Big Monkey!

Every single day, the same question is asked.  "We go see big monkey today?" And 9 times out of 10, she gets her way.  It's just so hard to say no to something so simple in life that gives her so much joy.  

Meet Big Monkey (well... ape, but she's 2... give her a break).  

This big inflatable ape resides in various places in our area, moving from one tire company to another.  We are given the task to find where he has gone or fight the inevitable tears that come from his absence.  Sometimes, we simply can't find him. When that happens, we're lucky enough to have a back up plan: 

Big Red Dinosaur.

Conversations with Lilli

"Are you ok? What are you doing, Lilli? Taking a break?"
"No! I sleeping with Mini-bike!"

If you watch Yo Gabba Gabba, you know Mini-bike is the name of Jack Black's ride when he visits Gabbaland.  One rainy afternoon, I decided to make Mini-bike's costume out of some construction paper... He has since taken on a personality all his own, voice included (thanks, Dave).

Every day, Lilli goes outside on the patio, places "Mini-bike" on it's side with a toy flower and sets him up for his "rest" before she starts her own. Mini-bike is woken up each morning, put to bed each night, joins us at meals (even gets his own dishes some days), watches her favorite shows with her, and most importantly, is told every detail her her day.  If something amazing happens she says, "When I get home, I tell Mini-bike!" She hugs him more times a day than she hugs us, she lays with him and chats, he gets more attention than I do most days.  Today, I accidentally hit the bike with a lego and she made me apologize to him...

Thank you, Jack Black.

Lilli's Library List

These past few posts have been really lazy, I'll admit.  We're still recovering from the reverse potty training that kept us up for almost two weeks.  We're slowly making our way back to daytime progress and leaving the night training for another time.  The sleep deficit is still lingering in our lives and so we're caught in a slow climb back to normality.

No matter how tired we become, those twenty plus books get very old after about the 100th read.  So a trip to the library was in order.  Thankfully, Dave came with us and so the usual chaotic trip was reasonably quiet.  Though, I'm pretty sure Lilli froze one of the Library's computer games. So here are a few of our favorites from our last trip:

• Can You Make a Scary Face? by Jan Thomas
• Curious George and the Pizza by Margret Rey and Alan J. Shalleck
• How do dinosaurs eat their food? by Jane Yolen
• I don't want a cool cat! by Emma Dodd
• Jazzamatazz! by Stephanie Calmenson
• Olivia and the missing toy by Ian Falconer
• The Pigeon Finds a Hotdog! by Mo Willems
• A Pocket for Corduroy by Don Freeman
• What's the magic word? by Kelly DiPucchio
• Roly Poly Pangolin by Anna Dewdney
• The Yawn Heard 'Round the World by Scott Thomas

I just noticed how many of these books have either question or exclamation marks.  We must have been feeling excited yet confused.

"Song of the Entry" 

Butterfly Boucher by Keeing Warm

Lilli's Library List

This past trip to the library seemed to be a successful one, we brought home a whopping 25 items (three were even grown up books, yay!).  Usually our trips last us a good two weeks of reading material.  While we may get tired of reading the same 15 books over and over, usually Lilli soaks up every word up until the day we go back for more.  For some reason, the past week or so, she has started revisiting some of her own books instead of our library ones.  She still has some favorites from the library, but she seemed less interested in our picks.  I am thrilled that she is expressing an interest in the ones we have at home, giving new life to old books gaining dust on the shelf.  Here are her favorites from this trip:

• The Pigeon Wants a Puppy! by Mo Williems
• Cupcake by Charise Mericle Harper
• Oink? by Margie Palatini
• Potty! by Mylo Freeman
• Peanut by Linas Alsenas
• When Lulu went to the Zoo by Andy Ellis
• Dogs on the Bed by Elizabeth Bluemle (this one is her absolute favorite of the bunch)
• If Elephants Wore Pants by Henriette Barkow
• Cat and Mouse: A Delicious Tale by Jiwon Oh

"Song of the Entry"
Eazy Speaks by Apostle of Hustle

Lilli's Library List

I braved this trip to the library alone.  Our books were seriously overdue and it had to be done with or with out a second pair of hands/eyes.  The last trip we got some great books and a couple amazing DVD's.  Scholastic's Weston Woods collection is a cartoon version of her favorite stories.  Complete with  a read along option, she couldn't get enough.  So we horded them for way longer than our allotted time and probably racked up some fees.  I think it was worth it.

This trip we left with 17 books and three DVD's.  The DVD's are two Scholastics and one Sesame Street video she pulled off of the shelf when I wasn't looking.  We tend to go with some of our favorite authors, but we're venturing out into new territories.  Recently, Lilli has started to enjoy the beginner reader books like the Biscuit series by Alyssa Satin Capucilli. Of our 17 choices so far, we found some great books.  Here are a few:

• Naked Mole Gets Dressed by Mo Willems 
• The Napping House by Audrey Wood
• How Do Dinosaurs Get Well Soon? by Jane Yolen
• Froggy Gets Dressed by Jonathan London
• Pretzel by Margaret and H. A. Rey
• Sleep, Black Bear, Sleep by Jane Yolen
• Curious George Rides a Bike by  H. A. Rey
• Llama Llama Misses Mama by Anna Dewdney
• If You Give a Moose a Muffin by Laura Numeroff
• Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late! by Mo Willems 

"Song of the Entry" 

Hideaway by Karen O and the Kids

Lilli's favorites

Way back when Lilli started to show a preference to certain toys/dolls, I decided to try and keep track of her favorites.  When she was just starting to walk and show her personality, she had a favorite snack, bedtime doll, and she had to roll around with a certain "Beverly Bear" almost every single day. None of the attachments lasted too long, plus Daddy provides plenty of new distractions more often than necessary.  These days, her favorites have become so well defined now that she can talk and express her opinions about everything.  Which she does... in all things that concern her.  Her favorites change frequently when she discovers something new or learns some new words.  She knows what she likes and has no problem expressing it.

Every morning Lilli chooses which shirt/dress/shorts she is going to wear that day. She chooses her socks, her shoes ("Pink shoes, please!"). We went through some pony, Elmo, Pooh, and pink phases. The past few weeks, she has requested nothing but "frogs!"  It leaves me a little flustered when the three frog outfits are in the wash, but usually we can negotiate an alternative Elmo or Cookie Monster shirt. Although, some days it can take at a half an hour. The other day, when deciding what to eat, we asked Lilli what she would like for dinner.  She quickly said, "pasta." It was the first time we had even heard her say that word.  Since that night, she tells us what she would prefer (we usually give her two choices) for most meals.

A few of her other favorites:

Favorite Color:  Most recently, brown, especially when it comes to reward M&M's for potty successes.  Green and blue are close second and third. We're going to end up with a container of orange, yellow and reds.  At least until she changes her favorite.

Favorite Animal: For the past month or so she has been obsessed with frogs and ladybugs.  Her lady bug pillow has become a permanent fixture in bed.  It started in the living room, then to her room, then next to her bed, and finally into her bed.

Favorite Toys: She loves to play with her Fisher Price Little People Animal Sounds Farm , her tea set from Gramma, and my old Little People house from the 80's.  She loves to pretend, especially tea parties.

Favorite Bedtime Companions: More than I'd like... Augie Doggie, Kitty, Bug (as mentioned above), Scout, Glow-worm, and Blanket. I know it's a lot... but I assure you, no sleep would be had by anyone otherwise.

Favorite Bedtime Book: Happy Birthday Moon, When the Moon Fell Down, and a book of nursery rhymes.

"Songs of the Entry"

Favorite bedtime songs: We have a playlist of about ten songs for bed time. Every night after Daddy reads stories, she says good night and the two of us rock in our rocking chair and listen to a few songs.
Sesame Street by Joshua Radin ("street")
I Don't Want to Live on the Moon by Joseph Gordon-Levitt ("moon")
The House We Grew Up In by Hammock ("house").

Lilli's Library List

Another successful trip to the library! It's a two man job these days.  The two of us hunts for books with Lilli as long as her attention span holds.  Then once she is ready to give up the search, one of us has the duty of keeping her at a respectful volume in the play area until it's time to leave.  Meanwhile, the other continues the search for the best books. We usually try to get one to three night time books to help her unwind at the end of the day.  The quiet and relaxing tone usually helps her get into the mindset and now she can recognize words that she associates with sleep.  In most cases, we never know how good some of these books will be until we sit down to read them.  Sometimes we get a winner, other times we're stuck with one that makes little to no sense.  Here are a few from this week's list:

• Curious George Takes a Job by H. A. Rey
• Froggy goes to Bed by Jonathan London
• Froggy Learns to Swim by Jonathan London
• Gerald McBoing Boing by Dr. Seuss
• A Giraffe and a Half by Shel Silverstein
• I Love My New Toy! by Mo Williems
• Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile by Bernard Waber
• Tick Tock by David Williams (Lilli's pick) 
• When the Moon Fell Down by Linda Smith
• No Roses for Harry by Gene Zion

"Song of the Entry"
Dream Song by Alberto Arcangeli

Lilli's Library List

Such a huge part our our day is devoted to reading.  We spend hours just looking through board books and naming every single object on every single page or her 30-45 minute story time before each rest (nap and bedtime). Lilli has an insatiable appetite for reading books.  "Lilli's Library List" will be a few of her favorite books from our most recent trip to the library. It's a great way to keep track of her favorites and her reading progress. So here we go:

• The Boy Who Thought He was a Teddy Bear by Jeanne Willis and Susan Varley
• Sweet Dreams Lullaby by Betsy Snyder
• What Will Fat Cat Sit On? by Jan Thomas
• Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion
• Oswald by Dan Yaccarino
• If You're Happy and You Know It! (a sing-along) by Jane Cabrera
• Yes, Please! No Thank You! by Valerie Wheeler
• Round Is a Mooncake by Roseanne Thong
• Scrambled Eggs Super! by Dr. Seuss
• If I Ran the Circus by Dr. Seuss
• The Sneeches and Other Stories by Dr. Seuss

If you think of some other suggestions, all three of us would be very grateful. 

"Song of the Entry"

Keeping Warm by Butterfly Boucher

Banana

This morning I thought I'd share with you one of Lilli's favorite songs. She sings "Nana! Nana!" and insists you join her every time she sees a banana.

Happy Monday!

The Aggrolites - Banana (Yo Gabba Gabba!)

WTF | MySpace Video

Banana by The Aggrolites

Alphabet

Lately, Lilli has become obsessed with singing her alphabet. Any toy that plays the alphabet song is guaranteed to be heard at least five times before lunch on any given day. How could anyone be frustrated with a song establishing the core building blocks to our language...

I'll tell you how... Having to sing it 400 times a day will do it. You'd think that a rational person could tell themselves "it's a phase, she's learning, this is wonderful." Needless to say, I've had an irrational reaction. I can't wait until the next favorite song so I can get sick of something new. :)

"Indie Song of the Entry"

Uh Oh by Taken By Cars

rediscoveries

Just some things I've had the pleasure of discovering or rediscovering since becoming a mom:

- fruit cheerios
- every kid song I could have possibly ever heard thanks to music-dad
- cartoons (well... pre-school ones in addition to my regular scheduled programing)
- dancing like no one is watching
- kid games like london bridges, ring around the rosey (which creeps me out now because I know it's about death), and itsy bitsy spider
- kixx
- goldfish
- the basic food pyramid
- the most incredible gift of learning
- animal sounds
- sign language
- going places to just look at new things
- family cuddling on a weekend morning

:)

9 months, 2 weeks

When I was little, I wanted so badly to be unique in my tastes. My mom's favorite color was blue, one of my cousins was pink, and so on. I tried to pick one no one else liked. Not because I liked it, but because no one else did. My favorite New Kid was Danny. My favorite color was a regretful, hunter green. My favorite cartoon character was Felix the Cat.

I fell into this pattern through out my entire life. I think it has a lot to do with who I am now. As someone who reflects on their life, sometimes a little too much, I make an effort to really figure out what I prefer. Unfortunately for me... I'm a Libra and VERY indecisive.

I watch to see what Lilli chooses. I like to remember the things she loves because I find it so incredible that she is able to have a preference, after being such a blank slate at birth. With knowledge and experience, does it become easier or harder to choose? How many times do you change your preferences in a lifetime? Is it nature or nurture?

I think it depends on the situation. Lilli loves her Augie Doggie and Beverly Bear, goldfish snacks, being held upside down, the window to our porch, her pets, and her parents. Just in case I forget someday.

* Do our preferences shape us or do we shape our preferences?