Our "big girl"

Lydia is 2 ½ Years old

WHOA! Over the past few months Lydia has certainly developed from a “toddler” to a “little girl”… The primary turning point in this process was the day we “said goodbye to diapers.” During one of Mark’s 3-day weekends we did a “potty-training boot camp.” After lots of juice boxes, lots of wet pants, and lots of running to the potty, (and lots of stress and patience and perseverance on the part of mommy and daddy) she finally got it! Of course, we have “good” and “bad” days, but we have officially kissed diapers goodbye (good riddance!).

She also got her first real haircut (I know, it's about time!)


Lydia went to her first "big girl" birthday party: that of our dear friend, Riley, who turned 5. It was, obviously, a "princess" theme. All the girls had a blast and I simply couldn't believe my beautiful little girl among all these lovely big girls. They were so nice including her and making her feel special.


Quite a crew, huh? Can't believe our babies are now KIDS! [Ava, Riley, Luke, Owen, & Lydia]


Lydia has much more fun with mommy's photo shoots than Tobias does




St. Patty's self-portraits using "Photobooth" FUN!



Playing ball with daddy - you can see her intensity and energy in these photos. :)



Each day she seems to grasp in greater depth how the world works. For example, she’s into describing who is in her “family.” The members include “Mommy, Daddy, Toby, Guinness, and Blooper.” Yes, her doll, “Blooper” is a part of our family. Blooper has a life of her own (which is strikingly similar to the happenings in Lydia’s life). She takes a nap, goes to time out, eats lunch, pees on the potty (“Blooper does NOT pee in her underwear.”), gets spanked because she “didn’t listen”, plays with toys, goes to church. Blooper has feelings: she “likes” and “doesn’t like” many things, she gets sad and happy and tired. What a beautiful imagination our dear Lydia has. One day she explained to Mark, “I am mommy’s Blooper.” Quite insightful.

Her sense of time is developing too. Every morning she asks, “Where are we going today, mommy?” “Are we going to Bible study or school or church or exercise?” Then she’ll say, “I go to school on Mondays. Miss Chris will not be there. (Miss Chris only works on Wednesdays) but Miss Joy will be there.” When I pick her up from school she will recount the day, “Tillie was sick. We played with balls, we painted, I peed in the potty. Where are we going now, mommy? To the bank for a sticker?” (Don’t I wish every Mon & Wed I had money to deposit in the bank!) As you can tell, she thrives on the structure and experiences of her school days and loves those afternoons with mommy & Tobias.

Speaking of, Lydia is incredibly sweet with Tobias. When she first sees him in the morning, she declares, “We missed you, Tobias!” She even talks in the sing-songy “babytalk” voice which gets him every time. Now that he’s showing interest in grabbing things, we’re working on her not stealing them out of his hands – sharing on the most basic level. He has an eye for her cup and snack cups – as soon as he’s mobile I fear she will be fighting for her food.

When Lydia gets a cold, the first sign is watery eyes. As she was doing her morning potty time she said, “Mommy, my eyes are raining.”

Last week I was expressing frustration about forgetting an item I had planned to put on the grocery list. Seeing my distress, Lydia responded, “Mommy, wanna say a little prayer?” Of course!!! How beautiful that my 2 ½ year old daughter’s response to difficult situations is to turn to the Lord. And what a reminder that He is in every detail… So, we stopped our meal and prayed. Sure enough, moments later I remembered “plastic spoons”, put them on the list, and was able to show Lydia how God answers when we call on Him. Great is Thy faithfulness!

Lydia is totally into making up words. It’s hilarious to hear her “read” a Dr. Suess book (which has lots of made up words anyway) – it’s a comment about the picture on the page followed by rhyming jibberish.

Reading with daddy and Toby


One evening as Lydie and I were snuggled up reading a book, mid-sentence Lydia looked up at me and declared, “You’re a good mommy.” How sweet are these random affirmations – they make every trial, every frustration, every hour of missed sleep, every moment of overwhelming stress just melt away…

Tobias is 8 months old

As I write that, I am in utter disbelief. Has this precious child been a part of our family for only 8 months? Was it just 8 months ago that we brought our bundle home? So I embrace these truths, and moreso the truth that the Lord loves him and has an awesome plan for his life. AMEN!





Poor, miserably sick Tobias

This kid barely smiled for a whole week. I'm glad I caught this one with Great-Ma


Unfortunately, Tobias spent the majority of the past month sick as a dog. Both he and Lydia got sinus infections that drained down into their chests causing some serious coughing. I waited the 10-days (typical period for a virus to run its course) and took the kids in. After 5 days on amoxicillin, Toby’s condition was deteriorating so back he went for round II of antibiotics, stronger stuff this time. After 3 weeks, he’s finally on the up-swing eating and sleeping well.

We thought some fresh air would do our kids "good" so on an unseasonably warm March day we took them to the playground. Tobias didn't know what to do with himself and would not look up - too engrossed in the grass.


The volume around here has, once again, hit an all-time high! Tobias is exploring his voice thrilling us with “mama” and “dada” as well as his standard, “Gah, Nah, Bah”. He’s also blowing raspberries and repeating sounds. His sister brings him instant glee often eliciting a screechy-squeal response.



He definitely has the whole “object-permanence” concept down. He’ll throw a toy or cracker off of his booster seat tray then lean way, way over (often scaring us) to see where his precious item has landed. Most of the time, the bit of food is “permanently” gone – into Guinness’ gullet. His new-found absolute favorite food: crackers. He devours them.

St. Patty's Day: Toby really isn't "into" mommy's photo shoots, he'd rather be eating the props



This boy is certainly a social creature. He’ll crane his neck and body if he hears daddy or Lydia’s voices. Definitely wants in on the action. At Bible Study he captivates the room full of about 12 ladies with his eyes and smiles. He’ll look at one, then another, until someone pays attention to him. And of course, someone always obliges. What a little flirt!

Playing with his buddies (all born within 3 weeks of each other): Cooper & Jude


No real mobility yet – he still acts like a beached whale when on his tummy, flailing all extremities. In the past few days he’s started to pick up his pelvis (getting closer to getting himself onto all 4’s) with arms extended which causes him to move backward. So frustrating to be further and further away from his target! He also squirms his way around in circles on his tummy and rolls himself in the process – not the intentional rolling, just a by-product of the squirming. Every mommy loves to see their little one hit the next milestone and crawling seems to be taking forever. Yet, I know my life will change when he’s on the move so once again I’m thankful for the stage we’re in with patient anticipation of what’s to come.

Tobias continues to be bald and toothless. We love him just this way!

Giggles and Bits

Here's a silly video of Lydia getting Tobias to giggle.



Here are some sweet bits about Lydia's life:

February 13, 2009
Lydia’s Prayer
“We thank you that mommy and daddy feel better…
And that church is going all through the town…
And that we go to the water fountain at the roller rink…
And that we go round and round…”
[To mommy: “Close your eyes just like I said." To herself: "Oh, golly. She is not closing her eyes.”]

February 23, 2009
Lydia has been into telling stories lately. They are basically a huge, run-on sentence sounding something like this. “Blooper goes to school AND THEN she goes to the doctors AND THEN he looks in her ears AND THEN he looks in her mouth AND THEN she goes for a nap…”

March 3, 2009
She often says, "I love my family." "I want to pray for my family."

The last words I hear as I exit Lydia's room at night, "I love Jesus." My response: "Jesus loves you too, Goodnight, sweetheart."

Tobias is 7 months old

A day in the life of Toby A...

Eating.


Hanging out on mommy's bed with his big sis while mommy gets ready for the day. Lydia brings a huge smile to his face every time. :) Even when I must wake him from his slumber to get in the car to take her to school and he's fussing at me for doing so, as soon as he sees her as I buckle him in his car seat, he grins from ear-to-ear.


Playing with friends and family.
In the past couple days he has been held by quite a few strangers. At first he'll look at me for confirmation that this person is "ok", then he proceeds to investigate them by touching their face, glasses, hair (anything he can get ahold of). It's really adorable. The most common descriptor we get for him is, "little man." I think it's his big eyes and bald head. :)






Eating. He has started to make this fake burping noise, particularly when he knows he's supposed to burp (when I sit him up after nursing). Sometimes it comes out like a growl, but at times it's in short bursts just like a burp. He also bangs his hands on the highchair tray. Yes, the Willson household is getting noisier!


Sucking his left thumb when he gets sleepy.


More playing. Mommy & Daddy the OTs kind of put him through torture at times. He can't yet get himself into this position, but he can now hold it when we put him there. He also LOVES to rock - rock himself forward & back in sitting. Sometimes I'm afraid our little head-banger is actually going to hit his noggin, but so far he's just enjoying rocking and rolling!


More eating. He really loves to attempt to feed himself. We've given him the ends of bread, pancakes (gotta celebrate Shrove Tuesday!), puffs (doesn't like the consistency of these), banana (the one fruit he makes faces at). He's enthralled with his whole new world. :)


Lots of smiling




Oh, yeah, and he does a whole lot of sleeping with nursing interspersed in there too.

As he grows and develops we learn his ways, his preferences, and when he's had enough. The blessing of this adventure surpasses words. Simply, we love him more every day.