I Wish I were an Adult

One afternoon last week I was sneaking some ice cream. Lydia came in the room and hadn't seen it yet, but I decided not to be a sneak anymore and just share. So she was happy to get a little bit of afternoon ice cream. Then she asked, "why are you eating ice cream?" I told her something dumb like it's because I like ice cream. Then she responded, "I wish I were an adult---then I wouldn't have to ask to eat ice cream."

Morning laugh

Lydia was sitting at the table and eating her yogurt when she said "Daddy, do you want some yogurt?" When Paul said that he did, she announced, "Ok. Then you can go get your own."

Lydia's birthday

This year we celebrated Lydia's birthday in Seattle. We've invited two families that we knew in the area and and had a great time. Lydia loves parties, especially if they follow Strawberry Shortcake story fortmat. So she requested for everyone to wear party hats, make mini-pizzas and friendship bracelets. The birthday girl had her cake, too, and of course, it was stawberry shortcake. The party was so much fun! Paul and I still can't believe that Lydia is 3 years old already.

Lydia Swimming

 

I wish a had a video that captured Lydia's first time in the pool by herself with only floaties on her arms. She was trilled and wanted to keep scooting around the pool with her little walking motion all night. We had tried using the floaties before, and she wasn't really thrilled. But I took her to the pool last night and within a couple of minutes I toughened her up. She finally trusted me enough to let go of her and let her bob up and down in the water. Then she said "woe!" about 50 times in a row, getting more and more excitement in her voice with each one.

Before long Lydia was having a blast in the pool but still wasn't comfortable to move her arms much or put her legs back to do some real kicking. As a consequence I had to wait 10 minutes when she insisted on swimming across the pool one last time before getting out. But she's doing real well. She can pull herself out at the edge of the pool. And I had a great time watching her face as she squeezed her lips together the whole time to make a water-tight seal since the floaties barely held her face out of the water.

Lydia

Yesterday Lydia's diaper was irritating her, and she finally got excited about wearing underwear again. That's progress.

I get a kick out of Lydia's ability to communicate. She was sitting on the toilet playing with the toilet paper and said to me, "we only need a little one." I was a little confused, although now I think she was talking about a piece of toilet paper. But I asked her, "a little what?" She got a little bit frustrated that the communication wasn't working and finally said, "little means really tiny," as she made a gesture by putting her fingers close together. How amazing. She could explain to me what 'little' means, which she thought I was confused about.

Lydia likes to point out to us things she can't do now but she can do when she's bigger, like saying that she'll cook well when she gets bigger, or that she'll paint or something. Today we watched some videos on Youtube of Shamu and his trainer doing stunts. Lydia asked if she could do that when she's bigger. So here she is at almost 3 years already knowing what she wants to do with her life. Maybe I should ask her for decision-making advise.

Laura and Spencer were here in Seattle visiting us yesterday. Lydia likes both of them very much. She also really enjoys spending time with Grandma and Grandpa (Oregon). The family spent a week there without me while I finished getting our apartment ready at Stanford and doing research. Mom also got Lydia a nice haircut that really looks good on her.

I am a good cooker

Lydia has taken up cooking lately. Some of her favorite things to do include mixing my spices in a bowl at the stove and looking through dessert recipe books. One particular book she really loves. Our little girl begs us to looks through the pictures of recipes and always asks "can we make this for my friends?". Each time we reassure her that we can, sometime later. So one day we decided to pick a dessert, go shopping for it and make it for family home evening. Lydia chose a fancy no-bake cheesecake with praline crust and Italian cream cheese. It took us a while to figure out how to caramelize sugar to make pralines, but overall it was a fun adventure. The cheesecake was more like an ice-cream cake. It was wonderful! But it seemed that we were more excited about it than Lydia. I don't think she quite comprehended what a creation that particular cheesecake was. We enjoyed it so much that we forgot to share it with Lydia's friends.

As to Lydia's cooking, she told us once "I am a good cooker".

riding a bicycle

Our neighbors from our old apartment lent us a bike for as long as they where not using it. It has been gathering dust in our backyard for months until a few weeks ago when Lydia decided to try riding it. She would get excited about it and ask us for help. We would try to explain to her how to pedal. The task seemed too daunting and she would lose interest quickly. But when Lydia saw someone else ride a bicycle she would proudly announce that she too had a bike.

Well, a couple of weeks ago our neighbors finally requested their bike back. So we returned it one evening and wondered how Lydia would react when she found it was missing. She asked about it, but did not seem to be too upset. Since then she has taken a liking to bikes. Outside, she would find anything resembling a bike and try to ride it, often just sitting on it and moving her feet. But yesterday, at her little preschool group, she was not playing with her friends much. Once again Lydia found a bike and was diligently trying to perfect her riding skills. The reason I say perfect is because she just sat down and started pedaling. She covered quite a bit of distance during the hour we were outside.

Today Lydia was at it again. She sat and pedaled any bike that appeared remotely usable. Our sidewalks are so rough that she would get stuck a lot. To resolve that Lydia would either ask for help or use her legs to move herself forward. Watching her struggle, I decided to borrow a better bike from our other neighbors. Lydia loved riding it on a path surrounding our playground and she did it for quite a while. It was so fun to watch her. She is growing up so quickly and it is such a joy to have her in our family.

Lydia's update

I have to write down a few things that sounded particularly cute or clever. Lydia's vocabulary grows every day (as it should) and she is not shy to use new words and expressions.
One of the phrases Lydia uses often is "think so". A few examples would be "Tyler woke me up think so" or "It's my turn think so". Also she is in love with hot "chloklot" these days or any kind of "chlokolat" for that matter. Lydia forms her questions like "Are you want to take a nap?" She also likes to give us options "What do you want? Or this or this?" A couple of weeks ago, when she did not get what she wanted she said "Mommy, you make me sad."

She can unlock doors

Yesterday I was doing some things and let Lydia wander around the house doing whatever she wanted. She came back to me holding my wedding ring (I had taken it off to play sports in the morning). I was surprised because I had put the ring in my room, and we put a lock (hook) on the door for the specific purpose of keeping Lydia out. When I went upstairs later that day, I found her port-a-potty next to our bedroom door. The extra eight inches gave her the height she needed to reach the hook and unlock the door.

The scary story

Paul, in his previous entry, mentioned that I have a scary story to tell. That is true. The reason there are scary stories to tell is because Lydia tries to be independent and we are continuously explaining to her that some things are too dangerous to do on her own. She gets it, but still tries to find a way to do what she wants anyway. Here's the example:

On Valentine's day we were baking a heart-shaped cake. Lydia was so excited. She helped mix some of the ingredients and could not wait until the cake was done. When the buzzer sounded, she rushed to the kitchen, ready to partake. I told her that the cake is hot and that when we pull it out from the oven, we have to let it cool. She brought her stepping stool to look at the cake sitting on the counter. I specifically instructed her not to touch it because she would get an ouwie. Lydia understands ouwies. As the matter of fact, she is obsessed with them. So after I decided that I drove the point home to her, I ran into the living room for just a second to do something. A few seconds later when I turned around and faced our dining table, there was Lydia and what a sight she was. On both of her hands she was wearing oven mittens as she was carrying the hot cake pan to the table. I almost had a heart attach half from fright and half from amazement. I wore those gloves as I took the cake out of the oven and must have just left them right there. I could not believe the thought process of this 2 year old! I had to suppress my first desire to lash out and seriously scold her; after all she did do it the right way. And I know this is not the first or the last time she will do things her way, the "I be careful" way. I am just not sure I can take that kind of stress on daily basis. But then again, most parents do survive their kids. So, there is hope!

The Destroying Angels

Today I noticed all the pages that Lydia ripped out of the library books in her room. that was after I had just scolded her for pooring out all of the baby shampoo into the bathtub. And everything within Tyler's reach is in danger of destruction. He's eaten important papers and pulled dinner plates off the table, smashing to the floor. Gotta love the kids.

In reality, they are both so much more lovable each day. Tyler is such a little soft bundle of fun. He gets compliments all the time for his smiles and cheerfulness. Now he can scoot all over the floor with his army crawl. Two of his teeth came in last week, and he's started walking around with our hands as support, just like Lydia did at that age.

Lydia successfully used the toilet twice today, which is a huge step for her. She tries to be so independent. She learned to dress herself up in her dress-up clothes all by herself, and Larisa has a fun/scary story to tell of her with the oven mittens. Lydia also annunciates words very well---she likes to give a full and thought out "yes" (or "uhm, yes") when asked a question. And this past week she started a new habit; when we ask/tell her something her first respond is always "huh?"

Lydia's favorite sayings

I just had to write down some things Lydia said in the last couple of days. Her favorite phrase right now is " a little bit". Here are her uses of that phrase: "Can I watch a movie a little bit?" or my personal favorite "Tyler is sleeping a little bit".

Lydia also picked up a phrase "no thanks" from one of her little friends. Now, she is very confident in refusing our offers. When Paul was trying to get her to eat some potatoes at dinner she just looked at a spoon full of food in front of her and said "no, thanks".