Ryan and I wanted to spend some time with just Lily today, so the Birmingham family kept Mia while we took Lily out. First, we had breakfast at McDonald's. Lily loves biscuits and hash browns, so this was a great choice. Then we headed down to the Children's Museum which Lily always loves, but we hadn't told her yet we were going. About half-way there, Lily started asking about her surprise, so I told her we were on our way to the Children's Museum where she would get to fish, play in the market and have all sorts of fun. She started clapping, kicking her feet, laughing and saying "Yea! Yea!" She was so excited!
Not surprisingly, we had a great time there. They are actually between exhibits right now (Curious George starts next week, so hopefully we'll make it back for that), so there weren't as many activities as usual to do, but she still had so much fun. As we walked in, she took my hand and said "I want to fish first. Let's go fish." so off we went. She caught lots of fish with the magnetic rod and with the net. After that, we went to the market for a few minutes, climbed on the big green John Deere tractor, climbed into the tree house playground, played with puppets, played with a train set and built with moon sand. Then, for the first time, Lily spent a lot of time at this big contraption (I really don't know what else to call it) that is filled with plastic balls that you put into different holes; then you turn wheels, pull ropes or move levers to make the balls move all around above you. She has always been a little too small to enjoy this, but this time she had lots of fun. We think it's pretty cool that each time we go, she picks a different area to concentrate on. After playing with the balls for awhile, we fished some more and then went back to the market. This time, she found a buggy and started loading it up with groceries. We then went into the kitchen area where she washed some of the fruit and the spread it out on the table. She was so excited because "we're having a picnic" which is one of her favorite things to do.
By this point, we had been at the museum for over two hours, and while Lily probably would have been content playing for hours more, we decided it was time to go to lunch (the Chick-fil-a inside the museum was closed since it was Sunday). We took a quick peak in the gift shop. I think Santa will probably pick up some things from this awesome gift shop before he comes to our house (IF there's a sale anytime before then); there were cool things there!
We wanted to treat Lily to something fun for lunch, so we headed to The Varsity. Lily enjoyed some of her cheeseburger and fries. She really enjoyed wearing the little red hat they gave her though. She let us take some cute pictures in it, and she had fun taking pictures of Ryan and me in our hats too. She wore that hat all the way home and while she played before nap time too.
This was a wonderful day. Lily is such an amazing girl. I could go on for hours about all the reasons she is special to us, but here are just a few of them:
-She is so smart. She amazes us daily with her reasoning and logic skills, vocabulary and memory. I hope she will always keep up her level of curiosity and love of learning new things.
-She loves to laugh. There are so many funny stories about her that I don't post on this blog. The things she says crack us up many times every single day. She is on a kick right now of changing the words to songs ("Ba, ba black puppy" was sung on the way home from dinner) and intentionally calling things by the incorrect color or shape ("It's blue...no Mommy it's yellow!"). She finds this hilarious, and it makes me laugh to see how much it tickles her.
-She loves to read. Ever since she was only a few months old, she was content to sit in your lap and look at books for hours a day. She still loves book. Not only does she want to read them with us or to us (Dr Seuss books are favorites right now), but she loves to find specific things on the pages (colors or the number of objects for example).
-She has a great imagination. One of my favorite things to do with her is eat in her "Tokyo Restaurant." Of course, this is just her little toy kitchen, but she will spend quiet awhile fixing various dishes; soups, salads, entrees, sides, desserts - you name it, she fixes it. She will ask me what I want to eat (chicken noodle soup), and she'll walk me through how she makes it..."Put the soup in the pot (pretends to pour from her blender). Put the chicken in (puts the toy fried chicken in). Put the noodles in (puts pretend noodles in because she doesn't have toy noodles). Now stir it all up. Put the lid on and cook it (turns on the toy timer and waits for it to ding). It's ready! Now here your spoon. Be careful Mommy, it really hot. Cool it off first okay? (hands me the big pot) Here's your milk too (hands me a toy carton of milk)." I hope this transfers to a real love of cooking with me later too; she loves to be in the kitchen on her step stool with me now, so that give me hope.
-She loves her family. With Mia, she gives her a hug and a kiss most nights before Mia goes to bed. She will run to give Bama and Granna hugs when they come in the house. There is nothing like getting a bear hug from her; it's the best feeling in the world. No, that's not right. The best feeling in the world is when you say "I love you Lily" and she immediately replies "I love you too!"
Lily is an angel who amazes us and lights up our world each and everyday. She is the most precious, incredible and beautiful little girl. Ryan and I feel so blessed to have her as our daughter. We remember vividly finding out our first child was a girl; what a great feeling! Within a few days of bringing her home, we could hardly remember what life was like before she arrived. She has brought us more joy than we could have ever imagined. We cannot wait to see what her future holds.
1 comment:
Happy Birthday Lily! Such a cutie!
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