Life with Lydia

Yesterday afternoon we had a fun playdate with my Zumba friends and their families (Jonnie, Chris, Kemet, Kristina, Matt, Reena, and Maria). First, we went to Medlock Park where the kids played ball and, best of all, flew a kite. Lydia LOVED it! She’d learned about flying kites at school, and yesterday she actually got to fly one! She giggled the whole time and was a pro flyer. Without instruction she even knew the pulling-the-arm-back move that helps keep the kite flying. She’s a natural! After the fun park activities we went to Everybody’s for dinner. We all had a great time and look forward to more playdates like this.

We got our first snow of the year a few days ago! It’s so cold outside, that it’s still on the ground! Lydia had fun playing as the snow fell, and she also had fun with it once it had all fallen. Her favorite thing to do in the snow was make footprints. She wasn’t much of a fan of touching, since it’s so cold!

Grandma Becky came up and stayed with us for about a month in October, which was awesome! During this time, Paul and I had a long weekend away to Cancun for a friend’s wedding while Grandma kept Lydia at home (woohoo! relaxation time!). We all had a great time, including the ones who stayed home! Then, when we returned, I worked during the week the rest of the month while Lydia stayed with Grandma. That was a nice break for me, and I had the opportunity to give Paul some much-needed help at work.

Among the fun activities that Grandma Becky and Lydia did was a trip to the zoo on a nice fall day. Lydia got to walk the zoo (instead of ride, what a treat!) and they saw lots of animals. I know Lydia loved the freedom of walking and the experience of seeing all the animals that we read about, talk about, and make noises like on a daily basis. Here are a few shots of their fun adventure.

We just spent about 2 weeks in Florida visiting family and doing lots of fun activities. The best part for me was getting so much help with Lydia. I actually felt like I had quality time off. Thanks to all that helped us have such a wonderful trip! Here is one of my favorite shots. Paul took it one morning of Lydia and me at the beach.

Lydia took her doggie to the park a few days ago. He got to do a lot with her.

We had fun this weekend when we went to one of our favorite annual festivals, the Inman Park Festival, not too far from us. This was Lydia’s first.

She enjoyed it. While walking around the festival, we looked at the booths, people and dogs. We also listened to music, got a balloon dog, and then took a break. We sat under the shade of a large tree in the park and had our brown bag lunch. Lydia knew just what to do when I put the blanket down on the grass, though we’d never done that before. What a smarty pants. She played on the blanket, walked around, and loved having the picnic. After a while we headed home when it was obvious she was hot (and cranky). Lydia helped push the stroller part of the way back.

It was a hot, sunny day. Next year I hope to stay for the best part, the parade!

Lydia loves playing outside with the flora. She’d love to play to the fauna, too, but they have a choice, they are mobile. Here she is having some of her adventures.

Today Lydia got her first haircut. Her bangs were getting in her eyes so I decided it was time. Well, her bangs are now quite far from her eyes, maybe a bit too much but at least she can see. It’ll grow. :-/ Wonder how many first cuts end in way short bangs?

Lydia wiggled and squirmed, as expected. Its a miracle the bangs are straight! She started out in the car and ended on my lap. She fussed a bit because she wanted to get down. The actual cutting she didn’t mind. We tried a movie and toys. In the end bubbles were the only thing that kept her attention for more than a second. We’ll see how it goes next time.

Another great park is the First Christian Park in downtown Decatur. It’s perfect for Lydia, so we visited today.

We visited this park about a month ago, and at the time she was more thrilled with the wood chips than anything else. Today, though, she loved every aspect.

The church park is full of push toys, plastic cars, baby slides and playhouses just her size. She went from toy to toy to toy and enjoyed every minute of it. Plus she loves playing with and watching all the kids there, as there were plenty. I know we’ll play there often.

Today we went to Lydia’s new favorite park and playground with the MOMS Club. We went to the Peachtree DeKalb Airport playground which is right off the runway. Boy did she love that! She didn’t want to leave, she loved it so much.

We packed a picnic lunch and watched the planes land while we ate. She actually sat still (!) on my lap for about 10 minutes while we ate. Unbelievable. In between landings we played on the playground. There were tons of kids there, and she couldn’t have been happier about that. We’ll definitely be going there again!