She's Got Skills

It is amazing the things that we take for granted and realize that we actually had to learn how to do them. Even more amazing is the fact that children pick up on things so fast, without much in terms of intentional instruction. For instance, over the past few weeks she is starting to master the 'skills' of clapping and waving 'bye-bye'. If you think about them, the ideas of clapping and waving goodbye are quite arbitrary -- how is that placing our hands together ever became a sign of approval? Over the past few weeks, Lydia has certainly started to pick up on the 'context' behind waving and clapping - today in Church Lydia knew enough to start clapping when she heard others clapping -- she couldn't even see people clapping as she and I were in another room at that time. And waving, we no longer have to 'prompt' Lydia to make the action of saying 'bye-bye' -- she is getting to the point at which you say the words 'bye-bye' - she will start waving. She is one amazing little creature!

It has also been fun to see Lydia make the transition from baby food to real food, and start enjoying eating most foods now. She used to be such a picky eater and meal times would be more frustrating than anything. Well, she has definitely come along way -- all she used to eat was avacodo -- now she eats everything from Kale to Pasta. She even ate some garbanzo beans from my plate tonight, how fun!

It is hard to believe that is already August and summer is winding down. Fortunately we have been able to get outdoors alot with Lydia this summer. She loves to sit and feel the grass with her hands. We have also gotten to the pool several times and Lydia has become more and more fond of being in the water -- she is even starting to "let go" a little more and exploring more on her own. Probably the most fun that we have had outside this summer is going on family bike rides. We bought a infant bike trailer to pull behind one of our bikes and Lydia loves being it! Not once has she cried while being in it and she is almost always looking back and forth to see the scenery as she passes by it.

Mobile

A few weeks ago I started utilizing a nifty little mobile device called a BlackBerry for work. When I got the device, I had dreams of being always on top of tasks, emails, and my calendar; and never tied to my desk or PC. Well, 3 weeks in and I would say that it has started to help me to be better connected (like it or not) and I am keeping track of tasks better. Has it changed my world? Well maybe not quite yet.

I mention the BlackBerry only for reasons of talking about another "mobile" thing in my life. That's right -- Lydia is on the move. An this has definitely changed all of our lives in significant ways. Gone are the days of setting Lydia down to play and being able to go about other tasks for any amount of time. Set her down and 9 times out of ten she is gone - crawling off to the kitchen, off to find new territory that she is unfamiliar with. I have found my self saying "no" more in the last 3 weeks than in the rest of Lydia's life. We are slowly figuring out what needs to be locked up or moved and remembering not to set things on the floor where they can be gotten to.

Where has the time gone....another month and half gone by without a posting. I am going to try a new approach regarding this blog....short and simple. I think that I have struggled to write because I felt overwhelmed by the idea of having to write something significant and interesting. Well, new mind-set here I come.

For sake of catching up from last month and half - here are some highlights:

• Lydia and Daddy have a few days of "quality time" while Elizabeth gone on trip to Nebraska
• Trip to Rapid City for Dakotas United Methodist Annual Conference - Lydia had a great trip out, but the trip back was a little rough
• Trip to North Carolina to see Nana and Papa (and extended Turkington Family) - Lydia starts crawling in Chicago airport.