Tricky, tricky, tricky...

In an effort to get Lucy to eat her veggies or other non-favorite foods, we often ask her how old she is, and when she tells us "two" we then have her take two bites of it. I think I wrote how awhile back she used this to get two bites of something she did want- I had told her she could have just one more pretzel and she said, "no, two pretzels because I two".

She took this to a new level the other day. Matt had been trying to get her to eat something, and she had already eaten one bite of it. He then asked, "how old are you, Lucy?" Lucy looked up at him with a little grin said, "one!". We all cracked up, and she laughed too. I get such a kick out of how her mind works!

We've been swimming in a pool a lot lately. Lucy loves to push off of the steps into our arms, and is always wanting us to back up more. So we often hear, "Go away, go far away, very very far away!" She mostly loves the pool, but I think sometimes gets overwhelmed with frustration that she can't swim around on her own. It really conflicts with her desire for independence. I'm sure she'll be thrilled when she finally learns to swim.

Lucy's very into getting dressed by herself. There's a little pocket near where she sleeps which she has been putting clothes in. For the last few mornings I've gone in and found her fully dressed in her clothes for the day already, with everything facing the right way!

Learning with Grandma and Grandpa

We are so thankful that my grandparents live close by and that we can see them a few times a week. Lucy always looks forward to our weekly dinners, and to jumping on the neighbors' trampoline and riding on her tricycle. She also gets all sorts of informal "lessons" about gardening and plants. It is so special to me that we're able to spend this time with them.

Here Grandma and Lucy are playing the piano. Grandma was showing Lucy how to play the notes one after another.


Lucy helping Grandma shell peas. I love how Lucy is learning where different foods come from.

This one is a little out of focus, but so sweet to see their hands together.

Lucy sampling the (raw) peas.

We had an adventure to the compost pile another time, where Lucy helped to husk corn.

She's also helped pick gooseberries, strawberries, spinach, lettuce, and snap peas so far. We're looking forward to when the raspberries and tomatos ripen!

Our little "big girl"

As I've mentioned before, Lucy is very into being a big girl. One of the most common phrases we hear (second only to "why?") is, "No, I do it!" She wants to (and mostly successfully does) serve her own food, spread her own butter and jam, wash her hands, dress herself, put her dishes away (hooray on that one!), go potty, and brush her teeth. The thing is, although she's as independent as a 15 year old, she only has the gross/fine motor skills of a 2 1/2 year old, which makes it challenging. Still, you can only learn by trying, right?

An update on her Lucyisms- just over the last few days she has switched (seemingly on her own) from saying "yesterday" about everything in the past to "the other day". It does work a little better for most situations....

And a new one- she was pretending to be a frog before nap time the other day, and then told me, "I tired froggie".

We had tacos the other day, which Lucy loved putting together and eating. She was concerned how it kept falling apart as she ate it (she has a real need for order), but I assured her that was totally normal and that she could eat everything that fell out.


Here she's changing baby Annie's diaper. She's very attentive with her dolls, and the other day carried around her little baby tucked into her shirt for a long time.

We love going for little hikes, and at the end of one of them are some horses. Lucy stayed watching them for a long time.

Lucy around the house...

We had some fun with a paper bag the other day- here Lucy is mid-air.




She is quite particular about coloring pictures in, and often asks us to make circles so she can color them.

And here she is ironing with her play set, which she's been learning from Matt. :)

Some recent Lucy-isms:

-- Lucy refers to anything in the past as "yesterday", whether it is the day before or months earlier. As in, "Remember, yesterday we have popsicles with Caitlin and Sam in Thailand".

-- I was explaining why Lucy couldn't use sharp knives and she said, "I use little knife-es and little cutting boards cause they not so very very sharp."

-- My aunt has a gazebo, which Lucy kept calling a "kah-zoo".

-- We were talking about going on a long car ride the other day and I was suggesting that we could bring books for her to read on the way. Lucy replied, "I don't want to read books in the car. I just want to sit and think."

-- And today, we were about to read books on the couch and she said, "You sit right next to me too because I love you."

Back to the 4th

Soooo, after another busy week, I'm ready to catch up on the weekend before last. After our beach/fireworks adventure, we headed up to New Hampshire for a little get-away at my aunt's.

The little town she lives in had a quintessential small-town celebration, with a parade, tug of war, water balloon toss, crazy hat contest, sack race, and fire truck rides. Lucy had fun watching the games, and she and I got to ride in the front of the fire truck!


I love New Hampshire- the trees, the mountains, the fresh smell of the air.

Another highlight was visiting the llama farm nearby. For awhile now, Matt and Lucy and I have been making llamas with our hands (I'll have to take a picture of it- you put your thumb together with your 3rd and 4th fingers for the mouth, and the 2nd finger and pinky stick up for the ears). Our llamas talk to each other, dance to music, nibble food, and (Lucy's favorite, which we do over and over) pretend to sleep on her leg so that she can wake them up. So needless to say, visiting real llamas is quite exciting for us.

We enjoyed this amazing sunset, before catching another great fireworks display.

The next morning we had a real treat- silver dollar pancakes with syrup and raspberries and whipped cream. It was such a nice time to get-away and hang out with my aunt.

Another highlight for me (not pictured) was playing Beatles Rock Band. I think I would play this way too much if I had it at home- so much fun!

In other news, we've been potty training these past few weeks. Lucy really wanted to wear underwear, as she wants to do everything big-girl now. In fact, she's given up her sesame street placemat and instead uses a "big girl" placemat (one of our cloth striped ones). I find it funny that at 2 1/2 she's already over the sesame street placemat.

After 2 weeks of having mornings or afternoons when she would wear nothing on her bum-bum (and getting chocolate chips and gold stars for going potty), we've graduated to underwear (except for naps and nighttime). It's going really well overall, and we're quite proud of how she's catching on.

Our silly swimmer

We've been enjoying a variety of beaches recently. Even when we're not at the beach, Lucy finds ways to have fun with her swimsuit. The other day she decided it would be fun to wear it on her head (after wearing it around backwards for awhile). She is definitely a creative gal!

Last week the weather was gorgeous- sunny, breezy and fresh-feeling. It was a little too cold for swimming, but we went in anyway, and snuggled in towels afterwards.


And then this weekend we went to the ocean! It was our first time since last year, and I don't think I had swum in the ocean in years. The water was surprisingly warm and refreshing on such a hot day. Lucy was scared of the waves coming at her at first, but soon thought it was quite fun, as I lifted her up when each wave came. We even went out deeper and bobbed up and down with the waves. Being at the ocean brought back so many wonderful memories of my family's yearly trips to the New Jersey shore when I was younger.

We ended up staying quite late at our friends' house, and on the highway home we saw fireworks! (This was the day before the 4th). When we first pointed them out to Lucy, she said, "Fireworks- ha, ha, they funny". We pulled off at an exit and watched the rest of them- Lucy was happy to stay in the car where they weren't as loud.

Swimming and picnics

We've been at the beach a lot recently, savoring this short season when it's so nice outside. Last weekend Matt came too, so I got to capture Lucy's dock-jumping. For those who are concerned, we've definitely been stressing to her the importance of only jumping off when we're there, and we keep a close eye on her.

Preparing to leap...


And jumping off into Papa's arms!


We've also been out for some picnics, including a lovely one for dinner the other week. Lucy and Papa scaled a big rock on our walk afterwards.

And amazingly, this picture wasn't posed at all! She was facing away from us (on purpose, I think), and then turned back.

Lucy is increasingly verbal, and it's so fun having conversations with her. She also is quite the manager/director (Matt would tell you she gets that from me). Today in the kitchen I told her I was going to start the blender for the smoothie. She said, "Okay, I just want to go in other room and play with toys first" (because she doesn't like the loud noise). I said that was fine, and then she commanded, "Don't start it!" I assured her I wouldn't, but she said again, "Don't do it!". There's no pleading in her voice- just a bold authority. Quite impressive for a 2 1/2 year old. I do have to periodically remind her who is in charge (Mama and Papa) and who loves her (Mama and Papa), to make sure we have the command chain clear.