Steps to Learning

On Saturday night, Leah very proudly wrote her name all by herself! YAY!!!  She had been writing each of the letters just moments earlier, so I grabbed some chalk and wrote them in order to spell "Leah", talking about which one came next. She said, "I can do it, I can do it!" and promptly wrote what you see here. I am so proud! Yesterday, I saw her playing with the alphabet magnets on the fridge and she correctly spelled out her name again. This is a great step! Mostly, I'm so glad she has an interest in trying to write her letters and figure this stuff out.

Leah has also developed a love of books, which really makes me happy! We used to read books together sporadically, and at random times of day. So, a few months ago, I decided we really needed to incorporate a story before bedtime. Leah caught on after one night and was asking to read a book! Partly, I think she loved the excuse to delay bedtime a few more minutes but hey, it worked. ;)  She is now familiar with lots of books, loves a few certain characters that we read over & over, quotes lines from some of the stories, and gets excited about bringing different books home from the library. I am so thrilled!

4th Birthday

Once again, the blog has escaped me. Whoops. I wanted to provide a summary on Leah's 4th birthday... but now it's over a month later. Seems like old news, eh? Oh well, let me just get a little recap out of the way so we have something to look back on in twenty years. ;)

Other than the day she was born, this was the first year Leah's birthday did not fall on a weekend... so it was the first time we got to celebrate with Leah on her big day just the three of us. Began the morning with cake batter pancakes for breakfast, followed by a visit to one of Leah's favorite parks where she played for nearly two hours. Even Dan was able to stop by for a few minutes on his lunch break - yay! Afterward, we picked up a dozen cupcakes from our favorite cupcake shop. Leah spent the rest of the afternoon playing at home, while I prepared a favorite dinner - homemade chicken nuggets, homemade mac & cheese, and carrot sticks.

After dinner, Leah opened her gifts from us: a Jane doll (from Disney's Tarzan - thank you, Ebay!), a Lady & the Tramp nightgown, and... what she's been waiting for... Cinderella's dress and accessories!

The following weekend, the grandparents arrived for Leah's annual party! This year, Leah chose a ballerina bear cake, so we went with an overall pink, ballet theme. Again, we went with Leah's favorite for our meal - Peppino's pizza. :)  She's got good taste! Leah had a great time showing off her new playroom to her grandparents, getting pushed on her swings, opening her gifts, and leading everyone down a favorite trail at the Botanical Gardens the following day. As always, a very fun weekend.

The first year Leah could blow out her candle without help!

I already have a few ideas for upcoming blog posts, so let's hope I can get them up this week. :)