Loving Lila

On May 18th, Lila turned two.  I don't think it's hyperbole to say that Lila is the greatest thing that's happened in the history of mankind.  And this bundle of love has been ours for two years.  We're all lucky.  Every single member of our family adores her.

Lila could not have been more excited about her birthday.  I didn't think she'd care.  She's only two, for heaven sakes!  We were planning on celebrating it whenever we felt it worked best with our schedule.  But then, out of the blue, she exclaimed, "It's my birthday tomorrow!"  She was a bit manipulative about it, in fact.  She wouldn't let me leave her in the gym daycare because, as she whined, it was her birthday!     I shouldn't have been surprised, since my children are obsessed with watching family videos.  As a result, we talk a lot more than most normal people do about Easter Egg hunts and Christmas and Disneyland. . .and birthday parties.  At one point, Lila tried to put a cup on her head as a party hat.  She became enraged when she realized we didn't have party hats.  Note to self:  Recreate party on family video.

As it was, the party was a bit sad.  It was sad in the sense that, since I spend so much time and effort and energy planning and producing my boys' extravagant and expected birthday parties, I didn't feel like putting any extra energy into making a party for a child who doesn't know any better.  My mistake.  Here we are slapping on the last coat of frosting before the party begins.  The theme of the party was Blue's Clues, and my cake was pathetic.  Josh is usually in charge of the cakes.  I'm sure he was regretting that he didn't make it the night before, as he was patching up a 3 inch hole in my cake with a lot of frosting.

Here are the kindred spirits, Jonah and Lila.  Lila is a less frustrating, slightly less exuberant version of Jonah.

They are fans of physical comedy, playing outside, and dancing like crazy people.

She wants to be just like him.  Jonah has no idea how much influence he has over Lila, and that fact keeps me up at night.  He's a fantastic kid, but I recently heard him tell a story that involved the use of the word "fart" 42 times.  Awesome.



Here are some other things that are great about Lila.  She has a unique fashion sensibility.

Before:

After:

The fact that she sits like this during a haircut still astonishes me.  And says, "Yay!  A haircut!"  What?  I tell you, people who have only raised girls have no right calling themselves real parents.

Well, and this:  

Getting back to the birthday party.  For dinner, we had cake and ice cream.  We opened up presents, which were the highlight of the evening, mostly for the boys, who showed a great amount of excitement over dresses and dolls and high-heeled shoes.  No really, they did.  They love presents.

We spent the rest of the evening enjoying the new slide from grandma, and looking fabulous while doing it.

And taking her new bike for a ride up to the park for a good time on the monkey bars.

To summarize, we love Lila.  As you may remember, about three years ago, we were trying to decide if we were brave enough to add another member to our family.  And here is my pro and con list to see if we made the right decision (you know, in case we want to send her back).

Pros:

1)  She wakes up happy and she goes to bed happy.  This means a lot to a tired parent.

2)  She sings the ABC song about 300 times a day, at the top of her lungs.  Even at church.  And I taught her to do jazz hands at the end of every song she sings.  Which is ridiculous AND adorable.

3)  She says "No, thank you, mama!" and has very good manners.

4)  Get this:  If I ask her to do something, she does it.  She actually listens to me.  This is a recent actual conversation that I had with my son:  Me:  What do you want for breakfast?  Cereal?  Yogurt?  Just don't say egg sandwich because we don't have any bread.  Noel:  (Totally unaware of the world and his presence in it)  Egg sandwich.

5)  She brings out the best in all of us.  

6)  I get to buy girl stuff.

Cons:

1)  She rarely takes a nap.  (I know.  It's a big one!)

2)  She only likes to eat ice cream sandwiches.  

So. . .I guess we'll keep her.  Seriously, though, several times a day I am filled with such an overwhelming amount of love and adoration for this sweet little girl, I shudder to think of a world in which we hadn't listened to God, who told us that she was waiting for us.  And I thank Him for it every day.

Happy Birthday, sweet thing.