Toots McGoots Claps in her Boots

Official first word: "dada".  It is actually very touching.  No better way to make your heart smile.  Unofficial first word: "aye" as in "hi" but no "h". Pretty darn cute when accompanied by a wave.  Her grandmas very efficiently taught Lilah how to wave over Christmas, now she's a waving maniac.  She prefers to wave to inamimate objects, like our stairs, walls, and doors, but occasionally she'll wave to a person on command.  She gleefully shrieks at Rooney every time she sees him.  He tolerates way more than he should have to, but bless his heart.  There have been a few more "incidents" with minor altercations between Rooney and Lilah and we have now resolved to mostly keep them separate until she's 18.  Poor Roo, the days of being an only child are at an end, but he's still top dog.

She even steals his toys... :(

Furry Books: We are making an active effort to read to Lilah more often.  She takes no enjoyment in reading books right now unless they are touch-n-feel or she can bang it on the ground.  I'm taking this pretty hard and am just praying that she graduates first grade.  In order to entice her to read, Ben has tapped into one of his new found skill sets.   Ben makes very authentic animal sounds, especially highlighting his cow and elephant noises.  Very impressive.   Lilah gets a wide eyed face like she is shocked at the authenticity also..  Well done, Ben.

Toots McGoots: Toots McGoots is Lilah's new knickname when she's being a stinker.  (This includes high pitched screeching into Rooney's face, standing up and trying to dance while in the bathtub, and overall impish grins at both of us.)  Daddy also caved recently and bought Toots McGoots some pink furry boots.  Yes, we love rhyming!  But the boots really are cute.

Our boots look. ( Dad worked hard at this matching outfit... improving!)

Totally normal way to brush our hair. Completely normal.

Our no boots look.

Learning "no": We might be on to something here.  Then again, we might not.  Sometimes she looks at us, stops what she's doing and does something else.  Sometimes, she grins at us, goes back to what she's doing and looks back to grin again.  Jury's still out.

Nap time?  Yeah right, Mom.

Growing up: It's still not allowed.  I had a little emotional meltdown this past weekend when I realized how quickly she's becoming a little person.  She had two firsts within 2 days and I just couldn't believe how special and wonderful she is.  She started clapping for the first time surrounded by her loyal fans, Uncle Jeff and Auntie Carrie Miller, while watching their beloved KU basketball game.  Quite an audience.  Monkey see, monkey do :)  KU also won, so thankfully everyone was still happy.  She also started standing indepently for long periods of time.  No steps yet... but it won't be long now.  Even harder than worrying about your children is starting to let them grow.  This hasn't been as hard on Ben, but he'll have his moments some day too...

Clapping for 1st time!

Snow Day

Zoom zoom zoom

Fun things: Celebrated Ben's bday with some birthday mousse and Pioneer Woman calzones.  Why not?!  Special birthdays involve a little lap lady helping to cheer us on blowing out our candles.  We also have been very thankful to our friends this month for allowing us to go on not one but TWO dates!  Butler University basketball game and a dinner out (with residency applicants... but still counts!) at the iconic Harry & Izzy's downtown.  Loved it!  We even very guiltily left Lilah at daycare one afternoon for a few extra hours and saw a movie.  Gulp.  It felt nice too.  I feel so happenin'.

My two favorite people in this world!  Happy Birthday, Ben!

Butler v. Georgetown... Barryball!