18 Months

Our gorgeous little girl


I would characterize the first year of Lydia’s life as one of wonder… By His miraculous grace, the Lord created this beautiful child. I reflect upon the ordination of her creation particularly because we experienced three failed trials of Clomid. Technically we were not supposed to get that fourth round of medicine, but I had a refill on my prescription for some reason (God knows why!), so we tried again. God knew He would create Lydia Elise Willson at just that time. With her conception He called Mark and me into parenthood, a truly awesome journey…

As Lydia takes us through toddlerhood and the second year of her life, I continue to praise our mighty God and sum up my experience with “amazement”. Each day she comes out with words, phrases, sentences that we had no idea she could comprehend let alone construct. When she’s not exhausted, she loves to chat on our “rides” in the car. I was taking her to school on Wednesday and this is what I hear from the back seat, “BIRDIES!! See ‘em? I see birdies!” A whole little conversation with a real sentence – WHOA! When I went to pick her up from her morning with G-pa on Saturday I found them taking a walk. When I greeted her I asked, “What are you doing?” She replied, “We’re walking.” So matter-of-factly, like, “Isn’t it obvious, mommy?”

On a different occasion we’re riding in the car and I hear what sound like numbers popping up from the back seat. Sure enough, she is holding up her fingers counting. She has definitely mastered, “One, Two, Three, Four” then she says, “nine.” Her singing repertoire has also expanded. In fact, this weekend our alarm clock sounded strikingly similar to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star – almost the complete song. So much sweeter than that annoying “beeping.”

She had her 18-month check up on Monday and all seems to be developing well. She’s almost 23 lb. (25th %ile) and in the 60th %ile for height. I knew her pants were looking more like capri’s than pants! ;) Thankfully we’ll be moving into shorts today!

Sweetness: Some mornings as Mark prepares to walk out the door, totally unprompted Lydia exclaims, “I love you, daddy!” Melts my heart every time. She’s also singing “Jesus loves me” and recognizes His picture in her Bibles and story books. In fact, almost every man with a beard and mustache is either Jesus or Santa – too cute. How amazing that she is able to sing the Truth of our loving and gracious God at 1 1/2 years old! Our prayer is that that Truth is etched in her heart, that we are living examples and faithful teachers of that love, and that she may live it out to completion… Praise God for His indescribable gifts!

A chilly spring morning didn't stop Lydie from having a blast with the animals she encountered on our walk.
"The goose says, 'honk honk'" says Lydia as she chases them across the field.

Helping daddy feed the horsies...

One tired toddler...

A Change...

Originally I started this blog to keep family and friends updating on the daily (or more accurately, monthly) happenings of little Lydie Lew. Well, Lydia is going to have to share the spotlight…she’s on her way to being a big sister. We have named our little one in utero, “Cosmo” for no specific reason other than my dad thinks it’s funny. :) Below are two 4D photos and a "profile" from the 20-week ultrasound. My due date hovers between August 5 and 7, but likely I will be having a scheduled C-section on July 29. My doctor gave us a 50-50% chance that this baby will also have IUGR (or “small for gestational age”) in which case they like to get the baby out a little earlier so they can ensure he or she is getting adequate nutrition. If you haven’t noticed, we are not finding out the sex of the baby (primarily due to daddy’s insistence). Once again, a surprise upon delivery! After the ultrasound both Mark and I had a “girl” feeling. Sitting at the dinner table that evening he remarked, “I just felt it in my gut, I’m going to be paying for 2 weddings!” ;) We couldn’t feel more blessed to be chosen to be parents again.

Easter

Lydia had a BLAST this Easter. Even though she loves picking things up and putting them in containers, when we put her in Aunt Katy's backyard for her 1st egg hunt she was a little bewildered...


Sunday morning at church she started to get the hang of things. She was very intense/intent about the whole process. I suppose meticulous might describe it. As the other children frantically scooped them up she seemed to calculate every move. This method resulted in her finding a total of 4 eggs. :)


Being silly with Mimi and Mommy at the Easter breakfast. She loves the word and any picture of a "Sun" - Raisin Bran box came through!

By her 3rd egg hunt she finally got it down. It helped that she could take her good ole time - no competition yet!


Awwwww... :)

Our attempts at family portraits.

Motor mouth

At “school” her teachers remarked how she is so small yet has so much to say. In fact, during nap time it takes her a while to settle down. They tell me she has conversations with herself and then when another child coughs or sneezes she remarks, “Bless you.” I’d rather her sleep but at least she’s polite!

Her great-aunt Vickie asked me to write down some of the words that she says (she then used this to make a scrapbook page for an Easter present). Once I got started, I couldn't stop. She literally will attempt to repeat EVERYTHING we say. Just counting the words she knows spontaneously (without prompting), I'm over 50 and increasing each day. She's also putting mini-sentences together like "Open door." and "Yabbit (translated, 'rabbit') sleeping."

Lydia is getting quite proficient at saying her friends' names. Sometimes she'll randomly blurt out, "Owen" or "Luke" or insert another name.
Lydia with her buddies and their respective daddies.

Here she is showing her bud Luke her soon-to-be "big girl" room.


These two are quite the pair. They decided to pretend to slurp soup. Lydie would dip into Luke's bowl every once and a while to get a taste of his. He's so patient with her!

Lydia had a blast at her play-date with Avery.

Finger painting, what fun!


She also experienced cats for the first time - she couldn't get enough! She is currently obsessed with saying, "Meow". I think I hear it 50 times a day.


Lydia with her newest friend, Landon

Of course Guinney is her steadfast companion. Daddy took them for a hike.


We have such fun with our darling little girl. She's into "backing up" and turning around. Here she backed into the cupboard to take a rest like mommy.


Coloring with daddy on St. Patty's day. She uses the word "yellow" to mean the color and "I want to color."

Here she is "yellowing" with chalk.

She's very "into" bubbles. As you can see, she's getting a kick out of playing in the suds in Mimi's sink.

Lydie looking "cool" at Riley's birthday party.

While Mommy and Daddy are away, Lydie will play! Her grandma and grandpa came up to play with her and bought her these yummy cupcakes which Uncle John and Aunt Leslie gave her for dinner (and documented). Priceless.



Playing at Great-ma's

Her current favorite song is "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". She knows most of the words and when she doesn't know them she makes words up to the tune. She'll break into song at any time. When she wakes up in the morning, on car rides, in church... So so sweet!

Great-ma has this cool talking clock that she wears around her neck and Lydie loves to hear the ladies' voice come out of the little box.

Riding Guinney

Lydia has developed a great affinity for tormenting the dog. Some of
her favorite games include chasing him and carrying his bone around in
hopes he will chase her. They hang out together on the bed and she
loves petting him. She also has a "chore" which is helping daddy feed
Guinness every day. She loves carrying the food cup and dumping it into
the bowl. She knows his commands and says, "Sit, Guinney" and "Eat" (getting practice at bossing her little sibling around ;) She gets herself in trouble by "sneaking" him food from her high chair and even calls him to lick her empty yogurt cups. He is so patient with her (his exceeds mine most days! ;) Who said dogs were a man's best friend? I think they are a toddler's! :) Enjoy this video clip...

I love you...

Life with Boogles is certainly an adventure. She is becoming more and more of a little girl every day. Her vocabulary is expanding at lightening speed. She now speaks every word that she signs (so she often does both especially for emphasis ;) She's developed variations of "no" such as "nope" and "no way". And she attempts to repeat pretty much everything someone says to her. Her singing is to a new level - she knows whole phrases of songs and fills in words if you stop, for songs like "the ABCs" and "Twinkle Twinkle." Last week she started repeating "I love you." I think my heart skipped a beat. Her version sounds more like "I luh doo" :) Such a sweet moment...

Yes, it's an innovative yogurt-eating technique. While mommy was working on the computer, Lydie decided that perhaps a pen would be a more effective tool than a spoon to get the yogurt into her mouth. Lovely...



"Um, daddy, would mommy really like it if I stepped into this spaghetti sauce-covered pan?"

"Yea, I did it! (even if mommy didn't approve) He he!"


Lydie received Minnie from her grandparents for Valentine's day. She obviously LOVES her: hugs and kisses!


She also got a Mickey cookie - the black icing made for some interesting lipstick.
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Playing in her "boat"

Some mornings I give her a book to read and she requests to do this on the bed.


Lydie and her cousin Gabby with Grandpa & Grandma - what fun!



Lydia on rollerskates for the first time. She basically just stood still in them - had a hard time moving her feet.

She was glad her friend Owen felt the same way...