Lucy is at the most hilarious stage. Her personality is exploding, as is her speech. The other day she fell in line with Jillian and Peter for a bowl of tortilla chips. When I handed them to her, she said "Sank you," and walked away like it was her 200th time saying it instead of her first. She says "Cheese" for "please," with a huge smile. She also waves and says "Hi" to any and all who pass her and doesn't relent until she gets a reply. (Which floors me when people walk past her smiling, waving and saying "Hi." I mean, what WOULD they think is adorable?) She is very head strong and there is no question she knows what she wants. Add that to her very loud scream and we have the tendency to turn heads, like we did yesterday at the library when I wouldn't let her continue to open the books up and jump up and down on the spine. Because her scream is SO loud, I've been anxious for her to start talking. This week she's started saying "Bo-bos" for bubbles, "ma-mos" for animals, "estuck" for "I'm stuck," "goggie" for doggie. She learned "baby" last week, and is obsessed with babies. She tends to circle carseats and strollers until the parents let her see the baby she assumes is in there.

She's pretty tough too. Two days ago she jumped off the couch and face planted on a matchbox car. Jillian started yelling "Her eye is bleeding a lot!" By the time I got upstairs two seconds later, Lucy was still bleeding but no longer fussing. She loves her independence and doesn't usually feel any need to stick by me if we go somewhere other than home. I often see other parents at the park looking around for the accompanying parent of this tiny person who seems so in charge. Other parents will often say to their children "Oh, watch out for that little girl," to which I usually reply "She's used to it so she doesn't mind." What I'm thinking is "She is the real bully here." :) I say that half-jokingly because I don't really want her to bully other kids but I love that she doesn't take any bull-honky from anyone. About a month ago, our neighbor Jake that I watch a few days a week and who is 3.5 years old, went to pick something up. Lucy wanted it too apparently so she came over and quacked at him. He immediately jumped backwards and dropped the toy.

While I'm on the subject of play, Lucy has become passionate about playgrounds and starts breathing heavily when I say we are headed to the park. She absolutely loves the swings and will lean back, close her eyes and drink in the sun. The slides are another favorite. One of the older kids will show her how to go up the stairs and find the slide when we get there, and then she'll go down time after time after time. She is starting to show love for her little toys too, giving hugs and pats. It's so fun to see this side of her come alive.

Right before I put her down for her nap today, she was watching a movie with Peter. She kept putting her little arm around him and craning her neck to see if he was enjoying the attention. He was, sort of. He kepting smiling at her, as well as scooting away. If anyone has any worries that third or fourth children, and on and on, are deprived of attention, they should follow Lucy around for the day. She has the best fan club members. They carry her around, scoot her down the stairs, give her constant hugs and kisses, beg me to let her do everything with them with promises that "we'll watch her!!" If ever I raise my voice to tell Lucy "No," Jillian sticks up for her and tries to interpret her actions to me. "She's doing that because she wants...", etc. Lucy and Peter have gotten especially close as Jillian has been gone at school. It took longer than I expected but maybe that was just because Lucy was so little at first. I'm excited to see what the dynamic is between everyone this summer! I can't wait for Jillian to be done with the school year!

Lucy also loves to put her face close to yours when she gets sleepy. At the same time she'll do a little hum, her sleeping song as Pops used to say. This is starting to be a way you can calm her down, where previously there wasn't really a way other than removing her from the situation or putting her to sleep. If you put your face close and whisper really quietly, she'll get a little more calm. It's very sweet.