Everything ends in "y"....

Days, most months, and apparently pretty much everything else. Lily's latest kick is to cute-ify everything....which works for her since she's pretty darn cute herself. Requests for baths are now "I want to take a bathy" and milk has similarly become milky, etc etc.

Her other big kick? To verify the humor in things. It goes something like this:

Lily - Mommy! You want to hear something funny?

Me - Of course!

Lily - Teya fell in the toilet at school....is that funny??

Likewise she thinks we are joking all the time:

Lily (coming in from digging in the yard)- Mommy! Look! I found an onion!!

Me - Actually, I think that's an iris bulb

Lily - Noooooo, it's an onion

Me - Well, let's put it back and see if it turns into an iris

Lily - You're joking! You're a joker!!

Repeat every time we correct/disagree

Another favorite? Pointing out things that are really bad...but seldom are:

Lily - Mommy! I have to tell you something REALLY BAD

Me - Uh-oh - what is it?

Lily - Paco was LICKING HIS PAWS

Me - Well, he's a dog, they do that sometimes

Lily - You're joking!

In addition to become quite the conversationalist, Lily is also developing her own special way of saying thing. She loves to emphasize syllables - both asking you to repeat each one after her to demonstrate how the word is constructed ("say Sam" "Sam" "say ME" "ME" "SAMMY!") as well as drawing them out herself. Great examples include how she says whale (Whaay-ALE), pants (paah-ANTS) and mail (may-ALL) - a sing-songy accent for any word separated by an "a" is really the only way to explain it. I keep trying to capture it on video, but of course our stubborn redhead immediately becomes mute when faces with such indignities.

The other thing I failed to capture? Lily going into the donation bin and pulling out a pair of 24 month footie pajamas, insisting they were "her favorite," squeezing her four-year-old body into them and proceeding to walk around the house like Frankenstein in an effort to prove they fit just fine. Despite the fact I was laughing so hard I was literally in tears and gasping, I was able to take a picture. It was a thing of beauty - a look that was the perfect combination of "see, told you so!" and "seriously, what's the big deal?"....it was brilliant and she must have known it, because she managed to delete it off my phone. The image is forever seared in my memory, but darn it, I really would have liked to share it with everyone else!

Of course she cannot be defined by hijinx alone. Lily is increasingly thoughtful about the world around her and now asks about 100 questions a day. She wants to know EVERYTHING - how things work, why we do the things we do, how/why decisions have been made, etc. It's more than just words, though - she gives us these deep, soul-searching stares that show she is really, REALLY listening and more importantly, testing your sincerity. Nothing is going to get past her, no siree.

And what update would be complete without some of her more recent verbal pearls? To end with a giggle....

• "Candy is so sneaky...it tip-toed into my room!!" When I asked her how a certain box managed to find its way from the kitchen counter to her bed


• "I think that poopy is sad because his mommy is at work - I will flush him to the ocean" Yeah, have no idea where this came from...a combination of Finding Nemo and me working too much?


• "BUT I HAVE BURGERS!" The standard response when I ask her to please, please, please stop picking. A rite of passage, I suppose, but man I wish she'd refrain when also using my iPad...