It Is Nice to Have a Sister

Lucy adores Kenzie, and it seems the feeling is mutual. Lucy talks about Kenzie when she isn't with us and she is so excited when Kenzie walks through the door! Lucy is very lucky to have a sister who reads and plays with her and is so patient with her typical toddler behaviors. Kenzie also helps out a lot with Lucy - she gets things for her, fills Lucy's sippy cup, watches her and helps at bath time.

We were looking at photo album the other day and there was a page with many pictures of Kenzie. Lucy pointed excitedly at one picture and said "Kenz!" Then proceed to say "more Kenz" repeatedly as she noticed each of the other pictures.

This past weekend we took a few pictures with Lucy. I think we all wanted an updated shot with little Lucy!

A Good Little Student

Miss Debbie recently sent home a report to update us on how Lucy is doing at school. I thought I would take a minute to share the comments so you could also hear about her school experience and how she is learning and growing. We are both so proud of Lucy!

Lucy has great drop offs. She works well with our daily schedule. She is ready for morning activity even if mom or dad is in the room. Lucy will also initiate her own activities or play with others.

Lucy gets along well with all the teachers and children. She will give toys to others to play with her. She enjoys art activities, but didn't like messy art with her hands when she first came to the toddler room. I started doing more sensory activities to get her used to feeling different textures with her hands and now she has gotten a lot better with sensory activities.

Lucy enjoys painting with different objects and collages. She has started using more of her language skills to express herself. Lucy has a funny personality and is a lot of fun in class.

Lucy Girl Tid-Bits

Lucy has a really cute and funny personality. She is vibrant and full of energy - and so much fun to watch! Lucy now understands a little about smiling for the camera. If the spirit moves her she will look at you when you are taking a picture and say "cheese." The end result is the, and I have no other word to describe it, cheesy grin you see in this picture. So funny.

As toddlers typically are (at least that is what I keep reading), Lucy is quite particular about things. She does not like it if Brian sits in my seat at the table, or vice-versa, and she is sure to remind us where we are supposed to sit... Momma's seat! Daddy sit right here, said while pointing to Brian's regular seat. Trying to explain that the chairs aren't really assigned is completely lost on a 22 month old...

One day when we were getting ready to leave the house, I told Lucy she was cute. Her response: Momma's cute too. So sweet!

Lucy has become quite talkative now that she has a sufficient vocabulary to share what she is thinking. She loves to say It's right there, we don't always know what it is, so this often results in a guessing game where we guess until we get it right. The other day when I picked Lucy up from school she used this famous line while pointing to her pocket. I assumed she was showing me her pocket and letting me know about "it." Ms. Debbie then mentioned (luckily!) that I should be careful with her shirt because of all the rocks in her pocket. I then peer into this little shirt pocket and find at least twenty little stones! Apparently, Lucy enjoys collecting rockies when the children are outside playing. We gave the stones back to Ms. Debbie for next time. Lucy seemed reasonable to Lucy.

As we leave Bright Horizons and on the way home I always ask Lucy about her day. I usually get vague answers or just yes and no responses. When I picked Lucy up from school today we had a real conversation! She was wearing a different shirt than this morning. I asked her what happened to her shirt. Her response: yogurt on shirt, lee lee shirt off. So I confirmed what I thought she was telling me - You got yogurt on your shirt and Miss LeeLee changed it? Yes, that was it. If there was any doubt remaining, it disappeared when I pulled the yogurt covered shirt out of the bag when we got home. I am so excited to have gotten such a great response to my question! Lucy sure has grown!

Lucy & Isabel

This past Saturday we met up with Heather, Brian, Alex and Isabel to enjoy the fantastic autumn weather. It was nice and warm, the leaves are starting to change and we were excited for an outing with good company on a great day to be outside. We met up at Longwood Gardens again (yes, again) to try to get pictures of Lucy & Isabel again. This time went well! The girls enjoyed playing with each other in the hay and with the pumpkins. Sadly, I didn't get any pictures of Alex this time.

It is so nice to see Lucy & Isabel playing. I am glad we have a friend so close to Lucy's age who she can grow up with - I think that will be nice for both girls.

We had a wonderful time enjoying the pumpkin patch and watching the trains at the Garden Railway. The we headed out for dinner at the Whip Tavern. The food was delicious and the company easy to be around. We are looking forward to our next outing with the Nolan Family.

Who Wants to Use the Potty?

Lucy does, that's who!

Brian and I are in no rush to potty train Lucy. We figured with our upcoming vacation to St. John and the plane ride, it might make more sense to wait until Lucy turns two. We did, however, put the potty chair out a while ago. We also bought a seat cushion for the powder room. Lucy would frequently comment about the little potty. I would ask if she wanted to sit on it, she would say "no" and we would move on to the next thing. No pressure. A little over a week ago, Lucy started asking to sit on the potty, so we let her. She would sit there (on the big potty) looking all cute, legs dangling, reading her potty book. Then after a while, she'd ask to get down. Nothing exciting. If she asked, we obliged, but no pushing...

Wednesday evening, while I was filling her bath, she asked to sit in the potty chair for the first time. She was just hanging out while we waited for the tub. Next thing I knew, she was standing up, pointing at the potty and saying "uh-oh Momma!" Believe it or not, there was poop in the potty (sorry if this is TMI, but it was pretty exciting!). So we did high fives and I explained that was why we used the potty.

This was not an isolated event. Lucy also used the little potty at bath time on Thursday night with Brian. Then on the big potty in the powder room on Friday after telling me she needed to use it. No pee yet, but that is fine for now.

We are very proud of Lucy for deciding when she wanted to learn to use the potty. So, I guess potty training is beginning...

Fall Fun!

Heather, Amy and I all decided it would be a great idea to meet at Longwood with all the kids to get some great fall pictures, complete with pumpkins! I want to preface this by saying that I didn't not have some fantasy picture shoot in mind, where all the kids would sit nicely, smile and pose for our cameras. I did, however, hope I could get some good candid pictures of all the kids romping through the straw together. That didn't quite happen, but I did get a few shots of everyone, so together I have all of them...

Lucy was so cute walking down the path holding hands with Ella and Zoe. She also had a great time playing by the train with Isabel. Alex looked so cute in his fall outfit, such a little man... Lucy also enjoyed meeting and petting the "pest control" staff at Longwood. She spent quite a bit of time looking for the tabby she got to pet in the bushes after he fled the scene.

All-in-all it was a great day. It was nice to see everyone and enjoy the lovely fall weather. Enjoy!

Fall Apples are the Best Apples

We went to Linvilla Orchard this past Saturday to enjoy the beautiful fall day. Lucy enjoyed seeing the animals, spending time with Kenzie and checking out the beautiful fall colored mums. I think her favorite part of our visit was her apple tasting! Lucy chose an apple that she thought was just right and sank those little teeth right into it. It was hysterical! The apple was very juicy and Lucy seemed to love it.