Art

Lucy has recently discovered a love of drawing, and apparently a love of the taste of the non-toxic (thankfully) crayola pipsqueak markers. She's really good so far about not using the markers to draw on anything that's not the paper we have, though perhaps that will change if we leave her unattended in reach of them, and has already completed several masterpieces. :) Well, it's a start anyway.


Mmmm, ink.


This one's a keeper! By the way, the writing's not hers, I did that.

December

Just about the time I forget we're quickly approaching winter in Maine, it snows. Lucy and I got a chance to go out and play in the snow. It was part Christmas Story part slasher movie. Lucy was not impressed with the cold, her snowsuit, her boots, the terrain, anything really. Once we got out into the road where it was easier walking she felt better, but I don't know if I have a snow baby on my hands here.

November

We had such a nice November this year. It wasn't freezing, not a lot of rain. Many warmish sunny days to take walks on.

Lucy and I took Shorty to the Bangor city forest, a treat for everyone. Shorty has a ball in the woods (though firmly attached to her leash) and Lucy loves watching Shorty run, especially with her new red coat.

I know the winter reality of December is coming soon, but it's hard to believe it now.

Bring it on

We're ready when you are, old man winter!

Up Up and Away

Our burgeoning escape artist.

It's no longer enough to just have a gate at the bottom of the stairs at Grandma's house. Lucy figured out she could squeeze through the two bars on the bottom step, therefore bypassing that pesky gate to make a run at the stairs. Note the new addition of the bungee cords.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween 2009! This was Lucy's 2nd Halloween (but the first of which I have subjected her to a costume) and she dressed up as a clown. This is the same costume I wore on Halloween when I was 1, 30 years later. Grandma kept the costume in great shape, and even sewed a few new pom poms on for us.

We had a busy day on Halloween, visiting family who all wanted to see Lucy dressed up before trick-or-treating for the first time. We found out she LOVES chocolate. We had a bowl of candy the trick-or-treaters didn't get and Lu went through and bit into each wrapper, hoping to find an open one. No luck, she had to wait for us to unwrap.

Lucy also had a chance to play with her cousin Lennon at Mammy's work. We just happened to show up at the same time. Lennon was a lion but his costume was way too hot so he was only dressed in his Halloween thermals. The only unfortunate part of visiting? Mammy only had one ball to play with.

Kimmie's Birthday

This week was Kimmie's (Lucy's sitter) birthday. It's very Kimmie to make signs for special occasions, so Lucy had a sign to celebrate.

We were only half kidding.

Mommy's Little Helper

Lucy has discovered the dishwasher, and in just a short time has become adept at opening and unloading it. Unfortunately for us, she can't yet reach most of the cupboards to put away the dishes she pulls out.

Lucy Reads

Lucy reads, reads and then reads some more. Afternoons are filled with her bringing books to us, asking us to read them to her. She can spend an hour pulling books out of her bookshelf and flipping through them by herself. She reads to herself (and laughs) in the car. It's no secret that Eric and I are both readers ourselves, but this here is more than I would ever have thought possible. Let's hope she keeps it up.

Her bookshelf in the beginnings of a reading marathon. She ends up sitting on a pretty big pile of books by the end.

Lucy and Daddy sharing a book before bedtime.

Lucy reading in her swing. Yes, this is the baby swing she would NOT use as an infant (though I tried regularly). Now that she's well past the weight limit but able to climb in and out herself, she loves it.

Lucy sharing a book with Aunt Grace. Everyone's a sucker when you're a cute one-year-old!

Some of her other reading pleasures are the newspaper ...

... and sudoku. As long as it has pages, she's in.

Oh yeah, can I mention she just learned to work the remote too? Note, however, while she watches TV she's still got a book to read during the commercials. That's my girl!

Happy Birthday to Me

31 this year, which seems awful hard to believe. And I think I look a little too happy to be quite so old ... but then, I've got a lot to smile about.

Eric and Lucy spent quite a while playing with my balloons, which have come home with us and still sit in our living room where Lucy plays with them just about every day. It's amazing what a toy like a balloon will do to keep a one-year-old busy.

Grace's birthday falls just four days after mine, so since she and Ryan have been together we've been lucky enough to share our birthdays.

Mmmmm, cake.

And I wasn't the only one who was looking forward to cake. Lucy sat like this with her hands folded on her tray for 10 minutes while we sang and cut and served cake. So patient!

Still patient, through a little teasing by Grandpa.

Still patient while Grandma cuts the cake for us.


Still patient, still waiting. This might be the longest Lucy has ever sat in one place without screaming and fighting to escape. Amazing.

Judging by the cake aftermath, I'd say it was worth the wait. Actually, Lucy ate ice cream and cake at lunch, and ice cream again at dinner. She was nuts about going to bed, didn't even show signs of being tired until about 10, when I finally put her upstairs and let her cry before sleeping. Yikes! All the excitement of a birthday plus all the sugar of the cake made it a hard evening, but well worth it to spend the time with family celebrating a couple of birthdays, especially since Ryan and Grace moving to Minnesota this week.

We finished off the festivities with a girls night on the town. It's been a while since that's happened. We danced the night away, old lady or no!

Happy Birthday Dawson

Well, the babies have done it again. This one's gone and turned one without even asking if it was okay to be so old, kind of like Lucy did.

Dawson will always be a special child to me. Crystal and I have been friends for 15 years and were able to go through this pregnancy together. Crystal was convinced that this baby would be okay because we were pregnant at the same time and it was meant to be. It was. I was also with Crystal at Dawson's birth (and she here for Lucy's), which gives me a different perspective on his life. That's something pretty special to be able to share. I know Dawson and Lucy will grow up knowing each other, and I love the time they spend together. So, I suppose, even though he didn't consult me before having his birthday I'll forgive this one. But when he turns two? We'll see.


Here Dawson is opening his gift from Lucy. She got him PJs, a shopping cart cover, and some bibs. Just what every one-year-old wants!

Big brother Dayton was all-too willing to lend a hand ripping into the gifts.

Mommy and Daddy with the birthday boy!

Dawson discovers cake ...

... and feeds it to his mommy. Yum!

I wish you the happiest of years to come, Dawson.

Ahhh, September

Can you tell I'm back to school? I'm working on juggling full time (getting Lucy out of the house by 7:00 and not home until almost 4:00) with essentially three new classes (new textbooks in everything with all my materials, homework, class practice, quizzes, etc. geared toward the old book) and have 106 students (once again the booby prize in my department with the biggest classes). And I was thinking about taking a class?

Hahahahahah!

Oh yeah, and this is Lucy's "My mommy is too busy to spend all day helping me push things around the house and reading books to me" face. She makes it a lot.

What a Baby Does

Lucy is a busy baby. All of the time. As I head back to school I'm already longing for the days where the hours seemed to stretch out ahead of us, when it was okay to push the stroller around the driveway for 30 minutes or take an hour for lunch. My days (mornings especially) from now until June will be a race to get us out of the house before 7am to make it to school in time. Now I can just wonder how Lucy fills her days playing with her friends at Kimmie's.

Last week, however, Lucy was ...

... playing with inappropriate toys. Here, the piece of wood we use to "lock" our sliding door. The list of other inappropriate toys includes the bottle of prilosec, the telephone and remote control, and bathroom items, lotion, combs, and if she can get her hands on it, the toilet brush ...

... letting mommy put silly things on her head and then snap photos. Lucy likes to play with headbands and has the idea that they go on her head but if one actually makes it there, watch out ...

... playing sudoku. This baby's got mathematical tendencies already ...

... pushing our stroller around the house, usually with a favorite toy riding. She can go back and forth across the house a hundred times without getting bored ...

... harassing Shorty. Poor dog just wants to eat her can of food so I set up a gate to give her some space. Lucy looks like the kind of girl who might jump those orange fences to ski in the woods ...

... exploring the box mommy put in the living room. There's always something exciting about a new object in the house, especially one you can fit into ...

... and sleeping. All of this activity can really wear a girl out, you know.