And Ode to Lyla

First and foremost- Happy 4 months to my baby girl!

Being that this is the third blog post in a week and half, I've come to the realization that this is how I'm documenting motherhood. I'm definitely not a scrapbooker and all my photos of her are STILL on my iPhone, so Lyla will have to settle for sifting through my inane ramblings for her childhood memories. Sorry kid.

Some fun things I've learned about Lyla in our 4 months together:

1. She's stubborn (wonder where she got that, Andy). Or I guess since she's just a baby, I should call it strong-willed. She most definitely has a mind of her own. I dread the teenage years.

2. She's determined. With every milestone she's reached thus far (rolling from back to tummy, tummy to back, grabbing objects, "talking") she gets it done in one day. She tries all day and by the end, she can do it. She does not know how to quit. It's pretty cool to see her figure out how to use her body and her mind to figure out these new skills. However, she still has not mastered the art of sleeping through the night. I wish her work ethic during the day carried into the night. I can't win 'em all I guess. The rolling over was/is especially exciting even if it's making diaper changes increasingly difficult (and then you add all the grabbing....oh boy).

Figuring out how to grab (and hold) toys on the tray

3. She has pretty eyes. This is a weird and probably biased statement to make, but I swear she has the prettiest eyes I've ever seen. She has gigantic (like Disney princess gigantic) eyes framed by the longest, fullest set of eye lashes that she uses to bat at her prey and all of a sudden you're doing her bidding. I have no idea where she got those, but she will never ever need mascara. Ugh, I can't even think about the day when she'll want to wear make-up. Time, just stop, please.

Pretty eyes

 

4. She and Toby are good buddies. He likes to lay down by her and she likes to pet (read: grab and pull) his soft fur. He takes it like a champ. Of course we try to show her to how to be gentle, but I think she's a few years away from that concept.

Story time with Toby and daddy

 

Toby giving her good morning kisses (he's the blurry thing on the right)

5. She loves beats (any music, really) but she especially loves various rhythms. I've even looked up youtube videos on how to beat box. Me attempting to beat box or singing a certain part of a certain Sir-Mix-A-Lot song gets her laughing almost every time (go ahead, judge away- but I'd do almost anything to get her to laugh and rapping "Baby Got Back" is not even a blip on my radar). Bonus for me: new skill. I bet that will look good on a resume.

6. She loves the sounds "bee-boo" and "ah-coo" and "chee-choo." Smile guaranteed every time. She also loves when we unwrap her swaddle in the morning and exclaim, "Good morning! You're freeeeeeee!"

7. Lyla loves to talk. She just goes on and on and on about something or other. I'm sure it's a great story she's telling me and I let her know how amazing it is.

8. Lyla loves this rhyme we made up: Lyla loves to learn. Lyla loves to laugh. Lyla is so lovely, I say on her behalf. Lyla loves to flirt. Lyla loves to smile. But Lyla does not like to nap. She cries for quite a while.

I think she likes it because it's true. All of it. Especially the part about hating naps.

9. She hates her car seat--screams, cries, wiggles. But doesn't every kid? I'm just adding this so she can look back and be grateful that we took her anywhere. Ha.

10. She loves it when you kiss her feet. I don't know if this literalism is going to turn into something metaphorical in a few years, but yeah. When she wakes up grumpy from her naps, all we need to do is kiss her little chubby baby feet.


A few pictures of our happy girl (and yes, I realize these are all of her smiling or almost smiling- let it be known that she has a generally good disposition, but she can throw a tantram like the best of them. I have pictures of her screaming too. But let's live in fantasy world for a moment where only happy babies exist):

Here's lookin' at you, kid.