Life with Leah

Project 365

2012-01-09T09:22:00.000-05:00

I started a new blog for the New Year. A few of my friends are doing a Project 365 Challenge - where you take at least one photo everyday for a year - and I decided to join them. So, here's my shameless plug:

Amanda's Project 365

Yes, I will continue to post here on Life with Leah. :) Still, since many of my photos will, I'm sure, feature Leah, I figured some of you may want to check out the other blog as well. I'll be updating that one more frequently.

Thanks and enjoy!

Chocolate: noun, adjective, verb

2012-01-04T21:08:00.001-05:00

Sunday afternoon.
Dad: "What do you want to do tomorrow?"
Leah: "Go see choo-choo and get donut."
Dad: "Cool, we'll do that."

Monday afternoon.
Dad: "That was a great train ride. Now what?"
Leah: "Let's go get donuts."
Dad: "Oh, yeah. I forgot about that."

The display case at Publix is looking a little sparse. Leah sees a large cookie with M&M's baked into the cookie. That's the choice. So, we tell the lady at the counter that we want one chocolate chip cookie with M&M's. Then Leah eyes the donuts. Only two types: one with a white glaze and one with a dark chocolate glaze.

Hmmmm. We now have one chocolate cookie and one chocolate donut.

Leah instructs that we will sit at the cafe-style tables in the front of Publix. Chocolate (noun) can go bad very quickly if not eaten at once. Leah sits down. Daddy removes her jacket.
Dad: "Which one do you want?"
Leah: "Chocolate."
Dad: "The chocolate cookie or the chocolate donut?"
*Notice, chocolate is now an adjective.
Leah: "Choc-o-late!"
Leah (still): "Chocolate, chocolate, CHOCOLATE!"
Dad (uncharacteristically calm): "They're both chocolate [you pleasant angel]. Do you want the donut or the cookie?"
Leah: "Yeah."
Dad: "Uh, donut?"
Leah: "Yeah."

Leah proceeded to eat the (chocolate) donut. I don't know how much chocolate actually made it in her mouth. For such a small donut, she had enough chocolate on her hands, mouth, chin, cheeks, coat sleeves, and tabletop to cover a donut. This is where chocolate becomes a verb. She chocolate herself. Other people in the cafe area seemed to exit as she chocolate herself. Fortunately, Publix stationed a water fountain near what must be an endless supply of napkins. After cleanup, Leah decided that she was up for more. She sampled the cookie. The chocolate cookie, it's the size of a frisbee. She had half of it.

Trains, toys, and "Everyone Poops"

2012-01-03T21:10:00.005-05:00

A complete day for Leah includes a long ride around a shopping mall in the coal car of the kiddie-train, followed by a quick visit to the toy store. She played in the kitchen set-up towards the front of the store. She enjoyed the mini-sandboxes by the cash registers. She climbed over boxes to reach the little house for the animal figures. Then, she found the item we had to bring home.

"FINALLY! A book that says everything I find funny in life."

By Monday evening, we have read it from beginning to end three times. That may not sound like much, but it exceeds any other book Leah has been exposed to. The best part is that everything in the book is clearly making a strained face. The fish, the whale, the camels. Take a gander at those illustrations and see how you would read that to a child.

Best part:

That's right! A pipe! This book has levels! Once you get past the subject matter, and the drawings of strained animals in mid defecation, you get the absurdity of a man treating his toilet as his inner-sanctum. I guess his cup of coffee is on the other side of the porcelain throne.

Nevermind Kipling, Carroll, or Dickinson. All a three-year-old needs is a little-known author from Japan and the perverse illustrations of a freelance artist to come together in 1977. To compare this book to a mineral, it is gold. To liken it to film, it is Citizen Kane. To christen it a milestone, it is an enthusiastic trip to literature for a little girl, who finds nothing funnier than the fact that everyone poops.

(For those who may not be familiar with his sense of humor, this post was written by my fabulously witty husband. :) )

I Can Do It Myself

2011-11-22T10:49:00.001-05:00

This seems to be Leah's three year old mantra: "I can do it myself." She is very independent and tries her best to be self-sufficient. When we change into pajamas at bedtime, she wants to be the one to take off her clothes. If we're playing outside and she wants her sidewalk chalk, she'll go back inside and get it on her own. When we come inside, she refuses any help to take off her shoes. As long as her cup is on a shelf inside the fridge that she can reach, well, she can get it herself. And so on. It's really rather nice!

Leah is becoming a great helper as well. When she sees me unloading the dishwasher, she always comes over, grabs the utensils, and neatly puts them away in the drawer. She'll also set her plates, bowls, and cups on the counter. One day, a couple weeks ago, I shook out our small kitchen rug before washing it. Before I could sweep up the dirt that had fallen out, Leah grabbed her own broom and told me, "I can do it. You don't sweep." When she was done, she even grabbed her little dustpan and threw all the dirt in the trash! I could get used to this!

At the Sandcastle

2011-11-17T14:12:00.000-05:00

A couple months ago, Dan & I were still figuring out what we should do for Halloween. Did we want to trick-or-treat in town (as we ended up doing), go to a church's trunk-or-treat, go the library for their activities? I told him that a friend of mine from my mommy board was going with her family to Disney World right around Halloween because apparently, they do a trick-or-treat type of event right in Magic Kingdom. We were curious, so we looked it up on their website. And yep, Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party is held on select nights throughout September and October. It sounds spectacularly fun and age-appropriate for Leah...

So, that is what we're planning to do next Halloween. :D

However, we may have made the mistake of already telling Leah this. Naturally, she was curious about what we were looking at on the computer since we seemed rather excited by the whole thing. So, we showed her some pictures of Disney World, telling her it was "Mickey's House", and showed her Cinderella's castle. We told her we'd like to go there sometime, where we could see so many of the characters she knows and loves from her favorite movies.

And now, every single day, she talks about who we're going to see "at the sandcastle" (because, yes, ever since going to the beach, every castle is a sandcastle!). Here's a sampling of what we hear regularly:

"Are Bolt, kitty Mittens, and Rhino going to be at the sandcastle?"
"I want to hug Cinderella and Snow White."
"I want to sit next to Miss Piggy."
"The Wiggles won't be at the sandcastle. They're at their house."
"I don't want to see the mean ones, just the nice ones." (the mean ones are the villians - Scar, Jafar, the Wicked Queen, and so on)
"Simba, Pumba, and the meerkat - they'll be at the sandcastle?"
"Ariel, Sebastian, and Flounder - they'll be at the sandcastle?"
"Woody, Buzz, and Jessie - they'll be at the sandcastle? And Rex and Slinky Dog and..."

You get the picture, I'm sure. ;) Whenever we put on a different movie or she remembers a different character, she asks about whether or not they'll be there and tells us if she wants to hug them or sit next to them. It's awesome she's so excited (and frankly, so are we!) yet it's obviously difficult to convey to her that it's going to be a loooooong time until we go. It may be a long year...

...but on the plus side, when I asked Leah if I could hug Flynn Ryder, she said yes. ;)

Family Art

2011-11-02T14:21:00.002-04:00

Oooh, posting two days in a row. ;)

Like I mentioned last month, Leah's drawings are getting better and better. Lately, she is all about drawing faces, people, and animals. I think we sit outside with the sidewalk chalk nearly everyday, unless it's raining. Dan and I usually draw too, as have other relatives when they come to visit. I tend to repeat the same objects - flowers, birds, trees - and I can sometimes sketch a decent drawing of an object that is in front of me. Dan is much more creative and artistic, able to draw various Disney characters and objects from memory.

This is best illustrated with pictures.

Here are a couple of Leah's recent drawings, a smiley face (which looks like it's in a lightbulb!):

and what she described to me as "a bear with sneakers":

Cute, right? :)

Here is a sketch I did of Mickey Mouse, while looking at a toy that Leah brought outside:

And here is Dan's drawing, from memory with NO visual aids, of The Little Mermaid:

What a show-off. ;)

The Fairest of Them All

2011-11-01T14:15:00.001-04:00

We had a really nice Halloween yesterday! As you can see, Leah dressed up as Snow White this year. Over the last month or two, she's been working her way through many of the classic Disney movies and really loves the princesses. So, it became inevitable that she would choose one for her Halloween costume. After looking through a few ads and going to the store, Snow White was the clear winner in her eyes. The sunglasses give her a modern twist, yeah?

Yesterday's trick-or-treating was the best one we've had yet. Since our neighborhood is too spread out and rural for traditional trick-or-treating, we went to a small town just north of us (same place that Leah's dance class is held). They do a trick-or-treat the local businesses type of event. It was more crowded than I expected, though it was very organized, with local police directing traffic and guiding all of the kids & parents in a clockwise direction for a decent flow. Such a pleasant experience compared to the high-end neighborhood we visited in the past. I also liked that it was held from 4-6pm, before it gets dark (which is great for young children) and before all the teenagers really come out. Then, we could relax at home for the rest of the evening!

Pumpkin Time!

2011-10-27T14:13:00.000-04:00

Last weekend, we visited the pumpkin patch! Leah had such a blast walking around, trudging through the vines, picking up the smaller pumpkins, and taking a ride in the wheelbarrow courtesy of Daddy. We ended bringing home three larger pumpkins to carve, two little ones that Leah wanted to paint, and a jar of apple butter. Yum.

We spent Saturday evening cleaning out the seeds and pumpkin guts from the ones we wanted to carve. Leah dug her hands right in to help out just as she did last year. She seemed to enjoy squishing it all through her fingers.

These are our final products:

Momma carved the traditional jack-o-lantern face as well as what is supposed to be an owl on the far right. Daddy carved Stitch on that middle pumpkin, and Leah painted the small ones yellow and red. :)

Autumn Activities

2011-10-07T14:07:00.000-04:00

Autumn is here! Well, somewhat. We're still wearing sandals and t-shirts here in the South, but the summer humidity is gone and has been replaced by lovely breezes. And though it gets warm in the afternoon, our mornings and evenings are cool and relatively crisp. October is my favorite month here!

Naturally, we're spending a lot more time outside. Leah loves walking through the yard with her hunny pot collecting acorns, pinecones, and leaves. She gets very focused on her work, as you can see. Leah is such an outdoorsy girl and loves tramping through our wooded areas and exploring.

We've also been doing a LOT of chalk drawings on the driveway. Leah's abilities are always improving and lately, she's very interested in drawing faces or people. Or, if I draw something like a jack-o-lantern, she'll come up and add some arms and legs to him. She even added a face to the rainbow I drew last night. Super cute!

Sweet Ballerina

2011-09-14T14:52:00.000-04:00

Time to get caught up; it's been nearly a month since I last posted. What's new?

Leah is potty trained! She hasn't had an accident since August 22nd. Woo! She still asks for and uses a pullup for, ahem, #2, but I'm fine with that for the time being. I've heard from several other moms that it can take awhile to get comfortable with that. No worries.
We were supposed to begin the next round of her parent/tot dance class tomorrow, but apparently, not enough people signed up for the weekday slot. Fortunately, a Saturday class starts next month, so we're all signed up for that one.
Leah is in love with the dress-up tutu she found in her closet last week, as you can see from the photo. She's worn it every single day since Friday, even if only for an hour. She calls it "my ballet" and insists she can put it on herself. :)
She is becoming more and more of a Disney fan, working her way through the Disney princesses and discovering Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, and the gang thanks to Dan's collection of all the old cartoons from the 1930s. Leah's current favorite is Snow White (though we skip through several scary scenes), but she also dearly loves Cinderella, Ariel from The Little Mermaid, and of course, Rapunzel from Tangled. Mulan was another recent favorite in our house too.

All Aboard

2011-08-18T13:17:00.001-04:00

This past Sunday, Leah was treated to a choo-choo ride at the mall, celebrating five days in a row of using the potty!

After the initial potty success that I posted about, Leah seemed to backtrack a little and wanted nothing to do with the potty for the next week. Then, last Wednesday evening, we sat with her in her room for close to two hours, near the potty, playing, talking, tickling, running water, anything. We finally succeeded in making her laugh so hard (at a somewhat inappropriate word!) that she relaxed and peed on the potty again. That began our five-day stretch of using the potty at least once per day!

Monday was a no-go, but for the last two days, Leah has used the potty twice each day, which is an improvement! For now, the trick seems to be recognizing when she has to go and making it to the potty on time, which I know will get better with time. I am just SO thrilled she is using the potty at all. She wants to wear underwear all the time and only asks for a pullup when she has go #2. It is wonderful! I have been looking forward to this for months and I'm so glad we're finally at this point.

For the record, the Pez dispensers have all been cashed in and some have since been refilled. ;) Woo hoo!

Potty Success!!!

2011-08-03T14:59:00.000-04:00

Last night was a BIG night in our house: Leah peed on the potty for the first time! WOO!!!!

If you've kept up with our blog, you know that this is a huge milestone after all of Leah's potty fear after her UTI. For months upon months, we have suggested and encouraged her to sit on the potty, though nothing would happen. We allowed her to follow us to the bathroom whenever she wanted, so she could see it wasn't scary. We bought a bunch of Pez dispensers as incentive, which have sat untouched on top of the bathroom shelf since winter. We promised her rides on the choo-choo train at the mail. I bought special Pixar character underwear. I've tried to bribe her with every sweet imaginable - cake, cookies, ice cream, lollipops. Nothing. Nada. Zip.

Until last night. :D

Dan asked her if she wore any underwear yesterday, to which she replied no. I told him I suggested just sitting on the potty a couple times and she had refused. We both just sighed and shrugged. I decided to try again. I sat in the bathroom with Leah for a little bit, but again, nothing happened. However, she decided she didn't want to put her pullup back on, nor did she want underwear. Just her shorts. OK, whatever. We went outside to play and on a whim, I brought the potty out there with us.

After a short time, I asked if she could sit on the potty again for a few minutes before she chased a ball with Dan. While she sat there and Dan chatted with her, I walked over to her water table and began pouring water from one cup into another to make that trickling sound, trying to trigger something! Soon after she noticed this, she said she wanted me to pour some water on her. I poured it on her hands and feet. Then, she wanted the cup herself and began dumping it all over her body - all while sitting on the potty. It was hot, so Dan took the dogs inside during this. Soon, the water table was just about empty and Leah asked for more water.

I figured, Oooh, maybe the sound of the water filling the table will do it, so I went to grab the hose. It was kinked up and as I finally got it untangled, some warm water that had been sitting in the hose dribbled out, partly on Leah. Then, I hear, "Momma! Momma!" in the tone of voice that usually means she has to pee. I ran over to her and made sure she stayed seated on the potty and sure enough, SHE WAS PEEING IN IT!!!!

I exclaimed, "Leah! You're doing it! You're peeing in the potty!"

As soon as she was done, I went crazy cheering and clapping and giving her TONS of praise. She got a huge grin on her face, got up and looked in the potty, and told me she wanted to show Daddy. So, we ran in the house and got Dan and we had a mini cheering section going on! We immediately told her she could have some candy and remembering the Pez, she told us exactly which one she wanted. :)

I am so relieved. I know this is only the first step, but this is a HUGE one. She wanted to wear underwear to bed, which was fine with me because she wakes up dry nearly everyday. I was hoping to get her to pee on the potty first thing this morning, but unfortunately, we had a couple accidents. No big deal, though. I am going to spend the next few days encouraging her to sit on the potty every so often and hopefully, we can repeat this success and get her trained. I just feel ten times better knowing that the big hurdle of the first time is done! We will get there!

Letters Everywhere!

2011-07-21T13:32:00.000-04:00

For the last couple months, we've been working on letters with Leah. We write them with chalk, we play with the magnetic letters on her easel, we play with an electronic Sesame Street letter game, or we sometimes watch Leapfrog's Letter Factory. She is doing so well! Lately, she loves when I write a letter and ask her what it is, or similarly, ask her to point to a particular letter on the Sesame Street toy. She clearly loves the praise when she's correct and is proud of her accomplishments.

There are only a few letters (N, V, Z) that stump her. I found that one of the best ways for her to remember her letters is to give her a familiar word or person/dog she knows that she can associate with it, such as C is for Cookie or H is for Hud. So, if anyone has any fun suggestions for N or V, let me know! I'm trying zoo/zebra for Z.

The other thing I really love about her interest in letters is that she notices them everywhere now. On storefronts, on posters at the library, on someone's shirt, etc. Last summer, she did the same with her colors. She pointed out various ones she saw, which gave her a lot of practice and helped her master them. It's really awesome to see her doing the same with the alphabet.

Wiggly Party & Winnie the Pooh

2011-07-18T13:31:00.001-04:00

Last Tuesday, we took Leah to see The Wiggles perform in Atlanta! We all had so much fun. Dan took the day off of work and we went to their 2:30 show. From watching The Wiggles' live concert DVD, along with info from friends, we learned that many kids bring roses for Dorothy the Dinosaur (Dorothy's favorite thing in the world) and bones for Wags the Dog. Naturally, we decided we must do the same. ;)

When we arrived at the theater, Leah was a bit apprehensive. For the couple days before the show, I believe she thought she was going to meet The Wiggles; she told us who she wanted to hug when we saw them. So, I think as we walked inside, she expected them to be right there waiting. We checked out the merchandise table, where Leah decided on a plush red guitar with the line, "Play your guitar with Murray" embroidered on the strap.

Our seats for the show were amazing - 5th row! Again, Leah got a bit nervous as each Wiggle came out onstage. I pulled her onto my lap, started singing along with the songs, and pointed various things out to her and within no time, she relaxed. She did a few dance moves to various songs and overall really enjoyed the show. I was so glad!

Truth be told, I had an excellent time as well. I've enjoyed watching The Wiggles on DVD or YouTube with Leah and was really looking forward to the show myself. They are so talented and put on such a fun show for kids and parents alike. I think I snapped a gazillion pictures!

This past week held another new experience: Leah's first movie in a theater. We took her to see Winnie the Pooh! She really did great. When the previews began, and a few were super loud and intense, I noticed that she grabbed Dan's arm and was a little freaked out. Then, when the lights dimmed way down for the start of the movie, she came and sat in my lap again and remained there for the duration of the movie. About halfway through, she asked me if we could turn on the lights. ;) Other than that, she seemed to enjoy the movie and was so excited as each character appeared onscreen. Once we got home, she immediately gathered up all her Pooh stuffed animals to play!

Bethany Beach Trip

2011-06-27T13:26:00.000-04:00

Leah is a beach girl! She & I spent nearly a week at the Delaware shore with Grammy, Grandpa, Laurie, & Ryan. :) First, we traveled to PA on the 9th of June. We mimicked our road trip from last August and left early in the morning (before dawn) so we could be at Grammy's by dinnertime. The trip took just over 12 hours, which is pretty excellent for traveling with a toddler. Leah is an awesome road tripper. She naps, chats, hums & sings, and plays with toys. We didn't use the portable DVD player once!

We stayed in PA for just under two days. We swam in Grammy's pool, visited with extended family on my side, visited with Popel & Grandma for an evening, and went through a bunch of old toys at Grammy's house. Leah now has a bunch of Ryan's old Toy Story toys, my favorite Barbie & Ken dolls, a bunch of Barbie furniture, Annie dolls, some odds & ends, and her favorite: Ryan's rubbery figures of Shadow, Chance, & Sassy from the movie "Homeward Bound". Leah plays with them every single day and clearly adores them. :)

On Saturday, the 11th, we packed ourselves back in the car and drove to Bethany Beach, Delaware. Ah, it was wonderful! Leah LOVED the ocean this year. Once she got her feet wet a couple times, she could not get enough. She giggled, squealed, splashed, and jumped around in the waves. It was a blast. I am so grateful she enjoys the beach and can play out there for hours, because it is truly my favorite place to be.

One day during the week, our friends Rachel & Ethan came to play with us! Rachel & I belong to the same mommy board, and Ethan & Leah were born just two days apart. We met up at their home in Delaware last summer, so this year, they joined us for a beach day. The kids played SO well together and they both love the water. A few times, Leah ran away as Ethan chased her, and she even tried to boss him around a bit. Silly girl. It was really such a fun day and Leah totally conked out for a late nap after they left for home.

We spent one evening in Rehoboth, where we took Leah to Funland to play some boardwalk games (and where Ryan was determined to win Leah a prize). We left with an armful of stuffed animals, thanks to prizes won by everybody, even Leah herself!

It was a big week, with lots of excitement, lots of play, lots of sunshine, and lots of new experiences. Leah had her moody moments, where the stress of being out of her routine got to her and all she wanted was Momma. But all in all, she handled herself pretty well for such a fun-filled week. Leah & I returned home on Friday the 17th, where we were greeted by two very excited dogs and a very happy Daddy. She spent most of Friday's road trip and the remaining weekend catching up on sleep! :)

EVER!

2011-06-04T15:56:00.001-04:00

"Don't touch my toys. EVER!"

"Don't look at me. EVER!"

"You don't do that. EVER!"

Ah, yes. This is the latest thing out of Leah's mouth lately. Leah knows what she wants and now, she can (try to) demand it. The way she yells it is kind of amusing and I seem to giggle every time she says it, which is probably why she continues to do it. (Yes, negative attention. I know. Ooops. It just comes out like "EVAH!" and I can't help myself. She's like a teeny little dictator.) I've been trying to piece together how she picked this up. Last summer, she was very much into the movie, "Lilo & Stitch". In one scene, Lilo tells Stitch, in reference to a precious item, "Don't you touch that. Don't EVER touch it!" That was my first thought, but up until recently, Leah hadn't watched that movie in months. Did that really stick out in her mind?

Then, I realized I sometimes say it when disciplining her. "Don't ever throw things at the dogs!" "We never, EVER hit anyone!" Etc, etc. And of course, she imitates nearly every phrase I use on a consistent basis, so that sort of made sense.

And then, we have "Tangled". Leah has been in love with this movie lately and while paying attention to it one day last week, I noticed that Mother Gothel scolds Rapunzel for wanting to leave her tower. "You're not leaving this tower! EVER!" Ah-ha! Ding, ding, ding!

Truthfully, it's probably a combination of all three of these influences. I, like any mother, simply choose to believe it was from a nasty character in a movie and not me, of course. ;)

Summer Classes & Things

2011-06-01T15:00:00.001-04:00

Dance class began again today! There are only five little girls in this summer session, and Leah is the only "veteran". She was SO excited when we walked into the lobby area and we were greeted by our instructor - it was that sense of familiarity and Leah began dancing around and chatting up a storm. All the other girls are adorable and I think it's going to be such a sweet group for the next six weeks.

Last week, Leah had her first gymnastics class and it was a BLAST! She jumped on trampolines, did somersaults, walked on balance beams, and generally ran around and had a great time. She's been talking about it ever since and cannot wait to go back. I am thrilled it's a success!

Leah also has a brand new bedding set and pillow for her room. For months - maybe even a year now - I've been asking Leah if she wants a pillow for her bed and she's always refused. Recently, Dan was asking her again and she seemed interested this time. So we decided that if we were going to buy a pillow & pillowcase, we may as well pick out a whole new "big girl" set. She had been simply going to bed with the big Pooh crib blanket and her special blankie. Now, she's got a pretty floral set that still matches her yellow & green room, but definitely tells everyone she's a big girl and not a baby. :)

What's New

2011-05-12T09:25:00.000-04:00

A few weeks have slipped by since our last update, so here's a little rundown of what's going on:

Leah is learning letters! She knows F, O, and L everytime. She recognizes D, X, and Y most times. And every once in awhile, she gets E. There's a Wiggles song where they sing about each of their names and what sound/letter they start with. F for "Feathersword" is why she knows that one so well. ;)
She is still very comfortable with bathtime, thank goodness. In the past few weeks, there have only been a handful of nights where we haven't taken a bath. Yay! And for the first time in months, Leah wanted to sit on the potty last night. Nothing happened, but at least she sat down! Baby steps.
Leah is becoming more social with other kids. I got together with some girlfriends and their kids a couple weekends ago, and she played so well with everyone. I was so impressed. She even had her arm around my friend's daughter! Also, she's starting to strike up conversations with other kids at stores & such, with her popular question, "What 'cha doing?"
We signed Leah up for another round of dance class, beginning in June. It's another six week session and Leah asks me several times a week if we're going to dance yet.
We will also be joining a gymnastics class later this month! It lasts for two months, and is a Mommy & Me class. I hope this little monkey enjoys it.

Tearfree!

2011-04-27T12:53:00.000-04:00

If you remember, when I posted about the potty rewards, I mentioned that Leah had finally been enjoying bathtime again after a couple months of pure agony. Ha. Not so fast. She quickly began hating it again. Anytime we started the faucet and declared it was time for a bath, Leah burst into tears. When I pressed her on what was wrong, she would tell me the tub was dirty - she'd see a dog hair or a piece of fuzz and it was the end of the world.

Truthfully, I think that was a cover for the real issue: the feeling of having to pee when she saw and/or heard the water rushing. I noticed that she would keep her legs closed tightly, crouch over, and practically do a little dance. Yeah, you know the one. Clearly, this was still an issue.

And when Leah had her three year checkup a couple weeks ago, she FLIPPED OUT. There were no vaccinations that day, nothing seemingly scary or out of the ordinary. But as Leah screamed and cried over the simplest actions (getting her height measured, the nurse sticking a thermometer in her ear to check her temperature, the doctor wanting to look in her ears or listen to her heart), it because obvious that her brief catheter experience at the hospital in December intensely impacted and frightened her. :(

However, for reasons unbeknownst to me, Leah has asked for a bath three nights in a row now and has not shed one tear! Granted, I've sat in the tub with her upon her asking me to, but if that means a calm experience, I'm all for it. I am not sure if something has just clicked in her mind or what, but I'm grateful. One step at a time.

Also, for the last week and a half, Leah has woken up dry every single morning. So, at the very least, I know when she finally does overcome her fear and relax enough to go potty, she will be a rock star. :)

Leah's 3rd Birthday

2011-04-15T08:10:00.004-04:00

Leah turned 3 this past Sunday! We had a fun, busy weekend with grandparents, Aunt Laurs, and Uncle Ryan here to celebrate. Leah was her typical bossy self, summoning people to her bedroom to play and telling others they weren't allowed. Truthfully, I think Leah was overwhelmed with so much attention focused solely on her from eight people instead of just Dan & I. Still, she did pretty well considering all the excitement! We were shushed from singing "Happy Birthday" though. ;)

Leah's party theme this year was, of course, The Wiggles. I ordered two Wiggles balloons from Ebay and got a bunch of other latex balloons, streamers, plates, and napkins in the Wiggles' colors: blue, purple, red, and yellow. Originally, we were going to do a Big Red Car cake, but Leah's favorite Wiggles' character is Dorothy the Dinosaur, so we did that instead. I baked it from scratch and decorated it free hand, and I think Leah really enjoyed it.

Dan stayed up late the night before her birthday to put together her kitchen that we gave her. Poor Daddy was so exhausted! Leah was very excited that morning to see it. A big grin spread across her face and she said, "I wanna play!" Leah received a lot of other awesome gifts: play food and dishes for her kitchen, gardening tools, puzzles, some plush characters (Curious George, Miss Piggy, and Bert from Sesame Street), a see-saw, clothes, and other toys and items that I'm forgetting! We are so thankful that Leah is so well taken care of by her relatives. :)

Another exciting piece to the weekend was the delivery of a new wooden playset for the backyard. Dan & I purchased this with part of our tax refund and it was not necessarily intended to be a birthday gift; just something fun we wanted to do for Leah with the summer ahead of us. But because of the delivery schedule, it ended up being installed last Friday, just in time for her third birthday. So, I suppose she's a little spoiled. Ah well. We love this monkey. :)

What 'cha doin'?

2011-03-29T13:51:00.000-04:00

All day, everyday, this is Leah's favorite question. "What 'cha doin' Momma?"

"I'm washing dishes, Leah."

Two minutes later... "What 'cha doin' Momma?"

"Still washing dishes, Leah!"

Rinse and repeat. All day long. Even as I'm changing her diaper... "What 'cha doin', Momma?" Seriously, kid? Having the time of my life. Wishing like heck you'd potty train already. Good grief.

There are variations as well. If we're watching a movie, it's "What's he doing? What are they doing?" Sometimes, I answer. Sometimes, I say "I don't know." Sometimes, I turn around and ask Leah, "What are they doing?" and she TELLS ME WHAT THEY ARE DOING. Ah! I'm starting to think that she's simply quizzing me to see if I'm paying attention.

I suppose this is my payback. When Dan and I first began living together, it used to drive him nuts that I would sometimes ask what he was doing when it was really obvious - like changing clothes or getting something to eat. I have sincerely apologized to him because now, I GET IT. It is maddening. Ha!

One Year as a SAHM

2011-03-15T12:01:00.000-04:00

Today marks the one year anniversary of my first day as a stay-at-home mom. This has been the most satisfying, most challenging job I have ever had. No other job, no other experience has filled me with such purpose and such joy. And no other job has ever required me to be so constantly ON.

For me, life with Leah...

...is being there to watch her grow, learn, and figure things out in her own way. To cheer her on, to be amazed by all she picks up.
...is deciding to bake cookies on a Tuesday morning, just because.
...is enjoying Storytime at the library, spending an afternoon at the park, or meeting for a playdate with a friend.
...is piling a toddler and the dogs in the car and struggling to keep them all under control in the vet's waiting area.

...is a constant up and down. Literally. For instance, I give her cereal and then sit down. A minute later, she wants a sippy of milk (why, when there's milk in her cereal, is beyond me). Give her the sippy, sit down. Another minute or two passes and she needs a napkin. I don't think I'll have a meal with zero interruptions until she moves out.
...is having an excuse to do cheesy things, like making heart-shaped pizzas for Valentines Day or wearing green shirts and making green frosted treats for St. Patty's Day.
...is singing and dancing around the house, to the tunes of The Wiggles or simply what's on the radio without a care about how you sound or look.
...is losing your patience, yelling too much, and making mistakes. And then apologizing and explaining that Momma probably needs a timeout.
...is being so grateful for her forgiveness, her love, and her snuggles. Nothing melts me more than, "I love you too, Momma".
...is realizing what's important and what I can let slide or do without.

Some days are hard, some days feel terribly long, and sometimes we're both so happy to see Dan walk through the door in the evening. Still, this has been one of the greatest years ever in my life and I am thankful that I have this opportunity to simply be a mom.

The Monster at the End of this Book

2011-03-14T14:31:00.001-04:00

This story starring Grover from Sesame Street was one of my favorites as a kid, and one of my favorites to read aloud when my brother was young and now to Leah. It seems to have become one of Leah's favorites as well and she asks me to read the book nearly everyday, sometimes multiple times per day. This past Saturday, I noticed her flipping through the book and "reading" the story herself; we both have it memorized now. :) I grabbed the camera and asked her to start again at the beginning, and she gladly obliged! I love it.

Potty Rewards

2011-03-10T11:47:00.011-05:00

These Pez dispensers and additional candy refills sit atop a high shelf in Leah's bathroom, eagerly anticipating the day she finally uses the potty. We purchased them last weekend, from a fun, eclectic store in town, selecting characters she loves from the whole lot of Pez they sold. Leah absolutely loves Pez; our theory on that is because she has control over how much candy comes out. ;) So, last week, Dan suggested that Pez be our potty training reward.

Still, the Pez sit. And wait. And remain full of candy.

In Leah's case, it's the urinary tract infection at Christmastime that set her back. When the incompetent nurse inserted the catheter to obtain a sample, urine went everywhere and to this day, Leah still talks about how the "pee pee fell down". She hated that sensation and so, without a diaper, she just doesn't relax enough to allow anything to happen on the potty, though she certainly doesn't mind sitting there to "try". Even bathtime had been a nightmare for the past two months, because there was no diaper safety net and Leah didn't want the experience of anything trickling down her leg. She would scream and cry and beg to get out as soon as I finished scrubbing her. Thankfully, within the last week or two, Leah has begun enjoying bathtime again, playing with her tub toys, and remaining tearfree.

So, there is hope.

Physically, she could do this. She only has a few wet diapers throughout the day, and can clearly hold it for extended periods of time. She tells me everytime she needs a diaper change, and sometimes even tells me before she's done anything - so I know she recognizes the sensation of having to go. I truly believe if she'd let anything come out in the potty, and saw the enormous fuss Dan and I would make, we would be - for lack of a better word - golden.

It's just this darn mental block.

We have a lot of excitement on the horizon, with her third birthday coming up and family visiting, so I'm not going to do much more than encourage her to try and remind her of the Pez that waits for her. Once the celebration is over, however, and warm, spring weather is abundant, I might try the whole "no diaper, lots of liquids" approach and see what happens. I'm not 100% sure yet.

As with most things, we usually just have to follow her lead. Or come up with a better reward. ;)

Longer Days

2011-03-04T11:08:00.000-05:00

Naps are no more.

About a week after the crib became a toddler bed, the novelty did wear off and Leah began napping again. Not every single day, and not always for the full two hours, but at least half the week (or more) she'd rest for awhile. Success!

However, by the end of last week, Leah started showing more signs that she really didn't need all this sleep. On the days she would nap, she wasn't very sleepy at bedtime (and we would hear her chatting away in her room) or she would wake extra early the next morning. Or sometimes both. :P Even when I tried shortening her nap to one hour versus two, it didn't matter.

So, this week, I did away with naps altogether. She seems fine with 10-11 hours of sleep. Bedtime is 8-8:30pm and she tends to wake between 6:30-7am. She goes strong all day, with the occasional ten minute snooze in the car if we've been out at the park or something similar. I suppose that's that! Since the clocks will be springing forward in another week, we'll probably be outside most evenings after dinner and her bedtime may get pushed back like it did last summer. In that case, we may find it necessary to try a short nap or rest time in the middle of the afternoon, if it seems as though she needs it. But as of right now, it looks like Leah has crossed another item off the "growing up" checklist. Now, if we could just get rid of these diapers...

Spring Fever!

2011-02-27T11:37:00.000-05:00

Spring seems to have arrived early here in the South - or at the very least, we're having a very extended preview that is so welcome! Our highs have been in the 60s for a couple weeks now, with days here & there that climb into the 70s. It is refreshing and joyous!

About a week ago, a Friday, Leah told me she wanted to go to both a park and the Botanical Gardens. It was one of those 70 degree days, so I packed some snacks and juice and off we went! She and I were gone for nearly four hours. Leah loves running and exploring wherever she can.

We've also been spending a lot of time in the backyard, writing with sidewalk chalk, kicking her "Cars" dodgeball, and going down the slide.. The days are also getting longer so we're starting to be able to go outside to play after dinner, like we did every night last summer. It's wonderful, and a nice way to get more of that endless toddler energy out before bedtime. ;)

Also, you may notice a new look here on the blog. Thanks to Makin' Cute Blogs, I have discovered some free photo editing websites that are allowing me to create the header you see at the top of the page, and to overall have fun with photos and graphics. I enjoyed this hobby several years ago and it's been nice to get back into it with the help of these free resources... so if you see the blog style change here and there, it's just because I'm having fun. :) Hope you enjoy!

Jump, Jiggle, & Jive

2011-02-12T13:54:00.000-05:00

I keep meaning to write about Leah's dance class! At the beginning of January, Leah began a toddler class titled, "Jump, Jiggle, & Jive". It's for ages 2-4 and parents must participate as well. There are about 10 kids or so enrolled in the class, mostly girls and one boy. We meet every Saturday morning for about 45 minutes, and it is so cute!

Our instructor, who owns the dance studio, is very upbeat, cheerful, and encouraging. She leads us all in some nursery rhymes that we perform motions to, adds props like shakers and scarves, teaches the children how to bow, blows bubbles while the parents take a breather, and stamps every child's hand at the end of class with a dance-related image. Mostly, it's a lot of jumping, swaying, and being as active as possible. Very age-appropriate and fun.

I think Leah & I were both excited at the first class when one of the songs that was played was "Shimmie Shake" by The Wiggles. ;)

One thing I've noticed is that other than the little boy in our class, Leah is the only other child not dressed in a leotard or tutu. It's not required; the kids are simply supposed to wear something that's easy to move in. So, we do leggings & long-sleeve t-shirts. While Leah does own a couple tutus, I think she finds them uncomfortable and doesn't ask to wear them. Our instructor even has a bin full of dress-up clothes for the kids to play with and Leah could care less. I love that she does her own thing regardless of what everyone else is doing, even if she's only 2. ;)

The class only runs for six weeks, and so our last class is a week from today. I have a feeling Leah will really miss it; she sometimes asks to go to dance during the week. There are more sessions in the summer and fall, and there are various gymnastics classes out there too that we might try at some point. This was definitely a successful beginning!

Puzzles and Pictures

2011-02-08T13:51:00.000-05:00

One of Leah's new favorite activities is doing puzzles. We bought her a few for Christmas, two of which feature favorite movie characters from Toy Story and Cars. At first, when Dan & I tried to sit down and show her how to put together a puzzle, she grew very impatient and frustrated. She would pick up two random pieces and expect them to fit together; when they didn't, and we tried to explain how to try another one, she got mad. Eeek.

However, not one to be deterred by a new challenge, Leah again tried to wrap her brain around these puzzles. She began listening and paying attention when we shared how to match up a character's head with his body, or to look for a similar color, or to flip a piece around so it would lock into place.

Within the course of a week or so, she showed SO much improvement. And now, she loves the puzzles and is a pro at her two favorites. We tried a different puzzle a few nights ago - one that we hadn't touched too much since the holidays - and though she wasn't as quick at matching as she is with the character puzzles, her patience had improved and she was able to focus and work through it with me.

Another milestone Leah recently reached was drawing her first real picture! She was messing around with some markers and she showed me the paper and said, "It's a dolphin!" I looked and sure enough, I could see it. I was super impressed. After she moved on to another activity that day, I saved the picture, wrote the date and "Dolphin" above it, and hung it on the fridge. :)

Freedom!

2011-02-04T11:45:00.001-05:00

Last weekend, Dan converted Leah's crib to a toddler bed. As you can see, that simply meant taking off the front side. In the week or two prior to this, Leah finally attempted to climb out of her crib a few mornings as I came to greet her. She managed to get one leg swung over the side but couldn't quite get the other. Still, that's close enough before we had any injuries. We had been prolonging this step for as long as we could. With the removal of that front side of the crib comes more freedom for Leah to test. And test it she has.

She loves being able to get up, walk around, and open her bedroom door. Or get up and play with her baby dolls. Or get up and look through some books. Noticing a trend here? Yeah, getting up. Not sleeping. At least not at naptime anyway.

On Tuesday, when she was sick with a cold, she did nap for an hour, thankfully. And on Wednesday, even though she never slept, she did stay in her room for an hour just playing quietly. It's only been a week so it's hard to tell if this newfound freedom is still just a novelty and will wear off... or if naps are truly being given up. Yeah, she looks a bit sleepier by early evening, but she hasn't been cranky or showing other signs that a nap is being missed. It's possible we needed naptime more than she did. ;)

For all the wakefulness in the afternoon, bedtime and overnight have been outstanding thus far. She doesn't get up or try to play; and she's even going to bed earlier. I suppose because at that point, she really IS tired from a whole day being up. Hey, if that's the trade-off, that's OK. Still, if she decides in a week or two that she's willing to rest in the middle of the day, Momma certainly won't fight that one.

Growing Up

2011-01-28T14:21:00.000-05:00

Leah is blossoming into a little girl more and more everyday. This photo was taken yesterday when she let me pull her hair into pigtails - and actually left them in most of the day! (The trick was letting her choose what color bands she wanted. ;) ) She looked so much older and truly like an almost-three year old.

Just an hour ago, when I was getting ready to put her down for a nap, she started singing that Wiggles song, "Rock-a-bye Your Bear". It's always been one of her favorites and she's known the hand motions for about a year. But this time, with absolutely zero prompting from me, she sang the entire thing! I was extremely impressed. For the past two days, she's also been singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" (another favorite) and she's actually saying, or very much attempting to say, every true word in the song - not just adding babbles or skipping parts like she was doing just a month ago. It is so exciting to hear and observe.

Leah was a rock star at Storytime this past week as well. I've been letting her choose where she wants us to sit and for the past month or two, she always chooses front and center. In the past, she would choose the back corner, sit on my lap for much of Storytime, look through my purse for snacks, or gawk at other children. Every once in awhile, we'd get a week where Leah would really engage and try to do the nursery rhyme hand motions. But wow, a few months' time has REALLY made a difference. Perhaps a combination of her age and her familiarity with Storytime and our favorite librarian, Leah interacts and imitates nearly everything that the librarian does now. I am so thrilled watching her, seeing her grow into a confident little girl.

Wacky Weather!

2011-01-13T07:44:00.000-05:00

Earlier this week, we had our second winter storm of the season. And it's only January. The past two years, when it snowed, it occurred in February and March. Yikes! Where did we move to?!

Snow began falling Sunday night and continued into Monday morning. Our local airport recorded 8.8 inches of snow. I would've guessed that our yard received about 6", but we didn't measure. Leah had a blast playing outside! She tasted the snow, threw snowballs at Momma, and enjoyed flopping down in it. :)

As predicted, the snow changed over to sleet and freezing drizzle for most of Monday. Ugh. Usually when it does snow here, it doesn't last too long because the temperatures rise back into the 50s and everything melts relatively quickly. Not so this time. We're stuck with arctic air, barely getting to the freezing mark during the day, and lows in the teens. Combine that with few plows and zero salt trucks down here, and it makes for a big icy mess. Schools have been closed all week and Leah & I have been staying in, not even attempting to go anywhere. We've watched several movies, played lots of Playdoh, made a batch of Auntie Anne's soft pretzels, and colored many pictures.

Unfortunately, two visits planned for this week were cancelled due to the storm. Grammy was supposed to arrive on Monday and stay until Thursday, but her flight was cancelled on Sunday in anticipation of the storm. While we've certainly missed her, we're glad she didn't have to experience the hassle of being snowed/iced in at the airport! Also, Popel & Grandma were planning to drive down this weekend for our delayed Christmas, but that has been postponed as well. Our area won't even begin to warm above freezing until tomorrow, and who knows how much road conditions would improve. Safer for them to stay home as well, though they will be missed!

Christmas Recap (Finally!)

2011-01-05T08:41:00.001-05:00

Our third Christmas with Leah was wonderful! Every year is the new best Christmas as she becomes more aware and increases her vocabulary and excitement.

Despite the discomfort from the urinary tract infection that she was diagnosed with three days before Christmas, Leah certainly enjoyed opening gifts, playing with new toys, and generally spending a relaxing day at home.

When I walked into her bedroom on Christmas morning, I told her, "Looks like Santa came last night; there are a lot of presents out there..." to which she replied, "Okay!" and immediately stood up in her crib. :)

After we walked into the living room and Leah surveyed the loot, the first gift she opened was the one from "Bolt". She noticed that her Bolt was sitting in the new tent and we told her that Bolt must've sent a present with Santa. She snuggled her new stuffed Mittens and Rhino. It was sweet!

Leah received a lot of fantastic new toys, some including favorite characters from "Toy Story" and "Cars". In the past week and a half since the holiday, she has really seemed to give all her new toys equal play time and enjoys everything. Dorothy and Wags from The Wiggles do seem to be favorites though, as they accompany her to nap and bedtime everyday. And, as Daddy pointed out, we now finally have more Wiggles DVDs than Barney ones! Woo hoo!

Some additional Christmas photos:

What made this Christmas even more magical was snowfall that began in the evening. Dan and I could hardly believe it! Having a white Christmas is a rarity even in Pennsylvania so neither of us ever thought we'd experience one here in the south. At about 8pm, when the snow had been coming down for about two hours and was sticking to everything, we bundled up and trekked outside to check it out. Our Christmas lights looked even more exciting with snow falling all around!

When we woke up the next day, it was snowing again and continued until just before noon. All in all, we received probably 3-4 inches, which was just enough to play in and marvel at for the holiday weekend. :)

Christmas Traditions

2010-12-19T07:15:00.001-05:00

As a parent, the Christmas season seems to bring more excitement and more fun with each year. It's all so magical and is an excellent opportunity to create traditions and to incorporate special ones from your own childhood. Dan and I have talked about some of the things we loved as kids that we'd like to continue with Leah, and we've come up with some brand new ones to call our own as well.

One of my most favorite memories is making Christmas cookies with my mom and my sister. Mom would use her spritz cookie gun and shoot the cookie dough onto the pans, while Laurs and I decorated with food-colored sugar. Naturally, baking cookies with Leah around the holidays (and throughout the year!) is one of those traditions I want to continue. I mixed the food coloring with sugar, just like my mom used to, and let Leah go to town on our frosted sugar & gingerbread cookies. She had a blast, as did I. :)

One of the traditions Dan remembers fondly is receiving gifts not only from Santa, but from his favorite characters as well. He opened gifts that were from G.I. Joe or Superman. It all added to the magic of Christmas. So, this year, we decided to do the same for Leah. We ordered two small stuffed animals from The Wiggles website - Wags the Dog and Dorothy the Dinosaur. Rather than coming from Santa or from us, we decided The Wiggles should send those along with Santa for their big fan, Leah. Bolt also chose to send a stuffed Mittens and Rhino, as well. ;)

Another tradition I am continuing is letting Leah unwrap a gift from us on Christmas Eve: Christmas pajamas. But I'm adding a new one this year as well. Leah will also open an ornament from us. This year, it's Bolt. Her first favorite movie.

Since Dan and I have been married, he's created a couple lovely traditions that have remained: on Christmas morning, he lights some holiday candles and puts on Christmas music or a holiday movie in the background. At the end of the night on Christmas, he saves one last gift for each member of our family. It's funny, because he does this every year and yet, on the actual holiday, I always seem to forget and it is still a fun surprise. ;)

We figure this is the last year Leah will be sleeping in her crib, so next Christmas will be a bit trickier with her in a bed and having the freedom to get up. Dan and I are planning a new tradition of Santa putting presents under the tree in our family room, while the gifts from family will remain under the tree in the living room (which is right next to Leah's bedroom!). We hope this will save us from making too much noise on Christmas Eve. And we figure we can leave a trail of candy, or something similar, from the fireplace to the tree in the family room. But we have another whole year to figure this one out!

We have less than a week to go until this Christmas and I am so excited. As Leah gets older and more aware with each holiday season, I eagerly anticipate her reaction when she enters the living room on Christmas morning. We're having so much fun already and I know we have so much more to look forward to in future years.

I leave you with a few more photos of Christmas with a toddler. :)

Munching the freshly baked cookies:

Choosing a magnet for each day of the Advent calendar:

Ornaments that are clinging for dear life onto the tree:

And the Virgin Mary... on a Little People tractor?

Christmas Parades

2010-12-08T14:42:00.000-05:00

This past Saturday, Leah experienced her first and second Christmas parades. Two nearby towns were having theirs on the same day - one at 11am, the other at 4pm. It was such a fun day!

The first parade lasted almost a solid 90 minutes. Leah saw floats, horses, marching bands, dance troupes, old-fashioned cars, and Santa on a fire truck. Many of the floats were tossing candy to the kids on the side of the street, and boy, did Leah love that! Since we were there for awhile, I let her have several tootsie rolls and a couple dum dum lollipops. What a sugar high! By the last 15-20 minutes of the parade, she was so bubbly, talkative, and was dancing and jumping all over the place. It was hysterical!

The second parade was much shorter, as that town is smaller. By then, it had gotten colder and since it had been drizzling shortly before the start time, the crowd was small as well. Because of this, you should've seen the amount of candy Leah made out with! We collected more than on Halloween. It was incredible, especially since most of the candy throughout the two parades had been smaller items like tootsie rolls, peppermints, and dum dums.

I think it's safe to say Leah is enjoying this holiday season. ;)

Waving at the floats:

Sugar high ;)

Doing her best Captain Feathersword impersonation: "Ahoy there!"

Santa's Message to Leah

2010-12-03T15:04:00.000-05:00

This has been going around Facebook in the past 24 hours with a lot of my mom friends and I had to try it out. It's so adorable! Leah is currently napping, but I can't wait for her to see it later today. :D

Santa's Message to Leah:
http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/watch/guest/u_k5OsbcbBfkBeBMboCa0w

Video Share

2010-11-24T11:41:00.001-05:00

Since I've neglected the blog recently, for Thanksgiving and Christmas prep (almost done shopping!), I thought I would at least pop on here and provide you with some recent photos and videos. :) Happy Thanksgiving!

Dancing to the Wiggles

Amused by pushing her bike; notice the dogs in this one. ;)

Talking to the little ants crawling along the driveway.

You want candy?

2010-11-09T13:58:00.001-05:00

This is Leah's new thing. She'll come up to me or to Dan and ask, "You want candy?" We say, "No, do you want candy?" She answers, "Okay!" like she wasn't the one who suggested it and we're actually offering it to her. And she gets a HUGE grin on her face. Heh. She's a stinker. She also does this when she wants a tastykake.

The time change has gone relatively well. Leah's daily schedule has pretty much been moved up an hour, which is great for us. I'm an early riser and typically showered & dressed before Dan leaves for work anyway, so I don't mind Leah starting her day earlier as well. Then, we can all get to bed earlier too! (Yes, I am an old lady and I don't care. Ha ha.) For some odd reason, she's always in a more pleasant mood when she naps earlier (1-3 as opposed to 2-4), so this is another bonus with shifting her routine.

And lastly, Leah finally knows all her colors! A couple days ago, she was pointing out colors on a pair of socks or something, and in addition to getting blue and pink correct, she even knew white. I was so impressed. I still don't think she's too familiar with black, but for the last several days, she seems to have all the other basics down now. Yay. :)

Halloween

2010-11-04T15:53:00.000-04:00

Finally got all the pictures uploaded, so we can talk about Halloween. :)

Momma woke Leah from her nap that day around 4:30pm. Boy oh boy, what a grump she was! Leah has her moments, but this was probably the grumpiest she had been in a long time. She wanted to go play outside, then come back inside, then go back out again... whining the whole time. Ugh. We weren't even sure if we'd make it to trick-or-treating.

Thankfully, after some dinner, Leah perked up. She played for a little bit and then we got her dressed in her costume: Jessie the Cowgirl from Toy Story. Her mood started to deteriorate, however, when Momma took too long trying to find an appropriate shirt to go underneath the costume (so that the tags wouldn't irritate her and set her off more!).

Daddy saved the day by taking Leah back outside to play a bit before we left for trick-or-treat. Momma, Grammy, and Grandpa all came outside to take pictures. Leah wasn't feeling the cowgirl hat though. Daddy helped her out with that, and sported the hat throughout trick-or-treat. ;)

Since our neighborhood is pretty rural and spread out, we piled in the car and drove to the neighborhood we visited last year. It had come with a good recommendation from a co-worker, though with Leah being only 18 months old last year, we only hit a small handful of houses before leaving. This year started out about the same as last; it was fairly quiet as we began trick-or-treating around 6:30pm while it was still light out. Leah seemed to enjoy herself, though she was too shy to say "Trick-or-treat", which we pretty much expected. She did say thank you and bye to pretty much every homeowner though, so we were proud! And she made sure to talk to every dog that she encountered. :)

Then, the neighborhood became a zoo. As it grew darker, the amount of trick-or-treaters increased... as did the amount of cars slowly driving through the neighborhood alongside their kids. Clearly, this place has a reputation! Unfortunately, we noticed several kids (especially older/preteen ones) walking through yards, not saying thank you, and trying to grab handfuls of candy. Later, as we were on the way back to our parked car, some 11 or 12 year old boy came up behind Dan, who was holding Leah, and reached his hand into her bucket to take her candy!!! Momma yanked that kid's hand out so fast and asked him what he was doing. His mother (we assume) came up then, apologized, told us he was autistic, and called for him to come over to her. Whatever he was, he should've had an adult with him at all times. No one takes candy from a two year old; especially not MY two year old.

Needless to say, we will not be going back to this neighborhood. It was just too crazy. We felt bad, then, for the homeowners there and that we were trick-or-treating in their neighborhood. Even if we were being polite and respectful, it seemed a shame. So, I'm not sure what the plan will be for next year. Maybe a friend's neighborhood or something.

All in all, Leah seemed to have a good time. She got a modest amount of candy and a fun-size bag of popcorn (that she would not allow in her candy bucket! Ha ha!). She had several pieces of candy when we returned home, and has had a few more pieces each day since. Her favorites seem to be Reese's peanut butter cups, Whoppers, Milky Way, and Skittles.

More pictures, for the fun of it:

Getting Ready for Halloween

2010-10-27T07:57:00.000-04:00

This past weekend, Leah helped me clean out our two biggest pumpkins for carving. She loved digging her hands in there, pulling out the seeds, and dumping them into bowls. She surprises me at times - she's come to dislike having food on her hands and always wants a napkin, yet she had no problem with the stringy pumpkin gunk. Go figure.

I had a couple big spoons to help us dig out the seeds, and Leah loved stirring what we had in the bowls, exclaiming, "I'm making pumpkins!" (What's really cute is "pumpkins" sounds like "cumpkins".) :)

Later in the evening, Dan and I each carved a pumpkin while Leah looked on and played with the little pumpkin pieces that popped out. We did two traditional jack-o-lantern faces that are smiley and fun!

We plan to trick-or-treat Sunday evening. So far, the weather forecast is very promising: low 70s and sunny. Yay! We can't wait to see Leah's reaction this year, as she realizes people will be giving her candy. Aside from ice cream, that's probably her favorite thing in the world.

Here are a couple more pumpkin pictures:

Wordless Wednesday

2010-10-20T15:39:00.000-04:00

Hard to Get

2010-10-14T15:04:00.001-04:00

Lately, Leah is fascinated by and obsessed with Hud. She follows him around, she talks to him, she tries her hardest to pet him or cuddle him. She tells us that Hud's a good boy.

As many of you are aware, Hud has always been the more standoffish dog with Leah. He never snapped at her, was never mean or aggressive. Quite simply, he was the first "baby" in our lives and I don't think he's ever quite gotten over having to share the spotlight or our affection with both Dodge and Leah. Dodge, on the other hand, is a big lovey boy. Leah knows she can cuddle with him, get kisses from him, or bother him all she wants and he doesn't mind a bit. He's easy.

But Hud. Oh, that Hud is hard to get.

Only in recent months has he been alright with Leah petting him or putting her arm around him; he'll even initiate a sniff or a kiss (though whether he's doing that for our praise or because he actually likes Leah, one may never know ;) ). It may have taken him longer, but he's coming around. Slowly, but surely.

Still, we can't help but wonder... will Leah be going after the hard-to-get boys? Ditching the good-natured, lovable guys for those elusive loners?

She sure seems to love a challenge.

Miss Bossy Pants

2010-09-29T15:20:00.000-04:00

You can pretty much guess what I'm going to say with the title of this post. Yes, Leah is turning all her wonderful vocabulary into commands:

"Momma clean up."
"Daddy stand up."
"Daddy go way." (while pointing wherever she wants him to go)
"Momma make food."

And the list goes on. To give her the benefit of the doubt, she does have a limited vocabulary, so she can't yet say, "Momma, can you help me clean up please?" or "Daddy, I want to you stand up with me." I get it; it makes sense when you think of it in that way.

But boy, her tone of voice... sounds like a command. And it gets old. Fast. So, we've started using her favorite word. No. ;)

This girl SO knows how to get me though, to piggyback off of "One More Time". One of her new phrases is "Lookin' good!" She says it when I change her clothes, or when she puts a hairband or hat on my head. A few days ago, she was pretending to talk on the phone (calculator) and at the end of her "conversation", she said, "Love you too" and looked right at me, like she just knew I was going to think that was adorable. She was right, little stinker.

And then, on Monday, we're in Kroger. She's sitting in the cart and at one point, I must've leaned close to her, so she grabs me, pulls me into a hug, and says something that I usually say to her, "You're the best." I nearly cried in the middle of the grocery store.

That's probably the coolest thing a boss has ever said to me. :)

Wordless Wednesday

2010-09-22T07:57:00.000-04:00

One More Time

2010-09-21T08:13:00.000-04:00

When you have a child, especially a little girl, you get a lot of comments like, "Oh, I bet she has you wrapped around her little finger!"

I don't know if we've ever been those parents.

We try to set up various rules and routines, we do time-outs for misbehavior, and we let the grandparents do the spoiling. We've ignored "The Pout", because we knew it was a ploy for attention. Sure, we treat Leah to things every now and then. We let her run the show when it comes to what movie we're going to watch, or we use lollipops to help with a smooth grocery store trip. Still, for the most part, we try to set limits and stick to them.

Except for, "One more time."

Dan and I admit, we are both powerless to this one little phrase uttered by this adorable little girl in her sweet little voice with her cute little hand gesture. When she enjoys some activity, be it twirling with Daddy, getting tickled by Momma, or whatever else we've come up with that day, she will play this card mercilessly when one of us has said, "OK, that's enough for now" or "Let's take a break".

"One more time."

OK, you win. We will do whatever it is you want. Because that is just the most darling thing ever.

Her pronunciation has gotten much better within the last couple weeks, but it used to sound like, "Boo boo time." Ah, the cuteness!

Spinning, twirling, tickling, plotting for world domination? We're helpless. We're wrapped. Leah triumphs.

Capisce?

2010-09-16T15:00:00.000-04:00

Since my brother and cousins were young, I've always enjoyed "little kid language". You know, the made up words they say because they can't pronounce something correctly or because they don't understand the proper forms of speech yet. Just last year, when I was still working full-time, I loved hearing stories about one of my co-worker's sons and the silly things he would say.

Leah's now at that age where she's really trying to say everything, even if it doesn't always come out right. Her language improves each week, and she's always adding new words or phrases to her vocabulary. Along with that comes her "little kid language" that I am relishing. These are some recent highlights:

"Too fit" - A combination of "too big" and "doesn't fit"
"Feel better" - When she means that something sounds good, she says this
"I like it that" - Again, a combo of "I like it" and "I like that" ;)
"Dina-sino" - Dinosaur (from Toy Story)

It's fun, and I'm curious to see what she'll come up with next.

Baking Cookies

2010-09-14T15:36:00.000-04:00

Earlier today, Leah helped me make chocolate chip cookies! It was the first time doing this type of activity with her, and she did well. I measured out the dry ingredients and asked her to put them into a larger bowl... she didn't quite understand my direction and placed her fingers into the sugar/flour in order to transfer them to the bowl, rather than lifting the measuring cup and dumping all of its contents. It's actually really interesting to see how her mind works, as I'm expecting a different response in my own head. ;)

Still, by the time we got to adding the chocolate chips, she had figured out what I was instructing and picked up the cup to pour the chips into the dough. She did a great job stirring the dry ingredients together, and stirring the final dough. As you might expect, she's also a great batter tester too. ;) In fact, she seemed very frustrated that we had to spoon the cookie dough onto baking sheets and leave it there to bake. Clearly, she wanted the dough all to herself. Who can blame her? That's the best part!

Day in the Life

2010-09-02T07:54:00.000-04:00

The April '08 message board I'm a part of has been doing a fun activity called "A Day in the Life of..." Those of us participating have been assigned a specific week where you choose a day and take photos throughout, illustrating your daily life. Leah and I did ours this past Tuesday, and I figured it would make for a good blog post too. It was a fairly typical day for us, and it will be interesting to look back on. :) Hope you enjoy.

This post is very, very picture heavy! Just click below...

Wake-up for me & Dan

Start the coffee while Dan showers

Dan and I both shower, get dressed, drink some coffee together, and then he's off to work. I then set out chicken to defrost for dinner

and enjoy some quiet time online before Leah wakes up

Leah finally wakes up

She likes to "hide" whenever you walk in her room now:

Ah, there's my Leah!

Leah decides on yogurt for breakfast

And I join her, along with my new favorite item, Nutella :D

Leah watches a little bit of Stuart Little while I water plants...

...do some dishes that were soaking from last night's dinner...

and start some laundry...

It's now:

Leah plays with her trains for a little bit

Time to get dressed

Then we hop in the car

And make a trip to Target for diapers, since my coupons were going to expire!

Silly girl in my cart (with her blankie, of course!)

We get home and it's:

We have some outside playtime

Dodge thinks the water table is his dog bowl. :P

We have lunch around 11:30. This is Leah's:

And I have some leftover veggie pizza

Then, we watch a little Wiggles...

...while I fold laundry

And we play, wrestle, dance, and act silly together for a good while. :)

I love this shot :)

I decide to mop my hardwood floors

while Leah plays with her toys

After I finish, I realize she's peeling crayons. :P

Caught! ;)

She then plays with baby dolls and poses for me

Dodge decides to come sit right in front of me, so I realize he must need to go out

So, I go find Hud, who is napping on our bed like he does every afternoon and let the dogs out.

I fix Leah a snack

And then it's naptime!

Ah, and now there's silence in my house

So, I fix a little snack for myself, go online, make some phone calls, and research prepaid phones.

Then I start a little dinner prep while Leah's still asleep (chicken piccata & lemon spaghetti):

4:30, and naptime is over

Leah decides to watch a little Barney...

...while I cook dinner

Yay, Daddy's home!

We eat dinner

Then it's time for all the "kids" to go outside and play

She loves to play in the dirt

My little monkey in action

Proud of herself ;)

Spinning with Daddy!

Finally, a little more playtime inside

And then bathtime. "OK Mom, enough with the photos today!" LOL

We watch a little bit of "Bolt" before bedtime to unwind

Then Leah gathers up her animals and heads to bed!

It's now:

And I conclude my day with ice cream and a good book. :D

You talkin' to me?

2010-08-25T15:17:00.000-04:00

Leah's always been a chatterbox, even with her baby babble, though it seems like her language has had another explosion in the past week or so. She is constantly imitating words and phrases from us or from movies she's watching. She's trying to sing a lot more songs now too - she impressed me by singing a verse from "Here We Go 'Round the Mulberry Bush" in Target yesterday, all in the correct rhythm and doing The Wiggles' hand motions as she sang.

Her most used phrases lately include:

"Look at me!" - usually said with her blankie over her head
"Funny guy/Daddy/Popel/Leah!" - everyone is funny these days
"Ice cream? Ice cream goooood!" - no longer calling it "cuh cuh"
"Come on!" - she uses this to help call the dogs or to keep Momma from browsing in Target ;)
"Eye you." (Love you.) - She's been saying this every time we hug. It's the best.

I'm sure there are more that I'm forgetting. But she's definitely using more and more "real" words instead of baby babble and talking in lots of sentences, which is exciting.

Little Traveler

2010-08-20T16:06:00.000-04:00

As most of you know, Leah is quite the excellent traveler! She & Momma drove up to Pennsylvania last week and then returned this past Tuesday. She behaved extremely well in the car, especially on the ride up when the portable DVD player wouldn't work for more than a few miles. Instead, we listened to six Wiggles songs over and over, sang nursery rhymes, said silly things, and Leah looked at books, babbled to her animals, and napped. Momma was so impressed and so grateful. Thankfully, a new DVD player performed perfectly well on the journey home, allowing us to shave an extra hour off our original trip.

During our visit, Leah spent several evenings in Grammy's pool, once again explored her Uncle Ryan's toybox, visited with Popel & Grandma, played in three different parks, made everyone watch "Bolt", ate lots of goodies, and showed extreme pride and satisfaction in garnering applause from extended family after knocking a stuffed dog on the ground and shouting, "Ta da!" Looks like we might have a little actress on our hands. ;)

We also got to meet another mom & toddler (Rachel & Ethan) from Momma's message board for April '08 kids. It was a blast! Ethan is the sweetest little boy, so willing to share his toys and to play with anyone. Leah gets a little upset when anyone invades her personal bubble so she freaked a little bit when Ethan followed her into a playhouse. When we told Daddy about this, he said with pride, "Ah, that's my girl!" Silly. Still, I think the kids had a good time together overall, and Momma definitely enjoyed it.

We had a great trip and we hope to be able to do it again in the near future. :)

Leah's Cast of Characters

2010-08-02T14:50:00.000-04:00

This group of mutts is what I like to call "The Usual Suspects". From left to right, they are, in Leah's words: Funny Doggy, Bolt, Little Doggy, Big Doggy, and Kitty. Leah must have at least one (but usually more) of these animals with her at all times. They come with us to Kroger, the library, heck, any old car ride really. Sometimes, a baby doll (or two or three!) gets thrown into the mix as well as a random teddy bear. Some days, she's very attached to a certain one or two, and then her preferences change again the next day. But these five animals definitely seem to be the favorites. And at bedtime, you better make sure they are ALL in the crib with Leah, lest you want to incur her wrath. ;)

The following is Leah singing with the end of "Bolt". She knows when it's coming, so you may notice she sings before the last line actually begins, and stops before the singer does. Still, you get the idea. :) She's very big on imitating various songs, dance moves, and scenes from her favorite movies lately, so I hope to catch more on video.

Storytime Success

2010-07-28T14:05:00.002-04:00

I was so proud of Leah at Storytime today!

Quick background: we've been going to the library for months now. In the beginning, she used to need maybe 10 minutes in my lap to "warm up" before she got excited, stood up, or clapped along with any nursery rhymes. For the past month or so, she had been sitting in my lap for almost all of Storytime and I was starting to wonder if it was worth it to keep going. Then, last Wednesday, she barely sat in my lap for two minutes and was up on her feet, imitating the motions to the nursery rhymes, and jumping/dancing right along with everyone else.

This morning, however, I was SO impressed. Not only did she not want to sit in my lap at all, but she sat a little bit of distance from me. She participated in every single song and had a lot of the moves down pat. I was thrilled! I noticed the librarian and other parents smiling at her and her enthusiasm. She looked like such a big girl, and I was beaming with pride. That's my little monkey. :)

The Pout

2010-07-12T14:46:00.003-04:00

This is the face of Leah not getting her way. In the past week, she has become the queen of the pout. Doesn't want to nap? Pout. Warned about throwing toys or going into timeout? Pout. Wants ice cream instead of dinner? Pout. It's rather amusing to Dan & I, really, because we don't fall for it. She hasn't gotten her way once with that face, yet she still tries it. I'll be curious to see how long it lasts. ;)

Little Firecracker

2010-07-08T07:42:00.003-04:00

Summer reached its unofficial midpoint this past weekend, and we had a very enjoyable 4th of July. We tried a new park, where a dog diving competition was being held throughout the weekend. It was such a cute event! Leah loved seeing all the doggies and clapping for them as they splashed into the water. As you can tell, she also enjoyed the playground there, climbing like the little monkey she is. ;)

We took Leah to her first fireworks that evening. Instead of going directly to the park where they were set off, we ended up at a nearby medical office complex where we had a good view, yet the booms weren't loud enough to scare Leah. It was perfect. She absolutely loved them, exclaiming, "Pretty!" and calling out various colors. She seemed rather disappointed when they ended and they were all she could talk about the rest of the night. Even as the week has gone on, she mentions the fireworks here and there, so it definitely made a good impression.

Sadly, Leah seems to have given up The Wiggles for Barney again. :P Every once in awhile, she asks for The Wiggles but mostly, it's the dinosaur she wants to watch as she eats her breakfast. Momma & Daddy are a bit sad by this. ;) We decided not to order tickets for The Wiggles this summer. Available seats were at the far end of the arena and with Leah being unable to really see them up close, it didn't seem worth it, at least not at this age.

One interesting trend Momma has noticed is Leah's current obsession with cereal. She's always liked it, but lately, it's just about ALL she wants to eat. Honey Nut Cheerios, Trix, Raisin Bran, Honey Bunches of Oats... you name it, she wants it. What really makes this amusing though, is that Momma craved cereal like a mad woman while she was pregnant. Could not get enough of the stuff. After talking to some mommy friends, apparently this correlation between cravings and favorite foods is quite true among other toddlers too. Ha!

Activities, Meltdowns, and Motherhood (oh my!)

2010-06-25T15:01:00.004-04:00

A couple days ago, in order to ward off a post-nap whine fest (which often happens, by the way), I showed Leah the stickers that came with her new Sesame Street coloring book from Grammy. As you can see by the front of her shirt, she loved them. She adorned Momma, a baby doll, and Bolt in stickers as well. If only we had a photo of all of us. ;) A couple things from my own childhood that I would love to introduce Leah to are paint-with-water books and Colorforms. I'm thinking Colorforms are probably a no-show nowadays, but I've heard that I should check Walmart for the paint-with-water books. No luck so far at Target, TRU, and Barnes & Noble.

Speaking of B&N, we left that store in a tizzy today. I allowed Leah to play in the children's section for awhile as I scoped out the activity books. They had a train table and a bunch of little stuffed animals that kept her occupied. The problem came when it was time to leave. In the not too distant past, Leah would return stuffed animals to their proper shelves ("to go sleepies") when asked. I don't know if she was simply tired & cranky today, or if she was just being 2, but boy oh boy, what a meltdown! I had to carry her kicking and screaming from the store to the car because she wanted to leave with more stuffed dogs and cats. Ugh. This is becoming an increasing trend too: major meltdowns in public. At least at home, when she flips out about something or yells because she can't get her way, I can ignore her and not give her the attention that she wants. But in public, I have to deal with her. It's exhausting.

Still, as most children do, Leah makes up for it with moments of cuteness and silliness. A couple nights ago, after playing outside in the hot and sticky air, I told her she could have some ice cream. (Or "cuh cuh", as she calls it.) I opened the freezer and the first carton I pulled out was vanilla. I show Leah and she shakes her head and says, "No cuh cuh." Then, before I can even fully pull it out of the freezer, she spots the Cookies & Cream carton, points, and says, "How 'bout cuh cuh?" The girl knows what she likes, I'll tell ya. Made me laugh. :)

~~~~~~~

I read a book this week regarding motherhood. It's a short book (roughly 80 pages), which began as a letter that a mother wrote to her two young daughters: "Lift" by Kelly Corrigan. During one of Leah's naptimes, I read it cover to cover. I was so affected by it, so emotional. She tries to illustrate to them what life is like now, in the beginning, in the years they won't remember as they grow. This blog, as mundane or as silly as it's been, and not nearly as beautifully written as Corrigan's book, will hopefully be something that we can share with Leah in the future, to capture a little snippet of what her early years were like.

Corrigan wrote, "If John Lennon was right that life is what happens when you're making other plans, parenthood is what happens when everything is flipped over and spilling everywhere and you can't find a towel or a sponge or your "inside" voice." Ah, so true.

But my most favorite passage from the book is this:

"I am your mother, the first mile in your road. Me and all my obvious and hidden limitations. That means that in addition to possibly wrecking you, I have the chance to give to you what was given to me: a decent childhood, more good memories than bad, some values, a sense of tribe, a run at happiness. You can't imagine how seriously I take that - even as I fail you. Mothering you is the first thing of consequence that I have ever done."

Love you, Leah. Terrible twos, meltdowns, and all.

Beach Bum

2010-06-15T13:55:00.003-04:00

We took Leah on her first trip to the beach last week. As we expected, she loved playing in the sand yet was intimidated by the ocean. That picture shows about how close she got to the water. Sunday, the 6th, was our first full day and it was a scorcher! Hot, humid, and tough to be outside for too long. Leah lasted about 1.5 hours on the beach. However, Monday & Tuesday were beautiful, breezy days that allowed us to soak up the sun & sand a little longer. I think we spent a solid 3.5 hours on the beach on Tuesday. Heavenly.

Leah managed to do very well on the long car rides both to and from our destination. We stopped by the Disney Outlet store at the beach, where Leah gladly picked out a stuffed Bolt as a reward. :)

Unfortunately, she did not fare so well in some of the restaurants we visited. Mostly, she's just so active and full of energy that she hates being confined to a chair for very long. She's been full out YELLING when she doesn't get her way either, which makes for an embarrassing outing. Still, we were able to enjoy the beach, enjoy some wonderful food, and overall had a really fantastic time.

Mid-week, we left the beach for our old hometown to visit with family. We successfully surprised Popel for his 60th birthday! Leah also enjoyed swimming in Grammy's pool, exploring the children's garden at Longwood, and visiting Boyds Bear Country on the way home. (She managed to pick up three more stuffed animals - 2 from Boyds Bears and 1 from her Uncle Ryan's bedroom. Ha. ;) ) All in all, Leah did really well visiting with a lot of extended family. She got a bit crankier with each day, but for being out of her routine for over a week, and probably very tired, it was to be expected.

To the family in PA, thanks for a great time!

Water Baby

2010-05-18T14:29:00.003-04:00

This past Friday, when the weather was 88 and humid, with blazing sunshine, Leah figured out how to cool off: dump water on her head. :) She loves playing with her water table and on that day, she realized how to make it work for her. As you can tell, she cracked herself up in the process! Leah continued to do this throughout the weekend when she was feeling, I don't know, warm? Playful? Silly? And yesterday, she took to lifting her shirt and pouring the water on her belly. Ha! She's a funny one.

Despite how much Leah loves playing outside, taking walks, and shoveling sand in her sandbox, she has become very freaked out by bugs and dirt. If there's even the teeniest little gnat or fly on something of hers, you better shoo it or kill it. She will not touch anything near it until the bug is gone. And for such a hands-on, outdoorsy kinda girl, I am rather surprised by the dirt hatred. She'll hold her hands up and say, "Dirty!" until they're wiped. Again, if there's even a speck of dead grass or anything on her slide or in the water table, she will not play until it's cleaned up. I suppose it's better to have a child who prefers cleanliness over messiness, right? Heck, with her parents, that was pretty much inevitable. Except, why can't this girl clean up her dumped box of crayons? ;)

The Mystery is Solved!

2010-05-01T07:44:00.002-04:00

For a few weeks now, Leah had been saying something that eerily sounded like, "F***, s***." It was so bizarre. Dan and I couldn't figure it out. Sure, we've messed up here and there and said a curse word in front of her but never both of those back to back like that. Were we horrible parents? Was she picking up on these words and putting them together for the heck of it?

Thankfully, we found the answer this week: she's really saying "Five, six"! The Wiggles have a few songs where they count, and one of Leah's new favorites is about a chicken with SIX little chicks and they count them twice in the song. Ah-ha! Now that we've figured this out, we can clearly hear Leah saying, "One, two, five, six!" (She doesn't seem to care for three or four, oddly enough.) ;) We are quite relieved about this one.

Momma's Intuition

2010-04-26T12:32:00.004-04:00

This was the scene Sunday afternoon. Poor Leah had come down with another cold on Friday and by Sunday morning she was coughing, congested, and her breathing was very labored. Exactly like she was on Easter Sunday. We took her to a local clinic and all that doctor said was that she had an ear infection and prescribed us an antibiotic.

As yesterday went on, Leah's breathing seemed to be getting worse and she was exhausted. She barely talked, didn't eat, didn't play, and basically wanted to lay around on the floor or in her bed. As always, her good buddy Dodge kept her company when he could. Leah's 2 year old checkup was scheduled for Monday morning (today) and we tried to hold out until then but by 6pm last night, Momma broke down crying at Leah's condition and off to the ER we all went!

Leah received two breathing treatments, a steroid, and a chest x-ray. They discharged us around 10pm and Leah was already feeling a gazillion times better. Talking to the doctor and nurse, trying to walk away (!), etc. We sort of feel like we should have just gone to the ER in the first place since they knew exactly what to do and it worked 3 weeks ago. Live and learn. Our nurse was wonderful too - she made a glove balloon for Leah and sang the Elmo theme. ;)

Anyhow, after all this, Momma is convinced Leah is experiencing asthma. We've got the family history and all of Leah's symptoms are extremely similar to her experiences as a kid. Thankfully, at this morning's checkup, Leah's pediatrician agreed with Momma and said, "Two strikes and you're out, Leah." Basically, if a child has two wheezing episodes like this in one season (let alone within one month!), then it's usually asthma. With one wheezing episode, they don't want to diagnose asthma because it can be completely isolated to one illness and the child may never wheeze again. But, this is obviously not the case with Leah, and pretty much what Momma had suspected back at Easter.

We've got a nebulizer now and Leah will have to use it everyday, in order to try to prevent any further wheezing episodes when sick. She's got a couple silly masks that attach to it, so we're hoping to make a fun game out of it. We are just so thankful that the pediatrician agreed and gave us the tools to help her now.

TWO!

2010-04-21T14:41:00.002-04:00

OK, so we're not the greatest at keeping this blog updated since this is "old" news, but yes, our girl is two! :)

She had a wonderful birthday, full of balloons, yummy food, great company, bunches of fun presents, and gorgeous weather. What more could a little girl ask for?

Spring is in full force here in the South, and thankfully, the pollen count has gone way down, so Leah has been enjoying a ton of time outdoors. She is absolutely fascinated by the soft, fuzzy caterpillars that are inching all over the place. She calls them "puh-puhs" and will watch them for hours if you let her. Leah even let Momma put one on her arm and she loved it. :)

Leah's other new love is her sandbox. Last year, we only filled it with water even though it has two sides and can double as both a pool and sandbox. However, because this girl loves to play in the dirt, sand seemed like a logical (and cleaner!) idea. We picked some up on Saturday and Leah played for hours. She fought to come inside for dinner, and even afterwards, we stayed outside until 8:30 so she could continue playing. Honestly, I think the only reason she agreed to come inside is because it was getting dark and harder to see. Looks like she's gonna be a beach-loving gal just like her mom - yay!

YouTube Addiction

2010-03-22T12:34:00.002-04:00

Yes, Leah is currently exploring the wonder that is YouTube. What does she watch? You guessed it - The Wiggles!

There are a ton of wiggly videos out there, and seeing as how we only have two of their DVDs, Leah is in search of new material. And she's getting acquainted with Greg, the former yellow Wiggle. As you may have guessed, Leah can be quite picky about which videos she wants to watch at any given moment. She has a fairly short attention span and is usually ready to switch to another video while in the middle of the current one. If all else fails, and she becomes completely bored of The Wiggles, she resorts quite happily to watching videos of herself that have been uploaded to the computer. But watch home movies on the TV? No! Are you silly? The TV is for Barney. ;)

Leah just spent her first full week at home with Momma. It was pretty lovely, really. The weather cooperated, so a good deal of time was spent outdoors. Dodge had to be taken to the vet on Friday (and that's a whole other story!) so a little adventure ensued. Leah was lucky enough to be given a couple lollipops, so she barely noticed that Dodge was bumping into her and generally acting like, well, like himself.

As Leah approaches her second birthday, she is talking in LOTS of two-word sentences. It's exciting! For a couple weeks, she would do it here and there, but now, this skill is in full force! Some sample phrases include: "Baby cry", "Daddy work", "Doggie ball", and "Momma sit". It is so amazing to see her putting thoughts together and coming up with explanations for everything. I think I speak for Daddy too when I say we are SO thankful to have reached this big communication boom!

One, Two Punch

2010-03-09T13:18:00.002-05:00

After being sick for over a week, Leah saw the doctor again on Monday only to find out that she has a sinus infection AND a double ear infection. Yikes!

Thankfully, she's on antibiotics now and already seems to be perking up and acting more like her usual self. For several days last week, she was lethargic, whiny, and miserable. Fun times. Definitely the worst illness we've seen her experience yet. Momma caught the same cold, and was out of commission for much of Saturday. It seemed to work out OK, as Daddy was Leah's favorite person all weekend long! She loves taking him by the hand, or even putting him in a headlock, and dragging him around wherever she sees fit. And if you try to interrupt their Daddy/Daughter time, look out. Leah will wave you off without a second thought.

We expect Daddy to come down with this cold any day now. ;)

Snow in the South

2010-02-16T14:33:00.006-05:00

We received approximately 4 inches of snow on Friday! It may not have been Leah's "first snowfall", since we had that freak 8 inches last March, but it was definitely the first one she could explore and experience. Leah was fascinated! As she walked around in the snow, she was a little chatterbox. One can only guess what she was saying, but clearly she was enjoying herself and had a great deal to comment on.

Since it's been entirely too long since we've updated the blog, here's what else is new with our little monkey:

--Her vocabulary is growing every week. She may not say words perfectly, but she certainly tries to say just about anything you ask her. She can say between 50-100 words, though she's not quite at the point of stringing 2 or more words together yet.

--She IS a monkey! She has mastered climbing up onto the couch, climbing onto the chair in her bedroom, and walking up the deck stairs ALL by herself - no help from Momma or Daddy.

--Her newest obsession is The Wiggles:

They're corny but actually a lot more fun to watch than Barney. Momma & Daddy even sing and dance to their DVDs. ;) Her favorite song right now seems to be "Dr. Knickerbocker", and she even tries to imitate the moves.

--Leah LOVES to take a bath. She has bunches of bath toys (mostly animals/fish) that she likes to line up along the edge of the tub and speak to. It's hysterical. She could talk to them for hours, and often protests when she must be taken out of the bathtub. Hey, at least the girl is clean.

--She's becoming a pro at using her spoon and fork and eating WITHOUT MAKING A MESS! It's amazing. Yeah, sometimes the bib doesn't quite catch everything or her face is a little saucy, but for the most part, she does a great job. Not much clean-up on her hands, unless it's something sticky like maple syrup. Momma is impressed (and glad).

Hard to believe Leah's second birthday is just around the corner! She's becoming such a big girl. :)

Forget New Year's Resolution

2010-01-05T20:30:00.002-05:00

The time to make changes for the better is when you find yourself with a two-and-a-half foot tall shadow.

While feeding the dogs peanut-butter, Leah watched Dodge attentively and once done, she asked him, "Was. It. Good." Just like her momma and daddy say almost nightly to the dogs after dinner. She said it. We both heard it. Uh oh.

So its time to take stock of some of our lesser habits. The ones we don't want her to pick up and demonstrate at daycare, pre-school, a friend's house, or (lets hope not) in front of child services someday.

1. Burping. That's how we say it was good.
2. Eating ice cream during the Biggest Loser.
3. Slapping. This house is like a professional baseball team with the random acts of way-to-go slappery. The dogs get it, the parents get it. If only it actually translated into being good at sports.
4. Nothing. Imagine sitting in front of the tv for hours. Doing nothing, saying nothing, learning nothing, gaining nothing but a wider load.
5. Use of certain words. However this conflicts directly with number 4. If dad attempts to actually do something, a less favorable word will almost certainly escape his lips at some time.

These resolutions may actually last beyond March, as those little eyes are always watching. That little, growing brain is always soaking it all up. We have to be careful about everything. No more inappropriate scratching. No more wind-breaking. No more watching....Oh no! She's here. She's looking at me. . .

Daddy's Dream Come True

2009-12-23T12:00:00.003-05:00

Leah is in love with Superman. :)

Dan was unpacking his Superman collectibles to go on display in a new curio cabinet that we purchased earlier this month. Leah, as you can see, took a particular liking to this larger statue. She hugged him, patted him, gazed into his eyes like a school girl, and, when asked, kissed him square on the lips!

Leah also tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to carry Superman away from the evil clutches of her father, who only wanted to see if this one would fit in the cabinet. Much to Leah's delight, this Superman is a little too large for the display piece... could more stolen kisses be in their future? Only time will tell.

I love you...

2009-12-06T22:10:00.002-05:00

...You love me. This is what Barney's taught me:

For those of you who ever watched Boris Karloff play Frankenstein's monster, you really didn't appreciate it until you saw Bela Lugosi try the same. When greatness is mimicked, you really only then understand the subtleties and the effort that go into creating that greatness. Sesame Street is great. It caters to all ages, breaks ground, and stands the test of time. Barney is Bela Lugosi staggering around with his arms outstretched and an unexplained smile on his big monster face.

You can make a television show, DVD, and music video without so much as sound editing, select camera angles, or rehearsing.

Barney is the soy of the kid's programming world. Empty substance.

Barney is a rule-breaker. For example, the statement was made (and firmly believed) that "Leah is not going to be put in front of the t.v. We're going to interact with her, and let her explore her environment...blah, blah, blah." Now, we eagerly pull her little chair in front of the t.v.

Leah is a great dancer.

Leah sitting in front of the t.v. does not necessarily mean laundry is getting folded. In fact, laundry may need folding, dishes washed, dogs fed. Mom and Dad are slumped on the couch.

Baby-Bop has a really annoying voice. Its like someone crammed Fran Drescher into a four-foot tall dinosaur costume.

Leah will learn the words for what she really likes, exceptionally fast. Ranking them, Barney is second only to candy.

Barney does not have to be watched. He only needs to be "on." Then everything is right in the world.

And lastly, for now:

It doesn't take long to learn the words to the songs. For example, without looking: "Its cold, burr. I wish I was a bear. I wish had hair like a furry, furry bear."

All I need for Christmas

2009-12-02T21:36:00.003-05:00

Dear Santa,

I've been looking at all the holiday circulars in the paper, and paying real close attention to all the commercials during my shows. I really enjoy the playsets I've seen. The attention to detail is uncanny, and the realism in these toys is remarkable. I gave a great deal of consideration to the vacuum cleaner toy, and of course the wide variety of kitchen playsets are tough to choose from. Of course, how could I forget the mini ball bounces, sand boxes, jungle gyms, and all those great toys to climb on.

However, I will forgo the lengthy list of toys from your work shop in the North Pole. I'm going to request one thing; padding. Lots of padding. Not for me. For my daddy, my doggies, and my mama. They are much more fun for climbing and playing on than any toy. So, please Santa, provide my family with all of the extra cushioning and protection your little elves can load on that sleigh.

They need it.

With Warm Regards, Leah.

P.S. Dad wants a cup. What is that?

P.P.S. Why is your work shop called "China"?

(posted by Dan)

I like . . . me.

2009-11-30T20:30:00.003-05:00

For anyone who ever saw the show "Jon & Kate Plus Eight", do you remember when it was a show about eight cute little kids growing up? In one episode, the mom divulged that the children liked to watch the show, and their unanimous favorite aspect of the show was watching their mom and dad on t.v. They had no interest in watching themselves or their siblings. It was all about mom and dad.

That wouldn't be Leah. She likes watching her favorite thing, herself, a lot. Sesame Street holds her attention for a moment. Some cartoons can occupy Leah for a minute or two. Even Barney is only good for a maximum three minutes at a time. Repeated leg stretches are necessary during a Barney tape. However, she can and will watch the same 45 second video of the world's cutest kid, again, herself, repeatedly. To give you an idea, our motion light outside is set to remain on for five minutes. Leah sat on dad's lap for two cycles of this motion light, visible just outside the window by the computer, while watching the same minute long video of Leah wandering around the family room. No singing, no dancing, no scaling the Empire State Building and swatting at biplanes. Just wandering around and making baby faces. This is her current greatest pleasure in life.

Gene Kelly would be jealous of such narcissism.

The scariest part (yes, scary) is how funny Leah finds the conclusion of the video in which she scowls at her mother's insistence that she is not "dada" but "mama." Every time the baby in the video is corrected she then lowers her brow and looks kind of evil-mean, Leah sits at the computer and smiles really big, and maybe even laughs a little.

And yet, we'll appreciate these days. Someday, this "Aren't I the greatest?" will turn into "Why doesn't everyone else think so, all the time?" And the brow will lower...

(Posted by Dan)

November Update

2009-11-24T15:21:00.003-05:00

It occurred to us the other day that we had not posted since Halloween. Seems that we are overdue for one!

Leah appears to be beginning her vocal growth spurt. In just the last couple weeks, she has added “kitty” (pronounced “titty”), “bear” (beh), “swing” (eeen), “water” (wa), and the ever popular “no” (nah) to her vocabulary. I love that she’s communicating more, and she cracks us up with her facial expressions and hand gestures when she babbles.

The girl LOVES to dance. Barney songs, the Elmo’s World theme, music from her toys, even commercial jingles and the Jeopardy theme all have her bopping, swaying, and clapping to the beat. When she's not rocking out, Leah has also taken up screaming. ALL. THE. TIME. Silly screams of excitement, angry tantrum screams, or simply “Here I am! Notice me!” screams. Our ears are all bleeding while Leah tests the power of her voice. Needless to say, we hope this particular phase passes very quickly.

We are very much looking forward to Thanksgiving this week. Leah is such a good eater and Momma cannot wait to see her reaction to such a huge meal and new treats like pumpkin pie. Popel will be joining us for the weekend, and we just finished a visit with Grammy this past weekend. Lots of spoiling is going on in our house, that’s for sure. :)

Hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving!

Trick-or-Treat!

2009-11-03T20:08:00.002-05:00

Here's Miss Kitty, decked out for her first trick-or-treating experience! Everyone knows we're dog people but she sure is the most adorable little kittycat I've ever seen. :) She wasn't too thrilled about all the fuss Momma made at her costume at first. Daddy said she reminded him of Ralphie from "A Christmas Story" in his bunny suit and disgusted face. Ha!

Halloween night, we picked a nearby neighborhood based on a friend's recommendation and went around to about 5 or 6 houses before stopping. Leah seemed to enjoy the first couple of houses, especially since we saw a couple pups, but it quickly become apparent that trick-or-treating involved greeting too many strangers in a short span of time. She clung to her daddy and whined a bit. Still, that didn't stop her from blowing kisses to almost all of the homeowners who gave her candy, thus winning them over. ;)

I'm glad we took her out, even if it may not have lasted too long. It was fun to experience it and to once again see this big wide world through Leah's eyes.

"She just loves babies."

2009-10-23T21:21:00.002-04:00

Leah, who is so intent on being the focus of all attention possible. Leah, who screams an ear-drum shattering shrill shriek to overcome any conversation not about Leah. Leah, who can't stand a singular spotlight for fear that its bulb may burn out leaving her temporarily in the dark, so she insists on multiple spotlights, or rather, the moon and the stars and the sun and every other light emitting or reflecting heavenly body to shine upon the brilliance that is Leah.

This same, humble child "just loves babies." This statement was uttered proudly by her care-giver on Thursday. Sure its cute when she cradles her baby dolls. She mocks feeding them, wiping their faces, and changing their diapers. She nurtures these bundles of joy, plastic, and cloth. She loves them no matter how full of Chinese lead content they may be. No one is perfect, but she loves these baby dolls, flaws and all. This excitement translates to real babies as well.

A baby at daycare has been on the receiving end of Leah's adoration. We're told its cute. We have witnessed the excitement on Leah's face to see a baby. She squeals, and says "baby" as she points at the little girl.

Then she gets home, loses her temper at something, and those same beloved baby dolls get thrown to the floor with an inappropriate measure of force. Mixed signals for mom and dad.

[Dan] proofread by the Mrs.

Current Stats

2009-10-16T21:55:00.003-04:00

Leah had her 18 month checkup earlier this week. She weighs 24.2 pounds (to which Momma exclaimed, "That's all?!") and measures 33 inches tall. Her weight is in the 50-75th percentile and her height is the 75th-90th percentile. The doc says she looks great and appears to be right on track developmentally. The average vocabulary at this age is 10 words, and Leah can say about 7. If you include her animal sounds (which her pediatrician does!) then she's definitely meeting (and depending on her mood, exceeding) the 10 word mark. Yay.

Only one shot this time for the seasonal flu. She screamed and cried of course, but got over it fairly quickly once she was given a cookie. ;)

Bring on the Zombie Frogs!

2009-10-06T22:42:00.002-04:00

Leah will be 18 months old on Saturday. In the last year and a half, she has survived a housing crisis, a financial crisis, a gas shortage, a historic drought, a resulting water shortage, record unemployment, rising crime, record snowfall, a record flood, and a couple of Mavericks.

So what's next? Well, if you're religious, you might think that locusts are the next plague. If so, you haven't seen the bugs in Georgia. Have you ever heard that the south is a little behind the times? The bug life is simply Jurassic. The cute bugs are still cute, such as Ladybugs, the only difference is that they are the size of your thumb. Maybe the next plague will be something like the river flowing blood. Again, Georgia's dirt is red. We wouldn't know blood from yucky water anyhow. This leaves us with frogs. Better yet, frogs raining from the sky. It happened in the Bible, or at least a weird Tom Cruise movie. In honor of Halloween, they may as well be Zombie Frogs!

Leah was born over 540 days ago. She had complications at birth, which caused an emergency C-section. She spent the first couple days of her life in the hospital's NICU in an oxygen tent to help her breathing. She has weathered more storms (health, weather, economic, societal) than she is even aware of. She is a tough little kid; determined and independent. She wouldn't have any problem with a swarm of undead amphibians.

Dodge's tail whacking her in the face is a slightly different story.

[Dan] - or is it Frog Zombies?

My child is a . . . Super Hero!

2009-10-04T08:35:00.002-04:00

A stand-up comic named Daniel Tosh has a bit about a real-life child who can't feel pain, and how he would make a terrible parent for someone with this condition. Mock calling his wife, he says, "Honey, I broke our daughter's arm an hour ago, and she hasn't tapped out yet. Our child is a superhero!"

Fortunately, Leah does not put her dad in this situation of mistaking a life-threatening disability with super strength. (He would fail that test.) Unfortunately, Leah has a different super power. Well, two powers, but we've exhausted the 'Blinking is all the sleep she needs' power. Her second power is the ability to be loud. No, make that very LOUD. Leah screams. When she's happy, she screams. Its earth-shattering. When she's sad, she screams, but she actually builds it up. Her mouth will hang open, and its the quiet before the storm. Then, all that air she just sucked up, comes projectile vomiting out in a torrent of ear-splitting decibels. Her superhero name should be Banshee or The Deafener. Her costume should have a bullhorn on the belt buckle.

Life with Leah and two energetic dogs is a constant ballet. When she starts her screaming, we have to tend to her, and at the same time, run to make sure that Dodge isn't filling the tub while Hud is grabbing an electric appliance to bring in the bathroom. Their poor doggy ears.

[By Dan]-"huh? say again."

"I am Catwoman....hear me Roar."

2009-09-22T21:27:00.002-04:00

Last Halloween, Leah was a little, white lamb. This year, she is going to be a Kitty. The costume is courtesy of Old Navy, and she was really excited to see it in the store. Then she ran away, well another direction. A side note: its fun chasing someone with no comprehension of danger, a new appreciation for jogging, and the attention span of a gnat.

Dad told mom that he wasn't comfortable buying Leah items with her name on them (i.e. clothing or anything she would go out in public with). You know, you don't want a stranger approaching her and using her name. Having said that, we call out her name in public repeatedly. "Leah, come here." "Leah, lets go this way." "Leah, that's yucks." "Yucks, Leah." "Leah, get that out of your mouth." "Leah, SPIT THAT OUT!" (Maybe she should dress up as a goat for Halloween.)

[Posted by Dan] - tired.

She keeps on going, and going, and going...

2009-09-10T23:01:00.002-04:00

Leah has two things in common with the Energizer Bunny. First, she bangs out a good beat. Not on a drum but on the side of the tub. Really. The left hand has one beat and the right is doing something different. She's a natural drummer.

Second, she never stops moving. NEVER. We have been taking walks almost every evening. Leah is walking almost the entire distance, even up the big hill to get back home. She's enjoying the neighborhood dogs, the cars, the "baby trees." Then, when we all get home, the dogs collapse, mom and dad collapse, and Leah finds something else to do. This is what happens when expectant mothers drink caffeine.

A side note: Leah turned 17 today (months, that is). Her favorite word right now is "car." This can't be a good omen for when she becomes a teenager.

[Posted by Dan] I have to say this now. Its in the rules.

Baryshnikov, Eat Your Heart Out.

2009-09-07T12:19:00.003-04:00

Leah has learned the fine art of dancing. While she's not quite New York Ballet ready, she is plenty ready for MTV Spring Break. Her best move is the bum-shaker. In fact, its her only move. But its cute, and she enjoys it.

Also, we recently introduced Leah to Trix cereal. Trix in turn introduced her to artificial food coloring. Artificial food coloring has kindly, in turn introduced mom and dad to technicolor poop. Its like a demented circle of life starting with a silly rabbit and ending with a disturbed parent.

Lastly, for the grandparents, you may have to listen closely for the subtle variations, but Leah knows some new sounds. Such as "piggy", "vacuum", "cow", "monkey", and she is learning to say "car".

(Posted by Dan)

Whoops!

2009-08-21T10:37:00.002-04:00

So sorry for the lack of updates! Life is always busy with a one year old. ;)

Leah's last molar finally cut through the gum yesterday. She's been extra whiny and woke up a few times very early Tuesday morning, most likely in pain. I do not envy our sitter, Sarah, this week - she said it's been a teething frenzy with almost all the little ones she watches. Yikes!

Leah continues to love going to Sarah's house everyday. A couple big things both Sarah and I have noticed in the past few weeks are: Leah no longer needs to carry her Pooh Bear with her everywhere she goes (we haven't brought him to Sarah's house all week!) and she very rarely sucks on her fingers anymore. She obviously feels so much more secure and confident, and I couldn't be happier about that.

Car rides are becoming much more intolerable, however. Leah's so busy and loves to be on-the-go. I think she dislikes being strapped in for any length of time. Some days I can distract her with music, other days it's just a constant whine-fest. :P

Thanks to a set of Sesame Street board books from Grammy, Leah is beginning to learn the various characters. She's known Grover and Elmo for some time and she clearly likes Big Bird and Bert. The funniest one is Cookie Monster... whenever she sees him, she smacks her gums and makes a "yum yum" sound. I love it!

Bookworm

2009-08-05T14:02:00.003-04:00

Within the last week or two, Leah has become very interested in books. She likes to turn the pages, look at the pictures, and point out some of the characters or objects she knows (Elmo, Grover, ball, doggie, etc.). One of the sweetest things about this new interest is just a couple days ago, she brought me a book and then proceeded to sit right in front of me so we could look at it together. LOVED that! :) The only downside is sometimes she wants you to look through the same book over and over and over again. Ha.

Yesterday, I bought Leah her first "big girl" toothbrush! It's yellow and has 3 Sesame Street characters on it. I also picked up some toddler toothpaste. We had been using some baby Orajel toothpaste and this little gummy brush, but I thought we were well overdue to retire that and move up. Leah's funny though, when I let her hold the toothbrush last night to check it out, she started brushing her hair with it! It does look like a mini version of her hair brush so she had the right idea. ;)

No More Tears

2009-07-27T14:47:00.002-04:00

Leah does not cry at morning dropoff anymore! She went ALL last week, as well as today, without shedding one single tear when either Dan or I (or both of us) have said goodbye and left Sarah's house. She might whine for a minute, because she prefers that we don't leave, but that's it. I am over the moon! It only took two weeks of staying with Sarah to accomplish what we couldn't do in a year at the daycare center. Amazing. :D

So, I have this Tigger hand-puppet that I passed along to Leah. One day last week, I put Tigger on my hand and sang (in a silly voice) "The Most Wonderful Thing About Tiggers". Not only does she crack up when I do this, but she's started bringing me the Tigger puppet. As I put him on my hand, she bounces and "sings" because she knows what's coming. It is too cute!

I took a couple videos yesterday, as well as a bunch of pictures (those of you on Facebook may have seen the pics), so I'll try to get those out tonight or tomorrow.

The Distinguished Era

2009-07-19T20:20:00.003-04:00

This is Leah's new look... standing or walking with her hands behind her back, looking very prim and proper. Thus, the "distinguished" era. :)

Leah had her 15 month checkup this past week. She weighs 23.4 lbs and is almost 31 inches tall. She's right on track developmentally. Only two vaccines this time around, but of course she still wailed. :( Thankfully, up until the shots, she was so much more cheerful during her checkup. I don't know if she "forgot" about the upcoming vaccines or she's getting over her stranger anxiety or if it has to do with her age. But wow, she was a little ham! Walking and babbling all over the waiting room, waving at various people, and she even played peek-a-boo with her doctor. So cute.

And for the first time ever at the doc's office, when we were called back to the exam room, Leah held my hand and walked back there with me! I didn't carry her. Definitely not my baby anymore; she's a big girl now!

In just the last few days, Leah has become a pro at climbing the deck stairs on her hands & knees. She's getting faster and faster! Last night, she also walked the entire length of our driveway. For those of you who have visited us, you know how long that walk is, especially for little feet! She's very, very active.

Leah is enjoying getting her groove on. She dances more and more whenever she hears music from a toy. :) And the girl's got rhythm - you should see her drum TWO different beats at the same time!

Everything is still going extremely well with her new caregiver, Sarah. Leah seems so happy, pleasant, and confident. We are overjoyed!

I think those are the highlights for this week. I'll try to stay more up-to-date. ;)

Childcare Success!

2009-07-08T08:25:00.003-04:00

Ooops, been awhile since an update! Since I last wrote, Leah had her last day at the daycare center (July 2) and began staying with her new caregiver, Sarah this past Monday. WOW. This has already got to be one of the best decisions we've ever made.

When we arrived at Sarah's on Monday morning, Leah was babbling up a storm and was very excited by all the toys in the playroom. It was awesome. She started to cry as Dan & I got up to leave, which we expected, but I received an email at work from Sarah just before 9am that said by the time she had picked up Leah and went to lock the door, Leah had stopped crying. She ate all her breakfast, was talking and toddling around the playroom, and was doing great! I was ecstatic. I was so appreciative of the email update and I felt incredibly relaxed for the rest of the day.

When we picked her up on Monday, Dan & I were amazed. When Leah saw us, she smiled and then turned around and walked away, babbling the whole time! I've never seen her so happy upon pick-up. We were THRILLED.

Leah has since learned that going to Sarah's in the morning means that Dan & I are going to leave, so she's been a little more clingy the past two days. But honestly, it's still not as bad as daycare. She's not full out wailing. And we can hear her start to quiet down by the time we leave. This is going to be SO much healthier for her in the long run, and Dan & I are very satisfied with our decision already. Thank goodness!

New Things

2009-06-29T09:30:00.002-04:00

I was hoping to write up a big post yesterday, and include some pictures, but my little stinker didn't nap! She took one teeny catnap (maybe 20 minutes long) in the car on the way to meet the new caregiver. That's IT. She was up from 7:30am to 8:30pm. I don't know how she did it because I was tired by 7:00 last night! lol Thankfully, she was happy and pleasant all day, and really, all weekend. Leah's top two molars have come all the way through the gums and her mood has significantly improved. She's back to being our fun, silly monkey. :)

So, like I mentioned, we met with the new caregiver - Sarah. Everything went well and I really liked a lot of what she had to say. She has two young kids of her own, ages 6 and 4, and they were very interested in Leah (maybe a little too much, as they kept wanting to touch her!) and Leah was fascinated by them as well. The most telling thing, for me, was the fact that Leah seemed comfortable pretty quickly. She was babbling to the kids, she smiled at Sarah, she played with a few toys, and even let us set her down on the floor without freaking out. Granted, Dan & I were still there but I was very encouraged by her comfort level. I don't doubt that the separation anxiety will come out, but I do think this home environment will be so much better in the long run.

Sarah is in the process of moving (her house was still full of boxes) so she asked if we could give her a week to finish setting up. We're already paid up at the daycare center through this week so that's no big deal. Dan is off on Friday for the holiday weekend so Leah only has 4 days left anyway. :)

Over the past week or so, Leah's really been demonstrating her understanding of a bunch of things. She tries to blow kisses. When you ask if you can go change her diaper, she starts walking toward her bedroom. :) Yesterday, she handed me a toy cup and said "Ba!" to tell me that she wanted her sippy cup. We're working on identifying body parts and she definitely knows her belly. She's getting the hang of mouth and nose, and sometimes her feet. She also knows that I usually put my flip flops on before we go outside because she pointed to them the other day and started waving bye! I love all this cuteness. :)

Childcare

2009-06-22T09:18:00.003-04:00

Dan & I have made the decision to search out in-home childcare for Leah.

On Friday, I received another call at work from the daycare stating that Leah had a low-grade fever of 100. I explained that it's related to her molars coming in, that even her doctor said so last week. I asked if she had any other symptoms. They said she hadn't eaten or drank much at breakfast. Ugh, of course not, because her mouth HURTS! Still, they said, "Well you just never know" (YES, we DO know!) and "Could you come pick her up?" Grrrrr.

I ended up asking them if she could stay there to nap since it was coming up on naptime. They said yes and asked if someone could get her afterwards. Because it was Friday and we were VERY busy, and Dan was by himself in his office, I didn't even get over there until 3:45. One of the teachers was like, "She's been so lethargic all day."

Well, I get Leah in the car and take her to Walmart to kill a little bit of time before we could pick up Dan from work. She was FINE! I touched her head and she didn't feel warm at all. She perked up when we walked through the toy aisles and she was babbling away. Overall, she was great all weekend. She had a few freak-outs, which were most likely teething related but it was clear to us that she was happy and in a pretty pleasant mood for the most part.

So, not only are Dan & I fed up with this daycare calling us for what seems like every little thing (and using up a bunch of sick time!) but we think the transition to the toddler room has really, really upset Leah more than we first realized. If she seems lethargic all day but perks up as soon as she's with us, could she be depressed? As I thought about it further, I took note of Leah's moods when we pick her up each day...

Drop-off has always been trying. We do notice a difference, which we thought was simply due to unfamiliarity with the new teachers. She used to whine or fuss just a bit in the infant room and would quiet down usually before Dan & I even left. Now, she full out WAILS at dropoff. Despite the fussing at dropoff in the infant room, Leah would be very happy and cheerful at pick-up. She'd babble, smile, wave bye to the teachers, etc. Now, in the toddler room, she will start crying as soon as she sees us at pickup. She points to the door and doesn't wave bye to anyone. She clearly just wants to get out of there.

Bottom line, we don't think she's happy. And sure, she may adjust over time as she gets to know these teachers. But then what? She'll move up to another room, and then another room, only to start this whole cycle all over again. We don't want that for her.

So, the next most logical option appears to be in-home childcare where Leah will have one caregiver over several years until she's ready for school. She can grow attached to one person, just like she did with Chandre, but won't have to keep swapping around.

I already found one woman who seems very promising. She has 5 kids of her own, has 28 years experience, and has had in-home daycare for years. When I emailed her, she responded very promptly with her own forms to fill out, background info, policies/procedures, etc. She only takes 4 children and has 2 right now. Dan & I are hoping to meet with her sometime this week. She also doesn't send kids home unless their fever hits 102 degrees, which usually indicates some type of infection!

I truly do think this would be the best option for Leah. It would be another transition but in the long run, it would be so beneficial. She'd be in a quiet home instead of a daycare and she'd get a LOT of individual attention. The only downside is if the caregiver gets sick or something, then there's really no backup. But we think it would be worth it for Leah's sake. Pretty much all of the moms I've talked to who use in-home childcare are VERY happy with their decisions for the reasons I've mentioned.

So, that's where we are right now. Dan & I are very gung-ho about this and are hoping that maybe we call pull Leah out of the center by the 4th of July. As always, I'll keep you posted.

A few pics of Miss Trouble

2009-06-19T22:24:00.004-04:00

Here is my troublemaker a few days ago... she was interested in the video camera bag and wanted to pick it up. I told her no and then turned away for a few minutes. Next thing I know, she's walking past me with the thing around her neck. LOL And then she couldn't get it off and threw a mini-fit. ;)

A Little Normalcy

2009-06-18T09:30:00.003-04:00

After a week of whininess, Leah was finally acting more cheerful last night. The only freak out she had was when she was finished eating and wanted to get out of her highchair while Dan & I were still eating our dinner. Otherwise, she played nicely, toddled around the house, babbled, and was more like her usual self. She's still waking up at night due to the teething pain, but that's pretty normal according to various websites and other moms.

The morning dropoff at daycare is still pretty rough. Leah cries every morning, though the teachers say she's fine within a couple minutes after we leave. Dan & I have attributed some of this to a variety of caregivers that have been there first thing. The lead teacher, Teresa was out for a few weeks after having surgery and has just returned this week. Up until then, there were several floaters who would take her place and I think it just added to Leah's stress and confusion about the transition. One morning, we had to hand her over to Sabrina, the lead teacher from her old room, and she was fine before we even made it out the door - I think because Sabrina was familiar and it was like her old routine. Now that Teresa is back, I'm hoping it will help give Leah some stability and predicatability for dropoff.

That being said, Leah has been with Chandre several afternoons this week when I've gone to pick her up. :) I love knowing that Chandre is looking out for her and that Leah feels secure with her. Chandre said it'll just take time since Leah doesn't adjust to change easily. Gee, I wonder where she gets that from! ;)

On a lighter note, Dan was teaching Leah to give treats to the dogs a little on Sunday and then again yesterday. She really got the hang of it yesterday and kept reaching into the treat bin for more... I think Dodge loves her even more now. lol And we both think it's important for Hud to receive treats from her, so that he continues to warm up to her and respect her as a member of the "pack".

We're looking forward to our visit with Popel this weekend! It's going to be SUPER hot too so we'll have to try out the kiddie pool again. I also have a bunch of pictures I'd like to try to post as soon as I get the chance.

We'd also like to say CONGRATULATIONS to Uncle Ryan for graduating high school! Woo hoo! :D

Would you like some cheese...

2009-06-14T11:03:00.003-04:00

...with that whine?

Leah is SO WHINY! Oh my goodness. I think it's gotta be the molars. That combined with her putting on a show for me to get my attention (she doesn't do this for ANYONE else!). I'm hoping it's the molars anyway, so that we can return to some type of "normal" pleasant behavior once they're through. Oy!

Summer Colds are the Worst

2009-06-12T09:23:00.003-04:00

The fever ended up being a precursor to a really bad cold. I took off work again on Thursday and Dan is at home with Leah today. Stuffy nose, coughing, and just generally whiny and clingy. It probably doesn't help that those molars are coming in too, so I'm sure she's in some pain. Poor girl. :(

I tried to upload some recent photos to Snapfish the other day and for whatever reason, it only uploaded two and then quit on me. Ugh. I'll try again this weekend. I know I'm way behind on that!

Molars

2009-06-10T10:33:00.004-04:00

Leah & I are home again today. She had a low-grade fever (100.5) yesterday afternoon at daycare and they said she was pulling at her ears a lot. So, I had to go pick her up and was able to get right in for an appointment at the pediatrician's office. While he was examining her, he could see her two top molars starting to come in (and I finally saw them too) so he thinks that's where her fever stems from as well as the ear-pulling since there's no sign of infection or anything else. And after giving her some Motrin, she seems absolutely fine.

However, because of the fever, she's not allowed back to daycare for 24 hours. :P Such a pain when it's just teething. Still, it's nice to have an extra day at home. And maybe an explanation as to why Leah's been extra whiny. ;)

She was so pleasant and happy on Sunday though, which I told Dan was probably our anniversary present from her. Ha ha. He & I actually got to go out on a date while my friend Marcela watched Leah. She freaked out a little when we started to leave, but apparently was very good the rest of the time (sounds like daycare). It was very refreshing for us to go enjoy a nice meal without picking toys up off the floor or trying to entertain an impatient toddler. :)

I got a decent video of her walking around the family room the other day that I'm going to try to upload today. Be on the lookout!

Tantrums Galore!

2009-06-04T09:59:00.002-04:00

Leah has discovered the power of her own voice. Things she may have simply whined about just a couple weeks ago (mostly to do with not getting her own way!) are now met with full-out, blood-curdling screams. Last night was the worst tantrum I've seen yet.

It began when she toppled onto some blocks. I think it scared her more than anything and she freaked out. She sat in my lap for a few minutes while I tried to comfort her. However, instead of calming down, she continued to freak out and squirm out of my arms so I decided to let her lay on the floor and get it out of her system. Essentially, I ignored her. I walked into the kitchen to start dinner. I peeked back into the family room and she was sitting there, looking at me, and crying to get my attention.

She continued crying even when Dan picked her up and tried to console her. When dinner was ready, I put her in the highchair and she quieted down for a couple minutes to eat. I left the room for a second and she immediately started freaking out again! This continued the entire time we ate dinner. I knew all she wanted was for me to hold her but I refused to give in.

Once I finished eating, I picked her up and she was alright for a couple minutes. She had another freak-out when I tried playing with her in the family room. No idea why. Eventually, she got over it and started playing and babbling again as usual. I think she screamed for almost a solid hour total. Oy. I felt sorry for the dogs and their sensitive ears!

Dan said it best this morning - she's putting on a show for me. She does it at daycare too. She'll cry and scream and reach for me as we're leaving, but just a minute after we walk out of the room, she's perfectly fine! I think she's already learned that I tend to give in to her. So, it's time to set some boundaries for the long term. I just didn't think we'd have to start doing so at almost 14 months!

As a side note, her fever must've been some type of flu strain. Dan and I both got it over the weekend, though Dan felt way worse than I did. We all took a sick day on Monday.

Sick or Teething?

2009-05-29T15:40:00.003-04:00

We had a visit to the pediatrician today. The daycare called me at work this morning, shortly after 9, to say that Leah had a low fever (100.5) and that she hadn't eaten much of her breakfast. She was napping and they said they'd check her again when she woke up. Well, I got another call after 10 and her fever was up to 101.8 and she was extremely fussy. So, I had to go pick her up.

Apparently, Hand Foot & Mouth Disease (not to be confused with Hoof & Mouth Disease!) has been going around the daycare. The folks there thought Leah may have that since she wasn't eating as much. I personally thought it was just teething, as her molars seem to be getting ready to come in and she's been extra fussy since last weekend. Anyway, I called the doctor's office and got an appointment for the afternoon.

He doesn't think it's Hand Foot & Mouth. He's not quite sure of the cause of her fever since she has no blisters/rashes for HFM or any other symptoms that might indicate something else (i.e. strep throat). So right now it's just Tylenol for the fever and if it continues or we see some other symptoms, the pediatrician said to give him a call this weekend.

Poor Leah though, she HATES the doctor's office. She associates it with vaccines and anytime the doctor or the nurse do something as simple as listen to her heartbeat or take her temperature, she SCREAMS at the top of her lungs. It's like she's anticipating something worse just by their touch. :(

I'll keep you posted.

Cool Treat

2009-05-26T13:19:00.003-04:00

Leah had her first taste of ice cream yesterday. In all the heat and humidity, we took a little outing to Dairy Queen in the afternoon. As soon as Leah saw me eating a blizzard, she did what she usually does when she wants something you have... she pointed and said, "Eh?" ;) So, I gave her a teeny spoonful. The coldness definitely shocked her and her scrunched up face was priceless - I wish I had my camera! Still, that didn't deter her. She continued to eat a small portion of my blizzard. :D

This morning's drop-off in Tumblers didn't go nearly as bad as I thought. Leah babbled, started to play with a few toys, and waved at Lexie (her old pal who moved up a couple months ago). She only started to fuss when Dan and I waved goodbye and walked toward the door, but she quieted down pretty quickly when one of the teachers picked her up. Whew! I'm anxious to hear how the rest of her day went!

What are you looking at?

2009-05-25T09:03:00.002-04:00

This is the face we've been seeing all weekend. Grumpy. More specifically, it's the face she keeps giving Dan. We have no idea why but almost everytime he tries to talk to her or hold her, she just stares at him like this! However, if he's outside working on our new fence or playing with the dogs, then all she wants is Daddy. She's a moody one.

Leah's been sleeping a LOT lately. I almost wonder if it's all the walking she's doing, so she's tiring herself out. She took an almost four hour nap on Saturday, a three hour nap yesterday, and slept for about 13 hours last night. Wowza!

She mimics us now when either of us yawn. ;) She'll open her mouth real wide and go "Ahhhhhh" in this soft voice. It's hysterical.

Her transition at daycare last week seemed to go well. She spent one hour in Tumblers on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Still, the hard part will be tomorrow when we drop her off in the new room. I'm not expecting a good reaction!

Sweet Surprise

2009-05-20T21:12:00.002-04:00

When we picked up Leah from daycare today, Chandre - her primary caregiver - had a gift for her before she officially moves up to the Toddler room. She bought her a cute green dress and a Winnie the Pooh blanket. :) But the truly special thing was the homemade card. On the front, she wrote "I'll miss you so much Leah!" and decorated it with stickers. Once we got to the car, I read the inside and was in tears.

She wrote:
"Leah and family,
Words cannot express how much I have enjoyed taking care of Leah. I have grown so attached to her that I treat her as if she's one of my own kids. I knew the time would come for her to move, but I'm not ready for her to move up. I love Leah, and I'll check on her everyday she's here."

I am so thankful for Chandre. :)

Ba-ba History?

2009-05-15T09:10:00.003-04:00

I may be jinxing myself by writing this but I think we may be done with bottles! Leah hasn't shown a whole lot of interest in them lately so last night, Dan poured a bedtime sippy instead of a bottle. She took it with no problem! I tried a sippy first thing this morning (wake-up and bedtime are the only bottles we've been doing anyway) and she wasn't quite going for that. Dan & I drove separately to work today, due to my late Fridays, and he put the sippy next to Leah for the ride. I'll find out later if it was successful or not. Still, just another step out of babyhood. :)

One of my new favorite things that Leah is doing is grabbing my hands and holding them above her head, indicating that she would like me to walk around with her. :) She's taking more and more steps on her own but she definitely enjoys walking super fast when one of us is holding her hands. Once she lets go for good, look out world! And look out, Hud and Dodge!

Transitions

2009-05-14T13:17:00.002-04:00

We got the official word yesterday that Leah will be moving up to the toddler room, "Tumblers" on May 26th. They'll begin to transition her next Wednesday thru Friday. EEEK!

I'm nervous. Leah is VERY attached to her caregiver Chandre. (Chandre seemed sad yesterday too when she talked about Leah leaving the infant room, which honestly comforts me to know how much Leah is cared for everyday.) I'm anticipating a rough week, especially during morning drop-off. And I hope Pooh Bear is up to the task of constant snuggles - we're gonna need him big time!

One small step...

2009-05-04T09:36:00.003-04:00

Leah took her first steps! :D

She technically took them sometime at daycare on Thursday (I think) because her caregiver kept trying to get her to do it when we picked her up, but Leah would have none of that. But I'm counting her first steps that WE saw on Saturday, May 2nd. :) We were so proud! She'll only take 2 or 3 steps at a time before she sits back down or falls over. What a big girl!!!

Yesterday, we opened our new Waterwheel activity table from Aunt Laurs. Leah was occupied for a good while and got herself all wet. :) Between that and the little pool, I think we'll have a lot of fun outdoors over the coming months!

Chubby little cubby

2009-04-30T09:33:00.004-04:00

Leah has grown very attached to her stuffed Winnie the Pooh that Grammy gave her for Valentines Day. She snuggles him, rocks him, holds him on her lap in the car, and carries him into daycare everyday. He's become a great transitional object for her. She used to cry and/or cling to one of us when we would drop her off at daycare in the morning (and be fine as soon as we left the room!). Since having her Pooh bear, she's been fine. Maybe a little whine here and there, but that's all. I'm thankful she has a security object, and I secretly love that it's Winnie the Pooh. ;)

Not much new going on this week. We're looking forward to our visit with Aunt Laurs this weekend!

New foods and toys.

2009-04-27T14:24:00.002-04:00

During our weekly grocery trips, I'm trying to buy a couple different foods that Leah hasn't tried in order to keep things interesting. Last week, we gave her half a peanut butter sandwich, which she gobbled right up. I also bought some pancake mix and I discovered that she will not eat plain pancakes - she has to have some maple syrup just like everyone else. ;) (I was trying to avoid sticky fingers! Oh well!) Yesterday, Dan gave her some strawberry slices for the first time. That was a no-go. She would put a piece in her mouth, make a silly pucker face, open her mouth, and let it fall out onto her lap. Ha. And she continued to do this with 4 or 5 pieces. I guess she thought she might like the next one? ;)

Dan set up Leah's new kiddie pool on Saturday. The water was pretty cold and she didn't have any interest in even sticking her feet in. But she enjoyed kneeling over the side, playing with her bath toys, and splashing. I think this will be awesome, and she'll enjoy it more and more, as the summer goes on.

Daddy's got the magic touch.

2009-04-26T20:53:00.002-04:00

For the past week or so, Leah will only fall asleep when she's with Dan. It's wild. I can give her the bedtime bottle, try to rock with her in the nursery, let her stretch out in my arms, etc. Nothing. She stays awake. Babbles, squirms, you name it. But as soon as her dad takes her in her room, she's out like a light.

Hey, I don't mind. Whatever works! We'll take it. ;)

She's been extra whiny this weekend, especially today. I imagine it's her teeth since she always gets whiny like this when she's teething. She's got one top tooth that looks to be cutting through her gums right now, so that's gotta be killing her. She also has a bug bite on her leg from being outside a lot on Saturday, so the itching could be annoying her too. It's been a long day.

So, yeah, bedtime with Daddy? Sounds great. ;)

Big Girl Jammies

2009-04-24T09:46:00.002-04:00

Weather is in the 80s down here, and last night I dressed Leah in some new summery pajamas that we bought at Target. These were the first two-piece jammies she's worn; she's been in infant sleepers up until now. Oh my goodness, she looked like such a big girl! It's amazing how one little detail made such a difference but suddenly, she really didn't look like a baby anymore. She was my little girl, just playing and babbling and looking so darn cute. I love it.

Apparently, she's got quite the sweet tooth too. When we picked her from daycare yesterday, her caregiver Chandre mentioned that she barely ate any regular Cheerios... but was all over the Banana Nut Cheerios that someone else had. ;) We couldn't blame her. Both Dan & I said regular Cheerios are so bland and boring that you have to put sugar on them to taste any good. Ha.