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My dear friend James sent me a package for Christmas. (Thank you, very much!!) Inside were very nice long-sleeve t-shirts for Lilia from Speak Nicely dot com. They have simple, positive statements on the front. I think they are the antidote for the “clever” onesies and t-shirts that say things like “High Maintenance” or “Princess” on them. Lilia had a hand-me-down “High Maintenance” onesie, and I hated putting her in it, but it was the right size, long-sleeve, and easy to get on, so I usually layered it with something on top.

The messages on Lilia’s shirts are: A Smile Is Good, I Am The Future and Say Nice Things. I really like the sentiment, and Lilia likes the shirts– she put one on immediately.

But I have a couple reservations about her wearing them. Immediately upon seeing the “Say Nice Things” shirt, I thought… “But what if she doesn’t say nice things while she is wearing it? Will that make us hypocrites?” I mean, she is only three (almost four) years old… she doesn’t always say nice things! In fact, she tends to growl at toddlers smaller than her!

And then there is the issue of forcing MY message on her. Like putting a baby in a Barack Obama t-shirt. Does that baby really have an opinion? (Lilia actually really liked Barack Obama, but it turned out she liked John McCain too… she was too little to not like someone! Although I never really introduced her to Sarah Palin… I think she would have seen through her in a second!) Lilia had a super cool David Bowie t-shirt when she was a baby… but when I would put her in it, I felt guilty… she didn’t know David Bowie yet, and given her tastes (Pete Seeger or Christmas music, 24-7), she probably wouldn’t like him (yet… I will give her time!).

Anyway, she is now almost four, and she understands the meaning of “Say Nice Things” and “A Smile is Good”… she doesn’t quite get what “I am the Future” means (I asked her… “are you the future?” and she said “No!”). And she is old enough to pick out her own clothes from the drawer, so she can pick out whatever she wants to wear (not that she does that everyday).

I did take some pictures of her in her “Say Nice Things” shirt yesterday.

I asked her to pout in this one:

Finally, a smile with her hair back so you can see the shirt:

And what I feared actually did happen– we were having spaghetti for dinner last night, and I worried that she would get sauce all over her new light pink shirt. I rolled up her sleeves and gave her a napkin; Joe suggested she just take the shirt off. That suggestion didn’t fly– she growled, “I WANT TO SAY NICE THINGS!”  I think the irony was lost on her.

Back in October, I checked out a few Halloween themed books for Lilia. I read her this one: Creepy Crawly Critters and Other Halloween Tongue Twisters
, and thought, what is the point of this? It was filled with simple tongue twisters that did not twist my tongue. I read through it once and thought I would return it quickly. Well, when Daddy and Lilia read it, hilarity ensued. Daddy immediately stumbled over phrases, and they cracked up for hours over, “Which witches britches itch?” (which wasn’t easy to type… it’s not only a tongue twister, but a finger twister).

I decided to check out the joke books in the children’s section, and found this one:
What Do You Hear When Cows Sing?: And Other Silly Riddles
So… do you know? Do you know? What do you hear when cows sing??
Moosic, of course!

Well, now Lilia is practicing her joke telling, and always trying to come up with new ones. Here’s her latest:

Where does a dog park his car?

In a Barking Space!

In case you were wondering how a three (almost four) year old can write her own jokes, I will explain the process…

We were driving up the hill home, and I said aloud, “I hope there is a parking space in front of the house.” Lilia sees two dogs waiting to cross the street, and blurts out, “Barking Space” and cracks up. Barking Space! So then I came up with the “Where does a dog park his car?” bit, based on her punchline.

Sadly, there was not a barking (nor a parking) space in front of our house.

I was working on a long post, but it’s time to go to sleep. Instead, here’s a video of Lilia sorting her Halloween candy.

Lilia rode her tricycle to the playground that is sorta in our neighborhood. There is one other playground, but you need to cross a bridge over the Roosevelt Expressway, which is not the most pleasant experience– graffiti, beer bottles and car exhaust shouldn’t be part of your trip to the playground. Some fuddy-duddies in our neighborhood protested a planned playground in the most central and nicest park, so we are stuck going 1.2 miles away. I like the playground, but I wish that we could just walk a few blocks to a nice playground– we’d certainly go more often if we didn’t have to plan an extra hour for travel into our trip. 1.2 miles with a 3 year old can take less than half an hour if we use the stroller, but I don’t want her to just relax while I’m struggling to push her there– she needs to get her energy out. So, she rode her tricycle there. Well, she sat and “pedaled” while I pushed. But I think she did successfully get her energy out.

Exploring

Car racing

Leaf running

And… after the 1.2 mile tricycle ride home…

Face down on the carpet

I spent some of the weekend organizing piles of Lilia’s clothes into new piles:
outgrown-donate
outgrown-recycle (will give to my sister, she lives near a recycling center that takes fabric)
outgrown-save in a plastic tub in basement in the case that there is another baby and it is a girl
still fits– keep.

Guess what ended up in the “still fits– keep” pile?

Lilia’s first Halloween costume! She was SO CHUBBY as a baby, that I got her the 18-24 month size, because the 12 month size wouldn’t have fit her at eight months.

She wore it again for her second Halloween:

And she put it on this weekend: