House Cleaning

Our kitchen is cleaner than it ever has been before. Larisa learned some speed-cleaning techniques from someone in our ward and decided to experiment on our kitchen. I thought a professional cleaner had come when I saw her standing on a stool with a belt full of rags and tools around her waist. Now our cabinets and counters are sparkling white.

It took her quite a while to finish the kitchen since it was her first run through, but I really appreciate it.

Birthday girl

Today was Lydia's birthday. We both got up with her as soon as we heard her. Usually we let her babble for about 15 minutes before we go get her, cause there's always a chance that she falls asleep again. Today though, we had a full day of fun planned and we could not wait get started.

Our first fun idea came from Mama Branner. We blew up about 120 balloons and stuffed them in our coat closet. We could not wait to let Lydia get into that stash. The idea was to let balloons fall out on her, as she squeals, laughs, dances and prances around from excitement. Well, that's not exactly how it happened. Lydia saw the balloons falling, backed away and then darted for cover, crying. At first, we could not even get her to come close to the balloon-flooded area. She would grab onto one of us, wrap her arms and legs around and whimper. It took a bit of creative persuasion to get her to come over and play. In the end, we think she actually enjoyed it.

Also, we went to Sears to take some pictures. Lydia refused to be amused. She stared intently at the photographer as he tried to find ways to make her smile. Aside from that, I did not find the final product very good. In my mind it was a poor choice of props and backgrounds that made me come to that conclusion. I made a mental note not to go back to Sears Studio. I should mention, though, that we did decide to print a few of the pictures that were taken. One was a family shot and the other two were Lydia's character showcases. It's really fun to see her personality come right out in photos.

The rest of the day we spent waiting for Lydia to finish her afternoon nap, taking her to a fun park with fountains and letting her shove some birthday cake in her mouth. She got covered with frosting, though it hardly looked like frosting on her-more like an unidentified color of dark paint. I am sure the pictures we have taken will be enough to embarrass Lydia in front of her future boyfriends.

My bed is calling my name and calling pretty loudly, so I better turn in for the night.

Changes in Lydia

About a week ago I noticed a change in Lydia. She no longer struggles when we put her down to sleep. There used to always be the obligatory cry once we laid her down and left the room. If she was tired she would stop crying after about a minute and fall asleep. Otherwise she would stay up crying off and on for quite a while (up to 15-30 minutes). Now, it's completely different. She seems to know what's coming, and when I set her down she just turns to her stomach and goes to sleep.

Larisa pointed out another change. Lydia is more demanding now, with little tantrums if she's frustrated. She's always been demanding about food. As soon as she sees the food or sits in the high-chair she starts squealing until the first bite. But now it's extended to some other things. She loves playing with our cell phones, so yesterday when she was pushing buttons and I decided to stop her from calling 911 or those inconvenient toll-numbers that T-mobile has preprogrammed into the phone, I shut the phone and gave it back to her. That used to work, but this time she understood and started a big powty face. Then she handed the phone back to me. I gave it back to her to cheer her up, but she insisted on giving it back to me. Finally I opened it back up and gave it back to her. Like a switch, she immediately cheered up and was giggling again.

It's amazing that her communication skill have increased so much. She hands us things when she wants us to do something with them. Usually it just means she wants us to open it. Like a few minutes ago when she handed me a bag of cheerios that she found. As soon as I opened it, she reached in to grab some.