Professional Little Sister

I don't know where Lily learned it, but she is getting pretty darn good at the whole little sister role. She wants whatever her brother has and will try to snatch it away from him. When he protests and won't let her have it, she gets this big fake pout on her face, starts to cry this exaggerated whine, and big crocodile tears roll out of her eyes. It is so ridiculous...I laugh every time she does it. She is already gaining the skills necessary to get Andrew in trouble for the rest of his life.

Also new in Lily's repertoire...

--Climbing. She is a pro at our stairs (although she doesn't know how to come back down). And yesterday, she got up on our fireplace. One of my favorite things about babies is how stinkin' pleased with themselves they get when they do something new. The look on her face on top of that fireplace was priceless.

--Eating our food. Lily will still eat baby food. As long as no one else is eating. Because if I am eating...she discards her food to the dog and wants what I have. Even if it is the same thing. It's just better off Mom's plate. In the last week, she has sampled hot pretzels, cinnamon sugar toast, KFC, Italian ice, sugar cookies. All very healthy fare. Don't worry, she's had lots of fruits and veggies too.

--Playing with poop. Okay, so this wasn't actually her fault. Her diaper exploded while napping, and she entertained herself with this new sticky goop until discovered by her dad. That's right, I was taking my mom to the airport. Score one for me. ;)

--Standing up. She is finally pulling herself up on stuff. And now all she wants to do is stand. She is just starting to cruise a bit...but we don't really have any good surfaces for her to practice this skill.

--Dance! How much do I love baby dancing???? Lily has a TOTALLY different style of dancing than Andrew did...which I find very interesting. Andrew was the dancing man, totally bouncing on his knees. Lily doesn't like to dance nearly as much, but when she does, she shakes her head and hands back and forth. No bouncing. Still soooooooo cute.

--Talk! Lily knows the words "book", "mama", "duk" (Look! always accompanied with pointing at something), "dis" (this), and "derg" (always said when pointing at Shadow, so I take it to mean dog). And she's in the stage where she babbles nonsense, but it kind of sounds like talking because she uses influction and pauses just like we do when speaking English. So cute! She also knows the sign for more and all done...but her preferred sign is pointing. "More" isn't specific enough for Lily...she just points at what she wants on the table. Arms out to get picked up. Even though she doesn't speak English, this girl knows how to get her point across. It's so fun to take her places...like at the aquarium, she just points at everything, saying over and over, "duk!" Look, mom! Look over here! Fun!

--Mama's girl. Andrew was a momma's girl from Day 1. He always preferred me, and was very vocal about it. Lily has been a much more independent baby. She loves everybody, and never had a problem with me leaving the room, etc. Until now. I think it's because we've had visitors for 2 weeks and I haven't been feeling well...so other people have been filling her needs and her mother has been absent a lot. She is now in full-on MOMMY MODE. Jeff will be holding her and she will squirm away, pointing at me, saying "mama...mamamama...mama". Then when I take her she contentedly puts her arm around me and pats me on the back (my personal favorite). It's kind of a pain, but secretly I love it.

So that's my Lily. I have been AWFUL about taking pictures, but I'll try and take some today and post them. She is just too cute. Seriously. Too cute.