I figured out why parents are so impressed with their own kids.

You know how you'll overhear parents talking, and they're like "ooh little Johnny can count to 10 now." And then the other parent finds a similar skill to share like "how fantastic! little Suzy can hold a cup."

And you're like whoop-dee-freaking-do. Lemme know when little Johnny can solve trigonometric equations and I'll be impressed.

But to parents, time is a very fluid thing. At once, time flies faster than you can blink but the memory is as fresh as though it were yesterday.

This tiny little baby couldn't even hold her head up. (It honestly takes my breath away to see her this small. Kiki is bigger than she was at a week old!)

And still, the next day she's doing this.

Ok, she had help. But still. In my mind, I was trying to reconcile this with my image of the same little girl pulling herself up just to take two steps. I love these pictures with Khan's arm holding on. (Not letting go.)

I call her my baby in nearly every reference. This is not a baby.
She met a boy at the park?!
Ok, no. Just found a friend and some toys to play with.
She rolled the ball to him.
And he rolled it back to her.

I wanted to play, too. I almost thought she wasn't going to let me.
Whew. We're not there yet.
And she still waits for her daddy to go down the slide with her.

Mostly.

A low-key kind of birthday.

There had been plans made to celebrate Khan's birthday. However, my crash with the wall and resulting gimp foot scaled everything back.

Which, as it turned out, was exactly how he wanted to spend his birthday. (Or, he was just lying to make me feel better, and I love him for that, too.)

So we had a cake. Considering the house is decorated for Halloween already, I went with it. I suppose this is the curse of those born too near a holiday. I picked out the cake.

Lily chose the plates.

It's all fun and games until you get frosting on your elbow. Drah-mah.

Ok, so that was actually the night before the birthday. On the actual birthday, after every suggestion I could think of, Khan wanted to stay home and be lazy. Easy enough to oblige that request.

We walked around the neighborhood a little. (Sorry for the crappy out of focus shots here.)

We played dress up. When I tried to wear the white hat, Lily gave me a horrified look and said. "No. Daddy's." Well, you can't argue with that, I suppose.

She had to make phone calls. You know how busy toddlers are.

Plotting the next game, we played Lily's version of hide-and-seek. Now you see them.

And now you don't.

Now you see them.

And now you don't.

Repeat, repeat, repeat.

Happy birthday, baby. Love you more every day.

Meet the supporting cast.

I'm told that although I loved my dolls as a child, I never really cared about the stuffed animals a whole lot.

Not the same with Lily. She has a whole cast of characters, each of varying importance on any given day. Allow me to introduce you to just a few.

This is Kiki. Kiki gets a lot of care, but it can be hard on her. Look how tired she is.
Cavebaby carries Kiki by the hair. A lot.
But Kiki gets regular meals, baths, and she gets her teeth brushed, too. Kiki has the purple toothbrush.
Kiki gets tucked in at night. Fortunately, Kiki's pet owl keeps her company under the blankets. Lily is not satisifed until the blanket covers Kiki entirely -- and neatly.
This is Monkey. We picked her up at Disney World.
And a good thing we did, too, or we would've been pushing an empty stroller.
This is Bih Buhd. Bih Buhd likes yogurt.
Kitty likes yogurt, too.

Lily doesn't like it when Kitty takes Bih Buhd's yogurt, though.

Bih Buhd wears swim diapers, in case you wondered. That makes sense, I suppose.
This is Bear. He's our resident party animal.
He gets invited to birthday parties and tea parties.
And picnics. He got the chocolate ice cream.
But he had too much.
Bear is working on potty training.
This is Bunny.
Bunny likes the slide.
And this is Stitch. Poor Stitch is always dirty.

After a bath comes Stitch's diaper change.

With cream. You know, to prevent diaper rash. Applied ever so carefully.

Pleased with her caretaking skills.