Lydia Grace Barron and Molly Joy Barron

May I brag for a moment? Oliver and I cannot stop talking about how incredibly cute Lydia is. Seriously. We just look at her and say, "Oh my gosh, she is seriously SO cute. Really. SO cute."

Oliver is always telling her she's "such a pretty girl" and that she's "so beautiful". The older she gets she is beginning to look more and more like a little girl and less like the bald baby she was a year ago. We loved that little bald baby a ton, of course! And back then we also told her how beautiful she was. But I think now, having returned to work after our long Christmas vacation with her, we miss her even more when we're at work, and we come home to see her and are just so taken with her adorable face. And that sweet squishy body!! I could just squeeze her and kiss her all day long. She gives real hugs now, and I love it. She squeezes our necks so tightly and gets as physically close as she possibly can. Ahhhh...I love her so much!!

The new year is in full swing and work is busy! And balancing our new schedule with Oliver's job, dropping off and picking up Lydia, getting to the gym, dinner, bath....and it goes on. So, the blog has taken a back seat. And so has the camera. But please look forward to more pictures and videos soon. For now, let's try to catch up a bit, shall we?

First things first:

R.I.P. Dorothy the Goldfish

Well, you may recall it was actually Dorothy #2. She was a good fish, for all of 2 weeks. She will be remembered fondly by all those who liked her. So, will there be a Dorothy #3 you ask? Probably so, but I haven't rushed out to the pet store quite yet. And no...we didn't explain to Lydia about how pets sometimes die. We're counting on her short toddler attention span to get us through on this one. She hasn't asked, so we won't tell!

Lydia's Omi has returned from her vacation in Thailand. After 2 months away, we weren't sure how Lydia would respond to her - would she act shy at first, or would she run into her arms? It turned out to be a combination of the two. She was instantly excited when she saw Omi come through the front door. She smiled, and began to get all giddy and silly. She was so excited she couldn't contain it. She was going around in circles and humming and running all around, occasionally coming near to Omi, but then running away with a silly little bouncy run. Finally she let Omi hug her and they had a sweet moment. Lydia was definitely glad to see her Omi again! And what's that funny sound again? It's german! Lydia has to get back to learning her second language now that Omi has returned.

Lydia is studying the Vincent Van Gogh coffee table book. Probably for a research paper she is working on...


At 21 months old, here are a few of Lydia's favorite things:

Her toothbrush! She loves to have her teeth brushed. Usually Daddy does it for her. He brushes her teeth first, and then Lydia gets to do it. Her version of brushing is really chewing on the toothbrush. She'll run off with the toothbrush like "ha, ha, I got it - can't catch me!" We have gone through 5 or 6 toothbrushes since we began brushing months ago. She loves it.

And along those lines... she LOVES to watch Mommy and Daddy brush their teeth. We kneel down to her level and she watches so intently, all the while making her super excited shiver humming sound. She smiles and then spins around and is so giddy.

She loves her "Do the Alphabet" Sesame Street DVD.

She loves to climb the stairs. Recently she gained confidence climbing up and down the stairs and now it's one of her favorite activities. If we say "Lydia, let's go upstairs" she eagerly runs over and gets started. To climb down the stairs, Oliver taught her how to get down into a crawling position and back up to the top step and start coming down step by step. She's very good at it and never tries to walk down like an adult - thankfully.

She still loves tags. Oliver calls them labels. Call it what you want, it's the little tag on clothes and blankets that gives you the size and washing information. She has little baby washcloths and blankets and soft toys all over the place and when she finds a tag on one, she instantly grabs it and begins to suck and chew on it. It's actually her version of a soothie. If I'm about to put her to sleep, I will say "Here is your tag, Lydia" and she takes it, begins to chew and compliantly goes with me to her bed. If we're out shopping and she's getting restless, I reach into the diaper bag for my trusty cloth diaper or blanket with a tag and she's good to go.

Her favorite snacks are toddler cereal bars, Gerber banana cookies, Puffs or Yo-Baby yogurt. She gets really excited about these snacks! Her typical breakfast is applesauce with banana slices. At Grammy's house she loves to have plain oatmeal with applesauce mixed into it. Her typical lunch is Annie's organic stars in tomato sauce with either peas or carrots added to it. Her typical dinner is Gerber graduate ravioli (with meat and veggies inside) and then we add some veggie spaghetti sauce and peas or carrots. She's not big on trying new things, so we stick to the staples most of the time. She loves her milk, and I can't remember the last time we gave her juice. We have no problem with juice, but she doesn't seen to miss it, so we just stick to milk. We always add water to her milk because it makes the drink last longer. Otherwise when it's just 4 ounces or so of milk, she is so disappointed that it ended so soon!

She sleeps soundly about 11 hours a night and we love it. She goes to sleep at 8 pm and wakes up at 7 or 7:15 am. Works well for us, because we can get up at 6 and get ready to go to work before she wakes. Then, on the weekend we get the luxury of sleeping in until 7ish! She naps once a day, for anywhere between 1 1/2 hour - 3 hours.

She still loves books. She would let us read and point to objects in books all day, I think.

She loves her Baby Einstein flashcards. She has loved these for a long time. Now she has 3 favorite ones, for which she will search through the pile until she finds one of these favorites. When she does find one of these favorite cards somewhere in the house, she is so happy! They are (in order of love): Tropical Bird, Dolphin, and Sea Turtle. They are chewed, tattered and bent, but she doesn't mind. They're just love marks.

She likes her baths. Kick and splash! When it's really cold outside, I blow dry her hair on the low heat setting. She tries to run away, so I have to be really quick and devious about it! Luckily her fine hair dries pretty quickly, so it's not too painful for either of us. When it's just me drying my own hair, she loves it! She usually comes running into the bathroom when she hears it and hangs out and spins around while I finish my hair.

She likes it when Daddy plays soccer with her. Well, I use the term soccer very loosely here... It's actually a large green beach ball that he kicks around, and she tries to follow him and get the ball. She squeals and thinks this is quite fun!

Oliver started his new job (Praise God!) and he is no longer working from home 3 days a week. So, we're back to full time care from Lydia's grandparents. We are so grateful for their support! We're thinking about starting Lydia in toddler preschool soon. I'm not sure if Mommy is ready for that!! But we do think it would be very good for her. So far in life she has hardly been around other kids her age.

She's not into dolls yet. We've tried... Grammy bought her a very sweet one for her 1st birthday, and Aunt Kelly and Uncle Joshua got her a "starter baby" complete with stroller for Christmas. I show her how to cradle the baby and I tell her that Lydia is the baby's Mommy. And you know what Lydia does? She takes the baby from me, examines it for a second, and then drops it like a hot potato. Zero interest. We'll keep trying and see if she develops the little mommy instinct soon.

She likes to hang out in our bathroom if either Oliver or I is in the shower. She gets excited and spins around and loves it when we make funny kissy faces on the glass door and place our hands over hers on the other side of the glass.

A new development... Piggy back rides from Mommy! She loves it, and so do I, except that she would like me to do it over and over for what feels like an eternity. We'll try to get a video for you.

What doesn't she like? She doesn't like to be interrupted if she's involved in playing and we take her to go get a new diaper. She doesn't like to be re-routed if we're walking through a store and it's time to leave and go to the car. At home, if you say anything about going in the car, she heads to the laundry room access to the garage, and if you take a minute to do anything else, like go to the bathroom or put your shoes on? You'll hear about it. Any of the above things will produce a screaming, arched back Lydia and it's not fun! Such a toddler!

She doesn't like to be dropped off for nursery at church. But although she is crying when we leave her, she is happily playing when we return. But of course when she sees us return, she wimpers and cries a little so that we know she hasn't forgotten about the earlier drop off!

Well, that's all for now. Thank you for listening to me go on and on about what a precious little creation my daughter is! We'll be in touch again soon with more pictures and updates.