expensive toys?

I've decided recently, that we have doled out too much cash on toys for Lily. Will this stop us from continuing to do it? Probably not. However, Lily has decided that her toys are not interesting enough....why would they be, when you can play with these??

Chilling in a box

Playing with Fufu

What a good chair!

What do you mean this is for cooking?

So, if you are planning on having a child in the near future, I suggest that all you need to entertain a toddler is: pots and pans, laundry baskets, and boxes. Canned food and wooden spoons are also quite popular!! :)

Poo Corner

Lily turned 18 months old yesterday--officially a year and a half! To my surprise, she has recently been starting to show signs of early potty-training readiness.

*Be prepared: we are now going to talk about poop.*

Brian and I have been laughing for awhile, because there is this specific corner in Lily's playroom that she will go to just to poo. In fact, it has gotten so poo-pular that Brian has actually dubbed it, "Poo Corner." About a week ago, I walked down into the room and smelled something awful that smell and asked Lily, "Did you go poo-poo?"

Lily held my hand as I escorted her up to her bedroom for a diaper changing, and the whole way up she kept saying, "Poo-poo..." I thought it was kind of cute, so I mentioned it to Brian and we decided that we would start saying the word every time Lily went--that way she would, hopefully, be able to connect the word with the action.

The next day, we decided to take Lily to the swimming pool and, not wanting to experience the horrible-ness of a dirty swim diaper, I told her, "Before we go to the pool, you need to go poo-poo, Lily." To my amazement, she went that very second. We were proud of her (yes, proud of her poo!), but not sure if she really did it because I told her to, or if it was mere coincidence.

Still, I could not help myself when I went shopping the other day, so I picked up the "Cushie Tushie"--a little toddler toilet seat, to go on the big toilet. Yesterday, we put Lily on it and told her to poo and she tried...but not much happened. We tried two other times and--yea!--she went, as she says, "Pee-pee!"

This morning, I walked down into her playroom once again and was greeted with a guilty look and "Poo-poo, poo-poo!" I am amazed that she has learned this concept so quickly!

That said, we are also in no hurry to start potty training. I still think she is too young to completely understand what she needs to do and I don't want to make this a frustrating experience for her. I've read that the most successful potty training occurs when you put your full effort into it around the toddler's 25 to 27 month mark, so we are just trying to introduce the world of the toilet to her at this point, as well as making her aware of what her body is doing.

On a side note, I got a good snicker today when I heard Brian discussing Lily's latest accomplishments with his brother. He suddenly chuckled and said, "When did it become okay to talk about this stuff? I guess kids make it okay..."

It's true. Nothing makes you happier to talk about (or commiserate) pee and poo than a toddler! :)