LiLi and I finally went to Chicago to visit our friends and meet people she had not had the chance to meet yet. We went out for Aunt Anne and Anna P’s birthday party on the boat. LiLi talked about nothing for a week but going on a boat. Unfortunately, it ended up being the weekend in which Chicago had the most rain in 24 hours ever. So LiLi never got to go on the sailboat but she seemed to forget about the boat in the midst of so much partying. She was so tired after the weekend that when she finally fell asleep on the flight home she mananged to stay asleep being transfered on the plane from her car seat to the airplane seats then being carried off the plane and placed in her stroller then being transferred back to her car seat once I got it into the car and then being changed into her pajamas and then into bed. She did not wake that whole time. We can usually transfer her at night into bed from the car but this was truly amazing. So despite the rain we had a wonderful time. Everytime LiLi now sees a plane now and you ask her where it is going she answers “Chicago.”

Playing with Ruthie. LiLi and Ruthie had a good time playing with these strainers. Two year olds can find amusement with the most unusual things.

Here LiLi, Carol and Ruthie playing “Ring around the Rosie(sp)”. Ever since this day, I will hear LiLi suddenly singing the song although her favorite song these days seems to be “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” which appears to have no end when she sings it.

Getting her hair done. Aunt Anne is very good at french braiding hair and LiLi looked absolutely adorable. What I cannot figure out is why she will sit so still for other people when they do her hair but continually moves her head when I attempt it.

Steve, Ani and LiLi at the birthday party

Here are some miscellaneous pictures from our point and shoot camera. I believe there are more pictures from our SLR camera but I need CS3 to see them and we don’t have it yet. So hopefully more later.

There is nothing like a sleeping baby and LiLi certainly is no exception.

Poppie and LiLi washing Poppie’s car.
I cannot get over that Poppie lets LiLi play in his car and wash it. He would never have allowed us to do that but it is amazing how different grandparents are from parents.

LiLi likes to dig and was given this whole outfit and gardening tools last year which she is finally big enough to use. She certainly likes to dig whether it be at the beach, in a sandbox or in woodchips. We have finally got the yard cleaned up of some of the giant maple tree that came down in the spring and LiLi was given a lovely house from friends who had outgrown it. She enjoys going out to have tea in the house and to swing which she could do for hours.

LiLi was quite excited by this tutu given to her by her Nana who wanted her to have something so she could twirl. Of course, LiLi has now decided that her favorite thing to wear are skirts so she has quite a few things to twirl in.

LiLi is drinking her first Shirley Temple in this picture which was my favorite drink as a child so I was happy to see her enjoying the same thing. LiLi decided to order it after our friend Fischer, who is 5 and with whom LiLi is quite enamored, ordered one.

Another picture at the zoo which remains LiLi’s favorite place to go. Most evenings, she asks me if the animals are sleeping because the zoo is closed and we cannot go. She still loves to watch the elephants get their baths. The new Africa exhibit has just opened so we will have to go soon but of course, we go about every 2 weeks.

We went to visit friends from business school on the Cape a couple of weeks ago. They had a great old farm house with a barn that was partly finished and had a great playroom. Here is a picture of LiLi riding on the rocking horse in that room.

Ok, we have been really bad over the summer at updating this blog. I got very behind on pictures and therefore did not have any pictures to put up. However, we hope to have more time now since Thom has finished business school and so we have some more time.
LiLi has, of course, been blossoming. She has become quite a talker. Of course, like most 2.5 year olds a lot of it consists of telling you what you already know(over and over again) like “This is Mommy’s car,” “That is Maggie,” “Where moon go?” These are three of her favorites and I hear them about 40 times a day. And you cannot just say “uh huh.” You have to repeat the phrase back to her at least once. She continues to learn Chinese at her babysitters. She appears to understand what is said to her and speaks back to them in Chinese for the most part but switches to English the minute I appear. However, she does occaisonally use Chinese words at home, too.
So to start the new update, we need to go back to June when we went to Nantucket. LiLi loved it because she seems to truly love the beach and has little fear of the water which is quite weird since she still gets very upset when she gets her hair washed. However, give her some ocean and she wants to go running in after being on the beach about 5 minutes. There was a pond that was perfect for the girls since it had no waves and was relatively shallow.

Lila and Nana on the beach

LiLi on the beach

LiLi on the porch

Clare

Lila and LiLi tired out or waking up. It all looks the same.

Walking to the beach

Nana and Clare

Swimming with Daddy

I can dig up this whole beach and maybe I’ll find a crab