Lu Lu

I have been meaning to write about Lucy for a long time--I wanted to do it when she was 18 months but now she is 19 months and here we are. I thought I had a lot of things figured out after mothering Esther for three years but Lucy has been a whole new ball game. For example, I thought I was such a great mom when it came to food. I made sure Esther ate a wide variety with plenty of fruits and vegetables and that is what made her the great versatile eater she is today. Then came Lucy who throws or spits out 75% of the food I give her. She rarely will eat meat or veggies, although she's finally made concession to broccoli with dip. Sometimes she'll eat bread, sometimes she won't (today was a big NO to a yummy buttery croissant). The only "for sure" food that will eaten and not thrown is yogurt, cheese sticks, goldfish crackers, and grapes. She is a "picker eater" (Esther's words).
Another challenge with Lucy is that she likes to climb and she has an unruly tendency to respond with arm swats, or hitting. Esther never climbed on tables and has never hit more than a handful of times. Yesterday I turned around for two minutes while Lucy was eating her yogurt and when I turned back she was on top of the table with yogurt all over her, and dumping out the salt shaker. I think I've already mentioned the force of destruction that Lucy can be. I used to try really hard to always have my house neat and clean but Lucy has forced me to really relax my standards. I just cannot keep up with her. If I want to clean the bathroom then in the mean time Lucy is going to dump something out or empty a drawer or two, or five.
It's so fascinating to me how different my girls are. We went to the pool with a slide last week and guess who went down the slide? Lucy. Esther is just more cautious and deliberate. She does not like to be dirty, take risks, or break the rules (usually). All this being said, Lucy brings so much joy to our family.
She is already a good little speaker and dancer. We even heard a sentence today: "Water all gone." I guess that is more of a fragment but it was so cute to hear. Lucy still LOVES babies. We were at my Aunt and Uncle's house today and most the time Lucy spent playing with these two dollies and their cradles--making the beds, putting them in, putting their blankets on, taking them out, trying to take their clothes off--over and over and over.
She loves her big sister too and anything that Esther is doing Lucy wants to do too: "A too!" she says. We love the way she calls for Esther: "De' der!!" Just like Esther, Lucy LOVES doggies too. Anytime she sees one she has to yell out, "A doggy!! A doggy!" about ten times. Right now she pretty much thinks every animal is a doggy so we hear that a lot. Lucy loves to play outside and HATES when it's time to come back inside. She also loves to surprise people though I don't think she's ever really successful at the surprise part it's still really cute to see her duck then pop her head up and yell, "A'pise!!" Lucy is a great sleeper and seldom cries for naps or bedtime and there is nothing that warms our hearts more then when she gives us good night kisses and says "Wuv wu!"