The past week or so

We found a fire sky kitty at the park that reminded me of pip. It was a she and she loved us too.
Lila was "smile"ing at the camera phone.
Riding in shopping cart (she is a little too big for it :)
Reading bedtime books with daddy.
Lila requested pony tails this morning (you can't the third one... It's in the back) we put ponytails on doll too.
Wearing undies 24/7 means potty breaks in the car! She is used the potty in the car setup from road trips so it works out.
Lila is talking more then ever. She is an excellent observer of the world and is constantly telling me about all the things she sees. This morning she woke up telling me she saw bears. Then went to play all the bears. She put them to sleep after wrapping them up, put them in the shopping cart and even fed them a snack of peanut butter (she said tuf likes it)

Lila visits the Capitol

Thursday morning we decides to go I the Capitol. We had a lovely morning. Parked at a broken meter (always a score!) then we watched the squirrels hiding their nuts all over the Capitol grounds. Lila loves the senate room, the stars, the stairs, the elevator. There is lots of fun stuff there!!!

The natural gardener

We love this great place. You can spend hours here and sometimes we do.
They have chickens, goats, a couple of donkeys, a butterfly garden, swings, ponds, gardens, wind chimes, a tee pee, much much more!!!

Lila picks a pumpkin

Lila's first trick or treat o' Halloween

Last year we were in the grand canyon then Gallup new Mexico for Halloween.,.. She was too little to trick or treat then too of course.
So this year Lila wanted to do it right ;)
She had intentions of being a puppy when we headed to the store to find a costume. But... In the store Lila spotted an Elmo costume, it wasn't Ian a package and was the only one left, we decided to try it on, and what do you know, it fit! And then Lila did not want to take it off! So I walked around target pushing Elmo! Haha. She did take it off before we got to cashier, I didn't even know if they sold the costume because of the way we found it. But they did and we bought it.
We talked about Halloween for the next couple of weeks. We read books about halloween and drew lots of pictures of pumpkins and jack o lanterns. We even made a paper spider and some cards for unkies and cousins! Lila wanted too carry her costume everywhere! Usually one of the first things to do in the morning was to locate the costume!
Today was Halloween and I think weird well for the first official! This morning we went to Book People where they had a puppet show. Most of the kids were dressed up and we even saw Henry and his mommy. We stopped by to see daddy at work and show off the Elmo costume to him.
Lila helped make corn bread and banana bread, then mommy made dinner and we waited for daddy to get home. Once he arrived home, I painted on my kitty whiskers and nose and put on my ears and tail. Lila put on Elmo and off we went. Daddy pulled the wagon. We realized we had a very early start (oops!) and wound up in the park. Which turned out to be perfect because it was a huge neighborhood party and almost all of Lilas neighborhood friends were there. There was a costume "parade" on the tennis court and after that is was dusk so we headed to trick or treat.
Daddy took Lila to the first few houses and she was having so much "fun"! Daddy was having a lot of fun too. After a few houses I warmed up and took her to a few doors. She really had a blast knocking and getti the candy. Everyone loved Elmo! And also the smart little girl inside the Elmo costume. She knocked. And said trick or treat at most of the houses. She always said thank you, but sometimes it was when she was walking away. After we got home Lila got to choose a piece of candy to have from her bucket. She had one m&m (really just one!) and then a grape sucker. She loves the sucker but mommy only let her have half. We ate dinner and had a nice bath and headed to bed. It was a great day and night! Happy Halloween!!!!

19 months

Today Lila is 19 month old! My baby! She is so so smart and is such a talker. She has 8 word sentences and chapters away all day long. When we are around new people or people we know but don't see all the time, it takes her a minute to warm up but then she is back to talking away. Lila and I can have full meaningful conversations. She basically understands everything I say to her. This past month we have really started to spell some things.. A parenting milestone I'm sure!
Some of my favorite things Lila says is "day!" for have a good day. She picked it up on her own. When she done eating she says (newly) "tell mommy" because I have been telling her to tell mommy when she is done! Hehe I love the way she says "where is she?". She is always making observations about everything around her. "see that man" "hear baby crying"
Lila loves Elmo! And has a favorite song at the moment. "la la la la la la la Elmo's song...". It's also big birds song, Lilas song, Mommys song, and milk's song!!
Just recently Lila has started giving the labels of "mommy one, baby one, and daddy one".
She is still very into reading and always surprises me with how quickly and much she memorizes in them. She loves "story book" which is goldilocks and the three bears... But no pictures. I was so amazed when she started liking it. She has also started really requesting certain books. She likes to read on we own too and read to baby. I would say de suess is her favorite author.
Besides reading Lila loves to sing. We have some songs we have made up... "ding go the waffles when there done!" and "baby babay, booummm booummm" she sings raffi's "baby baloiga" and "twinkle twinkle" "wheels in the bus" is a favorite. And she is starting to sing the abcs. Lila can almost sing the whole alphabet by herself. She loves to dance and drum, and watch people play interments. .
Everyday with Lila is a gift and I am so thankful I get to be her mommy.

Love

Last week I was putting Lila to sleep and she said "I love you" "much"
Best moment of my life!