Mommy, she's touching me!

Camille is still pretty good natured when Lily pokes at her or splashes her in the bathtub. I think Camille understands that Lily does not know what she is doing. Once Lily starts doing things on purpose, I think Camille will try to put Lily in her place. For now, though, they are enjoying each other's company. Camille is happy to share her bed with Lily during story time before going to sleep, even if Lily's cooing is loud enough to drown the voice of the story narrator.

You can see Camille is "helping" Lily in her doorframe jumper seat. Lily loves it already. Camille wants to spin Lily since that is what Lily does unintentionally on her own. Lily just loves to watch Camille.

Camille says some funny things these days. Sometimes the idea is funny, and sometimes it's just surprising to here her new big vocabulary. Here are some Camille quotes:

1. This quote is a little more understandable when you know that Camille has had several run-ins with the wall corners here lately. She has an assortment of bruises healing on her head and face from running and not looking where she's going. Last night she said to Matt after he tucked her in and was trying to go downstairs: "Remember, don't run into the wall, don't hit your head, and don't play because I won't be out there."

2. This morning about 6:30am, before Camille was awake, Matt went up and said goodbye to her. When he walked out of her room, she started yelling "You didn't hear me." He walked back in and asked what she'd said. "I said Goodnight!" and she went back to sleep.

3. Today she said "Perhaps I did."

Saturday night at the lake

On Saturday evening we went to a get-together with 3 other families from our Sunday school class. The kids got to play together. The weather was beautiful, and everyone had a good time. One of the girl's grandmother let us borrow her lovely yard that backs up to the lake, porch with a fire pit, and her house for the facilities. In the far part of the property down near the lake there were lots weedy flowers growing, and the little girls had a wonderful time picking bouquets and giving them away. In the first picture Camille and Madeline are running to give flowers to their dads.

The adults made pizza pockets that we cooked in the fire pit and the kids enjoyed hotdogs. Kids never seem to eat much at these outings because there is so much else to do. I had to sit down next to Camille to make her stay and eat, and she repeatedly tried (without much success) to call the other kids to sit back down. Camille was thrilled that they had marshmallows. Earlier on Saturday when we were at the grocery Camille said throughout the store that she could "smell marshmallows." I wouldn't buy any.

In the third picture you can see Camille with a little boy who has a broken arm. He is 2 years old but tall and sturdier built than my 3 1/2 year old Camille.

Camille has taken to trying out threats on us, but they are really funny because she doesn't get the point. Often we threaten that if she doesn't act a certain way then we won't get to read her two bedtime books (which she really loves). Yesterday she was mad that she couldn't watch TV, and she threatened in an angry voice "If you don't let me watch TV then I won't read books tonight!"

Camille is getting really imaginative. Tonight she told me a story about running from a monster who was trying to give her kisses. When he kissed her she "wiped it off." She said she ran to her friend Chase and then they both ran from the monster. The story involved laughing, not fear. Interesting.

Relaxing

I started back to work this week. Everything went pretty well. It's been a little challenging to keep my hours down to 30 hours per week, but I'll keep trying. Lily had a great time with Grandma during the days. She has adapted easily to her two bottles when Mommy is gone and seems to almost prefer them. It may be because she doesn't have to work as hard with the bottle. Here is a photo of Mommy and Lily relaxing on the bed after a busy week of working and drooling, respectively:)

Let's go out to play!

Yesterday I took Lily for a ride in the stroller. I even sat the seat upright for the picture, but she can't sit up that straight for long. She seemed to like the ride because she went right to sleep.

Later we went and picked up Camille early from school so we could go to the park and then to the library. Lily wore her sun hat and hung out (literally) in the front pack while Camille played. Lily was remarkably good for the whole adventure. Camille was good up until it was time to leave the park. As we left, Camille refused to come with me. I strolled on down the sidewalk to the car to put Lily in before I went after Camille. Camille stood at the entrance to the play equipment and spyed on us. She wanted me to think she had gone back to playing, but I think she wasn't sure that I wouldn't leave her at the park.

Camille funnies

No new pictures today. Camille got a hair cut yesterday and her bangs got a little too short. Bad timing since Friday is picture day at school. Camille likes her haircut, though. She was only disappointed that there were no lolly pops at this salon. We have plenty of dumdums at home.

Camille uses new big words every day. Yesterday she said "Thank you for giving me permission to watch TV." Today in the car she said "This is certainly big." Later when she was "reading" me the mail that she opened she was laying down the ground rules saying, "Daisy's mom is speaking..."

Camille is also testing out using a firm tone of voice when she's mad. She indicated that if I don't do what she wants there will be a consequence. The error is that the consequence is meaningless. The other day she said with a mad face, "If you don't let me watch TV..." pause, looking around, "...then I won't put this pencil down." I didn't care anything about the pencil. I had to try hard not to laugh at her. She's testing to see if authority tone works for her too. Nope.

I took Lily to the doctor for her 4 month checkup today. She weighed 13 lbs, 15 ounces and was 24.5 inches long. She at the 50th percentile for height and weight. My girls are getting bigger!

Lily in the exersaucer

I tried out Lily in the exersaucer. She really likes it because she's upright and can see things better. The first day she was falling over pretty quickly because she got tired, but since then she's been staying in longer and longer. Camille is frustrated that the toy phone cord isn't long enough. Today Lily played in the exersaucer and knocked toys on the kitchen floor while I fixed supper. I remember that Camille really liked this piece of equipment too.

Camille's flowergirl dress

Yes, I have a deficit in the area of photo rotation.

This is Camille's new flower girl dress for my brother's wedding. She loves it. We even found a matching dress for Lily. After visiting many stores to look and contemplate, Lily was very tired and cranky yesterday. My mom and I brought home 2 different dresses which ended up being far to big for Camille. The poor girl still needs a 24 month size dress! My mom went back out last night to get the right size and she ended up finding this perfect dress (which didn't come any bigger than 24 month size). Mom came over this morning for Camille to try it on before going to preschool. Camille loved it, but you can see she's straining her neck trying to continue watching TV. She thought it would be the perfect TV watching dress. Double click on the photo to look closely at it.

Lily is a very happy baby unless she doesn't get her nap (and she only naps well at home). She goes from happy to infuriated in a matter of seconds. She was really creating a scene at the shopping mall yesterday. Now she's enjoying a long nap in her cozy bed. Lily and Camille do very well with routine.