23 Months

In both photos (top & bottom), Leah was loving on Laura, her friend Will's little sister. Leah managed to get Laura laughing just by bending over and smiling at her. In the top photo, Leah's giving Laura hugs and kisses.

Leah and her beau Will. (He gave her a Valentine!)

Hmmm, let's sign her up for music lessons now!

See what I mean about Leah and babies? She was having so much fun hanging out with baby Mollie.

Palling around with Will.

Moira made herself comfy in Mollie's carseat, and then Leah decided to recline against a toy car garage so that she could chat with her friend. They acted as if those were the most natural places to relax.

A friend dropped off some maternity clothes, and Leah helped herself to the bag. She toddled into the kitchen with a shirt, and then started tugging at the one she was wearing. (She hasn't mastered--thankfully-- dressing and undressing herself.) With a little help from me, she managed to change shirts. Oh how I love this little girl!

Leah is one month closer to turning two years old. Yikes! Our little princess has such a kind, loving heart, and I so hope it continues to grow with her. Watching her with her friends is such a joy, but watching her with the little ones, specifically little babies, is particularly heartwarming. She loves to hug and kiss them, and apparently in Moppets the other day, she checked on a younger girl (17 months) in the class who was upset when her mom left. Obviously, this is all a great encouragement to me since our little boy will be here by the end of June.

Below are the usual random tidbits of information about Miss Leah.

*Likes to sing the alphabet song. She recognizes and can identify all her letters, even if she hasn't quite mastered the words to the song.

*Enjoys counting to ten, but for some strange reason, she never wants to start with or say "one". Every so often, we'll count her to discipline her (1, 2, 3 before time out). A few months ago, she started counting along, always stopping at three. Well, now she continues all the way up to ten! Despite knowing how to count, she can't quite identify her numbers yet. Still, that will certainly come with time.

*Dare I say it? She's potty-trained. We started last month, and she's been accident-free for five days now. Yeah! Today was her first time wearing underwear to Sunday school, and she managed to come home in the same outfit she wore to church. In fact, she went to the bathroom twice while she was there! Yeah! I love the idea of only have one in diapers (well, with the exception of naps and bedtime).

*Puts herself in time out. Like all little ones, Leah will whine on occasion. The other day she did so because I wouldn't let her up in my lap while I was eating. Instead, I told her to go play. Well, she did NOT like that, so she started to fuss (and an obviously fake one at that!). I didn't want to punish her for whining, since, after all, she's expressing her opinion. On the other hand, I didn't want to listen to it, either. So, I told her to go in the family room to fuss (I was there at the kitchen table). When she was finished, she could rejoin me or play or read. Being the obedient child that she is, she complied, but she wasn't by the couch for even a minute before she said, "time out," and walked herself over to her time-out spot. All by herself. Once she sat down, I did remind her that she could come out whenever she wanted to (unlike the usual time-requirement), which wasn't too much later. (And after that, she was fine.)

*Loves all things Noah, as in the Bible story. I think it all started with a song from one of her CDs. Well, that and the Noah's Ark toy.

Obviously these are just a few pieces of who Leah is. If you really want to know her, come on over for a visit; I'm sure she'd enjoy having someone else love on her.