these days

lillian is loving life.

she is learning so much.

she speaks in sentences regularly. she parrots everything you say. and, i do mean everything. (my road rage and foul mouth have been parroted back to me as of late. wonderful.)

she still loves stuffed animals and completely ignores baby dolls. right now, she is napping upstairs with no less than seven stuffed animals. she wants them all. her favorites: monkey doggie, doggie, other doggie, and monkey.

she loves loves playing hide. she hides herself under covers, in our closet, in the bathroom cupboard and then says "lillian where'd are'd you?". very cute. she will wait quietly wherever she is for a long period of time before revealing herself. patience is a virtue. she also hides her stuffed animals. at nap time, I have to go on a scouting mission to find them - checking all of the regular hiding spaces for them.

sometimes, when she is supposed to be napping, i hear her saying, "monkey, where'd are'd you?" or "doggie lie down. doggie sleep. doggie, where'd are'd you."

she still loves rolling around the block in her car. she does not prefer to be carried, strolled, or the like. she wants to walk. which, can be slow. and frustrating. but, she is independent, and I like that about her.

she still plays quietly by herself a lot. she will read a book while i am reading a book - lying on the floor with her legs crossed in the air. she does not need to be entertained in the least. i like that about her too.

she is learning to use a potty. although, i am not sure much progress has been made on that front. i will keep you posted. we still cloth diaper and all that jazz. my hope though is that she will soon be out of diapers all together.

she loves doggies - still. and monkeys. and ducks. she goes nuts over airplanes. we go to the air and space museum regularly to see all of the airplanes. we also live near enough to reagan national airport that she sees airplanes all of the time landing and taking off. she screams - "airplane!" and smiles a huge smile, which is cute. this is always helpful in the car - airplane spotting is our favorite in the car pastime.

she has a sense of humor. she is always saying that this or that is "funny" - and, most of the time, it is. if she hears bradford and me laughing about something she will fake laugh and say "funny." i love that about her.

she does not care to have her photo taken. it is rare that she actually looks at the camera when i whip it out. but, that's okay. i don't care to have my photo taken either.

what else?

just so you don't get to thinking that she is the most perfect child you know, here are a few things that drive me nuts.

first, she likes to walk on her own everywhere. i know i said this already, but, its important that you understand how annoying this can be. especially when you are in a crowded place. especially when you are in an airport.

second, she does sometimes throw fits. she will fling herself down on the floor crying, which can be funny. but, most of the time, it is frustrating. (but, then, sometimes frustrating things are actually funny if you have any perspective at all).

she has started running away from me when she knows that i am about to take something away from her. she knows that she isn't supposed to have whatever it is that she has. when i lock eyes with her she says "no no!" and runs.

but, really, that's it. otherwise she is perfection on a stick. and, i love that about her.

that is the obligatory summary of little's development at present.

as for us, we are busy. as usual. we hosted a play date at the house this morning, which was fun. last weekend, we went to the zoo, which was crowded. it was such a beautiful day that it didn't surprise me. but, it did remind me of how crazy it gets around here (mainly in the district) in the spring and summer months. tourists tourists everywhere. i absolutely loved the winter months at the museums. there is something wonderful about an almost completely empty (relatively speaking) museum. but, oh well. perhaps the tradeoff - warm weather - is worth it. we will see.

this weekend i begin outdoor portrait sessions again. time to get back on the horse. and, saturday is my birthday. i am old. its official. the big 29. yikes.

until next time, here are some photos I took of lillian at the zoo last weekend.