Sunday, November 30, 2008

Thanksgiving with the Deetz side

Deetz family photo

Carl, Lily, Carl's dad, Alexander, Ingrid, and Grandma Deetz


Lily was...well, Lily....this weekend. She entertained all with her stories and antics. She is a true performer with oodles of confidence. It really can't be explained - only experienced.


Snow! (Beautiful for gazing, not so beautiful for driving.)


Unfortunately, I misplaced my camera for the majority of our trip to Indiana and found it only about an hour before we were set to leave. So, I have very few pictures of the trip. But, we had a wonderful time catching up with Carl's family. Lily immediately took to Grandma Deetz from the moment we arrived, and in fact, claimed Grandma for her own for at least an hour on the night we arrived. Lily extended an open invitation for Grandma (and her dolls and bears) to visit us any time the mood strikes.
Lily also received a double dose of cousins this weekend. Between seeing Mary & Katie on my side and Lucy & Lainey on Carl's side, Lily had plenty of playmates and absolutely loved it! We also had a chance to see the turkeys and chickens on the farm; Lily thoroughly enjoyed terrorizing them by pretending to be a monster and chasing them all around, poor birds. We also had a chance to celebrate two November birthdays (Lily's and Lainey's) which was very nice. Thanks to Aunt Pam for the great Dora cake. Who knew that Dora decorations could also serve as utensils?! And, thanks once again to all our family on both sides. We are so very thankful for all of you.

Happy ThanksLiving!


Before heading to my parents' house for a lovely Thanksgiving dinner, we picked up my Grandpa at his house. This picture was taken in his backyard with a couple of his many lawn statues. Yes, my Grandpa is the neighbor everyone loves to have ;)

The girls at their special table


A toast to family
The girls will drink to that!

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo...

Lily goes cruisin' with a new friend

Lily told me that this tree kangaroo looked sad. It's true, what could I say?


Lily took this picture of a mighty large snake. I know that it was luck, but I am a little bit humbled that a three-year-old can take pictures equal to my pictures.


Lily went to play in the stuffed animal area and identified the animal on top as a hyena and the one below as an iguana. I am not one to think of Lily as "advanced" (I have heard parents say this way too many times in the child care industry), but I will say I was impressed with this.


Lily and Jack playing with the birdseed and bird feeders. This was in a cute bird-themed area set up with a play birdbath and little beenie baby birds.

Q -Tees

Today Lily and I joined my friend, Molly, and her son, Jack, along with some of their friends at the zoo. We visited the children's zoo and then went into a fairly new playroom that they have for little ones. As with almost everything at the zoo, the children's room was: free, very nice, and had so many activities to explore that it will require several trips to actually see everything. I would estimate that she only saw about a third of the exhibits in the room. Overall, we had a really good time, and we look forward to returning for more indoor fun!

Monday, November 24, 2008

Doctor, Doctor, give me the news

It is no wonder with our recent visit to Carl's work and then to the Pediatrician for her three-year-old check-up (or as Lily says, "check out") that Lily has wanted to play "doctor" this week.

First, Lily checks my chart. I asked if I could see it, and she very definitively told me, "No, it is only for the doctor to see". I considered bringing up patient rights and HIPAA regulations but thought I would save that for a later time.



The baby "sounds good". (Notice the seriousness and concentration.)


It is determined that the baby needs a shot. Unfortunately, she informed the baby that this shot has "kiki" in it, and kiki really stings. However, she reassured the baby by telling her that tomorrow she will get a shot that does not have kiki in it so it will not sting so much. Now there's something to look forward to!

Lily's visit to the doctor went swimmingly. From the moment she walked in, she was in total control, exuding her natural confidence. With a hand on her hip, she followed the nurse down the hall, stepped on the scale (32 lbs.), stood in front of the ruler (37.75 in), and even agreed to go get a hearing and vision test (pass, pass) without mom & dad present. She took a break from "reading" the nutrition pyramid diagram to acknowledge the doctor's presence every so often, but he really won her over with unlimited access to his sticker drawer. It goes without saying that both Carl and I left the office with stickered clothing and hands. Lily only received the flu shot at this visit. Again, she was mostly engrossed in the diagram but was keeping an eye on the nurse with the needle. I give a lot of credit to the nurse and her technique because Lily barely acknowledged that she had been given a shot. Overall, I was really happy with the office environment, the doctor, and staff. Of course, not so much that I would want to visit there often. :)

Friday, November 21, 2008

Curly Q




Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Family update

Obviously, with Lily, the biggest thing in her world recently was her birthday. And rightfully so - three years old! That's huge! With other birthdays, I found myself thinking "I can't believe that she is [1, 2] already". With this birthday, my main thought was, "I can't believe that she is just turning 3". She has seemed like a three-year-old for so long now that starting around August, when others asked her age, we would always say "almost three". Her birthday month was equally fun for us as it was for her too. From the party to the circus to Chuck E Cheese to the Arch, we all had a great time this month.

Being with Lily so much these past few weeks has also reaffirmed that the 3-4 age group is definitely my favorite. I absolutely love the way her mind works. Explanations and rationalizations at this age are simply the best. Also, the inventive language and unique take on the world is fascinating. Sometimes I wish that I had a notebook and pen permanently attached to me so that I could fill it will all the things that she says every day to amuse us. Unfortunately, my memory just plain stinks so I don't remember the majority, but here are some recent remarks:
  • "Daddy, Daddy, I peed!" (Said to Carl after she drew a "P" on her paper)
  • After watching a lengthy preview on a DVD, the announcer asked, "So what are you waiting for?", referring to purchasing the advertised DVDs, and Lily responded quite matter-of-factly, "I'm waiting for the movie to come on".
  • "Mommy, you didn't know when you were a baby that I was a big girl."
  • "My pee is warm." (Said after emerging from the bathroom) After asking why she thought her pee was warm, she replied, "Because it has to go through the tunnel".
  • "You can see that my applesauce is empty, so I don't need to say please." (Said to Carl and me during dinner last night when she wanted more applesauce. It should be noted that we had not prompted her to say please. This also must be said with a lot of attitude to get the full effect.)

Actually is her favorite word right now, and she actually says it about 20 times per day. I wonder if this has anything to do with her former pediatrician's proclivity for the same word. Hmm... Speaking of pediatricians, we have an appointment for her three-year-old well visit on Thursday. So, we should get some new stats then. Her new pediatrician has the same name as a very famous former football player which I find amusing for some reason. We'll see if he has any fun quirks too.

And now on to Carl. He is on a much-deserved vacation this week - yay! The pathology residents get three weeks off for the year that they have to take in one week increments. We had to pick the weeks back in June so we just chose some random times. We don't have any plans in particular this week except on Thursday when we plan to do the bulk of our Christmas shopping together. It's crazy that it's that time again already, but I'm truly so excited for a day together to knock this out without the usual last-minute hustle and bustle.

This morning Carl had a minor surgery, removing a small lump in his left leg. This is one of five lumps that Carl has had. The first one, revealed to be testicular cancer, was removed in November four years ago. The second one was a sebaceous cyst at his hairline removed two years ago. The third one, removed today, is hoped to be a benign lipoma. All initial feelings from the docs are positive, but the true results won't be in until later this week, so all positive thoughts/prayers are certainly welcome. The surgery was done with a local anesthetic today, and I think Carl enjoyed being able to watch the process and get a first-hand look at the excised lump. They will be sending this to Carl's department where they will slice it and put it slides for the microscope, so he will likely get to see the slides himself next week, after it has been read by one of his colleagues this week.

As usual, Carl keeps his unique humor through all, so here are a couple of lines from him lately:

  • When Carl was trying to get Lily upstairs to change into her pajamas one night, he said to her, "You know, your family name ain't the best in the Navy. You need to be doing it better and faster than the rest."
  • There were several little quips at the hospital today. I think when Carl is feeling anxious at all, his "humor" kicks into full gear. After the receptionist checked us in and gave us our beeper, Carl asked her if it was okay to get drinks from the bar while we wait. She actually laughed, sweet woman. In the pre-op area, Carl was asked by no less than 8 people if he wanted a warm blanket. Carl finally said to one nurse, "I'm not afraid of showing a little leg on my way to the operating room". After the surgery, a nurse was taking Carl's blood pressure when I came up to see him. He remarked to the nurse that it was going to be higher now that his wife was back. She laughed and said, "Actually it is!" Smart ass.

Not much has changed for me lately, although you would not guess this if you talked to Lily. She has informed several people now that mommy and daddy are going to have a baby and that she is going to be a big sister. I think that more than one person has thought we are holding out on them, but alas, it is not true. I'm a bit of a medical mystery right now. We are continuing to test and search for answers, but the only thing I have been told so far is that I am ovulating but not ovulating well. Whatever that means. I do have to say that after 14 months of trying, I have definitely chilled out a bit. It used to be that the sight of a pregnant woman or the mention of a baby had me fighting back tears. I think that you just can't maintain that level of emotion forever. Now, I have truly come to grips with the fact that if Lily is our only child, we truly are among the luckiest people in the world. The evolution that has taken place within myself is quite amazing. I used to be preoccupied (bordering on obsessed) with spacing, not wanting siblings to be too close nor too far apart (in my mind). I think that because I felt so much control with our first pregnancy (first try, first baby!), I very wrongly assumed way more control in this process than is actually there. Now I have a fuller appreciation for how truly lucky we were with Lily. I know that some don't have the chance to have one, so you will never hear me complain about our situation again. It took a lot to get me to this place, but I am fully there.

Whew - so that's the story with us right now!

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Birthday outing #1: Chuck E Cheese

Having a good conversation with Bob the Builder

Barney...not so much


I think all that singing of Little Bunny Foo Foo helped prepare Lily for the bopping game


Notice how I am creaming Lily in air hockey - 1 to nothing, baby


Carl looks on as he gets his first taste of Lily at the wheel, not a comforting experience


Worst of all, she's really into it.


Lily was really good at the fishing game. I guess all that practice with Papa paid off!


Birthday outing #2: The Arch

Since we first passed the Arch when arriving in St. Louis, we have told Lily that we would take her to see it. The other day, Lily and I were driving in the car, and a local radio station called "The Arch" (original, I know) announced its name, and Lily said, "Mom, are we going to go to that place?" So, we figured we better make good on our promise and what better day to do that than on her third birthday!

Outside of the Arch

Inside the Arch, at the tip top of the tallest monument in the US


The view from the top


Our little tree-hugger


Lily and me in front of the river


At home, opening presents from mom & dad

After careful consideration, I've decided to pass on my Strawberry Shortcake collection, albeit slowly. Today Lily got the first two installments. However, if she does not take to them (or more accurately, if she does not show the same appreciation for them that I have), these may be the last two that she receives. ;)

The princess panties were definitely the big winners today. Lily had to try all of them on immediately.


The glitter lip gloss set was a close second. Lately, she has shown about a 200% increase in interest with make-up. Oh boy!



Friday, November 14, 2008

Field trip

Today we took a "field trip" to the Science Center. WUMCHA's weekday playgroup was scheduled to meet here today, and it happened to fit in perfectly with our "moon" theme. Unfortunately, Lily was not interested in any of the moon exhibits, but not to worry - she had loads of fun checking out everything else!
The kids help the mommies make an arch!

Lily plays musical hopscotch


Will Lily follow in her father's footsteps???


The Science Center is right next to Carl's work; so we got to meet him for lunch after our playdate. Carl then showed Lily off to everyone in his department. Needless to say, she was a big hit.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

School days

Terra joins in Music & Movement time with a little maraca action
Following Lily's interests, I started this week with the topic of "moon". We have had so much fun creating and reading the rebus rhyme "Hey Diddle Diddle", playing word matches, working with fractions, dictating stories, understanding the difference between a circle and a sphere, going over concepts such as "over/under" and "waxing/waning", reading well over 20 books with moon themes and paper maching our own moon during Project Time. I have to say that this girl rocks with word identification. I cannot believe the pace at which she is picking up new sight words. I had no idea how much fun I would have with this and luckily, Lily seems to love it too. Below are some pictures of the making of our incredibly messy but very fun paper mache moon.
Adding flour to the "glue" mixture


Mixing the water and flour


Lily followed all the directions and created an awesome moon! Now we just have to paint it and add some glitter. (She chose to create a moon like the one in the book Honey Bear's Snowy Adventure which is very glittery.)


Lily rings a bell to signal the begin and end of school time. Clearly, this was at the end of the day after she had been working on the paper mache project.



Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Lily's last day of school

Purple twins
My mom joined Lily and me for lunch at her school on her last day there. Originally, when we signed her up for preschool, we assumed (incorrectly) that I would be working soon thereafter. I suppose the economy being what it is, there simply are no jobs in or even related to my field right now. So, Lily's last day of school was yesterday. I was sad for a bit when I knew that we would have to do this because I know how much she enjoys interacting with her peers and receiving all the stimulation from a school environment. However, I quickly got over it and got to work on my in-home preschool and my lesson plans for the upcoming weeks. I talked to Lily about this new arrangement last week, and she was all for staying home with me. Today was our first day of "school" together, and we had a great time. As Carl joked, I am now the Head Mistress of the School for Trouble Girl. But, in all seriousness, it is nice to know the complete ins and outs of her days once again. And, we will still have plenty of social interaction with friends and the weekday playgroups sponsored by WUMCHA. So we are going to roll with this for a while and see what happens.
The following are pictures of our in-home "school".



Saturday Night Fever

We met my mom & dad at a dinner/dance they had on Saturday night in order to celebrate my dad's birthday. Lily took to dancing again and stole the show (in her mind anyway). I just don't know who she takes after. :)

Monday, November 10, 2008

The Greatest Show on Earth

Our gift to Lily for her third birthday was to go to the circus which happened to be in town 1 week before her actual birthday and 1 week later than her birthday party. It is truly shaping up to be a birthday month for Lily.

Showing some sass on her way to the circus

Ready for the show to begin


Unfortunately, Lily does not pack enough pounds to keep the seat down. She didn't seem to mind sitting all scrunched up and actually seemed quite comfortable.


Daddy the Sucker buys Lily a stuffed tiger at intermission. Hey, what are birthdays for if not some indulgence? Lily clearly covets her tiger.


Like a scene right out of our house when Carl is training Terra, outfit and all


Lily's current aspiration for her future is to be this woman


Everybody conga!


Some days you really feel like you're walking a fine line


How me and my girls like to kick it on weekends