Overdue

My "Lilah Stories to Write Down" list has grown quite long, and since it's quite obvious that after a day full of raking that I will not be going upstairs to work on sewing stuff, I will at least get these stories "in the blogosphere" and maybe give everyone a little laugh additionally.

• Lilah has gotten where she is fascinated by our names. She tells us all the time, "Daddy is Ben. Mommy is Bachael," or "Hi! You Bachael!" and I'll tell her, "Yes, I'm Rachael, but YOU get to call me Mommy!" I decided since she was so fascinated by the fact that everyone has secondary identities that I would try to teach her about her grandparents' secret identities as mine and Ben's parents. So I'll just randomly talk about it, and she normally looks at me like I'm nuts, but once while she was in the tub and she got on the "You Bachael!" jag and I said, "Yes! But who is Rachael's Mommy?"
  
  And she goes, "Um....Baby's Gramma!"
  
  
• Speaking of "Um...", the kid hilariously puts a finger to her lips and tap, tap, taps at it while she ponders whatever question she's been asked.
  
  
• As we grocery shopped a few weeks ago, I randomly showed her a peach and asked her if she knew what type of fruit it was. She did not. So I handed it to her and said, "Ok, smell it and see if you know what it is."
  
  She takes a deeeeep breath in and goes, "It's a PEACH!"
  
  
• One day I was trying to clean up and asked her to help me. She said no. So I told her if she didn't help me clean up, she was going to have to go stand in the corner. She goes, "Alright!" and runs to stand in the corner. It wasn't funny to her, or a game. She legitimately made the choice between working and punishment. I am both horrified and impressed. And it's not the only time it's happened! When I went to get her after 2 minutes, I told her why she was there and asked her if she was ready to help me now. "Ok, Mommy. Thank you!" she replied, and went on to help me clean up. It's the craziest thing.
  
  
• She is aware that people have different color eyes. I have told her on numerous occasions that she has blue eyes like her daddy. One day she looked at me very closely and said, "Mommy has black eyes. Baby has blue eyes. Like Daddy!"
  
  
• A friend gave me a yummy lemon Yankee Candle for my birthday. I lit it one rainy morning to brighten up my mood. I put it in the middle of the dining room table. Lilah sees me light the candle and comes running in and says, "IS IT BABY'S BIRTHDAY???" I told her no, that it wasn't, and so she said, "Is it Mommy's birthday?" No, I repiled. The next birthday in our family was daddy's birthday in August. The next time she saw Ben, she ran up to him and said, "It's Daddy's birthday!" I think she must have really enjoyed her birthday this year, because candles equal birthdays and birthdays equal cake!
  
  
• One afternoon while Ben was here, I was going to run some errands. I put on my coat and Lilah says, "You deefin', Mommy?" So she understands that getting coats and purses = leaving.
  
  
• Last week while my parents were here, my mom set up a play-doh paradise while I was out. When I walked into the dining room, Lilah says, "Join us, Mommy!"
  
  
• Yesterday I went in to Hancock Fabric because their patterns were $0.99. When we walked in, Lilah went straight to all the Easter decorations and started touching. "You can look but not touch. We look with our eyes, not with our hands," I told her. I finally had to pick her up to move her away from all the temptation. Today, I ran in to get the pattern I intended to buy yesterday but forgot, and we were waiting by the check out near a large display of Easter treats. Lilah stood there, just looking and looking and looking. I said, "Hi, Baby! What are you doing?" and she replied, "I look with eyes, Mommy!" I was so proud; she had remembered the lesson from the day before and was practicing it.
  
  
• She has started to say, "LET ME GO NOW!" or "PUT ME DOWN!" if I carry her when she wants to walk.
  
  
• I decided to make butter with her the other day. As we started, I asked her, "Lilah, do you know where butter comes from?" She did her finger to her mouth routine and said, "The droshree store?" I had to laugh. After we talked about cows and milk and how that turns into butter, she did later answer "A cow!" when I asked where butter comes from.
  
  

She really has just become this super interesting little person. And she cares so much about the people and animals she loves. She wants to help feed the pets and is normally very good at following my directions. She is FASCINATED by body parts; belly buttons and nipples in particular. Which reminds me, she did know that nipples are for milk the other day! I guess all that talking about babies and breastfeeding has sunken in.

She really goes to bed so well. Some nights she fights it a little, but for the most part, she's content to read a book in her bed until she falls asleep. Some nights she sings and talks to her dolls. Some nights she is out as soon as I shut the door. Yes, I am incredibly blessed for that, I know!

I am so grateful for every day that I get to spend with her, teaching her and learning from her, too. She teaches me so much about love and imagination and excitement and patience. And a lot about tenderness, too, because sometimes in dealing with her, I realize that some things are just harsh to her that I don't consider, and I need to be aware of that.

What a total joy and blessing.