COLORS

I have been working on colors for a month or so with Lucy. Most everything we talk about has a color involved. "This book is blue" or "Find the purple two," but it never seemed to help her get the concept. The other day at IKEA I was buckling Lu into her car seat and she kept saying 'yellow, buuu' over and over again. I couldn't really understand her but she was quite persistent as she pointed and said it over and over again. Finally I looked to see what she was pointing at and it was the building. The 'Yellow and Blue' building, all of the sudden her words became very clear. I was so happy and exclaimed how proud of her I was. Ever since our experience last Thursday, EVERYTHING has a color involved. She knows Purple, Yellow, Blue, Green, Red and Orange quite well.

Today Lucy was eating Fruit Loops and she had to tell me the colors of each one before it went in her mouth. My excitement in the colors has worn off, but it still makes me a proud mom to know that when I talk about things long enough, it all pays off. One day the information just clicks in their little brains and it is a wonderful thing. I am absolutely amazed how much their brain resembles a sponge, soaking up everything around them!

Escape Artist

This morning Lucy woke up at 7:30, which today was a little early for me (I'm still tired from staying up till after 4 two nights ago). So I went in and laid her back down with a pacifier, blanket and bunny. This usually keeps her happy for an hour to an hour and a half whether she goes back to sleep or just reads in her crib. She's such a happy little girl, I feel rather lucky it works more often than not. Around 8 I heard her whining so I got up to start our day. I walked down the hall and opened Lucy's door and was shocked to say the very least. I hit Lucy with the door. That's right, I hit my child, not softly mind you, with her bedroom door. Somehow that little girl of mine got out of her crib and was at the door waiting for me to come get her. WHAT? There isn't even any furniture close enough to her crib for her to climb on. Are her muscles really that strong? I have heard of lots of mom's saying their kids escape, but I never thought it would happen with me, at least not with Lucy.
So there you have it, I have an escape artist on my hands and have no clue where to go from here. I am SO not ready to have her in a big girls bed. I like having her contained in her crib. But now that she can possibly get out (it may have been a fluke), she could really get hurt in the process.
If you want to know my deepest feelings on the subject, I am not ready for her to grow up. I tried the potty training thing and she's ready, but I'm not. I read somewhere that it is a child's first step to really growing up. And then to have to put her in a real bed, what does she think she is doing to me? She is only 22 months old, that is not a big girl yet, it is still a baby in my book. How do I get this through her head? Sigh...

The Half-Blood Prince

What were you doing at 12:01 this morning? I happened to be clapping away as the theater went dark and my good friend Harry was soon to appear on the big screen. Ever since I saw 'Yes Man' I have wanted to go to some kind of fanatic party. I really wanted to be totally decked out for the Harry Potter midnight showing, but I had to settle for the glasses and a eyeliner scar drawn by my mother.
We got to the theater 2 1/2 hours early and went strait in (shocking). We scored some great seats and began our waiting. Amy downed 1 1/2 ginormous diet cokes and had to go to the bathroom 3 times, once 20 minutes into the movie. We made a friend sitting next to us (she had been there for hours before us), downed many calories of junk and got super excited for the show to begin.

(my stissy with her coke straw wand)

My brilliant sister also won the Harry Potter trivia game at the front of the movie theater. She answered questions only a Harry Potter freak would know. Like the words for certain spells, who knows that crap? Anyway, she won tickets which she forgot to pick up. I was super enthusiastic the whole time, yelling things like 'that's my sister.' I got lots of strange looks, but hey, I was wearing Harry Potter glasses and an eyeliner scar, I deserved it!

Let's just say that Harry did not disappoint. The movie was actually fantastic, and because I haven't read the book in years, I didn't catch all the differences. I did notice certain huge omissions, but they didn't bother me as much as they did Amy. But overall, we both loved it and will for sure be seeing it again soon.

What did disappoint were the lack of Harry Potter enthusiasts. I did see about a dozen or so fully dressed fans, but that was it! Some puffy painted t-shirts or Hogwarts ties/scarfs and such, but really, where were all the full fledged freaks? I wanted my picture with them because secretly I want to be just like them (for a night only)!

November 2010 can't come soon enough!

Coldplay

Last Friday, thanks to a good friend, me and Tyler got to spend the evening enjoying the music of Coldplay. We went to their Viva la Vida concert and honestly had such a good time! First off, Chris Martin is not only an amazing singer, but it is a treat to watch him preform. He put on a good show, interacted with the crowd and showed more enthusiasm than is seen by most artists. We loved it!

I tried to get a few clips of the show, but I just had my little camera so the footage and sound aren't real good. Their were dozes of those yellow balloons flying around and Chris kept hitting the ones that would fly up on stage with his guitar and tons of confetti would fly out. It was awesome to watch!

If you like their music even a little bit, they would be a good band to see in concert!

On a different note, Lucy LOVES getting her picture taken. She hasn't always been like this, but over the last two months she can't get enough. She will say some form of the word picture, then 'cheeeeeeessse' (you can tell that is what she is saying out loud in this picture), then look at the picture taken and say 'aaahhhh cute.' It is then back to wanting to take another picture. Here is one of the 25+ I snapped last week. She looks so homely, but I still think she is adorable!

Potty Training Advice

So if you have been around Lucy recently, you may have noticed that any time someone mentions the bathroom or potty, she gets so excited and wants to go potty too. This consists of her sitting down on the toilet (lid down), getting toilet paper, wiping herself, getting off the toilet seat, opening the lid, throwing in the toilet paper, flushing the toilet and saying "bye bye pee pee." She does this all with very very little help on my part. SO...I have decided that i would take the opportunity to try to potty train her.

I went out today and got her a seat to put over our toilet, a step stool, fun soap and pull-ups. I already have the treats. I am not very excited about this because she is not even 22 months old yet but how can I pass up all the interest she is showing? I was planning on starting this process at 2 1/2.

Any tips from you moms? I know nothing, so any advice will help!

Three Years

Happy Anniversary Lover

I told you already, but it never hurts to say it again, I love you! You make me so happy and I love knowing we will always be together! Thanks for being the best husband a girl could ever ask for! Thank you for being a wonderful provider, a good daddy to Lucy, patient, forgiving, understanding, motivational, my best friend, and the hottest man alive!

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For Journaling Purposes:

July 2nd Tyler took me out for our anniversary. It was actually one of the best nights we have had together in such a long time. He works so much which means he is gone most nights of the week in various locations. This week he left on Sunday to Boise and comes home on Thursday night, only to drive to Grants Pass on Friday.

Mark and Ane watched Lucy over night which is always the best treat! Our date started out at See's Chocolates where we picked out a pound of chocolates (mostly key lime). Tyler then took me to the Pearl District in Portland because the 3rd anniversary is the year of the pearl or leather because of the marriages durability. We ate at Friteli's which has amazing Italian food. It was different, but a good kind of different. I highly recommend it. Then it was '1st Thursday' which is where every 1st Thursday of the month, a few streets are closed off in the Pearl District and local artists gather to sell their work. There is such a wide variety of things like paintings, photography, furniture, bags, jewelery, wire art, blown glass, wood work, you name it and it was there! And boy did it have a very Portland feel. I felt rather preppy walking down the street. But we had so much fun listening to the local music artists and Tyler bought me a pearl ring.

We then rented a movie at a movie store which is a big deal for us Red Box fans. Can you believe they still charge 4.99 for a new release? I am wondering when those stores will go out of business! Anyway, it was nice to have more choices. We chose the one about they guy who invented the intermittent wipers, I forgot the name. The movie was okay. But I loved the chocolates and had a wonderful time with my sweetheart. We slept till 10 the next day which was so nice. The whole date reminded me once again why I fell in love with Tyler to begin with. He is such a wonderful husband and my very best friend!