All by myself

We have officially entered the "I do it myself" stage of life, from walking all over the place while refusing to hold our hands to maneuvering the fork herself while eating dinner. It has begun. Our formerly well-mannered and cooperative little monkey is fast becoming more and more prone to mini-tantrums and SCREAMING when she is unhappy with a situation (oh, such as being scooped up right before she runs out into the street or having her hands pulled out of the toilet bowl she's been playing in).

I know Lucy's just expressing her frustration at not being able to communicate her wants and needs as clearly as she'd like, but our parental fount of patience has been severely tested as of late. And of course, she vacillates between this limit-testing behavior and being just as sweet as pie -- sharing her food with you, curling up in your lap to read a story, patting you gently on the back when you hug her (seriously, some days I feel like I have whiplash). I guess it's God's way of keeping you from killing your child during this crazy toddler stage! She is growing and changing so quickly -- we're just trying to keep our heads above water.

P.S. I completely understand that a lengthy video clip of a toddler feeding herself is not the height of excitement for most, but... please keep in mind that our parents and siblings live far away from us. They miss out on a lot of the day-to-day minutiae and think this kind of stuff is just fascinating! :)

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Party City

Morgan City, that is. We headed south last weekend to meet up with the James' to celebrate our friend Cooper's 1st birthday. Lucy had a great time trying to figure out the inflatable Mike the Tiger, punching the balloons, and being bounced on the mini-trampoline (a huge hit).

The Eues family even had a fabulous outdoor picnic/tailgate up outside so the kids could play, the "big kids" could watch the LSU game, and everyone could enjoy some brisket and fried turkey! We had Cooper's alligator-shaped cake during halftime -- he loved it and Lucy was happy to help him out with it. She kept exclaiming "Mmmm!" really loudly after every ice-cream soaked bite. :) We're so glad we got to share in our friend's special day.

Walkin', for your love

Lucy's gone from only taking a couple of steps at a time to crossing an entire room with confidence and without holding on to anything. YEAH!!! We're almost there...

Little pink riding hood

Fall is coming! Well... it's a little cooler now than it was a few weeks ago anyway. Hooray!!! Of course, I had to take this off of her right after this picture was snapped because it was too big. We're experiencing a bit of a wardrobe conundrum right now -- most of Lucy's summer clothes are now too snug and are season inappropriate, but a majority of her fall clothes are still too big and it's still too hot to wear long sleeves.

And yes, I do in fact realize that a vast majority of the pictures I've taken of Lucy lately are of her in the high chair, but it seems like that's the only spot I can get her to be still! Baby girl loves to eat. And from the looks of this picture, she's figuring out the whole posing thing when she sees the camera flash. Would you like some ham with that cheese? :)

Mommy dearest

I took Lucy with me to the grocery store early last Sunday morning, and I made a classic new mommy mistake -- we strolled over to the toy department to find a gift for an upcoming birthday party. And... I think you can pretty much guess the rest. I let her "hold" a baby doll while I shopped so she would stop fussing to touch everything Elmo (she's liking Sesame Street a lot, but especially "Elmo's World"), and said baby ended up coming home with us. Surprise!!! I just couldn't help it -- she spent the remainder of our shopping trip feeding the baby, patting and hugging her when she cried, and "talking" to her. It was waaaaaaaaay too cute.

This behavior continued all day on Sunday -- the only time Lucy was away from the baby was when we went swimming at the Y (and she probably would have been more than happy for baby to take a dip with us!). Watching our little momma in action is quite the sweet sight to behold. Trust me when I say that Lucy has plenty of "gender neutral" toys to play with (ride-on scooter, Andrew's old wooden cars, blocks, puzzles, balls, etc.), but I've yet to see anything captivate her attention like this little baby doll does.