Yogurt!

Lauren is now very interested in feeding herself using a spoon. The following pictures show the importance of practice makes perfect. We are still working on that one!

Outside fun

This past Sunday we went to Wagner Farm, which is part of the Glenview Park District. Even though the wind was a bit chilly, we had so much fun watching Lauren run all around checking out all the animals.



Lauren was very interested in the chickens, ducks, and baby chicks.



Last weekend we spent a few hours at the Botanic Gardens. Lauren and I went back yesterday as well. It's amazing how much that place changes each week in the spring. Last weekend all of the daffodils were out, but yesterday the daffodils were mostly gone and all the tulips were starting to pop. Lauren loves smelling and looking at all the colors of the flowers. Although if you ask her what color something is, she always says, "Yell-o" When we were looking at the tulips yesterday we practiced saying red and purple too.


Walking on the bridge with Daddy. Walking is so much more fun than riding in the stroller!



I guess all that walking tired Lauren out. She decided to just sit down in the middle of the path.

Mommy's Little Helper

Lauren was a huge help to me while I cleaned the house this afternoon. The TV and coffee table have never looked so shiny!

Playing Dress-up

Lauren was so excited to wear her new jacket from Grammie, that she wanted to wear it inside the house too!



Amanda, one of our wonderful family friends, bought some dress-up clothes for Lauren a few weeks ago. Not only did Lauren LOVE putting all of these clothes on and then looking at herself in the mirror at Amanda' house, but she loves wearing them around our house too. Here, she is modeling her new green hat.


Lauren spent some time with both sets of grandparents so Geoff and I could enjoy a fabulous vacation to Cancun during my spring break. Thanks, grandparents!!! Grammie Sue made sure Lauren had some dress-up clothes waiting at her house too. Lauren is modeling one of her dress-up skirts in this photo.

Easter Celebration

Lauren's first Easter egg hunt. The entire weekend was beautiful weather wise, except for a few hours Saturday morning. This Easter egg hunt started with the Easter bunny flying in via helicopter. Lauren just loves airplanes right now, so this was very exciting for her. The rain didn't bother her either, as she loved picking up the eggs and shaking them. I had to help her put them in her basket though.



Here's a photo of the HUGE spread of food we enjoyed during our Easter celebration Saturday afternoon. Aunt Stephie hosted us and did a fantastic job! We celebrated Saturday afternoon just before we went to church for Uncle Jon's conversion to Catholicism.



Lauren modeling her new outfit from Grammie and new yellow Converse shoes, an early gift from the Easter bunny.



Lauren discovering her Easter basket. This year her basket was filled with stickers, books, clothes, PJs, little snacks, and a huge purple ball. Much different than last year's basket which was filled with baby food and teething biscuits.



Walking back from Easter brunch on Sunday morning with Grammie and Grandpa.




Smelling the flowers with Grammie.

Happy Easter

Exploring

Here are a few photos of Lauren exploring the tight spaces in our house. She loves trying to fit everywhere.


Lauren climbs into the clothes basket now whether it has clean or dirty, folded or unfolded clothes in it.



Lauren likes to sit on top of Daddy's boots and between our shoe rack and organizer.




Dumping toys out of containers and then climbing in them is lots of fun too!



Lauren had her one and a half year old check-up yesterday. Wow...I can't believe how quickly she is growing. Anyway, everything went well except it turns out she has a double ear infection. Even though I felt like a horrible parent for not noticing this earlier, I was grateful that she is such a little trouper she didn't even let us know she was hurting. Lauren is growing well and exhibiting many of the behaviors expected from a one and a half year old. She has really started playing with her toys instead of just carrying them around the house. She still loves her books and spends lots of time making animal noises. The amount of words she can say now is just growing by the day. Airplane and applesauce are two of her new favorites. She has also started realizing her friends' names and is using them as well. With all of this comes much more testing of Mommy and Daddy though. It seems as if more of Lauren's dinner ends up on the floor now because she throws it, rather than in her mouth. Dr. Siegel assured me it's ok if she doesn't eat as much now, but it's still hard for me, as a mom, to be ok with this. Lauren has also started having tantrums when she doesn't get what she wants, especially her milk or "gilk" as she calls it. We are adjusting to these behaviors and trying to work through them. She is much more fun to interact with though!

One of the most difficult new behaviors though is Lauren waking up in the middle of the night screaming. She is doing this about once or twice a week and at about the same time each night. The only way we can get her to calm down is if we go in her room and then rock with her. However, even if she falls back asleep, she jolts back awake when we try to put her back in her crib and screams even more. I asked the doctor about this yesterday and he said it seems like she is having nightmares and we should go check on her, but leave her in her bed to calm herself back down. Oh boy.....this is going to be a tough one. If anyone else has any suggestions, please let us know! I guess all the sleep we were able to bank when Lauren was a little baby is coming back to get us!

Happy Spring!