Sunday, April 12, 2009

My Sakura Girl

For about 10 days in the spring, the Japanese flowering cherry trees, sakura, are in bloom. After only a week, every breeze sends petals cascading down from the trees. They swirl to the ground, forming silky pink and white puddles. And in a few more days, they are gone for good. So beautiful, delicate, and all too fleeting. Just like a daughter's childhood....

Lily in the sakura.



Pretty Easter dress. The flowers reminded me of sakura blossoms.



Sakura photos from the base.



Correct pronunciation of sakura - sah-koo-rah.
As with most Japanese words, there is no emphasis on any syllable.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Multiple Lily Stories

This month has been nuts! But, I've made an effort to make some notes (on random pieces of paper) about the funny and cute stuff Lily has done lately, so I could blog about them. Here we go!

We had company over one afternoon, and my friend said, "Um, I think Lily smells." So I asked, "Lily, are you smelly? Do I need to change your bum?" Lily said, "Smelly?" and started deeply sniffing the air with an audible snuffling noise, then, "Oooh! SMELLY!"

Lily enjoying MY soup.

I had a random stomach bug one day this week and was so exhausted that I laid down with Lily in my bed at her nap time. When I woke up, it was apparent that she woke up LONG before I did. The house wasn't trashed, but stuff was different. Like... the toilet paper in the bathroom had been completely unrolled... but I still haven't found where that paper went.

Playing with styrofoam peanuts.

Lily is very keen on happy and sad faces. She always makes the appropriate face when saying, "Happy!" or "Sad!" At the post office, there are signs indicating Enter and Do Not Enter for the package pick-up line, with a smiley face and frowny face, respectively. When Lily caught sight of the frowny face, she stared at it. Her face crumpled and she said, "Sad!" She walked straight at the pole bearing the sign with her arms extended. "Hug!" Yep. She hugged the pole.

I've been behind on the laundry. (I often feel I am perpetually behind on laundry.) And as a result, there is a big pile of clothes waiting to folded on a chair in the living room. Lily has decided that this pile is a slide. She climbs up to the top and slides down again yelling, "Wheeee!"

Sliding down the laundry. (It's really not as much as it looks like.)