The Life and Times of Lucy Chase

It’s been awhile since our last substantive post, but that doesn’t mean that Lucy hasn’t been growing like weed – a very cute, spirited, dance-y weed. After our excellent impromptu visit to Phipps in mid-December, we did some traveling (to Winchester for Christmas and to Maine for New Year’s), learned about not one but two Goose-cousins coming soon, weathered a major snow storm, and marked Lucy’s 20 month birthday.

It was great to see Grandmommy, Granddad, Aunt Bethany, Uncle Joe, Great Granny, and the whole family in Winchester and Frederick. Lucy enjoyed Christmas and seemed to “get” the morning festivities and unwrapping. The news of Lucy’s soon-to-be cousin was one of the biggest surprises!

In Maine, we had a great time celebrating Great Grandpa’s 90th birthday, which was also accompanied by news of another cousin for Lucy (this time from Uncle James and Aunt Emily). Next Summer will be full of excitement for sure.

Lucy spent some quality time with Bampa (now Bampa Wa-wool?) and Bamma (now Bamma Meow-meow?) as well as G.G. Bop, who managed to give a gift that combined the two animals that Lucy consistently recognized (at the time): the Owl and the Pussycat.

Snow gave Lucy an opportunity to go sledding for the first time with Grammy Peg, Aunt Jana (Nana!), Uncle Justus, and Julie.

Sleep was a little harder for Lucy with all the excitement of travel, so we resorted to napping with her toward the end of the trip… which led to some cute pics:

On our way out of town, we stopped to see Cecile and Zoé for quick visit. Hopefully, we’ll be able to see them a little more (and Taylor too) in the Summer.

It was a great trip. We really enjoyed getting some extended time with all the grandparents. Many, many more photos are up on Flickr.

Starting February 5th, we had days upon days of snow. The whole East Coast got slammed, and Pittsburgh was no exception. A friend told me that this was the worst storm Pittsburgh had had in 15 years, and I heard elsewhere that we got as much (or more) snow in the month of February than the annual average for a full winter! Needless to say, we had a few snow-days, and Lucy got to spend some serious quality time in the snow. It’s a good thing she got to practice up in Maine!

Despite having a gutter pulled down by ice, we have (so far) escaped without any major mishaps. We had a bit more snow this past Friday, but all-in-all, things seem to be clearing up. Many more photos of Snowpocalypse are on Flickr (I’ve also heard “Snowmageddon,” though some have said it’s “snoverrated”).

Snow-bound or not, Lucy has continued to blow us away with her constant development. She now says “Please” and “Thank you” in the correct contexts (mostly). No matter how distracted or exasperated I get (when she’s throwing her dinner on the floor, for instance), her cheery “thank you, Dada” never ceases to snap me right back into shape. If she can thank me so nicely, surely I can pull myself together to deal with a little spilled milk.

The Goose has also really taken to music, even more than before. She now goes once a week to a Music Together class, which I had the pleasure of attending on a day off from work. Lucy participates enthusiastically, but throughout the week between classes, we’ve noticed little refrains or dances from class making their way into her day-to-day vocal and physical vocabulary. Plus, she just likes to dance (here with a stuffed mouse)!

In amidst all the frozen precipitation, Lucy had her 20-month birthday. And now, she’s 3 months and 8 days shy of turning 2 years old! How time flies. Already, I find my internal perception of her isn’t keeping up with her growth. I’m still turning the corner from seeing her as a baby to thinking of her as a toddler, when in reality she is quickly becoming a true little girl. I can barely contain my pride.

As always, many more pictures are available on Flickr: here, here, here, and here

So we’re slowly getting around to posting pictures on flickr and will soon post updates on here.

But, Lucy wanted to share her latest skill – counting to three! While we were traveling over Christmas, she began counting – each thing was “one”. “One, One, One….” Late last week she added two and three.

Love it!

I think one of the loveliest benefits of having a kiddo is all the field trips we take! Lucy reminds us to get out and explore our city.

Today, we added another membership to our roster. Phipps Conservatory joins the Zoo and the Children’s Museum in our collection of memberships.

So this afternoon we wandered around and enjoyed the beautiful foliage and the Christmas displays. We watched the model trains go ’round and ’round. We listened and danced along with some violin players. We ate a nice meal, and we marveled in the lantern light. [many pics here]

We also got some Christmas shopping and errands done, but it was such a treat to spend a few hours as a family exploring one of Pittsburgh’s great destinations. Come visit, Lucy would love to show you around!

Today is Lucy’s 18-month birthday. She’s now been with us for a whole year and a half – that’s twice as long on the outside as on the inside!

She has all kinds of tricks, including shaking her finger at me while saying “Dada” (only semi-disapprovingly). She still loves cats (meow-meows), and now she lights up when there are owls (wa-wools!) about. She hugs and kisses other kiddos her size. She makes faces and plays make believe.

It’s hard to pick a favorite part of my day, but a top choice would definitely be the greeting I get when I come home at the end of the workday. Even as I’m unlocking the door, I hear “Dada? Dada! Dada!” and the sound of little feet. Lucy is so fully of energy and happiness, and it makes my day every time.

There’s so much more, but for now we’ll leave it with this: Happy Birthday Lucy! We love you!

It’s that time of year again! The birthdays are here, the birthdays are here!

I sometimes think it would be fun if Lucy’s birthday were also in November – so we could cram all of our favorite days into one tiny month. But, I think it’s nice that Lucy gets June to herself.

So today is for Eben – happiest of birthdays my dear! And Lucy has been working on the Happy Birthday song. Since I haven’t been able to capture a video of it, I’ll give you my rendition:

Momma sings: “Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday Dear Daddy, Happy Birthday to You!”
THEN Lucy sings: “Daaaaadaaaaaa” sometimes she even claps.

I was trying to find an appropriate picture to include in this post, and apparently we weren’t saving pictures in flickr in 2005 – the first year we celebrated our birthdays as a couple (and I’m SURE there aren’t any pictures from our 1997 or 1998 birthday celebrations). The earliest picture I could find online was this one:

Isn’t little Eben adorable?
It seems like a lifetime ago that we traveled to Seattle and played at the Pacific Science Center, where this picture was taken. Who would have thought that we’d be a family of three now?

Lucy and I are so lucky to be part of Eben’s family of three.

We love you, or as Lucy now says: I yub you.

So we’re behind again – is this a theme in our family? It helps that Lucy was 11 days late on arrival, so you know it runs in the family.

That said, we had a great Halloween and several other fun excursions in the last month. Here are the pictures to prove it:

Lucy Bee at the Highland Park Halloween Gathering

Getting maximum use out of the hand-knit costume at the Pittsburgh Zoo’s ZooBoo

Apple picking at Simmons Farm – Lucy really liked taking a single bite out of every apple she could get her hands on!

Ahh the joys of a breakfast sandwich at the Rochester Public Market – soooooo tasty!

A visit to the Virginia Farm Market while visiting with Grandmommy and Granddad (and Great Granny, and Grand Aunt Robin, and Grand Uncle Dwight, and Michael too.)

And of course just playing in the leaves and enjoying the beautiful October weather!

Hope everyone’s October was filled with crisp leaves and warm mulled cider!

Well, today I heard Lucy say something new AND we captured it on video!

She’s sending lots of love to her Grammy Peg and her Bampa on their birthdays.

Today is Lucy’s 16-month birthday!  She’s closing in on a year and a half, and the milestones are starting to pile up…

Lucy continues to add to her vocabulary.  Momma, Dada, hi, bye, yeah, and no are all firmly ingrained.  She uses each appropriately, which may not sound like much, but it fills me with joy to hear “Hi Dada!” shouted as I come home from work (or over the phone… or from the crib in the morning… etc).  She meows with Lucca and tells Safi to “shhh!” when she barks.  Her toys continue to be favorites for words too.  All of her dolls are “Baby-ah,” and she shouts out “Ball, ball!” exuberantly whenever a ball is in sight.

(this is Lucy at the Children’s Museum (not some auto mechanic’s shop floor) – a great place to visit!)

Lucy’s teeth are coming along well too. She has sixteen teeth on her sixteenth birthday — all but the molars, I believe. She uses her teeth to eat all kinds of new foods. A recent favorite has been plum tomatoes, which she bites into with gusto. Maybe it helps that they are fresh from Granddad’s garden.

The last week has been particularly big:

Last Saturday, she walked for the first time without assistance. Since then she’s been practicing quite a bit. Crawling is still her preferred method of getting around, but she seems to be more and more comfortable being a biped every day.

Other new skills include climbing into chairs and coloring with crayons.

Finally, just this week, Lucy started pooping in the potty. We’ll try to refrain from talking too much about poop, but this was just too exciting. Laura, noticing that her diaper was wet but not dirty, asked if she wanted to sit on the potty (which is something Lucy has been doing every night before bath, often successfully peeing in it). Lucy said “yes,” and when she was on the potty, she pooped. I got a phone call at work during the course of which Lucy said “go poop.”

This has now happened several times since then. In fact, it is definitely far more frequent that she uses the potty than a diaper. She’s so grown up.

Happy Birthday Goose! We love you so much and can’t wait to see what happens in the next 16 months!

PS: Copious pictures now on Flickr.

Lucy in September, Lucy in October, A Fall Weekend in VA and MD, Playing with Sand, and A Trip to the Zoo. Plus, a backlog of Laura’s cellphone snaps and pics from Barb’s camera. And a little non-Lucy side project…

Momma went to work today, so it’s a Goose and Daddy day.  So far, we’ve done some yard work (Lucy helped by sitting on my back – first in the ergo and then in the backpack – and counter-balancing the rake as I held it in front of me).

Lunch was a breadstick, some fish, some stir-fried veggies, grapes, milk, and two bites of Daddy’s pizza.  This afternoon involved refusal to wear clothes (and refusal to nap) along with a lot of good standing up (with no help).

A somewhat distressing corollary to the above refusals is that she’s getting more confident in the use of “no!”  When I approached her with a diaper cover to keep her diaper from coming off while she played, she looked at it and said “no,” shaking her head. I’m proud of her ability to express herself clearly, but I’m not looking forward to the tests of will that this development precedes.

After quiet time (so far no sleeping), the plan is to go to the Children’s Museum until it’s time to pick up Momma.  Goose/Daddy Day seems to be a success so far!

Happy 15-Month Birthday, Lucy (only 2 days late)!

[note: this picture was not taken on Lucy's birthday, but the activity had a celebratory vibe]

Lucy is growing and learning and absorbing the world around her like a little sponge.  On her birthday, she had her 15-month check-up (including shots ), and while her height is in the 50 percentile and her weight is in the 75th percentile, her head circumference is off the chart! All the things she’s taking in have to go somewhere…

Tonight, I was getting ready to take Lucy up for her bath. Laura was chopping veggies for our dinner (halibut on a sweet corn zabaglione), and she offered Lucy half a cherry tomato. Lucy took it and started to bring it to her mouth, but at the last minute, she stuffed it in my mouth. I don’t know if she knows that I don’t like tomatoes, but there was a certain impishness to the act. I thought I would get her back by feeding her a sliver of raw onion, but again, the joke was on me: she seemed to like it and ate several more slices before we adjourned to the tub (where she lifted her foot out of the water to feel the running water on her toes).

New experiences abound for the Goose. Above is a short video of the two bucks (one of which had at least a 10-point rack) that we watched for several minutes from our backyard.

The picture below is proof that Laura and I left Lucy overnight for the first time (we’re in the 2-seater convertible we rented during our 27-hours in San Francisco). Lucy’s Grandmom and Granddad came to stay with her while we were gone, and she barely seems to have missed us (thank you soooo much, Barb & Rick).

Finally, Lucy’s ability to communicate back to the world is growing by leaps and bounds. She has mastered the appropriate use of “Hi” and “Bye” including waves and kisses (blown and otherwise). In the video below, she demonstrates (and says “Night night” for the first time that we know of).

Many (many) more photos and videos are up on Flickr.