Stung by a bee

 

You know when you tell your child to not to do something, and you see them not listening to you so you think " I guess they will just have to learn for themselves." Well that happened today. Jaliyah got stung by a Bee for the first, and most likely, not the last time in her life.

 It might not seem like that big of a deal being stung by a bee, but for me it was. Two reasons 1) I am a mom and i thought she was going to die 2) My mom and my siblings(me included) have never been stung by a bee so i didn't know how to take care of the 

sting.

That is as bad as it got.

 

 Liyah loves animals and bugs. She doesn't have any fears, actually, she is a huge dare devil. Well we were doing a photo shoot today( My brother got a awesome new camera) My brother is trying to build his portfolio and used Liyah and my sister as models. Jaliyah, being curious as she is, found a bush that bees kept coming out of. I told her to leave it alone but she was so excited that she found out where they were going she just couldn't help herself. 

Crying her little eyes out

 

 All I hear is her screaming. She comes running saying "Bee" "Neck". At least I know what happened. I was worried she might be allergic, thankfully she wasn't. She cried for about 10 minutes and then we everything was ok again. 

She is saying "Stop"

 My brother got some pretty good shots. Jaliyah didn't really want to be an awesome model today, but he still made it work. :)

Not wanting to take a picture

Still not taking the picture

Finished product :)

Bumping up and down in my little red wagon

 Well, actually its a blue-ish green-ish color, not red. My sister babysits a couple times a week and the lady she works for was kind enough to give Liyah this wagon. I have been wanting to get her one so its really cool that she has one that i didn't have to pay for.

 The youngest kid is about 8, so the wagon is kind of old. Not too bad though. My step dad had to fix one of the wheels. You can't fix something with out having an assistant, luckily for him Liyah was kind of enough to lend a hand.

After grandpa fixed the wagon we decided to take a walk around the neighborhood. I don't know why i thought this would be fun. Well, Liyah liked it. I on the other hand have a really buff arm from this trip. Good exercise if you want to look at the positives.

 No trip is complete for this little girl with out making stops to pick flowers or point out everything we pass. Trees, plants, flowers,cars,house.. you name it, liyah will tell you about it. It was nice to get her out the house even though the weather was sort of gloomy. She loves this wagon. I can tell she has a lot of plans for it for this coming summer.

Look at the happy baby

Loves picking flowers

Can't drive with open doors

Showing me the "leaves". That is what she was saying

 Side note. My parents just bought her a multi purpose table that she can color on and also use to eat dinner and pretty much anything else you can think of. Very nice table from Ikea. Erase most of the crayon marks and is very sturdy. Liyah Loves it.

Favorite Books: 2012

 Now that Jaliyah is getting older and able to comprehend what is going on around her better, reading to her has become very fun. I have been reading to her every day at least twice a day consistently since she was around one years old. Back then she didn't really care what i read to her, but now that she is older, she has opinions. 

 What I wanted to do was every year, sometime around the time she turns another age, is record what books happened to be her favorite though that particular year. I thought it would be interesting to see the changes through out the years. Side note. Liyah as another 2 Months before she turns two, but i don't think much will change between now and then. 

 Every book that I mention is here for a reason. It is a book that Liyah ALWAYS goes for when its bed time and time to read. I do try to read different books from time to time but the books on this list, hands down, are what we end up going to. She will make me read a new book and then after that read one of these. I think she missed the point.
 I would also like to say this list is in no particular order, I think we have read each of these books a million times. Some of these books made the list because of how much rhyming is involved, some made the list( ex. fingers and toes) because its a book about other babies, A lot of them made the list because she likes books about animals. She Loves animals so it tickles her little fancy to read about them. 

I like that she has variety. It helps because I don't get tired listening to the same story EVERY SINGLE NIGHT. I have a small ability to switch it up every night. It will be interesting to see how much will change by three, if it changes at all.

Gluesticks: Make Your Own Taco Seasoning Mix: For sure going to try this

Gluesticks: Make Your Own Taco Seasoning Mix: Taco seasoning isn't expensive, but it is easy to make from basic ingredients.  I make mine from ingredients that I always have in ...

My best friend The Cat... and other things

Jaliyah has a love for animals that is very hard to describe. For example when we are walking through the neighborhood, she will try to sing and talk to all the animals she sees. Even if the dog is parking it's little heart out, none of that bothers her. She just loves animals. 

There is a cat that has no home that walks around the neighborhood and some how my daughter and the cat have become best friends. The cat comes to the dog meowing for her and scratching at the door for her. Its cool and creepy all at once. Creepy because we have never fed the cat, so it really is just coming over to play with Liayh.

Wanting some love

Follow me please, child

Liyah named the cat Kitty, pretty simple right? I decided to Liyah take on a walk since it wasn't raining today. When we started walking around the neighborhood though, we had a follower. Liyah found it funny and kept saying "coming".

It was a fun walk. The cat didn't stay the whole trip. We passed by a house with five dogs behind the fence and it scared it off. We had a nice walk around the neighborhood though, we picked flowers, we went to the park, ate lunch in the front yard and kicked the ball in the front yard. It was a nice relaxing Sunday.

She wanted to wear a flower in her hair today

Playing kick the ball

Aunty is helping her pick flowers

Pretty Flower

She loves cheese

This is her protesting because I said "Time to go"

Stinky face because we have to leave

 

Jaliyah the painter

Children love to be creative. My daughter is no exception. Everyday she ask if she can either paint or color. Just because she ask, doesn't mean i necessarily give in to the everyday request. Especially to the painting. We have washable paint so it isn't very hard to clean up but to be honest, some times i just don't feel like doing it. Because of that, Liyah decided to take matters into her own hands. I gave her yogurt and while she was eating I went to take care of a couple things. Well, i start hearing my step dad say something to her and when i come out i see her using a spoon as a "brush" and her body is the "paper"

Me: Liyah, what are you doing?
Liyah: Paint

I'm glad she was honest. Lesson of the day: My daughter is very creative.

The spoon as the brush

she was so kind to say cheese while i took the photo

close up on her art work

Project: Potty Train

In about two months( which will be August) Liyah will be two years old. She has been showing signs that indicate she might be ready to potty train. So i think a goal for summer is to get her potty trained. We will see how well that works out.

The signs she displays are not wanting a diaper on anymore. She can tell me when she does #1 or #2, Granted sometime she gets them confused. She still knows something happening down there, and that is what counts, right?

The only problem i am having for this project is how i can't get her to sit on the actual toilet. Not for two seconds. She wont even hover over it and humor me. She will however use it as a step stool, so i guess my money hasn't gone completely to waste. I'll keep you guys updated on how this goes. Hopefully I can get her trained by September by the time I head back to school but i think I am just wishful thinking.

If you have any tips or tricks that worked for you, you should leave them in the comments below. I would love some advice.

Mom-mom

Just like her mother, Liyah has learned to give people new names. Sometimes, it is because she can't pronounce it. Other times, I think she is just trying to be funny.
But like all babies, Liyah has taken the typical name "grandma" and  customized it to fit her needs. So instead of grandma, my moms new name is mom-mom

Liyah and my mom are quite the team. When I say no to something, mainly about food that involve a lot of sugar, Liyah likes to go find mom mom so she can get a yes. They have this connection that is hard to put into words.

Liyah and my mom on the day she was born

But what ever it is, it is soo adorable to witness. My mom loves being a grandma, she says "its like being a parent but you have the choice of doing only the fun part."

That is being a cheater if you ask me.

Below I am posting pictures of baby and grandma. Although there is more to come, it is always nice to look back on the great memories they have already experienced together.