Singing

Lillian has always been very musical.  Recently I got a 3 disk set of children's songs.  We listened to one disk for only 2 days in the car and she already knows the words! or at least tries to sing along ;)  I am just amazed how fast she picks up things lately.  She even knows the Petco sign and the Jamba Juice sign.  Both times on different occasions I hear from the backseat, "yeah animals!" or "yeah moothie!"  She can see the Petco sign out the window when we go to the grocery store.  I have only taken her in the store maybe 3 times if I run down there and we look around before I walk home.  So she insisted on seeing the "aminals" and then connected it to the zoo! Of course it makes sense since we see animals at the zoo too!  Another time we were driving to a different grocery store (the one near Petco we don't go to often but it is our closest one so only to run in if we are missing something) and she saw the Jamba Juice sign; she's only been in THAT location once but we have gotten smoothies elsewhere.  I just love to see her grow and learn and even how she processes new experiences and builds her own schema, it truly is one of the most fascinating things to watch! I think if I was ever going to be an educational researcher I'd want to focus on toddler/preschool age.  Anyway, I've got videos of Lillian trying to sing along to some of her favorite new songs. 

Here is her singing to The Wheels on the Bus:

The Itsy Bitsy Spider (she does the hand motions):

and It's Raining, it's pouring.  I didn't know she knew that one, the other two we do in books but she asked me to play "rain" too.

Almost 2 yrs old!

I can't believe how fast this year has gone by, maybe because we've been so busy with moving twice (since we moved into the townhouse in Germantown only in December, to then move out of it again in May).  Lillian has changed so much, she is much more independent and she lets you know it!  She enjoys dressing herself and I often find her in her room pulling clothes out of the dirty basket putting them on however she can, whether it is a shirt as a skirt, 2 pairs of pants on or 4 outfits all on at the same time.  Lillian is obsessed with trains! We have always exposed her to many things but she always goes back to trains.  She even uses the little mirror in the backseat I have to see her when I'm driving to look out the front of the car and recognize the train tracks.  The other weekend I found a train museum that has started offering train rides on their steam engine once a month.  She absolutely LOVED it!!!!!!!  She now makes the puff puff sound you hear steam engines make when it is moving.  We've always made the sound when we play trains with her but after seeing a real train do it, she gets it now.  Below are some pictures of our day along with a little video of her playing with her new train she got at the museum.  We also got her a little dish set with a cup, silverware, plate and bowl.... it has gotten her to eat more recently since at the bottom she discovers there is a train!

Lillian has big news!

 

That's right! Lillian is going to have a baby brother or sister to play with coming in late April!  Greg and I have been sort of trying since Jan when I went off the pill, I charted for a while but it never worked  so we just decided to let things happen naturally and hope it didn't take too long.  Well my cycle hasn't been regular since going off the pill.... anywhere from 30-52 days.... and that makes it very hard to plan.  We found out the night I returned from my Northern California visit on August  19th.  Based on my last period I could have been 10 weeks but figured that was unlikely.  I had to wait 2 weeks to get into the doctors and when they did that ultrasound they said I was under 6 weeks! I was in shock by that because that meant I started having symptoms from the moment it happened! And they are trying to say I found out at 3 weeks...... very hard for me to believe.  But we went back and redid the ultrasound again 2 weeks later and I only measured 7 weeks and 5 days.  With that, it has been a LONG 5 weeks!  and I still have a lot to go.

This pregnancy has been different by far from Lillian's.  Morning sickness isn't as bad, with Lillian I felt car sick all the time and would have very strong waves of nausea.  This time around it's more like I ate too much even if I barely ate.  Yes there are times nausea gets pretty bad but nothing like it was with Lillian.  I will say I am much more tired this round.  Some have said I didn't have a toddler to run around after last time but my goodness most days I'm ready for bed starting at 4pm!  As of right now we are hoping for a boy but I think we are going team Green and not finding out the gender, letting it be a wonderful surprise at the birth.  I don't get as many ultrasounds this round either, my doctor only does the 20 week anatomy scan and one more after that to confirm size and placement.  I had so many ultrasounds in Korea that the temptation would have gotten to me. 

My Little Swimmer

Lillian has finished her ISR swim lessons and can successfully do the swim-float-swim sequence all on her own!  She has even asked to go in the pool so she can practice some more.  Here is a video I took of Greg in the pool with her yesterday.  She even loves to jump from the wall! She is so excited about the water now and can't wait to get in.  I'm sure she'd go everyday if I let her.  A thank you to her swim instructor, Samantha Bense!  If you are in the San Diego area and want to enroll your child in ISR swim lessons contact Samantha.  If you are outside the area ISR has instructors everywhere, just go to infantswim.com  to find an instructor near you. 

Swimming Lessons

Lillian started swimming lessons only 3 weeks ago.  These are different than your normal lessons; they are infant survival.  Lessons are held Monday through Fridays for less than 10 min a day.  She is not cued on what to do verbally only by small touches.  Lillian has learned how to hold/pull herself up the stairs, hold her breath and "swim" on her belly and roll over and float on her back to catch her breath.  The first couple days were the roughest for me, I could see panic in her face at times but knew she had to figure things out on her own in order for her to remember it.  She would cry/whine during every lesson but now she is happy and it all makes sense as to why she does each activity.  Here is video of her swimming for just 3 weeks!  

If you would like more information on these lessons please visit: http://www.infantswim.com/.  
On that website you can find a local swim instructor.  If you are in the San Diego area looking for lessons you can contact Samantha Bense from the website.  Infant Swim Rescue is designed and takes a stand so children do not drown.  I am confident if Lillian ever found herself falling in a pool she would be able to hold her breath, roll over on her back and float until help arrived.  Once her lessons are finished she will be able to swim to the wall or stairs, rolling on her back to catch her breath.  

20 months old

I can't believe Lillian will be 2 in four more months!  She is incredibly independent and is continually amazing us with how much she picks up so quick.  Here is a picture slideshow of this month so far:

We recently visited a children's museum as shown in the pictures.  Lillian had a blast and I caught a little video of daddy playing with Lillian on little chairs.  I don't know if she enjoyed it or not....

For Father's Day we went camping on Palomar Mountain.  Unfortunately, they will be closing it to public camping next month; when Greg heard this we knew we'd have to have one final trip recounting all his memories there.  Camping at the national park was full so we camped at a nearby site and went in for the day.  Recently I've been singing songs with Lillian and with all the time we had camping she learned "Old McDonald".... she is really quite cute but some of her animal noises are quiet so listen carefully ;)

Little Drummer Girl

Lillian finally figured out how to use her drum rather than just a container for all the other musical instruments.  She used to play with it as a drum but she hasn't again since December.  I showed her videos of marching bands too so now she imitates them. :)