Today I Celebrate the Day

Today I celebrate the day this baby was born...


..and later became the man that I love and cherish...



...and then became the father that is apple of this little girl's eye...

Today I celebrate Carl. Happy birthday!!!

Grandpa's 87th Birthday Celebration

The man of the hour. Grandpa Sam got lots of new gear for his new bike!

From the oldest Pellerito, Sam, to the youngest, Sammy, with her Grandpa (my Uncle Ron)

Mom with my sister, Ang, and brother, Jeff

Lily with her cousin, Courtney

My niece, Abby, with my Aunt Chris

My cousin, Maria, with her fiance, Dan

My cousin, Andrea, with her mom, my Aunt Kathy

The guys indulge my Grandpa in his favorite pastime, playing cards.

Visit from Mee-maw

I realize that I am a bit delinquent in posting events from this past weekend, but I just didn't have the energy in past nights - and now I do! Unfortunately, the camera was a little wonky for the first part of the weekend, and I didn't really get any good pictures. We realized on Saturday when we went to the Science Center that it needed to be charged because it would not turn on. What luck! Oh well. We had a very nice visit with Carl's mom to celebrate TWO milestone birthdays (Ingrid's 30th and Carl's mom's ??) in addition to Carl's and my birthdays. Lily loves it when family comes to visit. She actually locked "Mee-maw" in her room immediately upon her arrival so that Lily could have uninterrupted time with her. Mee-maw also got to see Lily in action at her dance class on Saturday morning. Lily loves an audience so she did her usual song and dance routines at home too.

This picture cracks me up for Lily's expression alone, but Mee-maw's birthday crown is a nice bonus.

Just a few moments with Lily lately...

• On the way home tonight, I hear from the backseat, "It's a good thing that we're in the car and headed home". (I'm guessing that she was referring to the rain that was coming down.)
• Last night, Lily was telling me something that Carl had said. Carl said that he didn't say it, and Lily responded, "You positively did say that!" (She has been using positively in this way a lot lately.)
• A while ago, Carl found a spider on the floor. He told Lily to watch it while he went to get a tissue. Carl came back, smushed it in the tissue and then flushed it down the toilet. When he came back into the room, Lily had a sincere little frown on her face. Lily looked up at Carl and said, "Sad. What if that spider was trying to find his mommy?" Carl reassured Lily by telling her that he was going to go through the water in the toilet to the sea to find his mommy. Needless to say, Lily was skeptical, as she should be.

Let's celebrate!

Lily enjoying the birthday cupcakes

I've been lucky enough to have three birthday celebrations for my big 3-2 this year. Last Thursday, I had dinner with my entire family (minus Carl and Ang's fiance, Zach) which meant 14 people total. We are quite the crew now! Thanks to mom and dad for the traditional corned beef and cabbage meal. Then, Tuesday my mom, dad, and Angela surprised me by being there when I came home from work. Mom made yummy lasagna and peach cobbler, and we even managed to fit in a game of Euchre. Yesterday, we had a smaller celebration with Carl, Lily and me with pizza and cupcakes (the cake being for Lily, of course). My big present was a shiny new GPS. I'm so excited! If there was ever a product made for one person, that was made for me. Thanks to everyone for a special birthday (week)!

We actually have 9 birthdays of family and friends between my birthday on the 17th and Carl's (and Ingrid's) on the 28th. Happy birthday to Carl's dad tomorrow! We will be celebrating Carl's mom's milestone birthday (I won't say which one) this weekend. Also, we will have a little get-together for my Grandpa's birthday on Sunday. Busy times!

Lily thoroughly enjoyed St. Patrick's Day at school. Their classroom had a little leprechaun who visited while they were away at their enrichment classes. He apparently left a bit of a mess and little green footprints as evidence of his visit. Well, it was all Lily could talk about that night and the next. She went on and on about how her teacher saw him, tried to trap him, but he was too quick, escaped out the back door, left a note to the class, and on and on and on.... I talked to Lily's teacher about how excited she was about it, and she told me that when Lily first entered the classroom and witnessed the leprechaun's mischief, she put her hands on her hips, and queried, "Who made this mess...and ruined my mommy's birthday?" Her teacher had to explain how the leprechaun is just mischievous, but not mean, and would not ruin my birthday. After Lily was reassured, she immediately started in on the questions about the leprechaun...how big he was, where he lives, etc.

Conversations with Lily are just always so interesting. Tonight on the way home, she asked what sharks eat. Then, she wanted to know what birds eat. After telling her that they eat worms and insects, she had to know what worms and insects eat. After going to the bottom of the food chain, she seemed satisfied and left it at that. It is just a wonder how her little mind works.

With so many fun events planned, hopefully we'll have lots of pictures and stories to share this weekend!

Planting bulbs with daddy

My favorite quote of the day: "Mommy, I'm working so hard...planting these worms".

Lily was fascinated with the worms that they dug up while planting bulbs. She saw it as her personal duty to "plant" them. She insisted on nice, rich black soil for their homes. When Carl informed her that worms make the brown soil black, she gave him a quizzical look then went back to her business.

Sculpture interpretations

We spent this afternoon at a nearby sculpture park. The weather was absolutely perfect for it, and we really enjoyed the time together.

Lily said this one was a wolf wearing a blanket.

Sculptures are very subjective things - beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

One of the Niki exhibits we saw at the Missouri Botanical Gardens this summer is now at the sculpture park. Lily definitely recognized it as her cat house.

Lily called this one "the creature".

You can step down into the eyes, nose and mouth of this one. Lily tried the nose and said that it was too hot. Then she tried the eyes and said that they were too cold. Then she stepped into the mouth and said it was just right. Too funny.

Lily said that this rendition of a molecular structure was a "caterpillar".

When Carl suggested that this one looked a little like a caterpillar, Lily laughed and said, "Daddy, you're so silly".

Executive decisions

Do you want her answering the red phone at 3 o'clock in the morning?

We went to the Magic House on Friday with Suzanne, Tim, Mary and Katie. We finally got to see the new parts of the museum that opened recently. Now the museum is truly massive and maybe even a bit overwhelming for kids, but it remains one of my absolute favorite children's museums ever. The girls had a great time in the new Fairy Tale section and the new construction area. The picture above is from their new government section which includes three separate rooms for the executive, judicial, and legislative branches.

Weekend wrap-up

We really enjoyed the 70+ degree weather this weekend. We started out the weekend by going to The Butterfly House on Friday with Aunt Angela. They had released the Blue Morphos which apparently only live for about a week and are worth about $1000 a piece (according to a co-worker whose aunt is the director of The Butterfly House). It was lovely (and super-humid) as usual.

This video is very short, but it shows how many butterflies were fluttering about.

Saturday night we went to Ingrid's house for a BBQ featuring their fancy, brand-spanking new grill. The food was yummy, and the company was great! Thanks, Ingrid & Ryan!

Today we able to use our playset once again. Lily has now really taken to the swings. During the fall, she was very trepidatious and did not want to go high. Now we can't push her high enough! Overall, it was a fun weekend with plenty of opportunities to soak in some Vitamin D, and no one is wanting the work/school week to begin. At least we can look forward to a visit from some family and friends toward the end of the week.

Odds and ends

Every night after work/school, Lily immediately gets to work on some sort of party that she having with her dolls/stuffed animals. She goes straight to her kitchen, lets me know what's on the menu for the night, and then gets busy setting the table and whipping up very eclectic meals. I have to admit that so rarely does something work out exactly how you intended. We bought a play kitchen many moons ago with the hope that Lily would keep busy pretending to cook while I cooked dinner. Amazingly enough, it worked! By far, the kitchen set is one of the very best purchases we ever made.

Lily is very thoughtful to all her dolls and stuffed animals. Tonight, she spoon-fed her little dog (which she renamed Irie for the night). Think she knows some pampered pooches?

Overall, Lily is doing well right now. She seems to equally enjoy time spent at school and time spent at home or out with us. I have to admit that it is a pretty good balance for both of us.

In general, three-years-old is such a funny age. Lily can be the sweetest, kindest, most loving child ever and then change into a defiant, stubborn, whiny ball of mess within seconds. Worrying about your child's behavior is something that I don't think will ever go away. Carl and I are constantly evaluating our behaviors/reactions to see if we could handle situations better. Many times we find that we could have, but we keep talking things out and trying different strategies and hope that we are being strong guides without being unreasonable. When dealing with a three-year-old, it is particularly hard because it is important to let them know when they are behaving in an unacceptable way while still keeping in mind that they are three and hence the saying, "she's acting like a three-year-old". Lily has come a long way in talking things out though. The best gauge I think is listening to her express her emotions when she's feeling angry, sad, frustrated, etc. She certainly feels comfortable telling Carl and I that we are "not being polite" or that we are "not making good choices". I feel encouraged by this and glad that she understands that emotions run both ways, and it is okay to express dissatisfaction with your parents. I know that someone is going to refer back to that sentence in about ten years when defiance really sets in. Still, I'd rather Lily express what she feels to us rather than have it show up in other ways.

Academically, she is actively working on beginning sounds and trying to figure out what letter each word begins with. She can identify all the letters but can only reliably write a few of them. Everything else seems pretty on-par. I do think that between gym class and dance class, her coordination is improving a lot. Computer class has also helped a lot with her skills in controlling the mouse and understanding how to navigate around the computer. This was an area that she previously had zero experience, so it has been really good for her, especially once I asked her teachers to move the mouse from the right side to the left for her. I know that many experts say that you can't definitively tell handedness until 5 years old, but as a parent, I can tell you that I knew from the time she was a baby, and it still holds true, that she is absolutely a left-handed girl. It is amazing the things that you have to remember to make her life a little easier because of it (like the mouse issue).

The other class Lily is obviously enjoying is music class. She doesn't always sing songs from school, but she is almost always singing a song while we are at home or out. She LOVES an audience as well. The other day I witnessed her stand in the center of a circle of children playing duck, duck, goose and sing and dance for them. It doesn't seem to matter to her whether or not anyone actually watches, but you can tell that she thinks she's the cat's meow.

The funniest thing I've found about being a parent (in my vast experience of 3 years, 2 months) is that while you treasure the time with your child, you are often trying to wedge out bits of time to have with your spouse or by yourself, and inevitably the thing that you do with this time is talk about your child, look at photos/videos of her, or blog about her. We truly just can't get enough of 'em. I'm not so sure that she will appreciate the almost daily reports of her development later on, but I know that I will.

Learning the tools of the trade

Sunday was a busy day for us. First, we had a "take your family to work" morning. Carl had to do a few things at work so Lily and I went along. It was a good opportunity to show Lily the equipment since no one else was there. We got to see lots of slides with their cool multi-headed microscopes. Then we headed to Chuck-E-Cheese for some kiddie fun and rounded out the day with a birthday party for my niece and Goddaughter, Abby.

Chuck-E-Cheese

Lily plays the Duck Game with one of her new friends

Lily and I battle at my favorite game there, the fishing game

How Carl likes to kick it after hours

Lily gives a high-five to the man, or mouse, of the hour


We went to the mall playground on Saturday and to Chuck-E-Cheese on Sunday so that Lily could burn some energy. My favorite part of these outings is watching how Lily joins in play with other children (almost always other girls) and how she interacts so well with them. She seems to make friends wherever she goes.

Happy birthday, Abby!

We celebrated Abby's 8th birthday yesterday - how time flies!

The birthday girl

Carl, me, Abby, and Lily

Mom and dad with Abby & Lily