Friends and other wonderful things

One of the things that has been really fun to watch is the burgeoning friendships between Lily and her classmates, neighbor kids and PEPS pals. Gone are the days of "parallel play," replaced by her genuine excitement when she sees her pals and sadness when it's time to head home. Her great love continues to be Ethan - at 4 months they were drawn to one another and at 2-and-a-half they are downright giddy when the other is near. She also loves her schoolmates, in particular Lyla and Olivia. At a recent trip to the zoo, Lily even shared her cherished frog umbrella...which is HUGE for any toddler.

Lily has always been a true character, but lately she's been in cuteness overdrive. We got her a tall stool so she can reach the bathroom sink on her own. Not only does she now "brush" her teeth about 10 times a day (in quotes as it's more about sucking the training toothpaste off than actual cleaning), she also loves to drink from the faucet and fill her cup up so she can "make pasta." This just about kills me - picture a full plastic cup, 2 toddler toothbrushes and a big grin. Lily experly tosses the water between the brushes while proudly declaring "I maka pasta!"

The cuteness is only enhanced by her increasingly large vocabularly. Not only is she speaking in longer sentences, she's even putting the words in the proper order. We have some mixed feelings about this - we're proud of her advances, but "more please milk!" was so sweet while it lasted.

Of course, the mischieviousness hasn't abated. Evidence includes tossing a new See Kai Run shoe out the car window (Chris: "where is your other shoe?" Lily: points out the window and giggles), immediately hopping on her tricyle to chase Paco the moment you mention bedtime, and an inclination to flap her placemat and wear it as a hat rather than eat a good dinner. But the minute she gives you one of her fierce bear hugs, eskimo kisses, regular kisses, says "I love you" or giggles none of the rest matters. Of course it also helps tremendously that more often than not when you ask her to do something she pauses to think then answers "sure!" Cute and agreeable - what more could any parent ask for??