Just for Nancy

This is for my sister.
Sorry, Neebs, but Jenna does not have bed hair.
Now, THIS is bed hair!(Also, if you zoom in, you can see the waffle-print on her face from her quilt.)
Love you!
Hugs and kisses to Brock and Allie and, of course, Jenna!

Mommy's Night Out

Well, it wasn't so much "night" as "late afternoon."

I went to the movies with a couple girlfriends. It was awesome. We saw "Twilight." I've been reading the books. (I'm almost done with the second one, so PLEASE don't tell me what happens in the last two.) I disagree with the people who think the movie was too far removed from the book. Except for a few minor differences, it held pretty true to Stephenie Meyer's vision. After all, it took me a few days to get through the book, so when you condense it down to two hours... yeah. Some stuff is going to be left out or altered. Bottom line - I loved it. It comes out on DVD in a couple of months, and I will buy it and watch it again and again. (Gotta LOVE a love story.)

So where was Lily while I was having lots of fun? She was having fun, too. She played with her friends and was babysat by one of my gal pal's husbands. Lily must have had an awesome time, because she hesitated leaving. When I went to pick her up, she was eating dinner with the family, securely strapped in a high chair. Her face lit up when she saw me, and she immediately started chattering away to me. She held up her food and said, "Geegle-geegle-gee." (That means noodles.) Then she showed me the sippy cup she was borrowing and talked about that for a minute. Her 3-year-old buddy gave a more detailed story on the origins of that purple cup.

I love watching Lily play with other kids. And she obviously loves the company of other kids, no matter their age. My friend told me about a structured playgroup that she takes her youngest to. We might have to check it out. She needs more playmates besides me.

And a sibling. Or two. Hurry home, Dad.

Ok. this picture has nothing to do with my movie night. This is Lily wearing grown-up shoes for the first time. This is significant because up until now, Lily has always worn my shoes (or Daddy's) on her hands. But these shoes are not mine.. They belong to my friend Jerrica. (And, no, she's not dating a guy with purple hair named Rio and she doesn't have earrings that project holograms that make her a famous singer.)

Bye Daddy

We said good-bye to Daddy last week. He is safely in his new location.
Lily has asked about him a few times since then. A couple days after he left, Lily said "Bbbrroooom, Dada" remembering that he left on a big bus. When the national anthem plays in the evening, she talks about "Dada" a lot, because that would be the time he'd be home from work.

I moved our family portrait down to a table that was easy for Lily to see and get to. We wave to Daddy and blow him kisses at bed time. Sometimes Lily will blow him a kiss for no reason at all as she walks by his picture. The other day, she carried the frame around giving Daddy's picture real kisses. My heart swelled when I saw that.

Since Lily loves looking at pictures of herself on the computer, I made a special slideshow for her that is just pictures of her and Daddy. She LOVES it. Every time the picure changes, she squeals with delight and says, "Dada! Lee-lee! Dada!"

I'm so grateful for her companionship during this difficult time. And I'm so happy that she remembers her Daddy so fondly... and so often.

Ice Queen

Lily loves ice cubes. I don't know what it is about ice cubes, but she goes nuts for them.

Because our family consumes ice cubes at a ridiculous rate, we typically buy a bag of ice from the Shopette (military Kwiki-Mart) instead of making our own. Lily know where to find bags of ice at the store and loves to lead you there and show you. "I! I! I!" She pats her chest to sign "please."

At home, if I go into the freezer, Lily asks for one of two things. "Waffo" (waffle) or "I" (ice). (By the way, she also says "waffo" when the toaster pops, no matter what was being toasted.) When she gets an ice cube, she says, "Mmmmm!" and starts sucking on it. The cube eventually stops being interesting and Lily drops it wherever she happens to be. Consequently, the kitchen floor often has tiny puddles of freezing water lying in wait for Mommy's bare feet or socks.

Learn to Speak Lily

Lily is my little chatterbox. She always has lots to say, but not everyone can decipher her words. Here's a little guide to translating "Lil-ese" into English.

zhoo - shoe
goat - coat
dow - down
utt - up
cuck - cup, drink
gack - snack
diss - this (pointing at whatever she wants)
gawk - clock, watch (or anything resembling a clock)
mo-mo-man - snowman
raff - giraffe
sssss - snake
fow-wah - flower, leaves
mmmmmuh! - kiss
ooh-ooh-ah - monkey
bee-bah - zebra
mmmmm! - yummy
beep-bee - pee pee (She's learning about the potty.)
tee-ga - Tinkerbell
moobie (also moofie) - movie
lee-lee - Lily

And here are some words she knows that don't require translation:

mama
dada
dog-dog
ball
go
hat
hi
buh-bye

Lily and the Mo-mo-man

We don't usually get much snow in this part of Japan, but there were plenty of snowman decorations everywhere we went. The first time Lily saw a snowman, she was very intrigued, pointing and saying "Ooooooooh!" I told her it was a snowman, and she said, "Mo-mo-mo-bo-bo-mo-mo-mahn?" I figured that was pretty close, so I said, "That's right. Snowman." After that, she saw them everywhere, and her name for snowman was eventually shortened to "mo-mah." (Sometimes she gets the "n" sound, but not always.)

Lily was very upset about something one day (I don't remember what), and nothing seemed to calm her down. Out of desperation, I asked, "Lily, do want to watch a snowman movie?" She immediately stopped crying. "Mo-mah moobie?" She sounded curious and looked hopeful. I pulled out the "Frosty the Snowman" VHS tape a friend had given me and put it in the VCR. A quick fast forward to the beginning, and Lily was immediately enchanted.

She watched it almost everyday, carrying the box around chanting "mo-mah." (Even now, if I start singing "Frosty the Snowman," Lily dances.) On Christmas Eve, I went on one last shopping trip. I had to find a toy snowman for Lily. Lucky me, I found one, and it was already on clearance. Best $2.50 I ever spent. She loves that "mo-mah." He goes where she goes.

I'm still trying to get Lily and Mo-man to be still long enough for a picture that I can post here.

Lily's Second Christmas

Lily's first Christmas wasn't too exciting for her. We propped her up in her bouncy chair and piled her presents on top of her. Christmas 2008 was a lot more fun....

This is Lily's Little People Nativity Set. We ordered it early so she could play with it all month before Christmas. She loved it. She even learned to say Jesus - "she-shush."

Here is our mini-tree and present pile.
Lily got a lot of cool stuff - a toy chest, play dishes, cars, books, a snowman, a movie, more Little People, a ball, a couple stuffed animals, and some clothes.

This is Lily's cool alphabet chart from Aunt Amber. Lily likes pulling all of the pieces out and naming the ones she recognizes. I was glad that each piece is on a short elastic string so they don't get lost.

Lily is a careful unwrapper. She didn't rip into her presents like we thought she would, but she did wear some of the ribbons around her neck.

Probably the biggest hit of this Christmas was Lily's discovering snowmen. But that's another story!

Lily Gets a Job, Part 2

Monday morning, the rug burn on Lily's chin had a terrible scab over it, but according to her agent, we had to go to the shoot anyway - scab or no scab. Once the sponsors could look at it, they would decide whether to use make-up, try airbrushing, or reschedule the whole thing.

Lily was great on the train again, but she didn't attract as much positive attention as she did to and from her audition. We met up with Kinya (Lily's agent) at a train station downtown and he escorted us the rest of the way to the studio. We got to take the subway, too, a first for the whole family. It was a short walk from the subway station to the studio. Lily fell asleep along the way.

The hair and make-up artist was able to cover her chin scab pretty well. He also brushed a little brown powder in her hair. She still looked blonde, but the powder created more contrast between her skin and her hair.

Lily did great in front of the camera for the first 90 minutes. We took a break and Lily napped a little. After that, we tried for another half hour, but Lily was done. They had taken hundreds of photos and agreed that they had what they were looking for. We were finished.

The product release won't be until August 2009, but Lily will be featured on the packaging, the website, and in print ads. Of course, we will be buying lots of this stuff as soon as it is available. And so will lots of Japanese women who want their skin to look like Lily's... with any imperfections airbrushed into oblivion.

Lily Gets a Job

During November, we took Lily to a modeling fair held on base. Several agencies looking for "Western" talent of all ages come to the base a few times a year to sign up new models. She was a little nervous in front of the cameras and didn't want to let go of Mommy. (She didn't nap well that day.) We did leave before meeting with all of the agencies. Lily had had enough, so we took her home. Modeling in Japan seemed like a wonderful opportunity and experience for our little girl, who we already knew is so pretty.

A few weeks later, we were notified by one of the agencies that Lily was wanted for an audition with Mandom, a Japanese skin care and cosmetic company. Lily and I took the train to downtown Tokyo for the audition. We met several other American moms and babies going to the same audition. We were practically marched through a conference room a half-dozen or so at a time. In Lily's group, she was clearly the favorite. Two babies had just awoken from naps and didn't look happy about it. One girl was hidden behind her sippy cup. Lily was standing on my lap. She smiled and waved at everyone. They laughed when she said "hi," so Lily laughed, too. One of the women evaluating the kids kept staring at Lily like she recognized her from somewhere. As everyone else's gaze moved to each child as they were introduced, she didn't take her eyes off Lily. A quick photo of each baby and it was time to go home. The whole thing took about 6 minutes. I tried to decide if it had been worth the hour long train ride.

A few days later, Lily's rep called to say that she was in the final selection for "the Mandom job." He wanted to see if we would accept the terms and agree to the proposed payment. He called again the next day to say that Lily had the job. We couldn't believe it! The photo shoot was scheduled for the following Monday. (It was Tuesday.)

And then it happened....

Lily fell and scraped her nose Friday morning. A little scratch. No big deal. It would be healed (or barely noticeable) by Monday.

And then it happened... again.

On Sunday, Lily tripped at church. She fell and slid on the carpet, getting a horrible rug burn on her chin. It was so bad it was bleeding. We went home. The shoot was a mere 24 hours away, and Lily no longer looked like her picture from the week before.

To Be Continued