Lunchtime in the high chair is always an interesting time.

Lydia likes to help "clean" her tray, so I give her a washcloth to wipe the tray down after I've already done it. I thought it was a nice activity to keep her occupied while I run and switch the laundry or some other quick thing. After I saw her doing this though, I said no more "helping." At least no more unsupervised "helping."

Today, she amused herself (and me) by making funny faces. I couldn't capture her at just the right moment, but these shots show her silly faces pretty well. She tilted her head, pushed up her shoulders, scrunched up her face, and squeezed her eyes shut. When I pulled the camera out, she added a nice big "Cheeeeeese" to create an even better effect. The chocolate around the mouth is an added bonus to the silly face.

You know how a cat will blindly jump into any open box or bag?

Apparently, so will Lydia.

Meet the first big plastic toy to enter our house.



It is also the first toy to elicit tears when taken away.



Lydia spends hours with it every day. That is not an exaggeration. Literally HOURS.




That means it'a a success, right?

(This post is for Diane, the most awesome mother-in-law in the world. It's true- look it up.)


Diane...look who we found!!!! Don't they look thrilled to be spending time with us?

And this little monkey came to play as well.

I needed to give Lydia something super fun (but not messy) to do while I did some chores around the kitchen. Since she's never painted before, I got out some paint brushes and water, and let her go to town. She had no idea she was even missing the paint, so it turned out to be the best activity for my purposes.

And I'm really glad I didn't give her paint this time because this is what she decided to do when the paint brushes got old!

Lydia found her pocket.

We love Grandma. Come back!

Getting Dressed

Some More of This, That, and the Other

Lydia loves to help me unload groceries- or just walk back and forth with a bag over her arm.

We are loving the summer rainstorms!

We Love Abby

At least 100 times a day, Lydia asks for her cousin Abby. The things I hear on the baby monitor are the same each morning:
"Daddy Daddy Daddy Daddy....blah blah blah....Abby Abby Abby Abby Abby." Much later, she'll start in with "Mommy Mommy Mommy Mommy."

When I go in to get her out of her crib, it's, "Daddy?" To which I respond, "No. Daddy's at work." Then, "Abby?"

When Ryan or I have time, we will answer her pleas for Abby with a peek at Abby's mommy's blog, www.inevergrewup.net, where we can be sure to find a picture of Abby.

Then, all is well.

Happy Half Birthday!

It's Lydia's half birthday! Hard to believe she's existed in our world for 18 months.

This is how you celebrate a half birthday, Wright style.

A half donut.



Sing "Happy Half Birthday To You..."



Eat the half donut.



Put the pacifier back in your mouth to swish around with the masticated donut pieces.

I'm posting again at www.thrilledbythethought.com. I stopped posting in February because I got bored. But now I've changed the angle of my posts (from a 90 degree to a 45 degree....just kidding....bad joke) and I'm enjoying posting again. I'm no longer bored. So go check it out and see if you get un-bored too.