I cannot believe that my little Lily is ten years old today! It is funny because when she was a toddler, she seemed so grown up that when I look back on her life, I realize how young she really was when things happened in her life. She was around 18 months old when she was correctly naming letters of the alphabet. I remember being at the park with her and we were spinning the squares of the tic-tac-toe game most parks have. She spun it to "X" and said, "X!" It actually sounded like "KS" which is how an X sounds. I looked at her and thought maybe it was some fluke. So I spun it to an "O" and she said, "O." I was shocked. Over the next following days, she would grab the alphabet refrigerator magnets and show me the letters and name them. I got so excited over this that poor Rebekah (who was only 3) would run to the fridge, pull off a magnet and name the letters. However, Rebekah didn't know her letters and named them wrong. I couldn't break her heart so I just smiled and said, "Yeah. Good job." (Thankfully, that never hindered Rebekah when she really learned her letters.)
Lily just seemed so grown up from such a young age. Even when she as born she seemed older because she had so much hair. I am not kidding, she was half monkey.
She was a very happy baby. As she got older, when she was tired, it was bedtime. She wanted to go to bed early (usually around 7) and would sleep until 5 or 6 in the morning. I joke she gets this from my dad who is a morning person. She loved sleeping in her crib and as she got older and could talk, when she wanted to be put down, she would grab her silky (soft piece of fabric she loved) and say, "nite nite."
Her vocabulary was quite large for such a young thing. Around the same time she was correctly naming letters, around 18 months old, I was potty training her sister. Lily didn't want to be left out, so she asked to be put on the toilet. I was amazed that she actually pooped in the toilet! I thought I was going to be lucky and have two kids potty trained at the same time. Well, Lily wanted none of it. After she pooped, she got off the toilet, looked in and saw what she did, looked up and me and said, "Ew! That's disgusting!" And wanted nothing to do with the toilet.
Lily was a daddy's girl through and through. I used to joke that she only wanted me for nursing and just waited until daddy got home. As soon as Adam was home, Lily was connected to him at the hip. She went everywhere with him. I truly believed her little spirit was aware that she was not going to have him for very long. Lily was only 2 1/2 years old when Adam died. I remember trying to figure out how I was going to explain to a toddler that she couldn't see her daddy anymore. I don't know how either one of us got through that difficult time in life, but I know prayers got us through most of it. And I really believe that his spirit was around her to help comfort her in the transition.
When she was 3 1/2 we moved to Cedar City. She still wasn't potty trained all the way. I noticed that after Adam's death, she reverted a ton. Her knowledge of letters, her vocabulary, and just everything went backwards. I know moving didn't help either. Thankfully, she adjusted pretty well and was soon potty trained. What a relief! ☺
I got remarried just before she turned 4. She immediately fell in love with Bill. She still loves to sit in his lap and cuddle. I am so grateful to have found another wonderful man and one who loves children.
And now, today, Lily turns ten. I watched her and she ran off to catch the school bus this morning and smiled as I thought back through the last ten years and am overjoyed to be her mother. She has taught me so much. I never thought I would learn so much from having children.
Happy Birthday, Lily!!
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