Lilyisms lately

Lily's latest thing (this started Tuesday) is that she thinks our van is too empty when we get in it.  I think it's because on Tuesday, her babysitter borrowed my van and hauled Lily, Connor, and 2 other kids in it.  So here's the conversation we had today on the way home from Mom's house.

L: Mom, we need more kids in the van!
M: We do?
L: Yes, we need more brothers and sisters.
M: More brothers and sisters?  How many do you think we need?
L: 5.
M: 5 brothers and sisters?!?!?  Do you want just brothers, just sisters, or both?
L: We need both brothers and sisters!
M: *gulp* Really?  Ok.  Who could give us more brothers and sisters?
L: God gives us brothers and sisters!

A few good things about this conversation are that she WANTS more brothers and sisters so having Connor didn't rock her world in a bad way; she knows that babies are a gift from God; and she isn't particular about gender so she wants brothers and sisters.

I'm just hoping that her sweet ideas don't come true too soon.  I still have a baby for goodness sake!

Speaking of which, my baby turned 8 months on Thanksgiving Day.  He'd been a bit cranky in the few weeks leading up to the holiday - he'd had a runny nose for a couple of weeks and a fever off on and on.  On Thanksgiving he cut his 4th tooth and he felt so much better that he was even more charming than usual.  See what I mean...

Connor hung out with Great Grandpa Gordon on the steps.
GGG taught him to put one foot in front of the other, so now
he is ALL OVER in his walker!

Connor snuggled with Great Grandma Jewel.
He's only 8 months old, and almost as big as GGJ!

Lily has been learning about how to teach our kitten, Whitaker, boundaries.  For example, Whitaker isn't allowed in the Christmas tree.  Chase taught Whit that by shooting him with a nerf gun the first two times the kitten tried to go after ornaments on the tree.  It was shockingly affective!  However, the next day, I had to put the nerf gun up.  Additionally, kitten isn't allowed on the table or counter.  He gets a swift swat when he does that.  Lily is learning to NOT spank him when he's NOT doing anything wrong.

Generally, she's doing so well with him, and he's doing so well with her - they really are best friends. This morning when I fed Connor at 5am, I put him back in his crib and looked over to Lily's bed. Whitaker had snuck into her room and was sound asleep curled up next to her on the bed.

Lily carried Whitaker all the way from her room to the kitchen
in dolly's car seat. Whitaker seemed to like it!

In addition to Lily being best friends with Whitaker, kitten-Whitten is good friends with Connor too.  It's amazing to me the sense that animals have around kids.  Despite that Connor grabs Whit's ears and pulls his tail, Whitaker hasn't ever left a scratch on Connor (I've helped so that that's true, but still...) and he'll come lay down right next to Connor just to hang out!  And can you blame the kitten for wanting to hang out with these two awesome kidlets?

In closing I'd like to commend whoever came up with the idea of race car shopping carts.  I think you deserve a Nobel Peace Prize.  And I hope you earned a lot of money for your invention!  There are moms all over shooting up silent prayers of thankfulness for your good work so we can shop in some semblance of peace.