Hoppin' Lily

• We went to see the Easter Bunny today, and Lily was busy as always. She just had to say hi to all of the other children in line, stand on the fence to see the pretend bunny patch that had moving puppets, dance around, and of course try to get into the water fountain about 10 times. She is always on the go, and although I may have to eat my words later, I'm glad that she is so social and not a timid child. It's so much fun to watch her interact with other people. She actually stood in front of the line of people waiting to see the bunny and smiled at each person as if they were there to see her - she's definitely not lacking in confidence! I thought that she would reject the idea of sitting on the Easter Bunny's lap, but she was friendly as could be with him too. She reached up and patted his face, and even waved and said "bye-bye" when it was time to leave. What a sweetie!

• The most notable change with Lily lately is her pretend play. She now cooks the play food with her kitchen set and then brings the meals to Terra for her to eat. She covers her baby and her stuffed elephant, Ellie, and pats them and says "sshh" to put them down for "night-night". She also holds the keys up to doors to lock and unlock them. She continues to have conversations with someone very engaging on her pretend phone. She looks at books on her own more frequently, and she makes up her own jibberish story to go along with the pictures. It's so sweet to watch.

• Increasingly, Lily is letting her likes and dislikes be known. This morning, I put on the outfit that I wanted her to wear, and she started pulling at it and shaking her head to say "no". I had to use many distraction techniques so that she would keep the outfit on. I have to say that although I knew that this day would come, I'm not ready for it. It is true that part of my concern stems from the fact that I like to dress her a certain way (namely, my way). But there is a practical side to this as well. I don't want to spend money on clothes that she won't wear, but how am I supposed to know what she will and will not wear before I buy them? More importantly, will this mean that my e-bay days are coming to an end?...I can't even think about that.

• All is well with Carl and me. Carl had a one-week Spring Break that I think I enjoyed as much as he did. It is so nice to have someone home to get little things done without having to use precious evening and weekend time. But, tomorrow the break ends, and Carl will begin the last rotation of the third year of medical school, internal medicine. This rotation lasts 3 months. We've heard that he is going to be on-call every fourth night and have to work weekends, so naturally we are both dreading it. But, the end is in sight. I'm so excited about the prospect of counting down months instead of years - words could never adequately describe how that feels.

• I'm really looking forward to the next few months because we have several little trips planned, and I can't wait. Lily and I are set to go to see her cousins Mary and Katie in June for Katie's first birthday, and if all goes as planned, we are all hoping to go to Indiana to see Carl's side of the family as well. We are so ready for some mini-breaks and family time!