I yikka da girl

Lila is fantastic. I remember after Noel was born and I was convinced that we were done having kids. I didn't know how we could handle another one. Our boys are amazing, but they are only 18 months apart and were (are) energetic and exhausting, and the idea of another child seemed like the thoughts of a crazy person.

But Amy knew that we were missing something and convinced me that there was one more baby for us out there. So we had Lila. And people warned me about how little girls wrap their dads around their little finger. And people, you were totally right. Lila is such a joy, and gets whatever she wants, whenever she wants it. Not because she is spoiled, but because she is nice and agreeable. We tell her all the time that as long as she keeps being nice she gets whatever car she wants when she is 16, and the boys will have to share my old Forrester, which is already 10 years old. You don't see a problem with that, do you?

Recently she has started talking more and more, and it is about the cutest thing on earth. First of all, she answers me when I talk to her (my boys have no idea that I am even in the room when I am talking to them.) She always says "Otay, da-da" when I ask her to do something. It's amazing!!! There isn't a discussion, or an argument about what is fair or not. Just agreement. Lovely.

Lately, she has started calling herself "The Girl." I have no idea where it started. But if she sees pictures of the family, she points to everyone and says "That's Mama. And Dada. And Donah. And Donah (Jonah and Noel are both Donah.) And the girl." Or if you point to her and say "Who's this?" she answers, "The girl." You would think that Lila would be a really easy name to say. And she probably could say it if she wanted to. But she likes being "the girl."

She also loves all of her Disney characters and knows all their names, except she calls Goofy "the Goof." Every time she saw his picture at Disneyland she'd point and say "The Goof!" It makes me think Goofy is a Mafia boss or something.

When I showed Lila this picture she said "The Girl! She's cold!!"

Lila also loves food. One would think that a child of mine and Amy's would genetically love things like reading, food and trashy reality TV. They all three love reading, and it is too soon to tell with reality TV (fingers crossed!!) but none of my kids, except Lila, like food. Jonah branches out a little bit more as he gets older. But not much. Noel eats white bread and cheese and must be fed additional calories and vitamins from angels while he sleeps because he is still alive. But Lila eats anything. Tacos, spicy enchiladas, pasta with sauce, salad, fruit and vegetables of all sorts, steak. All things my sons will not eat. It's astonishing. So I would like to tell all those parenting books that tell you just to keep trying stuff with your kids and eventually they will like it to go and suck it. (Is that acceptable language for a family blog?) Because we have fed all of our kids exactly the same foods and they all have varying degrees of pickiness.

Basically, she is the greatest thing that ever happened to my life. She's totally my favorite. Is that wrong to say? All you parents out there: you say you don't have a favorite child BUT YOU DO! Admit it. (You can post which child it is in the comments. Your kids will never read the comments on my blog. It is a safe place.)