Together Again in Heaven: Independence

Lucy's growing independence is the biggest change Will and I have watched during her 14th month of life. She is content to walk around the house and play on her own now, which generally consists of getting into the toilet, chasing after a ball and climbing the stairs. The stair climbing is her newest trick, and it is more nerve racking than her fascination with the toilet. She can follow simple directions and can retrieve something specific that we ask her. The other day I spotted a bug on the floor by Lucy's toys and left to get a kleenex to kill it with. When I got back the bug was gone. I asked Lucy if she saw the bug, and she got up from the floor where she was playing, walked over to a push toy of hers and pulled it away from the wall, then squatted down and pointed at the bug. Brilliant! The bug didn't stand a chance!

She also knows how to communicate her needs to us for the most part now, and when she wants to go outside will find her shoes and sunhat, bring them to the door and reach for the doorknob while yelling unintelligble words. Her words are getting better though. Now she will repeat anything we say, and new words include eyes, berries, bug, bike, and ball to name a few. She also will point to all of her body parts when asked - nose, ears, eyes, hair, belly, legs, toes, etc. Lucy loves school buses, and since we live close by to both the elemetery and high school, we see buses multiple times a day in the morning and afternoon. Every time a bus goes by we can hear it, and even if Lucy doesn't see the bus she will look at me, smile and then yell "BUS!" She loves shaking her head yes and no in response to questions too. She mostly shakes her head yes, especially if we are talking about something that involves her. Questions involving the park, visiting grandparents, playing with friends and if the food she is eating tastes good always invoke vigorous head nods.

There is really only one thing she shakes her head no at, and it drives me crazy which Lucy takes great pleasure in I think. She will continuously put her feet on the table during meals. We've tried lowering her chair, raising her chair, telling her no, distracting her - you name it but she always finds a way to get her foot back up on the table and then laugh and look me in the eye while she is doing it. At this point it is incredibly hard not to laugh or crack a smile, but on the other hand I don't think I am asking a lot to instill in her that feet do not belong on the table! I'm guessing us taking a picture of it probably wasn't the clearest message to send her either.

Lucy loves the park. This past month she realized that the school playground that we take her to can be seen from the corner of our backyard, as it is only three houses away. She will stand at the corner of our yard, point and yell. Before school was out for the summer it was difficult to convince her to wait till evening to go to the playground when she could see and hear the school kids playing on it. Lucy has reached some sort of toddler paradise now though. Since school has been out for summer, we go to the park up to three times a day.

Her other playtime love is blowing bubbles. She has a specific spot that she demands to sit at (second step up on the front porch) and loves dipping the bubble wand into the bubbles and attempting to blow bubbles. She has yet to blow a bubble, but it doesn't seem to lessen her love of the activity.

Lucy seems to have hit a growth spurt this past month. She is now 2 inches taller than when we measured her on her first birthday. She also has eight confirmed teeth and is working on more. She has regressed a bit with her sleeping and also likes to get up anywhere between 5 and 6 in the morning and come into Will's and my room and yells 'hi'! Speaking of yelling, she has developed quite a range when it comes to screaming for fun or frustration.

Lucy loves to help Will and I with whatever activity we are trying to accomplish. If I am in the kitchen making a meal, she has to be right there with me - either hugging my leg or helping herself to whatever she can get into. I turned around once and found her in the fridge and was happy that she stayed there long enough for me to find my camera! Will thinks she stayed put because our house doesn't have air conditioning and it was someplace cool to sit.

She also has mastered the art of panhandling and will pester you until you break down and give her a piece of whatever you are cooking. This satisfies her until the piece of food you gave her is halfway to her stomach and she is at it again - yanking on your pant leg, reaching up towards the counter and gibbering at you like she hasn't eaten in days. We had a bit of anxiety for a couple of weeks when she one day decided that she wouldn't prefer to drink liquids anymore. I went to the local baby store and bought one of every kind of sippy cup they make in hopes of enticing her to drink. She liked one of the sippy cups that had a butterfly on it, but still wouldn't drink. Then we went out to eat one evening to celebrate Will's first day of summer vacation and low and behold - she drank the entire contents of a styrofoam cup with a straw in it! We took the cup with us and she drank from that for an entire week until my mom pointed out that they sell plastic cups with reusable straws. Needless to say, she is now happily drinking from her straw cups and Will and I no longer have to worry about dehydration.

She also is learning how to be quite handy watching and helping Will with all of his many summer projects around the house. It makes it hard for Will to get anything done, but look how cute she is with her daddy!

Lucy went on her first vacation of the summer to visit friends of ours who live in Chicago. She did great on the five hour car ride and looked oddly at us as Will and I sang along to the Sesame Street CD's we borrowed from the library. I never thought listening to Sesame Street CD's would be such a trip down memory lane, or more fun for Will and I than for Lucy. Some of our favorite songs include "I've Got a New Way to Walk", "Sing a Song", "Would You Like to Buy an O" and "Somebody Play with Me." Not to mention the entire CD devoted to Sesame Street Monsters. Once in Chicago, we had a wonderful and relaxing time. Our friends were oh so gracious with Lucy's less than desirable nighttime habits as well. Lucy loved playing with their cat Major, and got her first lesson in being gentle. Major was very tolerant and Lucy misses him now that we are back home.