Lillie at 18 Months

I feel like whenever I write about Lillie I am constantly using words like sweet, precious, and darling. It sounds so cheesy, but if you know her at all, you know that there is something about
her nature that is so special. Now, before I paint a picture of an absolute cherub, I should mention when necessary, our little lamb can be quite the

lioness! About a month ago, I took her to the doctor determined that she had an ear infection or that something was wrong with my sweet girl. Lillie was being unusually fussy, but she also had begun screaming whenever she wanted anything and sometimes apparently just for fun. Really, more than a scream, it was like a high-pitched screech, like what I imagine a prehistoric bird might make. Her favorite place to let loose was her highchair, or actually, her most favorite was in the highchair of a crowded restaurant, but she also began screeching if she simply dropped something in the playroom and wanted me to pick it up for her! I was convinced something was terribly wrong as my child's personality had seemingly changed overnight. After a thorough examination, my wonderful doctor, half-apologetically gave Lillie a clean bill of health and welcomed me to toddlerhood and temper tantrums! I believe my third-born learned from her siblings that the squeaky, or in this case, the screechy wheel gets the grease!

After a few weeks of readjusting, the screech has died waaaay down, and I'm sure not coincidentally, been replaced by a good hundred words or so! It's kind of like she was just
warming her voice up, getting ready to blow us away by all
she's learned. There's no way to list all that she says, but I'm most blown away by all that she sings! When my doctor was asking at her 18 month check up about her language, I assured her that Lillie was talking well, but of course, a typical Roden child, she wouldn't perform. As the doctor and I talked on, Lillie began singing her ABC's! Dr. Myers was amazed, and even went into the hall and told several of the nurses about the 18 month old singing her ABC's nearly perfectly!

In addition, to ABC's Lillie's favorite songs include, YES, Jesus Loves Me (with the YES sung as loudly and with as much enthusiasm as possible!), You Are My Sunshine, He's Got the Whole World in His Hands, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, and Whose My Pretty Baby. She doesn't have to hear a song many times before she's singing along, and several times, Matt or I have thought Sophie was singing in the car, only to turn the volume down and discover it was Lillie!

The only thing she may enjoy more than singing is dancing! She definitely has her daddy's sense of rhythm and love of dancing, and one of her favorite things is for Matt to give her a beat, so she can practice her moves. She recently discovered the Hokey Pokey, and she begged me to

play the nine-minute song over and over! While most of her moves, seem like a pole should be somewhere close by, I'm hopeful we can take her love of dancing and move it in a positive direction!

She also loves books, and she's begun picking her bedtime books herself. Some of her favorites are Princess Baby, More, More More Said the Baby, Time for Bed, Charlie Parker Played Beebop, and we always end with Prayer for a Child. The other day we gave baths early in the afternoon, and she cried and cried because we didn't go straight to the chair to read after bathtime!

One of the sweetest things about Lillie is how affectionate she is. As soon as she sees the kids in the morning, she says, "I ont kiss!" or "I ont love." She gets so excited each time she sees Zoe, and she can't wait to smooch all over her too! Each night after we read, I rock her to sleep, and sometime before she drifts off, she scoots off my shoulder and reaches up to give me kisses. I'm sure that there have been nights when I was ready for her to go on to sleep, but for the most part, that time with her is one of the most precious parts of my day. It's impossible to spend that quiet half hour with Lillie without feeling like the luckiest woman in the world.

Not only is she affectionate with our family, but she also loves to take care of her babies.

Sophie was never as interested in baby dolls as I was (I think I played with them until 7th grade!), but Lillie seems to have inherited the same love. She strolls her dolls, "feeds" them,

puts them to bed, and she's always sure she has
her angel baby in the crib with her when she goes to sleep. In fact, the only real trouble we have with Lillie and Zoe is that they both want to be the mama of all the babies in the world, and they will fight to the finish over a particular baby doll! I can only imagine the showdown they will have over Lucie! :0

To say that Lillie has her daddy wrapped around her finger is a major understatement. Matt gets her out of her crib most mornings, and I don't know how many times he's come into our room, and said, "I think we may take this one for granted!" She is definitely learning the affect her big blue eyes and sweet smile have on the

menfolk, and based on the way, Matt, Uncle Derek, and Tato fawn over her, I'm afraid we may have trouble on our hands in a few more years! Whereas Sophie and I wouldn't

have the first clue how to flirt, and even less inclination to learn, Lillie already seems to have mastered the art at 18 months!

I wondered how any child would fare coming behind Sophie and Will, but once again, I see that the Lord knows exactly what He is doing. Lillie more than holds her own in our family, and she can accomplish as much through sweetness and smiles as Sophie and Will do through determination and strength! I prayed that Lillie would inherit her Aunt Hope's gentleness, and I'm so thankful that God is answering that prayer. Her smile lights up a room, and her sweetness fills our home with joy. We could not be more thankful for Lillian Hope.