Great Indoors

Happy Hanukuh!! It is the fourth night of Hanukah and Lily has been lighting her very own menorah (assisted by Dad, of course) - she loves the candles although was a little confused that she wasn't supposed to blow them out.;) Lily has opened four presents, courtesy of Aunt Donna and Uncle Stephen. So far she has received lots of fun presents such as books, a Dora purse, bracelets, stickers, and a Dora magnet puzzle - obviously there is a very specific theme and we suspect that will continue through Christmas.

Earlier in the week, Grandma Gail and Grandpa Tom came over to babysit so Mom and Dad could attend some holiday parties - she apparently got in some playground time and ate like a champ.

Friday, Lily finished her swim lessons, and is looking forward to showing off her skills in Florida - she is getting pretty good at floating on her back.

Saturday night Mom and Dad went to a Christmas party, and it was a big first as Lily was babysat by a non-family member, a local au pair from Brazil. It only took a few minutes for Lily to warm up to Regina, and the rest of the evening was spent with Lily showing off all of her toys and books. Apparently she went to bed pretty well with only a few calls for "Mommy." Mom is happy that the babysitting venture went well as there were definitely some nerves on her part leading up to the big night, but we are encouraged and look forward to some more adult nights out in the near future!

Sunday brought beautiful weather, so we took a long walk with Gypsy, and spent a good amount of the day on the playground, kicking the ball, and playing in the sand.

This evening, it continued to be pretty warm, so we ventured out to the playground and Lily surprised Mom by hopping onto the first monkey bar all by herself and hung for about 30 seconds before Mom ran over to catch her. Lily did it a second time and actually requested that Mom step aside and not hold onto her - suspect she doesn't understand yet what it feels like should she let go, but hopefully we won't find out right away. ;)

We anticipate a big post next week as we are finishing up with Hanakuh, Lily has her holiday party at school on Friday, and of course Christmas, so until then...

P.S. Potty training continues to go well and Lily is definitely enthusiastic - as Zoe (Sesame Street) and Lily both say - it's 'POTTY TIME'!


Playing with blocks.


Post nap relaxation watching Diego.


Showing off new jungle gym tricks.


Lil is still working on the fact that you don't blow out the Menorah candles.


After the candles come the presents!


A sweet Dora purse with lots of Hannukah gelt inside.