16 (almost 17) month update

She is so big and knows so much. Adam and I call her a "miniature human". She just doesn't seem like a baby anymore. Most of what makes her seem so old to us is how much she has to say!

Putting it All Together...

She is starting to put together sentences and it is really amazing to hear. A few sentences are complete and correctly formed, but most are nouns and verbs that are coming out of her mouth to communicate whole ideas. I am having a great time translating it all and getting a better idea of what she wants, cares about, remembers, likes, and of course...dislikes.

It is really exciting to hear her memories of what she did earlier in the day, last week, and even last month. I am amazed at what she remembers and can tell me about. It is so sweet to hear her talk about certain people and recount what they did together. It is very basic of course, but she is doing it. For example, "Bahmpa wa-wa wobbies," which means Bahmpa and she watered the flowers. Or, "Atshy touch no, no," which means that she told Ashlyn not to touch the plugs in the house (which are all baby-proofed for the record.) She loves to talk about people in her life and you know that she likes you when she is talking about you and says your name followed by, "up" and "nums", meaning that she wants you to pick her up and eat with her--the ultimate sign of affection.

She really wants to be understood and will grab my face in her hands and turn my chin towards her so that we are looking into each others eyes when she is trying to get her point across. She also comes and grabs my hand to drag me to what she is trying to tell me about if I don't understand her. And when I don't understand her she gets mad and gives me the "teen-kai" (stink-eye) or worse.

SO many new words come out of her mouth each week that it is hard for me to keep up with what she knows. Almost every day I am calling Adam to tell him a new word that she said or a clever way that she put her words together to tell me something. For example, today at swim lessons, her friend Stella's grandmother was visiting. Liliana was so excited about this and was jumping up and down screaming with joy. I asked her what she was so happy about and she said, "I lub mahmas? (and then raised her hand and said) I do!" She was trying to say, "who loves grandmas? I do!" She is using her language to boss me around too, "get it Momma! No, DAT!" "More dip Momma. No, two! De De (thank you)." And she uses her language to make jokes and be silly. She will ask, "momma poo-poo diapers? NO!" and laugh. And just yesterday I was telling a friend's baby that he was getting big and turning into a little man and she looked at him and then looked at me and shook her head and laughed and said, "baby no man! Da-Da man!"

"Be careful what you wish for"...

There was rarely a night that went by that Adam and I didn't wish that Liliana would sleep in our bed after she made the transfer to her own crib. We tried a few times, but she was just one of those babies that preferred to have her own space to roll around in. Well, our wish has come true and there are some nights I wish I never made it. A couple times a week she wakes up in the middle of the night and wants to come in our bed. Once she falls asleep it is great to cuddle her and kiss her and smell her baby breath. But there is often an hour of tossing and turning and her literally laying on top of me to fall asleep.

Tiny Dancer:

The "teen-kai" (stink eye). Sometimes she will do this out of the blue to be funny and other times when she is mad at me she will do it and yell, "Momma TINK EYE!"

Grandma and Grandpa's Little Princess

Liliana and I headed back up to the Bay Area this past weekend to visit friends and family and to celebrate Shannon's wedding shower. My parents surprised Liliana (and I) with the most over-the-top "printsy" (princess) room for Liliana filled with every one of her favorite things. They worked so hard on it and the reaction that it elicited from Liliana was priceless. First, let me name Liliana's favorite things at the moment: Abby Cadabby, Elmo, Princesses (especially Disney Princesses and ESPECIALLY "'Rella"(Cinderella)), Dorothy and Toto from the Wizard of Oz, bows, music, soft blankets, and Mom and Dad. My parents made sure that her room had every one of these things in it.

The carpet is covered in Disney princess faces, my mom sewed bows on a mini down comforter to fit her princess bed, there are pictures of Abby, Elmo, and Zoe framed in pink, a Dorothy and Toto doll on her bed, a hot pink cd player, Mommy and Daddy's bobble head doll on her princess nightstand, and the room is so pink that it glows from the hallway. She walked in and YELLED, "WOW, PRINTSY! RELLA! ABBY! ELBO! BOWS! DETHY! TOTO! DA-DA! OH MY!" and thanked my parents many times and crawled into her bed to cuddle up with her blanket and satin pillows.

The whole weekend was a blast. She planted flowers with my dad, chased the cat and the wild turkeys around the neighborhood yelling "dobble, dobble", played with our friends that came to visit her, spent a lot of time with "Unca-B" (they have become one identity to her) and Mama and Bahmpa, went to Tilden's Little Farm to feed the animals, shopped in the city, and ate her way around the Bay Area. I had a lot of fun joining in on most of those activities and also got some time away with friends in SF and rested. Great weekend!

On our way! She is finally at the age where she understands and is excited that we are on a "ay-pane." She's such a good little traveler.

Here is her room. She didn't sleep in the bed (there is a crib in the corner), but she loved laying in it and wanted me to hop in too. She became so attached to her comforter that we brought it home with us. Now she has "nigh-night" and "bew" (her 2 stinky blanket bears) and a big down comforter that she is attached to and needs to have in order to sleep:

My parents got her this castle that she loved to play with. Here is a picture of her screaming with joy while she plays. She kept trying to crawl into the castle and sit in the mini chairs and lay in the mini bed. Weird, right? She didn't understand why she couldn't join the "printsy" and the "man" in their castle fun. Hilarious! I wish we got that on camera!

Playing with the "Unca" half of "Unca-B":

Looking at the "Wobies" in the backyard with Grandpa, one of her favorite pastimes:
Cooking it up with Grandma:

Her first taste of caviar. She loved it of course:

Shop 'till you Drop! We had dim-sum and did a little shopping on Sunday. Liliana picked out shirts with princesses and 'Rella and "Butta-ties" (butterflies). She also chose and hat, a "purk" (purse) and some "la-las". She was so excited about her new purchases that she wouldn't let them go and ran through the store with her arms full of loot looking for other must-haves:

Picking Strawberries at Tanaka Farms

We visited Tanaka Farms in Irvine with some friends. It was such a fun afternoon. We rode around in a tractor and our tour guide picked fresh organic veggies for us to taste while we learned about their farming techniques. Everything was delicious and the kids were in heaven munching on celery, carrots, bok choy, sugar snap peas, and lettuce. Then, we were able to pick and eat our own sweet strawberries. The kids loved it.

The kiddos, our little berries:
Liliana ready to pick berries despite the fact that her mom is crazy and has her in a dress and open-toed white sandals. Hey...we're not farmers!

Our group on the tractor:
Muchin' away:
Farmer Roe! I think he had the best time of anyone. He seemed like he was in his element picking berries by himself and sitting back in the dirt to enjoy them. He walked around munching on carrots and having the time of his life covered from head to toe in dirt. He had everyone cracking up. So cute!

Hudson chompin' on lettuce:

The Beach with our new Buds

We went to the beach last Thursday with Sarah and her daughter Stella and Annie and her son Jack. Liliana has a major crush on Jack. She talks about him ALL the time. So much so that Adam keeps asking when he is going to meet this little guy Jack that has captured Liliana's heart! Stella and Jack have been friends for some time and Stella calls Jack her boyfriend, but Liliana isn't giving up. When she saw him on Wednesday at swimming lessons she ran right up yelling "JACK, HI JACK!" and practically pushed Stella out of the way to give him a hug. Hilarious. He is quite the ladies man.

Sarah and Annie layed back and relaxed in the sun while their babies played nicely in the sand in front of them. NOT ME!! I was up to my waist in the freezing cold water with Liliana who kept taking off and running towards the "ochen".

Here is Jack in Liliana's sand toy and you can see Liliana way down near the water in the right hand corner. Crazy girl.

Meeting Miss Reagan Jane

We went to Yuma for the weekend to visit our family and finally meet the new addition, Reagan Jane Morrison, who was born on April 17th. She looks exactly like her mommy and is so beautiful and perfect. Cooper is a great big brother. He is sweet to her and doesn't seem jealous at all. It doesn't surprise me because he is always very sweet and gentle with his cousin Liliana.

It was a fun weekend. Adam's golf team won the tournament for the second year in a row while Liliana and I went to a wonderful ladies luncheon with our loved ones. We got to catch up with family and friends, and we had some time to relax in the hot Arizona sun.

When I handed Reagan to Adam for the first time he asked, "how do I hold her?" How quickly he forgets! He kept asking, "Are you sure Liliana was this small?" It does seem like a lifetime ago that Liliana was that size.

Love at first sight:

Brothers and their daughters:
Grammy and Poppa and their girls:

Ready for lunch with the ladies:




Backyard fun:




Liliana has been getting out of the tub and pool to go pee. ("Poo-poo" she calls it.) The fact that she can tell me before she has to go pee is another step in the right direction for potty training, but there have been no big changes in that department here. She is definitely showing an interest. She talks about the potty a lot and likes to sit on it and read books. When she's wearing a diaper she doesn't usually tell us that she has to go, but when she does, we put her on the potty. Sometimes she will go in the toilet, but usually she puckers her little buns up and waits for a diaper or goes on the floor. I think that it is mostly my fault and that I have to spend a couple of weeks at home with a naked baby to really work on getting her trained. Hmmm...maybe next month. ;)

Here are a couple of cute shots of her naked buns as she pees outside of the jacuzzi. Like father, like daughter.