Li and Ian

Yeah, I know: this is way overdue. It has been more than a month since posting much about Li and life and how we are all doing. This last part of the summer has been more than just a skosh on the busy side — both at home and at work — and I’ve struggled to find any sort of time/energy combination that might lead to writing an update here. (I’m also in the process of rebuilding a couple of my Linux boxes under a new distribution, which takes a long time — I’m more than two weeks into that project as of today — when you try to do it in 15 minute chunks; more on that in a separate post, perhaps. And as much as I’d like to be able to blame a lack of updates here on that, it’s a really only a minor part of it.)

Li is doing great, in short. The biggest change — at least for us — is that she is developing some more effective habits regarding sleep. Deb has been working with her to help her learn to fall asleep, so nap time is becoming both a little more regular and a little more productive. It is also helping with sleeping at night, as she learns that she can in fact relax in her bed and gradually fall asleep (some nights “gradually” ends up being 7 seconds after she puts her head down, while other nights, it tends toward 15-ish minutes). As a result, she’s sleeping better, she’s more rested, and she’s generally happier. Ditto for us. The only real kink there has been that Li is working through her second major cold in the past 4 weeks, and is only in the past couple of days starting to bounce back from this second iteration. We’ll be glad to say goodbye to whatever little bugs have been wreaking havoc with her nose and respiratory system…

Li and her almost-constant companion, Monkey

She’s continuing to expand her vocabulary, and she’s definitely talking more. The biggest change there is that she’s becoming much more consistent in hanging closing sounds on words. While we’ve become pretty good at using context to figure out what “baah” might mean, having that turn into “bath” makes a difference.

We took her huckleberry picking for the first time a couple weeks ago (and suffered through the angst of just the first of many — I’m sure — realizations that we although we remembered the lunch and the sunscreen, we forgot the camera!). Once she decided that she liked the berries themselves, the next step was convincing her that if she wanted to eat them, she had to pick them (and that the pail we were picking into was not yet for general consumption). The next challenge was centered around the decision that she had probably had enough of them to eat. As we found when Ian was little, it’s tough to get many huckleberries when picking with a little one, but we did end up with a couple of quarts by the time we were done. Probably more importantly, though, we had a great day out in the mountains about town and Li found one more thing she really enjoyed. (And next time, I’m positive we’ll remember the camera, but Deb is snickering as I write that!)

Li and cousin Lauren on Li's first trip into a swimming pool

Li is growing and developing physically, too. She definitely enjoys being outside, and is now both able to and excited about going up and down the small slide on the school playground near our house. Rides in the stroller or the wagon as we go on walks are always highlights, as are trips to the zoo. Deb bought a family pass to the zoo that works with quite a number of zoos, and between trips to our local zoo and the zoo in Salt Lake, it has more than paid for itself; it’s great to just zip over for an hour and let her explore and watch the animals on an afternoon.

Some other random Li observations:

• She loves cuddling with Monkey, a stuffed monkey from our friend Karie, that has turned into a constant companion. (So constant, in fact, that we’ve had to find MonkeyB, who occasionally makes an appearance so that Monkey can be washed.)
• There is no such thing as “too many books” or “too much reading”, as far as Li is concerned. Current favorites include “The Napping House”, “Is Your Mama a Llama?”, “Where’s My Teddy?”, and the “The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear”.
• Her favorite pajamas are her “pink-alicious” PJs, an early gift from cousin Jordy, but with the weather cooling off as the summer winds into fall, it won’t be long before we’ll need to put them away.
• Li is definitely a morning person at this early stage of her life, even on mornings when Mom and Dad don’t necessarily want to be.
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  Li and Aunt Ida's quilt

  The quilt from great-great Aunt Ida is a blast; there are hundreds (thousands?) of picures on it from lots of different fabrics that provide a never ending source of things to point at, ask questions about, and discuss (including a University of Kansas Jayhawk and the KSU wildcat!).

• Cherry tomatoes fresh from the garden are wonderful, and you don’t need to take the little green top-things off to eat them.
• Pad thai from the Thai House restaurant downtown in definitely worth skipping a nap for.
• Bugs are fun to squish when you’re wearing your too-cute purple crocs, and those same crocs are great for splashing in the water running through the gutter on a hot summer day.
• Big brothers don’t seem to be good for much other than an occasional tickling or helping you learn to fly, but Li definitely loves hers.
• Swimming pools and cousins — once you get used to them (both) — are a great way to spend a hot Saturday afternoon.