School Picture Day

Merryhill recently had a school picture day and there were a couple of photos of Lulu that were too cute NOT to share!  This one is especially adorable, too.  Her teacher reported that she was like a little professional model and knew just how to pose for her picture.

I just scanned these into the computer, but a few of you lucky readers will get your very own copy in the mail sometime soon!

Wordless Wednesday.

Tortilla Española

My father fondly recalls telling a story about me when I was little and requesting something like 6 scrambled eggs for breakfast--one at a time, right after the other.

I'm experiencing that myself right now...Lulu is currently on her fourth (toddler-sized) portion of tortilla española.  We weren't sure she was even going to be that hungry since she woke up from her nap and ate a big lunch around 2:30pm (sweet potatoes, cauliflower, and buckwheat mixed with bacon and mushrooms).  So, we started off with a mandarin orange (she loves those)  and then thought we'd try a small piece of the tortilla out on her.  Little did we know that she'd be such a big fan (at least today).

...and we're now on to slice #5, but I think we're finally slowing down!

Teesemmel/Muffins

I must confess I took the easy way out with breakfast this morning.  Lulu and I went to Safeway on Thursday afternoon so I could buy a carrot cake mix and frosting to take cupcakes to my German class (it was my favorite teacher's last day--long story for the other blog).  And when Lulu grabbed the almond poppyseed muffin mix off the shelf, I didn't fight her.  So, we had the muffins for breakfast this morning.

And apparently our muffin taste-master has decided that my homemade muffins are far tastier than the muffin mix from Krusteaz.  Either that, or she's not a big fan of poppy seeds (but I can't see that swaying her opinion really).  She did have a slice of leftover carrot cake (that I baked into a loaf pan), a banana, and some dried fruit (combo of cherries, raisins, cranberries, and blueberries), but she was still screaming with excitement when Walter took the muffins out of the oven...but not so excited when she took a bite.

She's currently running around the house with a muffin in her hand, playing before her naptime...but that muffin is still intact and uneaten.

B&W Playground Pics

In addition to the videos I posted earlier, I also took a few still photos, too.  I used the auto-select function of my camera so that it only picked up colors in the blue frequency range, leaving everything else black and white.  I think a few of them turned out pretty neat!

See that look of determination?  Atta girl!

Done with the slides, someone decides to give the swing a try...

Umm, Mom?  A little help here??

She really enjoys the rocking horses--they're just her size.

Sliding

I took Lulu to the playground at the park yesterday afternoon when I got home from school. As much as I hate losing the hour of sleep, I love daylight savings time for the longer afternoons I get to share with Lulu. So, we walked to the park together and played.

And I was SO proud--she figured out how to climb up on the playground equipment ALL by herself and slid down the slide! She likes to slide down backward on her tummy (feet first) and I think she was almost as surprised as I was that she did it all herself. She was so excited--she kept climbing up and sliding down over and over and over again. So, here are a couple of videos of her sliding:

playdate

Auntie Melissa had an early morning doctor's appointment, so Jamison got to enjoy a breakfast playdate with Lulu this morning.  I fed J his bottle while Lulu fed herself some oatmeal.  Afterwards, we went into the living room to play!

The helicopter was fun for a while b/c it made noise...

Eventually the wooden blocks won out though b/c of their potential weapon factor...

Uh-oh!  We've got a man down!

Don't worry--no babies were harmed in the making of this blog post--I promise!

Reading

I caught Lulu reading this weekend while all wrapped up in the new quilt I finished for her.  "Harry the Dirty Dog" is apparently VERY serious reading!

Some recent photos

I've been remiss in my posting of photos lately, I know.  My only excuse has been a malfunctioning photo software program.  So, I finally gave in and loaded the photos onto Walter's laptop so I could share them.

A recent finger painting episode on a Saturday morning after breakfast.

Note my brilliant re-tasking of her dish into an artist's palette?

She's becoming impossible to take a picture of lately, too.  She's figured out that she can see herself on the camera, so she keeps trying to get next to you when she sees a camera in your hand...all of which means that she's not far enough away for the camera's focus!  So I end up with lots of pictures like this:

But here are a few cute ones that I was able to snap that morning, too.

Showing a little leg here.

She's almost impossible to get out of the house lately without carrying something, so here's her "backpack" with a book and sippy cup.

She also wouldn't leave the house that day without her rain hat.  Apparently she knew something I didn't because it DID actually sprinkle a little bit that afternoon??  Do we have a weathergirl in the making??

Boo-boo.

Lulu had her first bloody nose this afternoon.

She woke up from her nap and ate lunch before we changed her diaper and got her dressed.  She was carrying her jacket in one hand and standing on the front step by the door while I put stuff in the car.  Walter walked out of the house and also started carrying the jacket.

Lulu thinks that if we are touching her at all that she's somehow invincible?  She has taken HUGE steps off our bed, thinking that just because she's touching our shoulder that somehow she will float to the ground.  Luckily, we've caught her before she hurt herself...

...until today.  BabyGirl took a big step off our front step and did a perfect face-plant on the ground.  She got big hugs and kisses from Mama while Daddy went back inside to get some ice cubes in a zip-loc bag for her busted lip (she bit it a little) and her bloody nose.  And we also gave her a dose of ibuprofen, just in case her face hurt.

She seemed to have recovered fine--her nose doesn't seem to be bothering her at all and she's eaten like a champ today.

Weekend Update.

Lulu had a good weekend.  She's so full of energy lately--she's constantly babbling or giggling or running in place.  It's almost impossible to do anything around the house without her there by your side, wanting to help.  She's very good about trying to help if you ask her (and believe me, it saves a world of temper tantrums if you just ask her!).  For example, when handed a kleenex, she will wipe her nose and she will put things away (like her pacifier back into her crib).  She's turning into a regular Mommy's little helper!

This afternoon, Walter and I went through her chest of drawers and closet and culled the clothes that are definitely too small for her now.  It's a hard task for me because I remember her wearing each outfit and it pains my heart a little to realize that she's outgrown it...I have a collection of her old clothes that I have a sentimental attachment to, that I just can't bear to get rid of yet.  And now two big boxes of clothes to take to the Children's Receiving Home for children who desperately need clothes.

Her bedtime routine varies between her old nursing habits (switching sides until she collapses on my chest with a pacifier) and her new reading habit.  This evening. she wanted to read Goodnight, Moon in between nursing episodes.  She loves pointing out where the mouse is on every page--she's gotten really good at finding him!  Last night, she was entranced by a new book, Charley Harper's ABC.  The author/illustrator died in 2007 but the illustrations have a very 60s feel to them.  Personally, it's my favorite of all her books (of course, I may be biased because I bought it!).

Speaking of finding things, she's getting better at identifying body parts, too.  We spend at least a little time each bath pointing out various body parts and seeing if she can find them, too.  She's getting better at not confusing nase (nose) and nabel (navel) and is picking up chin, ear, and teeth!

And my work on her quilt continues.  I've got all the patchwork pieces sewn together and am currently sewing the border around the front side.  Then, it's stitching the back on and putting the quilting/padding in the middle.  Lulu gets really excited whenever she sees it.  She wants to hold it and wrap herself up in it if I let her.  I hope she loves the finished product as much as I've enjoyed making it for her.  It's really gratifying to see her so excited about something I've spent so much time/energy/effort into making on her behalf.  I think the quilt is big enough that it would lie flat on a twin-size bed someday, too.  Who knows, perhaps she'll take it with her to college?

Apologies:  My iPhoto isn't working well (won't open) lately so I don't have photos to show you.  I've  got them on my harddrive, but I can't get the photo program running.

C is for cookie.

I arrived home from school at the same time that Walter and Lulu arrived home from an arduous afternoon of rollerblading down the American River Trail.  (Walter rollerblading while Lulu was in the jogging stroller)  I was starving after a long day at work and grabbed a peanut butter sandwich cookie.  But, because I was also holding Lulu at the same time, I grabbed a second cookie for her.

In my hurry to stuff my own face, I left the open cookie package on the bar (can you see where I'm going with this?).  A little bit later, Walter and I were chatting with each other in our bedroom and Lulu can running in to check on us from the kitchen.  (with an interesting expression on her face, now that I think about it!)

Walter follows her back into the kitchen and then sees that in our absence, Lulu has proceeded to empty the entire contents of the cookie container and carry them over to her own little play table.  We were able to rescue most of them (two ended up having had the peanut butter filling stripped out of them, so we let her have those).  Oh, the tears of disappointment when Daddy took her cookies away!!!!!

To try to make it up to her, Walter put a little peanut butter from our fridge between two of the cookies and handed it back to her.  Lulu promptly untwisted them and threw the peanut butter in the trash can.

What a little cookie monster!

I think someone likes the bubbly...?