The Shoe Thief

Last night Alan and Marilyn were in town and came to dinner at Casa Lowe. Not only was it wonderful to see them, it was also a treat to introduce them to Lily and see her through my friend's eyes. Naturally she turned on the charm and let her mega-watt personality shine through. As always, I was so proud of our girl and how well she handled herself at the the grown-ups table! In addition to her ever evolving table skills, she's picked up a few more quirks that are worth sharing....

- Shoe thievery. Lily has developed a real love of shoes (uh, yeah, no idea where THAT could have come from....). The problem is, she loves every one else's shoes just as much, if not more, than her own. We recently took her to see a Caspar Babypants "concert" at the Children's Museum and during the show all the kids took off their shoes to dance around. Lily danced with the best of 'em...and then proceeded to try on and wear the other little girl's shoes. I should add she didn't actually know the other girls there, nor did she care. She's also tried to take her pal Lyla's shoes and habitually takes shoes from my closet - but only the ones with the highest heels.

- Rocker girl! Not only did she attend the Caspar Babypants concert and steal shoes - she ROCKED OUT. Her love of music and dancing really is remarkable...we bought the CD and the very first time I played it in the car she sang along, even though she'd only heard the songs once before. Granted, most of her words were just wordlike sounds, but she more than made up for that with enthusiasm and overall cuteness.

- That way! In the past few weeks Lily has become quite the little Magellan. Whenever we are in the car, she will helpfully point to the right and say "ummm...go that way!" regardless of where we are going or what we are doing. I'm not entirely sure if it's curiosity or some kind of internal park homing device, because 9 times out of 10 the direction she's pointing has to do with where a park and/or beach is.

- Candles and cake. Poor Lily has been to no fewer than 5 birthday parties in the past 2 months. Seriously. We appreciate that she is popular and she enjoys the parties, but it's been tough seeing someone else open presents and, most importantly, blow out the candles. She's now a tad obsessed with candles and mentions at least once a day that she gets to blow them out in October. She also sings "Happy Birthday to Lily!" every time she sees a cupcake, cake...or any pastry item. Hopefully her daddy will let her blow out his birthday candles next week since October is awfully far away when you're 2.

- Mama & Daddy's little helper. I have to say Lily is a spectacular helper. We try to find a way to get her involved in things and she loves taking part in just about anything and everything. Whether is it pouring the detergent into the washing machine, helping Daddy to harvest the tomatoes or "washing" dishes, Lily is always ready and eager to lend a hand. Her favorite helper task to date? Putting the sprinkles on the block party cupcakes. A fun task AND an opportunity to sing the aforementioned song.

- Daddy-daughter fun day. Chris hasn't blogged about this, but it bears mentioning that she's had some fun adventures with her dad lately. On Tuesdays they have a special date and as a result Lily's had some really special daddy time. The top 2 have been going to the movies and sushi. Chris took her to see Up and it was her very first time in a theater. Apparently she was a little too small and he had to put his bag behind her because when she scooted back, the chair began to close. Once she was settled, though, she loved it - especially getting popcorn and a drink. In fact, that was what she mentioned most: "Lily, what did you and daddy do on your date?" "I had popcorn and a drink" "and what else?" "Ummmm....MOVIE!". Another time he took her to Blue C sushi and she loved it! The conveyor belt, the special connected tongue-depressor style chopsticks, the food itself. Chris and I are determined to raise an adventurous eater and daddy scored a home run with this one.

- Dress up! Yeah, she's a girl.