Well, Excuse You!

A short glimpse into Lucy life...  I'd heard about this from my mom via a phone call, but I hadn't experienced it until tonight.  Halfway through dinner, I hear her growling. I look at her and she smiles and says "me, me".  Allow me to explain: she's discovered fake burping, but being my child, she always excuses herself afterward.  And she's only 20 months old! Oh my!!

Burping. 

Isaac took Lucy to the park today, and a bee there took quite a fancy to her.  Needless to say, she flipped out!  "No, bee! No!" ...now every little speck of black she sees anywhere (or, heaven forbid, an actual bug) is a " BEE! BEE!"  She's also saying "Gowaybee!"

Showing me her "bee" -- a piece of dirt out of my planter. 

"Gowaybee!"

On Friday Lucy told me "poopoo, ba ba" until I finally took notice.  

Me: "You need to go poopies on the potty?"

Lucy: enthusiastically, "yeah!"

So off we went...  and she sat, and nothing happened. I brought the now naked child out into the living room with the potty, and set her up.  She sat.  Nothing.  I figured she'd tried and was safe to run around for a couple minutes. I started to smell "toots", so I looked down to sit her on the potty aaaand -- too late! Poop log on the carpet. GAH!  

Me: (still haven't learned my lesson) "Lucy, we go poopies ON the potty!" (long conversation as we clean up)... 

Then, to myself: "Well, at least she's not going to go again. Might as well let her enjoy some naked time" (Because she calls it "nay nay" and it's the cutest thing ever. 

WRONG. AGAIN.  

Lucy pees...all. over. the kitchen.  All. over. 

Potty training may be a couple months off still... 

Um, Lucy, you're doing it wrong.  All of it. Wrong.
We still love you, though! 

Aand lastly as I'm trying to type this up, I'm met with this sight: (SO proud!) "Dada!" 

"Da Da!!!!" 

Summer Traditions: Blackberry Picking (and a Charlie Visit) pt. 2

Every summer we head to Mr. Dennis' and Ms. Shirley's and pick blackberries!  This started when my mom and Papa were summering on their property in their RV.  Last year was a bit of a blur and we never made it, but this year we collected Nana and made a morning of it.  It was a gloriously cloudy and cool morning: perfect for picking. 

We heard Charlie Dog was staying with them while his owner was on a bike trip.  Clearly he remembered us and we had a great time reuniting with him for a couple of hours. 

Wrestling with Isaac. 

Hey, I know you! *Insert big, slobbery kiss*

Most handsome mutt ever! 

Waiting for auntie, perfecting her non-chalant pose: first time getting her hand in her pocket!

Shielding herself from too many doggy kisses. 

Let's do this, ladies!

Charlie has become the dog we always knew he'd be: such a LOVE!  He was enamored with Lucy right off and smothered her with kisses.  Once he settled down a bit, she really warmed up to him. 

The kids really took their jobs seriously this year and both came back with full buckets -- with no nudging or prompting!  

Meanwhile, Lucy ran around, chatted, and rode in the little coupe. 

We did our part between chatting and keeping track of Lucy. 

My kiddo... What can I say? She's just...THE. CUTEST. Oh my! I know, I know, I'm biased, but seriously. 

Beautiful.

Nature is crazy cool sometimes.
Also, apparently my phone can take an epic picture under the right lighting circumstances.

This is how Charlie lives life, and it makes my heart so happy!  We know we did the right thing adopting him out to Chad.  He's a happy dog with an amazing owner, and the best grandparents who love him and live in a veritable doggy paradise:

No time to talk, former mom, I've got KIDS to round up! 

So we learned an important lesson today...  Lucy loves blackberries.  She had unfettered access to them today... If you feed a toddler enough, they will have purple poop...watery, stain-the-diaper-lavendar-poop, watery, stain the diaper lavender, let's just chuck this insert it's so gross poop.... Followed by more poop....and then some more, which resemble the original source more and more closely.  Now, don't you want to go eat some delicious blackberry pie?

Lesson learned.  Limit the blackberry intake...  Unless you're trying to help a constipated child, in that case go for it -- but beware! they're fast-acting!

Hold on mom, I need one more drag of my paci first... 

Sneaking berries: such an opportunist! 

This is Why I'm Always Behind on Blogging...

I intended to sit down and blog about our morning. It was really fun. Last night Isaac mentioned that he wanted a donut -- I'd been craving one since Monday -- so we decided to raid our change jar and treat ourselves.  Krispy Kreme for him, Top Pot for me, a park for Lucy: perfection!

Driving

"Liiiii!  Weeeee" 

"Dooo? (shoe)?"  Clearly we need to spend more time barefoot out of doors.  The problem is, we mostly go to rocky beaches or it's just too hot to go shoeless at the pool (the decking will burn her feet).  We remedied this as best we could today! 

Watching the ducks

My loves! I can't imagine loving anyone more than I love these two! 

This expression is classic Lucy: she heard a loud noise and must assess. 

I love our shadows in this shot!
Photo credit: Isaac

Waving to the geese as they bathed

Wading out to see the birds

 I came home to blog about this morning...  Sadly I got distracted by all the unsorted pictures on my desktop.  By the time I had taken care of them and gotten photos off of our phones, Lucy's nap was over.  Okay, let's set up the "kiddie pool" on the back deck and I'll blog and watch her...except watch her is all I could do between the mischief she kept attempting (bringing water in the house, going back to the pool clothed, dunking dry clothes into the pool).

Between it all I did a bit of semi-coherent blogging.  I try to remember that when I look back on this later, I'll laugh remembering the stage of life we're in right now, where focus and undivided time are precious commodities generally better spent on my child and husband than on writing... Still, I want to remember these moments, and share them with family near and far, so here's my attempt.

My brown baby! Her hair is almost as blonde as mine was. Almost. 

After sitting (naked) on the potty for several minutes, she decided carrying it around the house was a better idea... 

In the pool in the second fresh diaper in a row (before I could get the lid back on the pool), this time with a hat.

After the third diaper in the pool incident, I managed to cover the bin and THEN get her dressed.  She was undeterred.  As far as she's concerned, the pool should remain open. 

Oh...hey mom! 

 And when she's not getting into mischief, she's being utterly adorable as evidenced below.  She walks around the house these days crying "Nee-a-ha! nee-a-haaaa!", which translates "I need a hat!"

I hope you enjoyed this glimpse into our day.  There were so many more moments that were equally mischievous and/or adorable, but alas I cannot capture them all (or she was naked and showing more than I post online)...  I surely do love this crazy life.