The dear little one

Wee Lily is growing up fast. She's got quite the motor mouth... obviously got that from me.

I've long been narrating to her what I'm doing. Now she does it for me, like my own little Facebook status updater. "Dad walking!" "Dad eating!" "Dad's shirt!" Okay, the last one's less of a status update and more of one of the bazillion astute observations she makes throughout the day.

She's been talking for quite a while now. Her abilities have kind of snuck up on us. Earlier in the spring we were driving along when we heard from the back seat "bok bok ere, bok bok air". She didn't know the rest of Old MacDonald but it was pretty cute (once we figured out what she was saying). Then a few weeks ago, it really hit home when she walked onto the very sunny deck and exclaimed, "Oh! Bright! I need a hat on."

(Just now I went up to get her out of bed. After "Dad!", her first words were "Hear a different sound." She was hearing some maintenance guys clanging ladders outside. A few minutes later: "Hear another sound again.")

Some random exploits in the last few months:

• She got some practice doing her ABCs during our Vegas trip, but then we dropped the ball for a bit. Now she still messes up the first half (h-i-j-b-c and such), but q-z are old hat by now. Maybe not ready for grade 1 yet, but she does know a bunch of letters by sight, which hopefully means she can forgo junior kindergarten and senior kindergarten and whatever other babysitting grades our provincial government comes up with.
• Yay for Netflix. And for 5-minute attention spans to anything on the screen. She loves Clifford, Dora, and "TV George monkey".
• She loves her bread with "peebuh chockit" for lunch. What, that's totally healthy.
• We watched some World Cup soccer, which she enjoyed. "Hahaha lots mans running... fall grass... big kick! Yaaaaa!"
• Being in the city allows her to experience a lot of different vehicle sounds. She can distinguish--by sight and sound--planes, helicopters, "mobikes", large trucks (especially with the backing-up beep), city buses, and fire trucks. If only she didn't want to be held up to a window to see them every single time she hears one. "Help please Dad, look truck?" never gets old. No. Never. Never. Never. Never. Never. Never. Ad infinitum. Sigh.
• She likes to reminisce. "Remember geese bike ride?" Yep, we saw lots of geese. "Remember fall down stairs?" This one surprised me; she mentioned it at the site where, a month before, she had done a swan dive from the 5th step. That one looked/sounded like it hurt. And looked like it should have caused memory loss.
• One night Lily was in bed when she started hollering very loudly indeed. Carrie went up to have a look. The kid had somehow managed to put both her legs up inside her pyjama shirt and through the neck, trussing her up good! Little weirdo.
• Earlier this week: "oh! egg in diaper." Sure enough, she'd laid an egg-shaped egg-sized turd. TMI, eh? Too late; you can't unread it.
• She knows the sound of my Tassimo coffee maker, and thus knows when to exclaim "Dad's making balloon coffee!". Obviously; just look at the logo.
  

Lily hasn't been out of her rear-facing car seat for too long yet. Unfortunately her new seat doesn't seem very comfy to sleep in. I find it difficult--possible but difficult--to reach back and hold her head up as I drive. No, it's not particularly wise; what a silly question.

During our spring garage sale blitz, we happened upon a very sturdy doll stroller. Its wheels aren't about to fall off and it's very manoeuvrable, unlike every other doll stroller we've come across.

We've gone biking a number of times after supper, usually about 20km each time. Ottawa has many miles of great bike paths, so there's lots to choose from near our place. We were using the big bike seat on the bike rack behind the rider, but now we each have a setup so she can sit between the rider and the handlebars; it's a much easier load to balance, and she can see a lot more. And we can hear her yammering. Nonstop. On and on. Forever.

Walked to the market and bought some strawberries. Summer hasn't been terribly hot yet, but Daisy needed a ride by the end, along with all the other stuff.

Summer also means ice cream bars, some of which ends up in her tummy.

Lily loves the "paygound". And she loves the swing, a ride in which, though she looks like she takes it seriously, she dutifully says "whee whee" the whole time.

Okay, just two more.

Tomorrow, at some ridiculous hour, we get up and head to BC for two weeks. Other than some hanging around and some backpacking, not much is planned.