July 2

It was in the 70s today.

I dressed Lily in pants for our outdoor playdate this morning, and we were chilly in the shade.

It is the second day of July.

I have no idea what is going on, but I'll take it.

Since Turtle Park was on Caleb's summer to-do list, and a thunderstorm ran us off last time we went there, we decided to meet Amber and her brood there this morning. Aside from the 8 jillion people looking for Zoo parking there, it was perfect!

Lily is seriously weirded out by grass on bare skin. When I set her in the grass, she whimpered and whined until I spread my sling out as a blanket for her, even though her feet were the only part of her that were exposed. Once I put her on the sling, though, she was happy, happy, happy, even gathering some of the fabric up around her to snuggle. 

Does that look like a saucy saunter, or what? Also, Daisy and the turtle have similar facial expressions.

Caleb and Daisy sat on these turtle eggs until they "hatched". Ha!

And then Catherine, bored of the turtles and ready to move on, came along and scooped up Lily. She carried her around for a while, before settling her on a turtle's head. Can you tell that Lily was extraordinarily pleased with the situation? Catherine said that Lily kept trying to push Catherine's hands away so that she could ride the turtle by herself.

Then Mary got upset because Lily wanted to be held by Catherine, but not Mary. I felt bad for poor Mary - it hurts to be spurned by a baby! - but I felt so thankful to have children vying over the affections of my sweet girl. I am lucky to have a friend like Amber, and even luckier that Amber has such phenomenal children!

All of the kids except Lily on a birthday cake!

I love Michael peeking out from behind the cake, Daisy with apple still in hand, Mary's firm grip on little Gussie, and Caleb before he became concerned about too many people on the cake. Also, the kids were all singing "Happy Birthday" while I took this photo.

We returned home in time for lunch. While Caleb and Daisy ate, I fed Lily some yogurt, which she loved. When it seemed that she was finished with her yogurt, I set the bowl aside and went to the computer for a minute, maybe two. 

I was literally two steps away, with my back toward the girl.

When I looked back, I saw this: 

Dear Lord. That is a mess. But boy, was she happy!

I was cursing myself for making such a rookie mistake; you should never leave a bowl of food within a child's reach! But as we laughed about it at dinner tonight, Caleb revealed some more information. He was the one who gave Lily the bowl of yogurt! I had put it out of her reach, after all, but Caleb was trying to be helpful, so he got it for her. He tried to feed her a few bites, but then he decided she could be a big girl since she is almost one (these are his words!), so he gave her the bowl and the spoon. And then the mess happened.

At least he was trying to be helpful.

At least it wasn't entirely my  fault.

Before Lily went down for her nap, I put Caleb and Daisy down for "rests". Caleb's lasted an hour, until the music on his iPod stopped. Daisy "rested" for three hours, and Lily napped for three hours. It was lovely.

When Lily woke up from her nap, Daisy and I went in to get her and found this: 

This is the first time I've found her standing in her crib, and I love how happy she is about it! Lily really is a big girl