Fun with floam

A puzzling day at school

Grandma & Grandpa visit!

We were very lucky to have Grandma and Grandpa Meyer come to visit us this past weekend. There are very few times in which I have to work and school is closed for Lily, Teacher In-Service Days being those times. This year I was a little smarter than last. I planned ahead and asked my mom & dad if they would come to help us out during this time. Like usual, mom and dad jumped at the request for help and came to our rescue. This was especially nice considering that it was my mom's birthday on Saturday. Despite long work hours on Thursday & Friday, we were able to spend a very nice Saturday morning at the Inner Harbor and then have a girls' afternoon of shopping and beauty. Thanks mom & dad for all your help!!!

Work continues to be a bit stressful, but we have had a very successful start to the school year so far, so I'll take it. Carl is finishing the final week of his Pathology rotation and then his next rotation is at the hospital 10-15 minutes from our house (where Lily was born). This is certainly a welcome change from his current hour commute. Carl was granted the opportunity to do one of his rotations in St. Louis this fall so he will be spending a month there (staying with my parents), and Lily and I will join them for about 2 weeks, so we are really looking forward to that.

Lily continues to be completely adorable and charming...and a stinker. Her latest "Quote of the Week" came a couple of days ago when out of nowhere she looked at me, pointed, and said "Shut up" and then turned to Carl, did the same thing, and then resumed playing with whatever it was that she was previously engaged with. It was very hard not to laugh because it was so random. I would be alarmed at this language had I not known exactly how she picked this up. Unfortunately, it is Carl's and my fault completely. While we would never say this phrase to another human being, we have quite frequently said these words to our little barker, Terra. We definitely will be more on top of this in the future and modify our words directed at Terra.

That is all the news for now. I will try to be better about posting more frequently as things at work settle down a bit.

Evolution of Dance

One of the many critical things that Carl is learning during his pathology rotation is where to find all the funniest videos on YouTube. I thought that this one was really cute. I think that my mom will especially appreciate it.

Lily's quote of the week

Yesterday Lily was rocking her doll as Carl went downstairs. As he was going down the steps, Lily patted her baby and said, "Shh, honey, daddy be back". This truly is the "honey" of life...the sweetest thing ever....and the reason that I fall more in love with her every single day.

Sunday at the Zoo

Lily does not "fear the turtle"

A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E

Camel rides!

Little adventure-seeker

One goat is nice but...

Lily prefers to be surrounded by the action

" Umm...mom, do you think I could go into the water to get a better look at the 5-foot crocodile behind me?"

And, yes, the title is correct. This outing took place last weekend, but I'm just getting around to posting it. Let's just say that it was not a pretty week at work. I worked 12 hours today, and it was honestly the most enjoyable day this week. I've had little energy for anything at night, and I'm so looking forward to the weekend. You've gotta love back to school time in the education world!

All you slackers

So, I'm writing a reminder to all those who promised to send a recipe idea for my toddler cookbook and have not - DO IT NOW! No time like the present. We all get caught up in the daily grind, but that is no excuse:) It only takes a few minutes of your time to throw a quick e-mail my way (kathleendeetz@youngschool.com). Thank you, thank you, thank you to all those who have - you're superstars! And yes, it is fine if you are a friend of a friend of a friend and we do not know each other personally; I'd LOVE your contribution. Remember, you end up gaining a valuable resource in return. There, I've said my bit.

Gardening with Lily

Thanks for the cool hat and watering can Aunt Ingrid and Grandma Deetz!

Fun at the park

Lily flew a kite all by herself today!

Terra loves playing with the ball at the park.

Blowing bubbles together

Lily insists on playing on the big kids' equipment at the park.

Our big girl

Fun at home

Playing with her new zoo set (a present for going poopy on the potty)

Playing with a homemade toy - a paper cup, a straw and a grape make a fun pop-up toy!

Body part identification game - put the band-aid on your [knee, hand, etc]

Yay for Lily!

Building with blocks

Painting with daddy. Carl touched up the trim around the deck door while Lily "painted" the siding with water.

Sidewalk chalk is not just for sidewalks!

Shoe match game

Shoe match game taken to a new level - Lily decided that the window sill is the perfect place to line up her shoes.

Catching up on some reading during a relaxing bubble bath

Mommy and Lily: Fort-builders extraordinaire!

On the menu for lunch: butterfly sandwiches. We tried anyway:)

These pictures show our morning from wake-up time (around 6:50 am) to about 10:00 am. If anyone were to question why parents of toddlers are exhausted, this would be the answer. Lily's energy level does not diminish even a little bit throughout the day, and since the toddler attention span seems to be about 5 seconds long, we are on the go with different activities from sun up to sun down. This also explains why I haven't gotten around to cleaning the house as well as I should. Okay, so it makes a good excuse anyway.

Morning discoveries

On this morning's walk with Terra, Carl brought back an Eastern box turtle that he found along the way. After an up-close look, Carl and Lily released the turtle in the back garden. Regardless of where we live, I think Carl will always be a country boy at heart:) (...And did I not promise a frizz-head in the morning?)

This is the way we wash our hands

After-bath / Pre-Bedtime Activities

Beginning cautiously...

H-e-l-l-o, I'm trying to create here.

Really getting into it

Washing up afterwards

Our little artist

This freshly-washed, perfect coif will be transformed into frizzy bed-head hair in just 12 short hours.

My baby love

Life with Lily at nearly 21 months is as follows...

• Sleeping: A while ago we started having Lily sleep on her own mattress in our room. However, we had a few long distance trips this summer that kind of ruined our efforts on that front. She stills sleeps fabulously through the night...just in our bed. Again, we don't mind. We really don't need this situation to change until we have another baby and that won't be for a while, so we have plenty of time to work on this.
• Eating: Lily continues to have preferences on what she wants to eat from day to day. Even if she likes a particular food in general, she will reject it if she doesn't happen to be in the mood for it on that given day. Her current absolute favorite food that she could eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner is cheesy scrambled eggs. She also really likes DanActive and pizza and will eat pretty much any fruit known to man.
• Playing: When we went to the Aquarium on Sunday, we let Lily pick out a toy from the gift shop. She chose a bag full of animals that are intended for the bath (they each have a hole from which water will squirt when squeezed). In this bag full of animals, there is a fish, polar bear, jellyfish, and starfish that she adores (and basically ignores the rest of the animals). It has been difficult to get her to put down these four little creatures at all. It is the first thing that she requests in the morning (right before eggs), and she continues to carry them with her while she eats, while we walk Terra, and while we drive to school. On the drive home, she has to have them again and carries them with her all night until bedtime. I think that this is the first real attachment that she has had to any toys, other than the dolls at school.
• Reading: The current favorite book is From Head to Toe by Eric Carle.
• Talking: There are so many adorable little things that she says right now that it is hard to remember them all, but I will list a few examples. Every morning when we set Terra up in the basement, Lily says "Bye bye, see you Ra Ra", occasionally adding "I love you" as well - truly makes me melt. She then repeats this phrase about five times in the car as we are pulling away from the house. Whenever we arrive at our destination, she says "Yay!" Whenever she wants to sit on the countertop to watch the food preparation, she says "See" and then points to the stove and says "Hot". One of her famous tricks is to stand in her booster seat and say "Sit down" or give Terra food (right off of her spoon, by the way) and say "No, no, Ra Ra". Lily also commands "No grass, Ra Ra" when we are on a walk with her because occasionally Terra will try to eat the grass when she really needs to eat her dog food. She also loves to turn dolls over and declare "no poopy" upon examination of their behinds. She now also requests "Park...Ra Ra" when she wants to go to the park with Terra. I could go on and on, but the basic point is that communication continues to increase, and we love being able to ascertain more of what is going on in that little mind of hers.

In general, all is well with us. Fourth year is going smashingly well so far. We're only officially three days into it, but it definitely gives us hope for a more relaxed year. We are really looking forward to a visit from my parents in a couple of weeks and are trying our best to enjoy the final weeks of summer despite the oppressive heat.

First visit to the Inner Harbor

Mama and Lily at the Aquarium

Looking out onto the Inner Harbor with Daddy

Unlike her mom, Lily has no problem with vertigo

Taking a look at the very impressive addition to the Aquarium, The Australian Exhibit

Fishies!

Look at my little girl, looking so old!

We had a very big weekend here. First and foremost, Lily went poopy on the potty! Awesome!!! She is the first child that I have heard of that did this first before peeing on the potty - very unconventional, but that's our Lily! She actually seemed a little scared when it happened, probably due in large part to my over-exuberant reaction. Also, Lily counted to ten for the first time this weekend. It required some prompting to go on (she counted to three, I said four, then she counted to seven, I said eight, and then she finished at ten), but we are still extremely proud!

We also celebrated the official end to Carl's third year of med school. All tests results and grades are back, and we are undeniably on to fourth year. Carl starts his Pathology rotation tomorrow. He is very excited to finally be able to say "yes" to the question inevitably asked by the doctors that he is working with, "Is this the field that you want to go into?"

In order to celebrate (we like to take every opportunity to celebrate), we spent the day at the Inner Harbor. We started at the Aquarium in the morning and then ended the excursion at The Cheesecake Factory for lunch. Lily enjoyed eating alfresco because it enabled her to watch the pigeons the entire time (which kept her occupied - bonus for us!) All around, it was just a lovely family day.

Saturday picnic