Random Cuteness

We had a great thunderstorm this morning. Lately, all of our storms have been during the night, and Libby sleeps right through them. So this morning was the first thunderstorm she has been awake for in a long time. It was so dark outside, and it took about an hour for the storm to arrive, from the first hint of thunder in the distance to the crashing booms right above us. With each crash of thunder, Libby would stand up, point out the window, make a big "O" with her mouth, then smile and go back to playing. She seemed to enjoy the noise as much as I do.

Last week we bought Libby a new pair of fake crocs at Target. They are pink and purple swirled. They are ugly, but she likes them. Normally the first thing Libby does when we get home or in the car is take her shoes off. These new crocs, however, stay on her feet all day. She takes them off only to put them back on. The other night as John was getting her ready for bed, she asked for her shoes and promptly put them on and crawled into bed. So she slept with her shoes on! The next day the same thing happened at nap time. And on Sunday John tried putting her white sandals on her feet and she screamed bloody murder, grabbing for her crocs. So Libby wore pink and purple swirled crocs to church with her yellow and pink flowered dress. After church she went straight to bed, still wearing her crocs.

Lately John has been teaching Libby how to fold her arms for prayers. Normally she just bows her head. Last night at dinner he demonstrated folding his arms a few times. She bowed her head and we blessed the food. After, while we were cleaning up, Libby sat in her seat and started opening her arms wide, then folding them and bowing her head, over and over again. This morning she and I were sitting in my bed, trying to wake up when she stood up and started saying "pear, pear". I didn't understand what she wanted until she folded her arms and bowed her head. So we said a little morning prayer together.

Later this morning Libby brought me her bag of blocks so I could unzip it. She poured out all the blocks, handed the bag to me, then said "pee", which means "pick up". She then proceeded to put all the blocks back in the bag, I zipped it up, and she put it away, coming back for a high-five. Did she pour them out just so she could have the pleasure of picking them up?

Libby's current favorite movies are Finding Nemo and The Jungle Book, or "Memo" and "Bo". Last week Libby was carrying around a card with a picture of an elephant on it. She started counting "two, tee" and marching. It took me a while to figure out that she was pretending to be part of the Elephant Brigade from The Jungle Book, "Hup, two, three, four, keep it up, two, three, four".

Libby is on a diaper kick with her baby doll. This morning when I changed Libby's diaper, she brought me her baby and handing to me said "diedee". So I pulled out one of my newborn diapers and put it on the baby doll. For the next hour the diaper came off, then the diaper and baby were brought to me to put the diaper back on. Over and over and over again.

Yesterday I was listening to The East Village Opera Company (sort of classical meets electric guiter, very cool). The first few tracks are loud and fast, and Libby was jumping and dancing around the living room. Then John's favorite came on - "Nessun Dorma", a slow, sweet song about a sleeping princess, sung in Italian. Libby laid down in front of the speakers and sang along.

When I have an appt at the Birth Center, Libby is the designated helper. She helps recline the chair so they can measure and palpate my stomach and listen to the baby. Libby gets her own measuring tape so she can measure my stomach too, and she puts puts both hands on my stomach and moves them like she sees the midwives do to feel the baby. After they listen to the heartbeat with the doppler, they let Libby "listen" to her baby doll. Libby also helps take my blood pressure, and walks around during the whole visit wearing gloves and a stethoscope. Amy thinks she'll be a midwife someday.

You know there's more, but these are the instances that came to mind this morning. Basically, Libby makes us smile a lot and brings joy into our home. We are so blessed to have her.