End of Week

There was way too much adoption drama this week and I can honestly say I'm glad the week has come to an end. Other than the rainy day we're having today, the weekend is supposed to be sunny with nice spring time temperatures. We have yard work that needs to be done and last weekend we put in the first two raised bed frames for our raised vegetable garden. One is now full of dirt, so today's rain is actually a good thing. This weekend we'll plant some cool weather veggies and try to get the rest of the garden planned out. Lili loves being outside and has really enjoyed helping with the garden project (if you want to call it helping). We'll see how she does with the planting :-)

One thing I did a lot of this week is riding my bike. Stressing out about the USCIS stuff forced me to be much more conscious of just how much better I feel after I've gotten some exercise. Just a 10 or 15 minute ride around town did a lot for my mental health and obviously it's doing something for my body as well. Apparently, I do have muscles in my legs! What's even more apparent to me is that there is something go on in the rear (if you know what I mean). Boy does it hurt!!!! Taking a rain day from bike riding is probably a good thing.

I haven't posted much about Lili this week so I'll take a little time to fill everyone in on what's going on in her life.

Now that it's gotten warmer here, we're spending more time outside and she 'loves' it. She wants her coat and to go side (outside). We bought some new sidewalk chalk and have started some driveway artwork. When we're not able to go outside she enjoys using her chalk on construction paper. I think we'll need to invest in a chalkboard in the not too distant future.

Going on our bike rides is also a highlight for her. She crawls into her kid trailer, has a little stack of books, gets strapped in and sits back to enjoy the ride. The other day she actually fell asleep during our ride. Apparently the trailer is comfy.

I've started working with Lili's on her speech. She still tends to cut off the beginning or end of words. While I can understand what she says, others have a very difficult time understanding and she is getting more and more frustrated. Last night we had pizza for dinner, which she calls 'za.' Who else would know what 'za' is? It took a couple times of me saying "p p p pizza" and she repeated 'piza.' A couple days ago we worked on the color purple, which was 'ple.' Now it's 'puple.' I don't know that she's really behind in her speech, but I just remember our youngest son talking up a storm by this age and being able to understand the majority of what he said. Granted, he had an older brother, was in daycare, and quite honestly was probably a bit advanced in talking. At 20 he's still advanced at talking (those who know him are laughing). For those who don't know him, lets just say he likes to talk. LOL!!!! But I digress. I do think Lili is doing okay with her speech, but since she obviously gets frustrated when someone doesn't understand her, I decided it was time to put more effort into helping her with her speech.

Lili also likes to try to count. We hear 9, 10 quite often and sometimes 2, 3, but she's figuring it out.

We're working more on colors. Blue seems to be the favorite and the easiest for her to say.

Lili likes to try to walk Jada. Of course I only let her walk her on leash inside the house and I'm not sure Jada appreciates it, but Lili thinks she's big stuff. Someday I'll have to get a picture.

Stacking blocks, Play-Doh cans, or anything else stackable is now great fun in our house.

We've also discovered that Lili's favorite music is anything with a strong drum beat. She especially likes drum solos. Hum, is it possible that we have a future Sheila E in our house?!!!! Dave actually discovered Lili's love of drums by playing Guitar Hero. Several nights a week after dinner, Dave will play guitar hero. He has his game guitar and Lili gets her play guitar so she can play along. She would get much more excited about the songs with a lot of drumming and can't seem to stop herself from dancing along. It's very cute! The other things she thinks is fun now is to throw her guitar on the ground like the characters on Guitar Hero. Cute, but a bit annoying when it hits the wood floor.

I could go on and on about Lili, but this post is already long and I still need to post photos, so I'll talk about her more another time.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter weekend!!! Now onto the photos.

Aunt Susan bought these little overalls for Lili and when I was cleaning out her closet a couple weeks ago I pulled them out and put them on her thinking they would still be too big. No, they fit her perfectly.

Yes, the picture is crooked and no, I wasn't trying to be creative. I was trying to take the picture while telling her to stand still though.

And, she's off.

Moving again. Ooooo, you can't catch me!!!

And now for her more serious side.
Yes, I was playing with my camera settings again and Lili was obviously ready to go. Thus, the blurry photo and serious look! However, I still think the picture is adorable.