Mama!

Lily said Mama!!! It was so cute!! She actually said it for the first time 8 days ago, and I meant to blog about it then, but I've been forgetting to blog lately. Sorry all. She's been saying Dada for quite awhile now (I just looked and I thought I had mentioned it in an earlier post, but I couldn't find it if I did), at least 2 months, probably. It was really cute to hear her say Dada, and walk around just babbling Dadadadada to herself. It was even cuter when she started realizing it meant her Dad and not just a sound to make. It made Ben really happy. And now it's my turn! It's fun to hear her say it. She doesn't say it very much yet, but she'll catch on. Another of her favorite sounds to make is "t-t-t-t-t-t" over and over, and I swear she's been trying to say "ducks" ever since we saw them for the first time. She says "du, du." It's lots of fun to hear her trying out all the sounds she can make and figuring out new ones.

Lily had her 9 month check-up two weeks ago. She was 18 lbs 11 oz, 28.75 inches tall, which puts her in the 50th percentile for weight and 90th percentile for height. Long and lean, which is how she's always been, really. The nurse there was so surprised that Lily was walking already, and walking so well. She's been able to get pretty much where ever she wants for awhile now, and she can walk the whole length of our condo without falling. She still does fall fairly often though, which is actually really cute. She's been getting up into a standing position from a sitting position (with no help whatsoever) for a couple of weeks now, at least, so she doesn't even have to crawl anymore to try to get to a chair to pull herself up or something. She still will crawl though, if something is close and it's easier to crawl than to stand up and walk to it.

Lately she's been trying to climb up on anything and everything that's within her reach. If her diaper bag is up against a wall, she'll start climbing up it, even though she doesn't really have anywhere to go. She's still too little to climb up chairs or the sofa though, thank goodness. She also has not attempted to climb out of her crib yet, and I'm hoping it stays that way for awhile. My little brother Joshua (now almost 16 years old) was using his toes to climb out of his crib when he was only 11 months old!

As a family, lately us Lemmons have really been enjoying the beautiful Autumn season. Well, I know I've been enjoying it anyway, and we've done a few fun family activities outside in the last few weeks. Lily and I go on walks all the time, and a few weeks ago I discovered a great park in Bothell right on the river that is home to a lot of ducks. Ben and Lily and I went back there together and had a really fun time feeding the ducks, and a couple of geese that were hanging out too. Lily wanted to chase them, but we were too scared to let her wander around without us at least holding her hand (which she didn't like. She's used to independence!). The geese were bigger than her, for one thing, and the place were were at had a drop-off into the river. But we all really enjoyed ourselves.

We also went to a pumpkin patch. Lily got a big kick out of the pumpkins. I don't know what she thought of them, but she liked being in the middle of all of them and touching them. She also wanted to be right there when we were carving them, so we had to put a barrier in the middle of the room (we were carving them on the floor) so she couldn't get to them. We bought a couple of small decorative pumpkins and she likes carrying one around and dropping it to hear the sound it makes. Fun fun fun. :)

Playing with Mama - this was just two days after she turned 9 months old.

Lately Lily seems to get a kick out of everything. She hardly ever stops smiling!

Daddy playing with Lily. She's smiling here too :)

Lily loves her bath time and her duckies. It's really hard to get her to stay in her little bath now, though. She just wants to stand and investigate everything else around her.

Practicing her clapping. Daddy taught her how to clap and she thinks it's pretty cool. (As you can see in the background, Lily gets into EVERYTHING and carries it all around with her, until something else catches her eye and she drops whatever she's holding to pick the new thing up. My house hasn't been very clean lately.)

On the bridge over the river on our way to the ducks! This was basically Lily's first time walking for more than a few steps in her shoes. She doesn't really like wearing shoes, but if something is distracting her, she'll forget they're there and walk. Otherwise she just sits down and tries to chew on them. :)

Trying to get away from Dad and go after the ducks.

Family picture. It was a really pretty day and perfect weather.

My good looking husband and beautiful daughter. And lots of pumpkins.

She likes them.

Our jack-o-lanterns. We haven't carved Lily's yet. Ben did the graveyard and mine is the face.

Coming home late after spending Sunday evening with my parents. Lily was so cuddly and it made me happy. :)
One more of smily, bubbly Lily.