Love for Lucy: April 2012

Dear Lucy,

Today you are 24 months and 24 days old. I went to an open house for a Parent's Morning Out/preschool type thing to see if we were interested in enrolling you in the fall. I know it was just for a one day a week type thing, but it made me feel like you were very grown up already and I was looking at schools, etc. Sometimes I feel like time is rushing past me and that you will be five and ten and twenty-one before I know it. Other days it feels like you can't grow up fast enough because I have so many exciting things I want to do with you when you are old enough. But just for today, just for now, here are some random tidbits about you that I love so much and that make me want to stop time.

The way you slip your little hand into mine while we pray at bedtime.

How you get SO excited to rush into Ian's room the very second you hear him wake up.

I'm amazed at how you connect things we've talked about and some things we've never really discussed ... like how the fire trucks on Ian's onesie are the same ones you see occasionally and you knew they made the same siren sound, which you are great at demonstrating.

I love how you persist in saying "hold you" when you want to be held, even though we always tell you it's "hold me".

How you trust me and you like to walk with me and hold my hand. Even when Mommy can't find the right building and I make you walk all over creation, you sweetly just held my hand and walked beside me like such a big girl with no complaints.

You have such a caring heart, my baby girl. You get very concerned when other babies or kids cry, especially Ian. Likewise you love to see other babies and kids smile, and you really just love babies.

You are funny and you love to share. You are observant and exuberant. You love to read and you love to count things (except you only know "1, 2..." so you just say "1, 2, 1, 2" over and over). I'm so happy you're mine, Lucy Frances, and I know your Daddy would say the same thing.

I love you,
Mommy

Sorry this post has been so long in coming. I rarely have the time to sit down and write a lot or post pictures. In fact, I may be interrupted writing this by Ian waking up from his nap any time now. We'll see.

Lucy had her two year old well visit and I'm pretty sure she was 24 lbs., 8 oz. The paperwork that had the exact numbers written down is in Ian's room. LOL. So we'll go from memory. She's doing great.

Here's what a typical day in the life of two year old Lucy is like:

7:30am. Wake up from her big girl bed. Knock/bang on door until I come get her, usually asking her to be quiet since Ian is still asleep. She usually immediately asks for "ahm-ee" (oatmeal), which we go to the kitchen to start.

7:45am. She likes to help me stir the oatmeal and then she sits at the big table in her booster seat and watches Elmo's World while eating her oatmeal.

8:15am - 12:30pm. We play, we run errands, we almost always go to the park, etc. At the park she can basically do everything by herself, including climbing up and down stairs and going down the slide on her tummy. She's still a little nervous to go down on her bottom due to a previous tumble she took down a slide.

12:30/1:00pm. We eat lunch usually around this time. She loves to eat almost anything I feed her. This is either leftovers from dinner the night before, pasta, sandwiches, fruit, hot dogs, or whatever strikes our fancy.

3:00pm. These days she's been going down for her nap around 3 or so and sleeping for about an hour and a half.

5:30pm. Daddy comes home and we eat dinner and play until...

7:30pm. Bathtime! Daddy usually takes care of this since Mommy is feeding Ian.

8:00/8:30pm. Bedtime! Mommy likes to do this part unless Ian is being especially fussy. We read several books, then she lays down and I rub her back and her hair and pray for her and sing songs. Her favorite songs are "God is So Good", "Jesus Loves Me", "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider", and "Patty-Cake, Patty-Cake."

Lucy has a huge vocabulary, but a lot of it is probably only intelligible to Wesley and I and even then sometimes just in context (like her words for water, raisin, and videos sound very similar so we have to look for other clues...haha). But these days I am noticing huge leaps in her abilities, like recognizing letters and words and colors and concepts without prompting from me. You can see those little neurons firing and making connections left and right! We're so proud of her.

Here are some pictures from her birthday party, taken by her Gigi since she is a good photographer and I am a lazy picture-taker. haha.

These are a little out of order, sorry!

Lucy with her princess tent from PopPop and Nana!