From the mouth of a 3-year-old

I just wanted to share and document a few of the funny things Liliana has said over the last couple of weeks:

1)  Lilie and I were in the car, driving down the road, when a truck got in front of us that was putting off some pretty smelly fumes.  Liliana said, "Ewww.  I smell a skunk!"  There was a pause and then she said a little quieter, "Or maybe it's a raccoon that hasn't taken a bath."

2)  I was telling Liliana about something that happened at my work and she apparently didn't hear the last part of what I just said.  She politely interrupted me and said, "Repeat that."  (Two of Daddy's famous words.)

3)  Liliana and I were headed into the library when she explained to me that she was going to leave her friend (stuffed animal puppy) in the car because she saw the sign on the door and it said, "No puppies allowed." 

4)  Daddy was saying something silly to Liliana (I can't remember exactly what) but she stopped what she was doing and looked at him with this fake serious expression and said, "Really, Daddy?!"  Just like a teenager. 

5)  Here are two totally random statements she gave me:  "Daddy's so smart - and he's good at learning too!"  and "We need husbands and goodness and love.  And of course, water."  

6)  And a good question, "Mommy, what shape is your ear?"  Umm...ear shaped?

7)  We were in the car playing I-spy and it was Liliana's turn.  She said, "Ok.  I spy with my little eye something....uhhh....mommy, what color is this?"  (Holding up the toy in her hand).  Don't worry, I played along a couple more rounds before guessing the toy. 

8)  We were in the car tonight and Lilie made a comment that neither of us heard for sure. 
Jason:  "Is that so?"
Liliana:  "Ya."
Jason: "Wait.  Repeat that?" (Now curious of what she originally said.)
Liliana:  "Yaaaaaaa!"

She is strong-willed and often stubbornly determined to do things Liliana-style but she is such a ray of sunshine in our lives and so much fun! 

Black Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday

We are a few years behind most of society as far as technology goes.  We both have phones that do little more than allow us to text and talk and we are okay with that.  Thankfully, our appliances (knock on wood) have held up well and, with the exception of one, are several years old.  Our TV is older than Jason's teenage son.  So when Best Buy advertised their 42 inch, flatscreen, LCD televisions for $199 we didn't feel any guilt in deciding to splurge a little at a great price.

The plan was that we would cook our Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday and periodically, one of us would drive past Best Buy and get in line when one started to form.  On Wednesday afternoon, however, I was at work when one of my coworkers called and said she had just drove by Best Buy and someone was in the process of putting up a tent.  I texted Jason to let him know that the line was starting already - those crazy people!  Now, anyone who knows my Jason knows how stubborn he is.  So it was not really a surprise when a few minutes later, I found out that he was about to become one of those crazy people.  And so began his 32.5-hour outdoor endurance test.

Wednesday evening, all day Thursday, and into wee early Friday morning Jason camped out in front of Best Buy, number four in line.  Anyone who knows my Jason also knows what a big heart he has so on one of my visits to him, I was not surprised to find that he had generously lent out several of his blankets and coats to other people waiting in line.  I'm pretty sure he was a hero to several people and made some new friends.  I was able to join him around 8 pm yesterday to help pass the last few hours.  By the way, I had no intention of going in the store but did I ever get some dirty looks from the people in line.  Finally, around 10:30 pm the Best Buy team came out to pass out the tickets.  (Bless their hearts for coming in to work all night and deal with the madness.)  We still had to wait until midnight for the doors to open but it was a great feeling for Jason to have the tickets in hand, basically guaranteeing that we would get the TV.  When the doors finally opened Jason, unfortunately, found that his ordeal was nowhere near over.  Inside the store, he quickly grabbed a few other items and got into line to redeem his tickets.  A long three hours and 15 minutes later, he checked out.  Yes, the lines were that long.  Yes, people were insane.  Yes, Jason was physically and mentally exhausted and ready to be done.  Yes, he was really happy when he finally got home with the TV!  No, he says he will probably not do this again in the future.  Well...unless they have another deal too good to pass up.

Camp

The view from his spot

 

The line.  It's hard to see here how far it actually goes back but at the end of the night it was past the last building.

Woooo wooooo!

Brrrrrr!

 

Fall Photo Shoot

Liliana's sitter, Mrs. Gretchen, is super talented as both a photographer and as a childcare provider!  She let all of the kiddos be models for the day and snapped these totally cute pictures in her yard one beautiful fall day.  If you can't tell, Liliana had a blast!

 

 

The obligatory silly face

x 2

The camera loves you, babe!

It's like an American Eagle ad but for Hello Kitty

This one makes us giggle.  Liliana will barely ever wear jeans (for Pete's sake) because denim is "too roughy".  So the fact that she's in a pile of leaves...well, her face says it all. 

And that is the face that rocks my world.

Camera cleaning

The memory card on our camera filled up today while I was filming Jonas at an inter-squad wrestling tournament.

This means it's time to offload some of the earlier contents so we can make room for more memories.  So get prepared for old Lilie videos!!

The first two videos are Katie's attempt to catch Lilie thanking our friend Mary for a gift...

Ch-ch-changes...

We have had quite an exciting week with Liliana! This week she began full-on potty training and is doing amazing! She is now wearing big girl pants all day and has only had a couple of minor accidents. Her motivation seems to be going to Kindergarten...I've tried to explain that, although she can go potty like a big girl, it will be a little while until she can go to school. It still seems to motivate her anyway so I haven't really tried to explain exactly how long it will be. As exciting as it is to have her using the potty and not having to buy diapers, I have to say that potty training is exhausting. It did not take Liliana long at all to figure out that if she wants us to stop whatever we are doing all she has to do is say those five magical words, "I have to go potty!" It is also a fantastic bedtime postponement tactic.

We have a hunch that learning will be a passion for our little one. This girl loooooooves to "read". She has been known to spend 2 hours in bed past her bedtime just looking at books. She asks us to read to her nearly constantly, which we try to accommodate as much as possible but she seems to be insatiable in that regard. As tiring as it can be, we are really pleased that she already enjoys reading as much as we do.

Her vocabulary is also expanding so quickly! She knocked her Daddy's socks off earlier this week when she used the word "stupefied" in context (and, as he described it, with authority). She nearly crumpled me with laughter today when she used the word "tentative" appropriately in a sentence. I know there were a couple others comments that she's made lately that I really wanted to remember so I could document them here...but I've forgotten already. Hopefully, they'll come back to me and I can post them later.

Halloween!

Liliana had a terrific Halloween.  It was the first year where you could tell she 'got it'.

Of course, we did get to celebrate it twice: once in downtown Collinsville with the Bennett family, and again on the actual date in Wentzville.  Liliana thoroughly enjoyed the costume she received from her BFF Payton.  It was a full-body Minnie Mouse costume that kept her warm and completely disguised on both occasions!

Highlights:

We had to work for a bit, but Liliana became fairly regular at shouting, "Happy Halloween!  and thank you!" as she turned and ran from each treat-giver.

At one point as we walked along the sidewalk, I warned Lilie that the kids walking up the next driveway might end up taking all the candy from that house.  She muttered, "No, no, NO..." and burst into a sprint to catch up with them.

We ended up on one block with a group of kids that included a girl Lilie's age.  There was one house in particular that proved to be a bit frightening.  Her friend didn't want to try it, so Lilie offered to hold her hand and go together...  It was pretty cute to see two strangers bonding over a quest for chocolate!

Here are the pics!