Me and Lillian

  

At the wedding!

  

Braden takes Lillian for a spin in his hummer

  

Valerie and Lillian Thanksgiving Day!

  

Those chilly Florida nights

  

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Today Lillian had her 18 month check up. She’s actually 18 months and 16 days, but we just switched doctors and the office didn’t schedule an appointment with us, and for some reason we believed she didn’t have any additional check ups until she was 4 or so, but anyway, there are more appointments and an 18 month appointment was one of them. Her height is 31”(we don’t trust this measurement because it says she’s in the 5th percentile and historically, this would be inaccurate- in addition, this is the first time she was measured standing not lying down), weight = 25.5 lbs (70th percentile) and head circumference = 19 inches.

The doctor asked general questions to determine her development. She asked if she knew any words and prompted me by asking, “does she know 10 to 20 words?” I responded off the cuff that she knew more like 50 words. So when I reported the conversation to Clayton, he wanted to know how many words she knew and we started recording the words and phrases she used for about 2 hours tonight before bed. We are going to keep recording for a few nights so we can more accurately relay her vocabulary to her when she interested in the future. We’re writing this blog in anticipation of a question along the lines of “was I an early talker?” Below are the 101 words and phrases she used. As you read the words, perhaps you can imagine what takes place in our home at night. We were impressed and we know she knows many more words she didn’t say tonight, but we’ll include them as she uses them.

all done doing Light shoes
alright donkey Little shut
baby Drink Lock sink
back dropped it love it sippy cup
big Dumbo Mirror sleepy
blanket eat Mommy Soup
Bless You eating Moon Spit
blue eeyore nap Squeegee
boo boo egg Napkin Sticker
bottom Eyes Nose Sticky
bright floor Nose Sun
bubble get it Open That
bucket hamper Oscar This
bump hand Ouch Toes
button Head Out Tongue
bye bye here Page Tricky
cheek hi pajamas Trombone
chew holding peekaboo Try
chewing hooray pick it up Under
clothes hurt Piece Up
cold ice Pillow Wash
come in in crate Pink Wipe
Daddy juice poopie Wiping
Daisy knee Pretty Write
dog bone lay down Push Yeah
twinkle twinkle little star how I wonder what you are

Clayton also wanted to discuss the house. We got our CO (certificate of occupancy) on my birthday Nov. 16, 2006. We actually moved in the weekend prior, which is illegal. There was a misunderstanding on the part of my dad, our builder, who did an awesome job on the house. The building inspector passed the house and it was assumed we got the CO. We proceeded with loading up the truck, moving our things out of the Bradenton condo and into the new house with the help of some great family members. On Tuesday after the move, I was told we didn’t get the CO due to an old citation we got for not having fences around trees on the adjacent properties. It ended up we had to pay a fine to get it taken care of, but at least we weren’t kicked to the curb. Clayton and I were VERY nervous and jumpy. But since we got the CO, we’ve just been enjoying the house. For the first few nights we had no blinds, and then a few days later we got some temporary paper blinds that adhere to the tops of the windows and are accordion style. Last Monday, on Nov. 27, the shutters were installed so now we have window treatments on ALL the windows. Clayton was a little surprised to see shutters on the window in the bathroom where we have obscured glass, but it will be handy if we want to open that window for some fresh air. The shutters look good and are easy to use- easy enough for Lillian to enjoy opening and shutting them. That week was also good because the fence was installed. We now have a backyard for the puggies to run around. When we got them, we always wished we lived in a house so we could fence the yard and they can run around crazy and now our dream has been fulfilled. We have a nice fenced in backyard and the fence extends about half way down the sides of the house, so the dogs can race all around. Tonight, Clayton, Lillian, Daisy, Oscar, and I spent some time chasing and running around in the backyard. Daisy and Oscar won Most Physically Fit in the Pug Parade in Bradenton and Sarasota last year and we’re very proud of that. We want them to get in shape for this year’s parade so we can enter them again and maybe win again. It’s a hefty competition with about 120 dogs, but ours stand out- it could be the fact that they think ice is a treat! Poor things. One of the last items of importance to our survival in the new house is installation of the internet. We’ve had a trying time with the computer situation here in the Duhl household. First, our computer of 3 years died when the motherboard stopped working. We were told to get a new computer, but since we haven’t sold the condo and have no money, we thought we’d try the one Brooks wasn’t using. We ordered the internet service before we picked up Brooks’ computer, so when the technician came out, he told us we had to have a computer for him to hook it up. We got Brooks’ computer and Clayton gutted it and put our memory and hard drive in it. The computer worked and there were parts all over our room, but we were ready. The technician came. Lillian and I were on the hammock on the porch. The technician left. Clayton said the Earthlink Customer Service rep said you just need Pentium II processor, but apparently you needed more. It was a few days before Thanksgiving and we thought we would shop the Black Friday sales for a computer. On Friday after Thanksgiving, we got our little family organized for the big trip to Daytona Beach to find retail stores because there is NOTHING in Palm Coast (currently- they’re building a Town Center, so that will be remedied within the next few years). We got in the car and drove the 40 minutes to Daytona. The drive was extended because we sat in traffic due to the Turkey Run, which is an annual event in Daytona where people show off their old cars. We got to Circuit City and learned that the good deals were sold out by 5:30 am! By the time we got there around, 10:30, the good deals were long gone. So we got the dog food, which was the ulterior reason for the trip to Daytona, stopped by Office Max and Best Buy to check out their sales and came to the conclusion that you could get a Dell online cheaper. We had our family meeting, and decided to go with the original plan of getting a Mac. We kept saying that we were going to buy a Mac at the end of the summer when my uncle said the prices were going to lower. I’ve kept my eye on the prices, and they haven’t lowered- probably next week… With Clayton working in the educational system we decided he would order the computer and get the educational discount, but we didn’t pursue that when we determined it was only a $100 savings and you could get a refurbished certified Mac for $200 cheaper. That’s the route we chose and we hope it works out. I got Clayton a refurbished keyboard for a present one year and it has worked fine, so we hope the refurbished computer works equally as well. Our refurbished computer matches well with our scratch and dent appliances, our floor model dining set, our handy-me-down furniture, Clayton’s flat feet that require orthotics, my broken toe, and Lillian’s chipped tooth! But anyway, the internet is going to be installed in the house tomorrow afternoon and hopefully all will be good, because we really want to be back on the internet. One reason why we want the internet is because we’re a TVless house and right now have no connection to the outside world except when we use the computers at work. Clayton and I chose to not expose Lillian to television as an infant because we learned at our hospital classes that infants’ undeveloped eyes see the scrolling lines on the television and computer screens and are mesmerized by them. So far we’ve done a good job and entertain Lillian in other ways. The thing that she’s interested in most, at present, is the sun and moon. She always says, “Sun?” and we explain how the sun is yellow and bright and a circle and it goes down at night and up in the morning and when it goes down it gets dark. Then she says, “Moon?” and we explain how the moon is white and a circle and comes up at night and goes down during the day. We tell her that sometimes the moon isn’t visible, but we usually go outside to check. Lillian wakes up talking about the sun and the moon and does the same at night. There are only so many things you can say. I think tomorrow, I’ll explain how I heard on NPR during my 5 minute drive from work today that they’re going to build a base on the moon so that they can travel to Mars in the future. I can talk to her about “Apollo on steroids” and that should keep her intrigued for a few minutes. We do other things besides tell her about astronomy. Clayton performs trombone serenades. Lillian says “Trombone!” with an authoritativeness of a music director trying to get the attention of a spaced out trombone player. She adds much emphasis to the word- Clayton says she could advertise them. We lie in the hammock on the porch. Clayton and I in our previous experience learned that our hammock stand cannot support two adults, so it’s only Clayton and Lillian, Valerie and Lillian, Clayton with the two dogs and Lillian, Valerie with two dogs and Lillian, or Lillian by herself. There are oh so many combinations. It’s amazing how much fun knotted strings can be. Clayton’s very excited that we can use the hammock again and the dogs and Lillian love it too! Adjacent to the porch in the living room, we’ve erected a lovely Buddhist, Egyptian, Hindi shrine- a collection of artifacts from around the world that don’t go together under normal conditions, but make a lovely display surrounding a lit rock fountain. The fountain provides a lovely water sound throughout the house and is especially nice to listen to while lying in the hammock on the porch. The “shrine” is a “look, no touch” zone for our little daughter and she’s doing a good job of restraining herself. Overall, we’ve set up our home and very pleased with the spaces and the little living areas that have been created. We’re very comfortable in our new home- especially since the blinds are in!

If you want our new contact information, please send us an email at c_duhl@msn.com. The emails cduhl01@verizon and vduhl@verizon are no longer good.