Trying to look on the bright side

Things are still not good. They don't seem to be quite as bad, but then I have been surprised before, so I'm not looking to get comfortable right now. But - as I'm trying out a new perspective in life - I'm going to write about some of the stuff that is most definitely good and leave it at that. I just hope that everyone who reads this will keep praying that the bad stuff fades off into oblivion. I'd appreciate that muchly.

So the good stuff.

Lilah.

What a peach!

Now, she has become more spirited as of late. It seems little miss thinks she should have a personality of her own complete with her very own thoughts and ideas of how things should go. But mostly, she's still that same little easy-going baby I brought home nearly 18 months ago.

Eighteen months ago.

Really? Already?

I don't think I can take it.

But that's getting a little too close to sad thought territory, so let me rope it on back over to the good side.

She has such a sweet spirit. She loves to play and she pretends. She pretends a lot that she is me or Ben, I think. Because bless the child - she is constantly "on the phone."

"The Phone" can be anything that is sized appropriately for her to hold up to her ear and have play conversations with. It has been - real phones, fake phones, iPods, cameras, smallish boxes, and even round electronic games which look nothing like a phone at all, so I'm glad to see her imagination is firmly in place.

She has these very elaborate conversations - most of which sounds like complete gibberish - but if you ask her to repeat herself SHE DOES...so she really must be saying SOMETHING. For example - every night when we go to bed, I say, "Say goodnight to Sydney," and she says the SAME thing: "Bye-bye ma pee po, Nee-Nee" and so I know she has some phrase she thinks she's saying but is NOT. I'm sure one day she'll get just one more sound, one more word right and it will become glaringly obvious what she's been saying all along, like when I finally figured out the other day that when she's been saying, "Daygo!" what she was saying was "There ya go!" like Ben and I do, when we hand her something.

So smart.

And she doesn't get too frustrated with me when I tell her I don't understand or ask her to repeat herself or physically show me what it is she wants. She just treats me like the ignoramous that I am and sweetly walks me to the kitchen and points to the fridge/cabinet or places me in the position she wants me so she can perform whatever activity she is asking for. So funny - in many ways, she's teaching me what she is saying instead of the other way around.

She's started being interested in the potty.

Now - don't get me wrong. I know how this goes. She could be gung ho about it one day and not look at it again for 6 months. I have no delusions of having a potty trained 20-month old or anything like that. But she's just so funny about it. She likes to be in the bathroom with you. And I tell her - "Mommy is going tee-tee in the potty," and when I'm done, I explain about the use of toilet paper and then we wave bye-bye to the tee-tee as we flush it away. She loves that part. And so now she's starting going to the bathroom and saying, "Tee-tee?" And today, while we were at the coffee shop, she kept going to the bathroom, saying, "Tee-tee? Tee-tee??" until finally the owner asked if she could take her in there and I said, "Sure!" and she went in there and wanted to sit on the commode. LOL It would make all the sense in the world for her to end up potty training at the coffee shop that is an extension of our house. After all, she did practice a lot of her walking skills there.

But it's a very relaxed operation. Which is fitting for her. I just feel like I should explain things as she seems interested, and then when she's ready, she'll let me know.

For now, she still seems pretty content to sit around and stew in her own stink, so I know we're not there yet. But I like that she's starting to put it all together.

I'll leave with these two photos. I love them. They were part of the photos I had done for Ben's Father's Day present. I thought he'd like to have pictures of his two favorite girls.


And if that isn't leaving off on a happier note, then I don't know what one is.