Some people have blogs to post recipes or home ideas or advice. My blog is mainly devoted to my sweet family. We named it Growing up Graves because we are all growing daily. Growing as a married couple, growing as parents, growing in Christ. And our sweet Lyla is just growing. I wanted my blog to be full of memories and special events that happen to us in this process of "growing". I never want to forget this precious time in our lives.
So, again, this post is devoted to my sweet Lyla. (Thanks for the idea Amy)
Before we had kids, I would always wonder how in the world parents could understand exactly what their children were saying (when to me, it sounded like a bunch of gibberish). A friend actually made a comment this weekend asking us that very question.."How in the world did you know that's what Lyla wanted". Jeff and I both understood completely what she was asking for when no one else had a clue. You just know...you are around them so much, you just begin to understand their lingo. Well, I know that Lyla will, one day, make perfect sense with her words, but for now her language is so sweet to me. The way she pronounces things and understands things will only last for so long. I want to make sure we remember what our 2 year old Lyla says...
Henna (He-na): This is how she pronounces Hyena. She started becoming interested in animals when Jeff introduced her to an animal sounds app on his ipad. Hyena quickly became one of her favorites. So, we decided that she might really enjoy the movie The Lion King. After one night of watching it as a family, she was hooked. Now we cannot get through a single day without her asking to watch the "Hennas" which is her name for "The Lion King".
Button: This is what Lyla refers to as her belly button. She has never called it a belly button...only a button.
Dora: This is what she asks for when she wants a band-aid. The only non-brown bandaids we have ever bought her, just so happen to be Dora the Explorer band-aids. Whenever she has a "bo-bo" or a "hurt" (as she calls them), she will ask mommy or daddy to get her a "dora".
Pedge Tails: That is the best way I know how to spell what she says. But she says this every time we get in the car, meaning, she wants to listen to The Veggie Tales c.d. (this is also how she says pig tails-which she is actually referring to the rubber band, not the hair in a pig tail)
Example, tonight she was playing with a rubber band and it popped her and she said the "pedge tail hurt her".
Hold you/Help you: Not really a funny one, but something I hope I will always remember. She doesn't understand commands with "Me" (Like hold me, help me) She always says "Hold you, help you". This is probably because we ask "Do you want me to HOLD YOU?", so she responds with "Hold you". Makes sense:)
Shake a baby: This always sounds so awful to people, but let me explain. My mom actually started this when Lyla stayed with her one weekend. Right after Lyla finished eating my mom stood her up in her chair and they did a little shake to get all the crumbs off of her. My mom actually made up a song to go with it. Well, we adapted it here and EVERY TIME Lyla is finished eating, we will stand her in her chair and twist her a little bit and she will say "shake a baby". Easton has actually started doing this too when I keep him. They both giggle and love it. (side note: Do not ever really shake a baby!-we are not harming her in any way!-just thought I'd put that out there!)
Bye buddy, see you later: She will say this EVERY TIME we leave the house. WE often call Diggs buddy, so this is her good bye to Diggs. She also tells everyone see you later when she leaves them. Such a sweet spirit.
I could go on and on and on about all the funny things Lyla says. Jeff and I have found so much joy in just listening to her and watching her. She is so full of life and full of personality.
One of my favorite things to do lately is just watch her with her baby dolls. She LOVES every single one of her babies and she takes such good care of them. She will put them in the swing, or in her chair. Sometimes the babies even have to go to time out. The funny part is, is that everything she does with them is an imitation of what she sees me do with her. I get such a kick out of watching her, because she will do exactly what I do. Even the things that I don't realize that she notices. She rocks her babies, burps her babies, puts her babies on the potty (they don't get candy for that-neither does she), feeds her babies, puts them to bed, kisses them. Never once have I seen her be mean to her babies. I am so glad that she treats them that way, because I always want to be the best mom to her.
**we took her to the zoo last Monday for Labor Day. She absolutely loves animals and we just knew she would love to see them. Most of the pictures from this post were taken that day. A caption for the above and below picture: She begged to ride the merry-go-round. She had been on one once and wasn't a fan of the going up and down, but since she seemed interested, we decided to try it again. Jeff went with her this time. They started off on one of the animals and about the time that they made the first 'round, they had moved to a seat...oh well. Maybe next time:)
