Yesterday we headed on a bike ride to Dows Lake in search of some ducks to feed. I say that, only because it took us a while to actually find hungry ducks in this particular location. After we accomplished that feat we found a big patch of dandelions, I sat down and Lilah played in the dandelions. She had a house and shop in the middle of them all and she was walking and running around chattering away to herself. She was in her element. She also wanted us both to lie down in the grass together, so we did that too.
I love my life, I love my girl, we have the best times together.
One of the things I love about Spring and Summer, and even Autumn, is that I've got more things (other than Lilah) to pursue and photograph. I realize now that an active 2 year old is probably the most difficult thing I'll ever photograph, I'm not sure her turning 3 soon will prove to be much easier though!
Here are a few of my favorite photos taken today, oh and the first one was taken yesterday.
It was a beautiful hot sunny day.
Yes, I need to dig the plastic pool out of the basement!
But in the mean time, there is always my grocery shopping bin! And she still fits in there, believe it or believe it not. I'd say she's a bit squashed, but it's water, warm bath water I might add, and I know she really couldn't care less about being squashed!
She and I are very alike that way, we love love love water. Oh, and sunshine too!
Lilah had some seriously great fun at Mooney's Bay yesterday. So much so that each time I brought up the subject of leaving, she'd say to me "I'm still having so much fun, Mama".
We set out on a bike ride to feed the ducks, and we ended up at Mooney's Bay. Lilah puttered around, in and out of the water, making birthday cakes out of sand for more than two hours. And I was more than happy to sit, relax, soak up some sun and take pictures of her.
And the sweet outfit Lilah is wearing is another set of the Matilda Jane clothes our good friend Tiffany sent a while back! I absolutely adore the ruffles on her, and the dress makes it the perfect combination!
I'm pretty confident we live in one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
The bike paths, the trees, the flowers, the canal, the rivers. I remember our first trip here in October '99, it was a 5 day fact-finding/house-hunting visit and we were mesmerized by the beauty of this city.
I had those same first memories and wonderment last evening when Lilah and I went out biking along the Rideau Canal. The sun was slowly slipping away, there was just a slight coolness in the air with a little breeze. Miss Lilah had a cookie in one hand and her piggy in the other. And me, well, I had my camera and I was feeling pretty grateful, because I've been blessed in so many ways.
We spent the majority of yesterday morning at Playtime4Kids and I had the opportunity to listen in on Lilah conversing with another two year old child, a little boy. I don't believe I've ever been close enough before to hear what she talks about to other children, in fact, I'm not sure if she's ever had a full conversation with another child before. Anyway, I was sitting about three tables away from the two of them, reading. They had just sat down together to have a juice break after running around playing for some time. The little boy was a 'drop off' child, so his parents weren't around.
So what did they talk about? Well, it went like this: He told her that he was eating his rice krispie bar and she told him she didn't want one because she wasn't hungry and that she had a snack earlier, with another little girl. Then he told her the little play housie in the corner was his house. And then, yes, she totally topped that story, here's what she said, word for word:
"I was born in China. I was in another Mama's belly. She had to let me go. I came back with Mama and Baba."
That was it, her little life story. I sat there amazed and proud of my sweet girl. I'm thrilled that she felt comfortable and proud to tell that little boy her story. Seconds later they were onto another conversation, while I scribbled her words down on a piece of paper. Because I never want to forget them, or this moment.
I took these pictures yesterday evening after supper. Lilah and I went out for a walk and we found this lonesome Lilac lying on the ground. She picked it up and we brought it home.
I love Lilacs. I love the flower, I love the colour and I love the scent. In fact, I think I'm going to plant one in our little back garden this year. That's how much I love them. I also love that the name is so similiar to my Lilah girls!
And might I, the most biased mother in the world, add that my daughter has the most beautiful eyelashes. Sometimes they aren't so evident because they mostly disappear when she opens her eyes, but when she is looking down you can see just how long and beautiful they are. These photos really show them off.
Our girl loves the bath.
She spent a long time in it this morning. She likes to wash her own hair now (sigh! what next?) and she has a lot of funny little imaginary games that go on in there.
Here's a couple of things she said in the bath today that made me grin:
Lilah: "Where'd you bought the taps Mama?"
Me: "I don't know sweetie, they're old. They were in the house when we bought it. Do you think maybe they're from Home Depot?"
Lilah: "Umm... Maybe Rona."
Heh! Colin will be thrilled, his girl knows her home improvement stores!
And here's the other story that made me grin: "Baba can't rinse out the cloth. Baba's too old. Just big dirls (girls) can do dat (that)."
There are 3 special Mothers I thank God for on a daily basis:
My Mother
My husband's Mother
My daughter's Birth Mother
These wonderful women gave life to my loves and me.
Thank you so so much.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
I also thank God every day for blessing me with the unique privilege and title: Adoptive Mother
- to a beautiful, sweet, adorable, charming, precious little girl I call my daughter. Lilah Grace.
She just calls me Mama.
Happy Mother's Day!
Oh the difference a year has made on my girl!
I appreciated this article recently: What is an adoptive mother?
Lilah and I spent the morning out in the garden digging out (what felt like) a million dandelions. I would put them into her little bucket and she would then go and dump them out at the corner of the garden. She loves gardening, apart from getting dirty hands, because well, that's just the kind of girl she is. (A lot like me!)
Along the way we found a few worms and she would just look at them as I held them. I eventually asked her if she'd like to hold one, because truly, I'm trying not to make her a prissy girl. Honest! She agreed, so I gave it to her, she looked at it and then looked at me and the first words out of her mouth were: "I can't eat it?" It took me a few seconds to figure out why on earth she might think that grimy little worm was edible.
We sometimes buy these five cent 'gummy' worms in the shop down the street. I guess she thought there was a possibility these might be the same thing, after all we call them worms too! She's pretty astute. I must say though, the colouring is just a little off! And the fact that they wriggle, that would be another huge indicator that we definitely don't eat them!
[ more pictures here ]
You know how children go through the questioning "Why?" stage. Well Lilah hasn't started that yet. However, in the past week she has started asking "Where you bought this Mama?", she asks me that question all the time, usually it's in reference to her toys or her clothes, shoes and even food. It's so cute! She has also started asking me what certain things are called: Like yesterday she brought an elastic band to me and asked "What's dat fing talled (that thing called)?". And this morning she pointed at my shoulder blades and asked "What's dose fings talled (those things called)?" and when I told her they're my shoulder blades she laughed and said (in her funny little jokey voice), "Mamaaaa, put it away!". What a rascal!
I took this picture of Lilah last week. She'd just wakened from her nap and I simply love that soft little sleepy eyed look she still has. I also adore those little monkey pajamas she's wearing.
I was born 33 years ago today.
Lilah, Colin and I all share the same birth month. Three birthdays celebrated over the next four weeks. Mine is today, May 2nd, Colin's is May 23rd and Lilah's is May 29th. I was born in '77, Colin was born in '71 and Lilah was born in '07.
There's something about those dates that makes me smile. We all have a number 2 in the day we were born and a number 7 in the year we were born.
I know, you can go ahead and call me crazy!
The other nice thing is that my daughter was born the year I turned 30, and because of that, I can actually keep track of my age now! Like when she's 3, I'm 33, when she's 4, I'm 34, etc. It's very true, there are in fact, times that I've forgotten my age. No wonder I need a post-it note for everything.
Lilah enjoyed blowing out the candle, even if it was just stuck into the fresh cream on the apple crumble I made last night. Here she is, practicing for her big day!
It goes without saying that I love taking pictures. But, I have a lot to learn. So here goes taking a picture every day for three hundred and sixty five days, otherwise known as 'Project 365'.
I'm going to try and not make this all about Lilah. Okay, who am I kidding? Seriously, I'm hopefully going to try some new things. Possibly different to what I do now and hopefully it will help me develop and try out some different settings on my camera.
Rather than add them to my already busy blog, I have organized a set in flickr. The link is in my header bar above. I also hope to put each months pictures into a mosaic and post them on my blog on the last day of each month, again, hopefully. We'll see how it goes!
And since I'm starting today, this beautiful first day of May, here's my first capture.
[ more pictures here ]
