It feels like it gets later and later every time I start writing a post. Lily turned 4 at the end of March, but with Mia getting her tonsils out, then spring break, a very hectic work week, capped off with a weekend full of assisting with church events, I just haven't had many moments to blog.
It is a shame because Lily is SO worth writing about. Maybe it's something about her being the last baby, but man I try and soak the moments with her up a little bit more. She is a heart winner and people easily fall in love with her.
Lily had asked me for a birthday party back in the fall after Isaac's. I asked who she would want to have at her party, and her immediate answer was "Micah, and Jade, and Amy" (her two favourite babysitters and their mom). I wasn't sure how to do a party for a 4 year old with no 4 year old guests, but figured she might change her mind before her birthday. She never wavered in her request, and so I planned a little brunch and some Just Dance, which turned out better than I expected. She was soo happy they could come and spend time with her
She requested shopping and a hair cut for her actual birthday, which we planned for the afternoon. I told her we could go to an indoor playground or something in the morning with a friend, if she wanted. But she declined, asking to instead play hide and seek with me, and watch Hocus Pocus while I painted her nails. At the mall, we popped into lots of different stores. She was obsessed with looking at shoes, and testing out all the hand creams. We finished our day with presents, Mcdonalds, and a cookies n' creme cake. The only present she asked for was a calculator, and I obliged, with a few extras.
Birthday Interview
What's your name? Lily. "Lily what?" What else is it? Ummm... "L" for me!
How old are you? I am 4!
When is your birthday? March 26 (we've been working on that one)
What is your favourite colour? One or three colours? Ummm green
What is your favourite animal? dog
What is your favourite food? Pizza, I mean Mcdonalds
What is your favourite movie? Minions
What is your favourite book? the squirrel (Scaredy squirrel), I would add Strega Nona as well
What is your favourite thing to do? play stuff with Granny or you
What are you scared of? *whispers* monsters
What do you want to be when you grow up? An adult. Actually I want to be in a real school.
What would your super power be? a helicopter, actually flying
What was the best thing about being 3? preschool with you
What is the best thing about being 4? supper
Lily is generally a super happy girl. She loves to giggle, and is always trying to get a laugh out of someone. She takes great pleasure out of being goofy and pulling all the tricks on us. She is also quick with an excuse or someone to blame for her crimes. You can almost see the wheels turning in her head as you question her. One day she coloured on one of our bar stools. The following day she was wiping the same stool off after a different mess was made. The stools get moved around all the time, so it wasn't in the same place at the island as it was when she had coloured on it.
"Mom someone coloured on the stool!"
Me knowing she was the one who had coloured on it yesterday "Someone??"
"It wasn't me! It was...Isaac"
I stare at her.
"It was...it was...it was...Brooklyn".
Keep staring at her.
"It was Scarlett."
Stare some more.
"It wasn't me! I coloured on that one!" *points to the stool beside her* "Not this one!" *points to the stool in front of her that she's wiping*
"Oh child"
"I'm not a child! I'm a girl!"
She is very affectionate, and loves giving hugs and kisses. If one of the kids is having a "I hate mom" moment, Lily will often yell "I wuv you mama!" She has to plant a kiss on each cheek and my forehead before saying bye to me.
She has a record appetite, especially in the morning. She can have about 3 breakfasts, and doesn't want to stop eating until about 4pm... She loves herself some cereal. She tries to convince us that fruit snacks are healthy because they have pictures of fruit and veggies on them. She tried to eat a piece of chewed up gum she found in the church gym once, and reassured me saying "it's fine mum, I'm going to wash it off".
I've started to put a timer on because she will eat lunch, and then 20 minutes later wants a snack. I told her one day "Lily once you have your treat after lunch that means your tummy is full, and we're not eating more snacks until snack time." She tells me she's full and I triple check she's actually done and not just doing it for a treat. She replies "mum that was literally my lunch." So I give her an oreo, then 5 minutes later she is asking me for a snack again. I reminded her of the rule and she says "oh I was just tricking you so I could have an oreo".
Lily is quite the fashionista. Recently she's been in her sweater era, wearing sweaters over dresses and leggings. She will wear things that the other 3 girls rarely did. The one thing she absolutely hates is having her hair brushed. You can just start walking toward her with a brush and she will start yelling and screaming.
Her and I started doing our own little preschool in September, and we have both really enjoyed it. It's so easy for me to get caught up in all the housework and cooking, so I planned some time that we could just enjoy each other's company. We usually play, do yoga or dancing, read, and do something creative, and she asks almost every day if we are doing "mom's preschool". The last two months she has been a part of the spring nursery program at the college, and cannot wait to go to the "big school" in September for french pre-k. She loves the library, and we are currently doing the 1000 books before kindergarten challenge. Some of her favourites right now are Strega Nona and Scaredy Squirrel.
She acts like a little sports announcer narrating everything everyone is doing or all the happenings she thinks are important. "Muuuuuum, Scarlett is watching YouTube." "Muuuuum, Mia is eating cereal".
*hears a knock at the door and knows she's not allowed to answer it if someone is standing there
"Muuuum, it's not parents, and it's not children, and it's not Amazon!
She is by far the kid who has napped the longest. She doesn't nap every day, and I don't "put her down" for naps, but she will often be found dozing in her chair, or many other places... in the late afternoon. You can tell when she's tired because she starts rubbing fleecy things on her lips.
Lily loves to sing. She is always making song requests anytime we are in the car, especially songs she hears at high fitness, and if she doesn't know the name of the song (which is usually the case), she will start singing it. 99% of the time I can tell what it is by her singing it. She carries a great tune, and doesn't care who hears her sing.
She is a confident little public speaker and has given a few "talks" in primary (kids' group at church), even subbing in for Brooklyn, who does not take to public speaking. She really only has two volumes "I don't think you can hear me." and "I want my parents to be deaf by the time their 40." This means that when she says embarrassing things, everyone is gonna hear. My friend's daughter Drew had come over to babysit one evening. I had told the girls who would be babysitting already, so when she arrived Lily says (in her loudest voice). "IS THAT GRU?!??" Best way to endear someone to your children- compare them to middle age, bald men with giant noses.
Once we were at Cabella's and Gordon had taken Lily in while I took the other girls to the bathroom. When they were done, and we needed to find Gordon, all I said was "Just listen for Lily". Sure enough, not even a minute later, I can hear her from all the way across the store in typical Lily volume fashion.
Lily is our little magpie. She is always collecting other people's "treasures" and stashing them away somewhere. If anything of value goes missing she is the first person we go to. I have rescued bluetooth earbuds many times, cash.... jewellery. She's not into collecting bits of string and broken toys. She's a high rolling sticky fingered heist master.
One day she was walking around with Brooklyn's purse full of her "treasures".
"Lily why do you have Brooklyn's purse?"
"Because I want it"
"What would Jesus want you to do?"
"Be happy"
"Well what would make you happy?" (me hoping she'll say being nice or sharing etc)
"Brooklyn's things"
One of the downsides to having many older siblings is being exposed, most of the time inadvertently, to things that are a little too old for you. The kids' school had a Halloween Dance that we went to, where they had a haunted hallway. A few months later during parent teachers at the school, Lily remembering the haunted hallway, started running down it yelling "Oh Pennywiiiiiiiiiiiise." Thanks for making everyone think I showed my 3 year old the movie "It" you turkey.
Lily has a great sense of direction. If we go a different route than usual somewhere she'll say "this isn't the way to such and such". The other week a friend picked her up from the dayhome, and dropped her off at home, and she told me that she went a different way to the house than I did. She can point out my work and her preschool and other familiar places. She does do a lot of driving around with me and loves to be my errand sidekick. Costco is her favourite place, especially when the "cookers" (aka food sample people) are out. I will sometimes get called to go to a dental clinic to start an IV for sedation, if they are having trouble getting one, and Lily tags along then too. She gets to pick a prize from their basket and have a juice box and snacks for my 5 to 10 minutes worth of work. She has started asking me on the regular "do you have to go and help the doctor today?".
She started swimming lessons last year and loved it. She's excited to continue again in a few weeks.
She has recently started drawing pictures that actually look like what they are. She did a portrait of me the other week which I was pretty impressed with, and the next day drew Gordon, in a much less flattering way.. She says "I drew him a potato head". Impressive, because it did look like a potato, and she even got his "mustache". Her spring flowers are underneath.
She loves her stuffies and dolls, and cuddling her kitties. Actually our less cuddly cat will cuddle with her more than anyone else. She is obsessed with bringing toys with her places which drives me crazy because she usually drops them or forgets them. Once when bringing a LOL ball to the grocery store, she dropped it and it rolled under the shelf. Smack dab in the middle. I go on my stomach to try and reach it but can't, so I have to go over to the cleaning aisle, grab a broomstick and fish it out. While I'm undertaking this rescue mission, which just happens to be in the candy aisle, Lily is on a mission to clear the shelves of as much candy as possible while muttering to herself "I don't have this candy. I don't have that candy".
Lily loves jumping off things and has quite a powerful jump. She's always broad jumping or long jumping between spots on the floor, and going as high up as she can on the stairs and then jumping off.
She's as sassy as they come. When I asked her to go to bed last night, she said "Nope. I will not listen to your voice." and the night before when I was giving her bedtime instructions, she plops her headphones and says "I can't hear, I'm listening to music" and sashays away down the hallway, not a care in the world. Once when Scarlett was trying to tell her what to do she says "Excuse me, are you the mother? No! You're just the big sister!" She is very aware of the family pecking order...
When anyone is fake crying (seems to happen a lot) she'll tell them "That's just the fakest cry."
She's sweet, but not entirely innocent, as her siblings are quick to remind me. But as our last little person we are savouring moments and snuggles with her a little more!
No comments:
Post a Comment