Bath anyone?

Sometimes Lyla needs a bath after almost every meal. One day I threw her in the tub after breakfast because she fed herself her oatmeal and wore about half of it in her hair. Then that same day she had pb&j for lunch and used the jelly as a styling gel. There wasn't time for another bath that day so we just combed it out the best we could. These were taken after she fed herself pizza Sunday afternoon. I don't know why she kept opening her mouth. She's so funny.

Flashback

I have tried and tried to upload a great video of Lyla showing off using her signs and words. Argh. Instead, here are some pictures I recently got from Shawn and Rachel's camera. I have dated them so you can see the progression.

JANUARY 10, 2008

JUNE 1, 2008


AUGUST 9, 2008

You Brush Your Teeth...

Lyla is talking up a storm these days. She watches Mommy and Daddy get ready and has learned to say "bush" (with a really long shhhh sound) which can mean toothbrush OR hairbrush. She likes to brush her own hair as well as Mommy and Daddy's hair. She also has a Raffi cd with a song that sings about brushing your teeth "if you wake up in the morning at a quarter to 1 and you want to have a little fun, you brush your teeth--chchchchchchchch." Lyla will mimic us and brush her teeth with her finger and make the "chchch" noise. At Seth's last dentist appt, they gave him a toothbrush and baby toothpaste for Lyla and we thought she might like to give it a try. She LOVED using her purple toothbrush and was pretty good at listening when we told her she couldn't leave the bathroom with it because it wasn't a toy. As you can see, Daddy broke her little heart when he finally took the toothbrush away because it was bedtime. Other developments: she now says "more" while signing it, "chee-os" means cheerios and "cack" means cracker. She is also starting to sign "please" and will say the "t" sound while signing "thank you." She also points to her toes when she hears "this little piggy" on her music player and is working on the motions for "wheels on the bus." Last night she would point to her music player then sign/say "more" then do the "wheels on the bus" motion. We really are so proud of how well she is communicating.

Boyd Orchards

Lyla was invited to Aiden's 1st birthday party at Boyd Orchards in Versailles, KY. A couple of things you should know about Versailles: first, it is pronounced VER-SALES...years ago, one of Lexington's (then) rookie meteorologists warned people in VER-SIGH that a storm was coming their way and I wondered if anyone knew what he was talking about. Ha. Another fun thing that Versailles has to offer is a Castle which can be found just a few miles from the airport and Keeneland. Anyway, Boyd Orchards is a great place for a kid's birthday party complete with a petting zoo, giant slide, corn maze, hayride, etc. Although it was more of a "looking" zoo for Lyla, she loved seeing all the animals. There were goats, chickens, ducks, sheep and turkeys (Lyla's favorite for some reason). I did not come prepared to buy food for the animals but Lyla was able to watch as another little boy fed the goats. Aiden had a lot of fun until he tried to touch his birthday candle instead of blow it out. Ouch. At the end of the day, Lyla was happy because she shared a cupcake with Mommy AND got 2 balloons out of the deal. A friend and I agreed that a cupcake and balloons would still make a good day for us, too.

Bourbon Festival

I can hear my brother, Ken, now..."only in Kentucky." Oh, well, we had a great time at the Bourbon Festival concert last night in Bardstown, Kentucky. Ironically, I saw absolutely no bourbon...just A LOT of beer and even more people who have beer to thank for their dancing skills (see link below to listen to "The More I Drink). It was about an hour and half drive from here but it took us almost another half hour just to get off the exit ramp. Shawn works for Jim Beam and got us free passes to see Kellie Pickler and Blake Shelton in concert. Kellie Pickler apparently has strep throat and was a no-show. However, Blake Shelton MORE than compensated for her absence and put on a great show. He did tons of covers ranging from Conway Twitty to Shaggy and played for more than 2 hours straight. Rachel and I were dying to hear his #1 hit "Austin" (one of Seth's least favorite songs) so when he sang it, I felt the need to videotape a portion of it.

For those of you who really couldn't care less about country music...here are some pictures taken earlier Friday.

Twirling

In one of my favorite movies, "You've Got Mail," Meg Ryan's character talks about twirling with her mother in her mother's bookstore. That's what came to mind when I was looking at this set of pictures of Lyla in a beautiful dress her Mimi bought for her. I think she is just dancing but she looks like she is twirling in the second picture. All little girls LOVE twirling in dresses and I am sure that one day Lyla will be no different.

(she knew where the coathanger belonged)

(removing her hairbow)

I thought I would throw in a picture of the plate I painted for Lyla's room at a place here in Lexington called The Mad Potter.

And now for my next trick!!

Lyla is saying more and more words...both verbally and non-verbally. The sign for "thank you" is in the beginning stages and looks a lot like blowing a kiss right now but she's getting there. As for words she is saying verbally--she has the "b" words down. Ball, Balloon, Bear, Baby, Lane's Bone, Bath and of course what the chicken says, "bach, bach." She can also say "up" and what sounds like "apple" but must mean something else. (I had a great video of her saying "balloon" which comes out "buhbuh" but it would not upload.)

Some of you may wonder if this is just a fluke but she has been getting the shapes right most of the time--and no, we do not ask her the shapes in the same order every time. She was also doing pretty well with her colors the other day but not nearly as consistent as with this puzzle. I don't want to be "that mom" but think that ship has sailed so I am going to go ahead and declare Lyla a genius.

Slacker

I have become very much of a "planner" since graduating college...which is unfortunate because I really could have used some organization back then. Oh, well. Those who know me well know that there was a time when I would spend entirely too much time in Hallmark shopping for cards for anyone who might need a card in the coming months. If someone got married, had a baby, needed encouragement or prayer, etc--I had JUST the card ready. Well, I still think Hallmark has the best selection but 5 factors have played a role in preventing my card organizer (oh, yes, I have one) from being as well-stocked as it once was. #1-shopping at Hallmark is much less relaxing thanks to the cards that play music (& the parents that allow their children to hang out in that section while THEY shop) #2-Lyla is too young to stick in that section while I shop in piece in quiet (haha) #3-the nearest Hallmark is a good 25+ miles from my house (where I spend most of my time) which leads to #4-Dollar General is 1 mile away and #5-has cards 2 for $1. Where am I going with this? Yesterday was my brother, Ken's birthday and despite the fact that I chased the mail truck to get his card in the mail, I'm pretty sure he'll get his card today. My sister, Alison's birthday is Sunday and her card didn't go out until today. And I plan to get Andrea's birthday card in the mail Monday so hers actually arrives by Thursday or maybe before but we'll see. So, Happy Birthday to my loving brother and sisters. I miss you all and don't love you any less simply because my cards aren't on time anymore and don't have a crown on the back.

I have also been informed that I am a slacker when it comes to blogging as my parents and two friends wanted to know why I haven't posted new pictures on the blog...um, I have posted twice this week. Give me a break, people!

Lyla found these pants and let me put them on her head

She wore them around for a while and even danced with them on her head

The kept sliding down but she didn't seem to mind

Lyla's new "face" that she makes whenever you ask her to--hilarious

She finally took them off her head

another version of her "face"

Dancing while Daddy played bass

More dancing

That beautiful smile again

chillin' on the pillows while the sheets are being washed

she loves to climb on the pillows

posing for the camera

if you ask Lyla to "show me your face"

...she does!

"loving" Daddy

"cheesing" with Daddy

a rainbow I saw yesterday after some MUCH-NEEDED rain around here (you can tell by the grass)