a Day with Lillie

Earlier this week I took care of our niece, Lillie, for the day as her daycare was closed. She is 20 months and to say she is busy is an understatement! I was a little apprehensive at first, just because I've never spent the entire day alone with a little kid before, but (personally) I think it went really well!

We started our morning by eating breakfast together of mandarin oranges, peanut butter toast, milk, and coffee (which was for me...it was already my 2nd cup and little did I know that there was going to be a couple more cups that day). Also I forgot that toddlers need to wear bibs...especially when eating peanut butter covered anything ugh...after breakfast we were on to shirt #2.

While I was picking up our breakfast, Lillie helped by....

pulling all the books & toys off of the shelf. Then while I was picking up those things, I heard noise coming from the kitchen and found this:

her pulling the colorful, stack-able bowls out of the cupboard. It was at this point that I decided to stop picking up for the time being and just wait until her nap.

It was a beautiful day (like 48 degrees at 10am! in January! in MN!) and I could NOT imagine spending it inside all day, despite her valiant attempts to get me downstairs to watch "me-mo" (said in a sad, pitiful voice with big brown eyes). So we got bundled up to go to the park. I think she may have been confused about what the "park" is because this is the look I got when I asked if she wanted to go to the park:

"huh? what?"

Then I remembered she loves to go "outside" and this is what I got:

"out-SIIIIDE!" So "out-siiide" we went...with her new baby of course

At the park we tried out the swings...which led to a complete (almost) meltdown. Yep, freaked her out totally! Even sitting on my lap swinging together, nope, not having it. But the slides on the other hand were a BIG hit! Even the tallest, most twisty ones provoked a "woah!"

after many attempts, we got 1 picture with me where she was actually looking at the camera!

I knew it was time to go home when she repeatedly walked to the stroller and whispered "pease, pease". So we headed home for some lunch (mac 'n' cheese & mandarin oranges...and another cup of coffee for me, oh boy)

and then we tried reading before nap time

and when that didn't result in droopy eyes...we resorted to "me-mo". But the little stinker was having too much fun watching "me-mo" and bouncing around that we just ended up cuddling in the rocking chair in her room and yes, the droopy eyes definitely came out.

So while she napped I picked up lunch and the "trail of toys" she left behind and then settled in for some good old fashioned blog-stalking ;) After waking up and waiting for mom to get home she decided to pull all the books and toys off of the shelf (again) as she wanted to read again

I had so much fun and I'm sure all this sounds riveting and maybe all too familiar for some people, but for me, it was a great, new experience with our niece! Love that little girl!