We went to Lucy's first movie today: Barnyard. It was a free movie at the movie theater and we met a handful of friends there as well. Lucy loved the popcorn and climbing up and down the stairs although she couldn't have cared less about the movie. The highlight: the bathrooms. It was her first experience with self-flushing toilets and we had to "go" 4 times so that she could see the "magic potty". At one point we were watching the movie when she got up and walked right out of the theatre (without knowing that I was right behind her) and headed to the bathroom. Needless to say, I think we will hold off on any more movie outings for a while, or at least until they start showing her favorite: Classical Baby, "the Scream" in particular, then of course, we would have to be able to watch the same 15 seconds of the show over and over again or it wouldn't be any fun for her at all.
Ronin came over today to offer an apology for a little tiff they got into the other night. Lucy answered with an "I'm sorry Lucy" in return and then decided they should play together. They snacked on some veggies and dip and then danced to "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and then had some tent time. I finally had to call the playdate quits when I was spending the entire time in the bathroom. It seems that if one has to go, then the other does, then they repeat. It is some sort of game they play. They might be staying dry, but unfortunately, that means I have to stay in the bathroom!
We went to Severna Park, MD today to attend one of Lucy's pal's 2nd birthday party. They played in a ball pit, in a swimming pool, with bubbles and trucks and water tables, in a sprinkler and ran wild for 2 hours. It was a great time and she loved seeing all her Old Town buddies. She practiced for a full 2 days singing "Happy Birthday to You!" and was very excited when they actually sang it at the party. Now we are working on singing it for Ronin since he turns 2 on Sat.
Lucy likes to channel Michael Jackson (no idea where she gets this from!) and wears a light blue, sparkly glove, just one, around the house on a regular basis. Goofball!
Aunt Taylor invited us to play with her and Eli, the kid she babysits, at the National Building Museum. They had so much fun playing with sandbags, tools, in the little house, building towers and throwing pennies in the fountain. We had a picnic and Ian came over to eat lunch with us.
We met Andrew at the toy store Why Not? on Tuesday to birthday present shop for their friend Liam. They love the store since they have a train area, a little kitchen set up and well, it's a toy store! Lucy was rewarded with the book "The Lonely Firefly" and a little bracelet for doing such a great job on her potty training (still no accidents!) Then we headed to La Madaleine for lunch and then threw pennies in the fountain.
When we got home, Lucy was wired and danced and sang on the bed, then told me she was "relaxing" and chilled out on the pillows for a few minutes.
Lucy has been doing a whole lot of pretend play lately. It has certainly escalated since she started this kind of play about 10 months ago. She tells me "Bye Bye Momma. I'm going to the grocery store." Then she grabs her purse, her cell phone, her keys and her baby and heads to the door. She usually tells Reggie to be a good boy and then I find her in her room with her grocery cart "shopping". It all ends with her bagging her own groceries and rocking her baby. Quite the busy little bee!
Well, it is now Sunday night and Lucy has not had an accident since Wed evening. That's not to say that she won't ever, but she takes great pride in going on the potty and we actually have to tear her off of it in the evenings and convince her to put on a diaper before naptime/ bedtime. She is so proud of herself and has really racked up the stickers on her prize chart so she will get to choose a special prize this week. We are also almost out of jelly beans so hopefully once those are gone she will continue going without all the hoopla and prizes- we'll see.
We went swimming on Sat morning and then to a pool/birthday party in the evening. Lucy can't understand adult birthday parties- no balloons, no kids, no favor bags full of toys and everybody brought wine or beer as presents- not very fun for her but she made her own fun by splashing in puddles, using the potty 4 times in 2.5 hours, swimming in extremely cold water, and helping serve cake.
Today she spent the morning with Daddy and they hung out with Ronin and X while Deb and I caught a movie. When I got home she was serving Daddy "coffee" and eating fake strawberries. Then she painted some pictures, read some books and took a nap. We went for a walk, then built block towers, ate dinner (one of her favorites "hot stickers" (pot stickers) and edamame or as she calls it "eat a mommy".)
We borrowed a hiking backpack while back from our friends Amy and Glenn and since then it has sat in the corner of our dining room. Why don't we move it? Well, it occupies so much of Lucy's time I would be a fool to do away with it. She will come and tell me that she is going to "put on her seatbelt" and then sit at it and mess with the belt on it for up to a half hour at a time. She fills the pockets, puts her babies in it and "hides" in it. Who knew?
Aunt Lauren gave Lucy the book "Green Eggs and Ham" for Christmas and I put it away until Lucy could sit through a longer book. Well, I got it out three days ago and she is now hooked. We have read it upteen times and she answers every question in the book with a yes. For instance: Sam I Am: Would you could you in a box? Lucy: Yes. Sam I Am: Would you with a fox? Lucy: Yes Sam I Am: Would you could you in a house? Would you could you with a mouse? Lucy: Yes.Yes!
When she woke up Friday morning I asked her if she would like eggs for breakfast. She said, "Yes, green eggs and ham". So we made a big production of coloring her eggs and serving it with a side of ham and what did she do? "Momma, I do not like green eggs and ham".
Well, if you haven't received a celebratory phone call in the past few days, I'm sure one is on the way. Lucy loves to call someone after she has gone potty in the potty to tell them of her success. And what success we are having! She is doing a great job at staying dry and has finally gotten over her fear of "going" into the potty. She is gobbling jelly beans by the handful now and her sticker chart is filling up quickly! We bought a toddler port a potty to keep with us all the time and she christened it when we went walking on the Mount Vernon Trail today. Never did I think that I would be cheering on my daughter for popping a squat on the side of a public trail, but we cheered and hugged and kissed (and then pulled her pants up) and Aunt Taylor was there to celebrate with us. She had 0 accidents today and 3 successes-we are well on our way!
Went to the pool today to enjoy the 4th holiday and had a great day. Lucy decided that she wasn't scared of going in the "big potty" and had a blast splashing with Ian in the pool. We hung out that afternoon with Ronin and his family including his cousin Minako. They traced their bodies in chalk on the sidewalk, ate Popsicles, played in the tent, rode trikes, played "golf" and ran around like kids on the 4th of July! We ended the night by heading across the Parkway to Potomac Park to watch the DC fireworks (free of the traffic and loud booms). Lucy loved listening for the crackling and popping sounds in the distance and watching the flashes of light that popped up over the buildings. On Thursday she kept talking about the fireworks and told me that they said "boom, bang, bash, boom, boom,boom!" Sounds right to me! Cute pictures, but you have to check out the video of Ronin throwing a tantrum because Lucy won't share her American flag. He throws the best tantrums in the world- textbook tantrums!
Ronin and Lucy play in the tent in Lucy's room. These two are out of control somtimes. I had to video this when Deb and I heard uncontrollable giggle and laughter coming from her room. I guess Ronin makes a good monster to Lucy's damsel in distress.
Here are photos and videos that Taylor has taken this summer since she arrived in DC. We love having her around and Lucy never loses the excitement of seeing her and Coulter show up at our house!
Lucy went to her friend Hannah's 3rd birthday party at the soft playroom on Sunday. She had so much fun playing in the ball pit, jumping across the floor, singing happy birthday, eating pizza and sliding on the playground outside. She was a maniac the whole time, although she did keep trying to leave the play area to find pizza- the girl gets hungry!
Well, I don't have many photos and videos to share this week since Lucy has been wearing nothing but her birthday suit much of the week. We officially started potty training on Monday and she has decided that she will wear nothing but a shirt or dress or her Elmo underwear (or as she calls them, her Elmos or Zoes) at the house. This does not provide Internet friendly photo opportunities since the week has been filled with many bottoms up positions, many glances at her nether regions and even an experience I call the "face sitting" which involved me on the floor and opening my eyes to two cute little butt cheeks resting on my face- not so cute at that angle, I might add.
I was just about to give up the potty training effort yesterday when she decided that she would stay dry for two straight days and has successfully pottied a couple of times since then. She even stayed dry the entire time we went into DC today to attend the Folk Life Festival. She is being rewarded with jelly beans and stickers on her sticker chart and gets to read one of the cards that her family and friends have sent to celebrate her potty training success. She will occasionally ask me if "Momma is proud" which is so sweet I feel a bit guilty every time she asks- of course I'm proud of her! I think the book "Once Upon A Potty" has really helped as well since she talks about the main character "Prudence" a whole lot and told me that Prudence was really happy and proud of her pottying accomplishments as well.
Back to the Folk Life Festival. So if you have never been, it would be a fun time to visit one summer in the future. They choose 3 different cultures from around the world each year and then bring in the food, crafts, dance, music and businesses that make that culture so unique and share them for all to see on the National Mall. This year they are celebrating Northern Ireland, Mekong, and Virginia. Lucy loved the bluegrass music in the Virginia tent and we all loved the ham and bisquits! Lucy also played the drums in the Mekong tent and rode the merry go round on the Mall. The best part for her: the Metro ride in. She still loves trains and every time we made a stop she would say "Again!" Pops would probably like to know that she also loved the tunnels we went in.
We are looking at several weeks of pool time, birthday parties and hopefully soaking up as much Taylor and Coulter time that we can before they head back to school in August.
Asher is one of Lucy's favorites. He is always good for a fun time on the swings, hiding in the bushes, or running on the playground together. They are starting to take it to a new level though and are actually able to share with each other and have little conversations and they laugh at each other nonstop. He is a great friend to her!
today we went for a walk with Asher, Aurelia and Amy and ended up at the playground. Every few houses on our walk, either Lucy or Asher made us stop so that they could pass a toy, a pretzel or a cracker to the other. We didn't get much of a walk in, but they sure did have fun cruising besides each other!
We all played Hide N Seek in the house this evening and even Reggie got into the fun. Of course, he's the worst hider because he tells everyone where you are hiding by just standing in front of you. Lucy and Ian were hiding in the tent one time which made Lucy very giddy!
