Lilly-Chick, Lilly-Bean, Lil' Bit...
Lilly-kins. Lilly Pad. Lil' P.Any way you call her, she is quite a character.
These past two months have been a bit rough for me. January left us without a car while Ryan's truck was getting fixed. Being stuck in the house with two energetic kids in the dead of Winter is not my idea of fun. On top of this, Lilly became colicky. You read that right, colic at one year of age. The poor girl cut three teeth at once which explained alot. Her one year check up revealed a double ear infection. I'm sure that didn't help. But even when things seemed like they were ok, she'd walk up to me and cry. ALL THE TIME! It has been driving me a bit crazy especially when she doesn't do this to anyone else. Last week I had a thought that made me sad: I'm not enjoying her. And as sad as that made me, it helped me begin to fix what is wrong. I've backed away from Christopher. Its easy for me to focus on Christopher because he gives me so much feedback and I love it. But I realized poor Lilly may have been sitting on the sidelines a bit too much. So I left alone the laundry and housework. I laid on the floor and really watched Lilly. We played on a level like never before. I've always been big on playing with the kids, but this was different. I tried to read her thoughts, and respond appropriately. I taught her signs or words to help reduce the screaming. I grew more patient. I gave her more independence, like letting her feed herself. The result? Things have gotten a bit better, or I've become more tolerant, its hard to tell which. Perhaps its both.
Lilly is so smart. Lately her words/signs are: hand washing, brush teeth, phone, "more", "all done", "dank" (thanks), cut (food), "see", "duck", "soap". She loves "trying on" Christopher's shoes, dancing to music, being silly, playing her keyboard, and playing pretend, especially with a phone. She has learned to stand up in the middle of a room without assistance. Ryan likes to play soccer with her downstairs. At her one year check up she weighed just shy of 21 lbs and was 29 1/2 inches. This past week she decided she doesn't really want to nurse anymore. I nurse her 1-3 times a day, when she'll let me. Fortunately she has started taking regular milk through a sippy cup. Her night sleep has recently been rocky, with a waking around 4-5am, but we are working on that.
There is one thing that is absolutely certain. Lilly is no longer a baby, and I find it amazing, scary, sad and delightful all at the same time. She has a smile that melts my heart and I can say, now I am really enjoying her everyday.
These past two months have been a bit rough for me. January left us without a car while Ryan's truck was getting fixed. Being stuck in the house with two energetic kids in the dead of Winter is not my idea of fun. On top of this, Lilly became colicky. You read that right, colic at one year of age. The poor girl cut three teeth at once which explained alot. Her one year check up revealed a double ear infection. I'm sure that didn't help. But even when things seemed like they were ok, she'd walk up to me and cry. ALL THE TIME! It has been driving me a bit crazy especially when she doesn't do this to anyone else. Last week I had a thought that made me sad: I'm not enjoying her. And as sad as that made me, it helped me begin to fix what is wrong. I've backed away from Christopher. Its easy for me to focus on Christopher because he gives me so much feedback and I love it. But I realized poor Lilly may have been sitting on the sidelines a bit too much. So I left alone the laundry and housework. I laid on the floor and really watched Lilly. We played on a level like never before. I've always been big on playing with the kids, but this was different. I tried to read her thoughts, and respond appropriately. I taught her signs or words to help reduce the screaming. I grew more patient. I gave her more independence, like letting her feed herself. The result? Things have gotten a bit better, or I've become more tolerant, its hard to tell which. Perhaps its both.
Lilly is so smart. Lately her words/signs are: hand washing, brush teeth, phone, "more", "all done", "dank" (thanks), cut (food), "see", "duck", "soap". She loves "trying on" Christopher's shoes, dancing to music, being silly, playing her keyboard, and playing pretend, especially with a phone. She has learned to stand up in the middle of a room without assistance. Ryan likes to play soccer with her downstairs. At her one year check up she weighed just shy of 21 lbs and was 29 1/2 inches. This past week she decided she doesn't really want to nurse anymore. I nurse her 1-3 times a day, when she'll let me. Fortunately she has started taking regular milk through a sippy cup. Her night sleep has recently been rocky, with a waking around 4-5am, but we are working on that.
There is one thing that is absolutely certain. Lilly is no longer a baby, and I find it amazing, scary, sad and delightful all at the same time. She has a smile that melts my heart and I can say, now I am really enjoying her everyday.
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ReplyDeleteWell, at least you're normal! If we could all remember every minute of everyday that their "strange" behaviorisms are usually a sign of a need (I think) then none of us would ever be stressed out! I'm glad you were able to get in tune with her!
ReplyDelete*was forced to remove previous comment due to glaring typo. :)