Silly Lily Ruth

When it rains, it POURS. Am I right, people? I speak not only of the many minor (and major) irritations in my life right now, but also of the tropical storm that whipped through town leaving a very wet city and a record for rainfall in it's wake.

Shall we speak instead of the Amazing Lily Ruth? Yes, please! My darling daughter has upped the ante in several arenas recently. Her verbal skills are racing forward. In addition to mama, da-ad, doggie, ca-T, kitty, go, tikka (for tickle), bup (for up), this, and that, she now also says ICE, cheese, yeah, car, hi, bye, nanny, bub (for grandpa Doug), kiss, juice, pup (for puppy), Kiki & Keely (for the dog) and ball. She is also putting words or sounds together as jokes. She'll say something like 'doggie-daddy' then just crack up. She also wanders around muttering 'bop-PEE, bop-PEE, bop-PEE' - I can't tell if she's just playing, or if she's talking about the Boppy pillow that I use for nursing.

She also waves hello and goodbye, and will blow kisses as we depart. If she's done being wherever we are, she says 'go, go, go' and heads for the door - stopping only to either hand me my sunglasses or try to pick up her diaper bag.

She learned how to walk tiny McGuffin on his leash over the weekend! That poor dog was WORN OUT by the time we pried his leash from her clutches. The only downside to her new skill set is that now she wants to walk her own dog, too. We dealt with one of the biggest tantrums I've seen so far when Lily Ruth attempted to 'walk' her dog, and Keely just sat there. We had just returned from a walk around the block, and a storm was approaching, so Keely was DONE walking. When you only weigh 20 Lbs, and your dog weighs 80 Lbs, it's hard to establish dominance. Dogs also do not respond particularly well to shrieking and hitting. Luckily, Keely's only response was to ignore the baby until we were able to pry her off of the dog and put her in her crib to work through it.

Today saw the invention of 'Walk the Cat' as a game. Bing came home from the vet (you don't want to know), and Lily Ruth proceeded to follow him around the house whilst loosely holding his tail. This was fine while they were walking calmly. Trouble brewed when she tired of his pace and began to try to drag him by his tail. My Bing is 14 years old. The poor guy deserves some dignity and the right to choose his own walking speed. Intervention was required. At least there wasn't a meltdown this time!

Oh, there has been lots of pointing. I had not realized that pointing was actually a milestone that parents watch for. Here I was wishing that she'd forget how to do it since it has been coupled with adamant grunting or pitiful whining instead of her regular communication attempts like words or signs. When she starts pointing and grunting or whining, we start playing twenty questions. I am soooooo tired of the pointing. Time for some new signs!

What with all of the madness recently, that's all I have the energy for today... big surprise... hopefully tomorrow I will tell you allllllll about the yummy-ness that's been going on recently. You realize that this is contingent on me getting the kitchen clean and some laundry done, right?