Quirks

Lily has always been a pretty interesting little girl full of things that I think are abnormal for such a little person. Most of this has to do with her taste in food. Let me illustrate: A couple nights ago, we went with a friend to an El Salvadorian restaurant. This friend ordered a salad that was way too big for her to finish on her own, so she shared it with Lily. The salad was beautifully adorned with slices of avocado, diced tomato, and some cut up olives. We thought for sure Lily would eat all the avocados. What did she go for instead? The olives!! She ate every single one of them!! I was shocked, especially because we have tried giving her olives before, and she's just spit them out. I guess she has decided they're good now. She also ate the avocado and tomatoes, but still. Does anyone else know of a 19-month-old who prefers olives over everything else in a salad?!

She does other weird things with food...like dipping chips in guacamole and licking it off instead of eating the chip too. She doesn't really eat meat unless it's hot dogs or bologna (which she rarely gets). There was this one day where all she wanted to eat was vegetables - not complaining about that!! She loves all fruits and vegetables and will eat them non-stop. One I wasn't sure if she'd like was cucumber - loved it! She loves Ramen noodles with veggies. In case you haven't gotten the point, she'll eat pretty much anything. The two things I've discovered she will just spit out, or shake her head if I offer her more, are lettuce and peanut butter. I think the lettuce is just hard to chew, but Faiver says the dislike of peanut butter comes from her Colombian side. I tell him she'll grow to like it :)

This is her eating the guacamole off the chip

Another thing she's been doing lately is asking for back rubs. She'll lean forward, point to her back, and make a little noise. If I don't start rubbing her back right away, she looks at me and makes her point by being more emphatic. I think this all started because I tend to rub Faiver's back a lot when he gets home from work. Sometimes Lily "helps" too. It's really cute that she asks for them :)

Although we didn't start teaching Lily to fall asleep in her crib by herself for a while (she was at least 8 months old...we will do it a lot sooner with the new baby - it's just better for everyone in our family. I understand if you have different parenting techniques, but this sleep training is one we like). Usually at night, she puts her toys away, takes a bath, gets lotion and jammies put on, reads a story with Daddy and Mommy, says prayers, and gets in bed. We turn her music and nightlight on, leave the room, and she falls asleep peacefully. However, for the past week or so, she has wanted me to be with her while she falls asleep, and it's not just my presence in the room. I sing her some songs until she falls asleep enough for me to leave the room without her noticing I'm gone and freaking out. I admit that at first I was really annoyed that I had to be in there with her when I had other things planned to do with my time. Now it is rather sweet and endearing that she wants me to sing to her - I mean, there's not a lot of time left for her to be an only child, and doing this really adds something special to our bond.

My little girl has a mind of her own, and I love that. These are just some of the things that makes her so special, and I can't wait to see how they grow as she does.