Lucy's Last Month Being 2!

You could say that Will and I have our *stuff* together again this month, and have finally recovered from the rough month of February.  I realized that we were no longer treading water and actually thriving again when I went to get the pictures for Lucy's blog post and saw that we did a lot of activities this past month.  

One of the biggest things we started this month was a rewards system for positive behavior exhibited by daughter numero uno (parent code for Lucy).  We have been struggling with a sassy mouth, waking up pleasant, and naps.  We decided to tackle each issue individually and see where it took us.  My mom gave me a wooden apple tree that she used with my younger siblings when we were growing up.  Each time Lucy does something positive - like wake up and pleasantly come find us instead of yelling our name over and over again from her bed, or say "Okay mom" when I ask her to do something, or even better, take a nap, she gets an apple to put on her tree.  Once the tree is filled up she gets a small prize of her choosing.  In the picture below she is proudly showing off her new Dora stickers next to her full apple tree.  We have conquered the waking up pleasant, compromised on the naps, and now we are on to the sassiness.  Let's just say we are really struggling with it, but at least she is starting to understand - I think.  I hope.  Oh, I don't know.  But it's what we are working on now.

Some of you may have noticed my recent love affair with a little site called Pinterest.  It has great project ideas and recipes on there and I haven't  found a bad one yet.  Even Will has to admit, although grudgingly, that my dinners, desserts, and baked goods have significantly improved.  Lucy also is a fan of the site, and when we have a free half hour here or there, we pull up the site and Lucy picks a project for us to work on together.  Here she is below playing a rainbow water xylophone.  So simple, yet so creative, and I would have otherwise probably have just read her a story or fought her begging me to watch a movie.

For St. Patrick's Day, we had some friends over and had an Irish meal with soda bread compliments of Pinterest and some cute cupcakes, compliments of my sister in law Jenna.  Lucy had a blast baking and decorating with me.

Lucy loves baking with me, and I have to say that I enjoy it too.  It takes longer, but to see her excitement makes the whole process fun.  I hope that I can establish a life-long love of cooking and baking with her, and I hope that it will always be something special that we can do together.  I am also looking forward to the day that she is self-sufficient and able to create yummy concoctions all on her own.  Let's not rush it though!

This past month we overheard Lucy tell someone that her Uncle Mike and Aunt Jenna moved and "they live in the sky now."  After Will and I exchanged a rather serious glance, we made haste to the local learning store and bought a giant map of the United States.  Geography 101 has commenced, and Lucy now can point to where each of her aunts and uncles live.  Sadly for us, since February, we have learned of four moves - some have moved already, and some will be moving soon.  Here Lucy is pointing where Uncle Mike, Aunt Jenna and cousin Ellen live.

And here's where Uncle Tim now lives...

Uncle Joe...

Aunt Jane come fall...

And friends of ours will soon be in Japan too.

I'd like to say that Lucy's sad face in the below picture was because of everyone we love moving far away, but unfortunately it is because she missed the last step going down the basement stairs and fell flat on her face.  The good news is she is no worse for the wear!  The bad news is Will and I each lost a year off of our lives when we heard the sickening thud followed by the screams.

Due to the craziness last month I was unable to write down the cute things Lucy said.  This month I had better luck which is another sure sign that life has returned to normal.

-Lucy has invented her own version of a swear word.  When she is frustrated or angry she will yell, "BINGO BANGO!!!!"
-Lucy sings all day long and makes up songs to the melody of well-known songs.  For instance, she loves singing a song called "Booger Face" to the tune of Lady Gaga's "Poker Face."
-Lucy likes to sing stories to the melody of well-known songs as well.  For instance, today while driving in the car she told an elaborate story involving her, Simone, Huggums and Emma to the tune of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star."
-The other day I overheard Lucy in her room singing the ABC song, but every once in a while she would sing louder and more forceful and then tone it back down again.  It went something like, "a, b, c, d, e, f, g, HIJKLMNOP, q, r, s, t, u, v W, X, y and z..."  When I peeked in her room to figure out what was going on, I saw that she was making her bed and when she got to a more difficult part of the task, her singing reflected it!

-Lucy likes to point out Emma's cute "chubby cheekers."  Not sure where she got this phrase from, but I find it funny.

-Lucy has been going with me to all of my foot doctor appointments.  I think this is because she is afraid that I will go back to the hospital.  She is a little angel at my appointments and rubs my arm to help me stay brave.  Once the doctor asked her how she thought my toes looked and she replied in a completely serious voice: "Awful."

-Lucy's vocabulary is amazing to Will and I which I'm sure every parent feels when their kids start to talk.  Lately when Will comes home from work Lucy will ask him, "How was your day?  How's McKiernen?  How's Dr. Wagner?  How's Polehanki?"  I find this hilarious because Will refers to his coworkers by their last names and Lucy has picked up on it!

-Auntie Cate related this little conversation she had with Lucy while pushing her on the swing at my parents house: "I see a bird nest in that tree!  We don't have bird nesteses in my country.  But we have squirrel nesteses!"  Looks like the geography lessons are paying off.  Now on to grammar!

While at the shoe store Lucy became enamored with a pair of t-strap sandals covered in rainbow colored jewels.  I told her we weren't buying sandals that day - after all, it IS still March here in Michigan even though it feels like June - and that we would come back next month for sandals.  As I was paying for the shoes we did buy, Lucy went and got the display sandal, placed it on the counter and told the sales associate, "Can you please put this behind the counter?  My mom said we can come back in one month to buy it and I don't want any of the other kids to get it before me."

Lucy and Emma continue to enjoy each other's company as well as enjoy taking things from each other.  Here we are below enjoying the June weather on our front porch swing in the month of March.  They are feeling the love because it is easy to share a porch swing.

My girls riding in the car with their dolls.

Lucy got this lollipop at my cousin's baby shower last weekend.  She had been telling me the week prior how she wanted a lollipop with a rainbow twirl like in one of her books we read.  You should have seen her eyes when only a couple of days later this was presented to her!

What an amazing year we have had with Lucy.  I love watching the world unfold before Lucy's eyes and feeling her excitement for each new thing learned.  Lucy has grown so much in just one short year.  My baby is a little girl now.  She is my sunshine, my clouds and even some thunderstorms here and there but I wouldn't trade my almost three year old in for anything!  I love you Lucy and I am so happy to have you as my daughter!