HAPPY 5TH BIRTHDAY KAIN!

Kain turned 5 today!!! We had a great time at his party.

There were lots of family and friends. Many people from the old neighborhood we grew up with in the Bronx. Most are now married and have children of their own. It was nice to have all of us together, watching our kids play with one another.

Time flies.

Broccoli, every kids nemesis

Soooo Broccoli, mother says you're very good for me. But I'm afraid I'm no good for you. - Stewie on Family Guy (one of Matt & Leah's favorite tv shows)

Most kids aren't big fans of broccoli at a young age. Leah recently rediscovered broccoli at school. The class was having Chinese food as part of their celebration of Chinese New Year.

To prove she now did eat it she made me get her some.

She does eat most of it. She doesn't care for the stem too much.

Leah the Webmaster

Tonight Leah has decided that she wants to manage her website. She asked that we add some things to it. I think she is definitely taking after Matt when it comes to technology.

Curly Sue

The other day Leah wanted straight hair and today she wanted her hair curly. She also asked to wear it out. During the week we normally have her hair up in a pony tail or in a braid. For school it isn't practical for her to wear her hair down. It becomes knotty and there is always the fear of picking up some lice.

Her hair is getting pretty long. It isn't nearly as noticeable when her hair is curly. Her hairs starts off down the back and as it dries it boings back up past her shoulders. Leah wants hair "As long as Rapunzel's". I think by the end of the summer it will have reached past the middle of her back.

Leah is learning how to care for her curly hair. Hair care differs greatly from curly to straight, thick to thin, coarse to fine and so forth. Leah knows if she wants to wear her hair long then she has to take extra good care of it.

Leah is wearing her Tinkerbell "Life is a bowl of cherries" pajamas. One of the many things we purchased at Disney World.

Nana's Sweaters & More

Leah's great-grandmother Bernice is called Nana by Leah. Nana is a knitting machine. She had many beautifully knitted sweaters for Leah over the last 4 years. Leah's Aunt Lindsay has taken up knitting and has turned into an exceptional knitter and has also knitted clothing for Leah. Leah's grandma Ruth has taken up crocheting again (she learned how years ago) and Leah has benefited from it as well. Ruth managed to pick it up again and before you knew it she was making sweaters, shawls & scraves in no time at all.

People may think making your own clothing is a thing of the past but Leah will tell you otherwise. I look forward to the day that Leah learns to knit and crochet. I have fond memories of my mother crocheting clothing and household items. I think it is pretty neat that Leah is developing the same memories with Matt's family.

Here she is wearing one of sweaters Nana made for her.

Top Model

Leah likes to watch the show Top Model. She practices their model poses and walks randomly through out the day.

Here she is modeling her 'Top Model Hat'. That is what she calls it.

Future Snake Charmer

Leah is developing a love for snakes. I support her interest in things reptilian. I grew up in a household with a father who kept reptiles for pets. We had a huge albino Burmese python and few other snakes.

I loved them all. The snakes were large enough to require that my father breed his own rats in order to make feeding them affordable. Needless to say I don't see any snakes in our future.

She picked out a stuffed snake from the aquarium gift shop and was modeling with it today.

Official Daddy & Leah Day

Leah refers to her days alone with us as "Daddy & Leah" or "Mommy & Leah" days. The three of us together without work or errands are called "Family Days."

Today Matt & Leah were both off for President's Day so they had a Daddy & Leah day together.

Matt took Leah to the Atlantis Marine World Aquarium.

PJs & Hamsters

We went out to do some local hamster surveying today. It isn't hamster breeding season yet but I've always had a pet hamster and it has been a few years since our last one. We were looking for a long-haired Syrian (aka Teddy Bear) hamster. Leah was in a pajamas kind of mood and wanted to wear them out. So we let her wear the pants.

Valentine's Day 2009

We went to Mangoe's Mexican Bar & Grill for dinner. Food was good. Company was great.

Happy Valentine's Day

Top Model

Leah likes to watch the show Top Model. She practices their model poses and walks randomly through out the day.

Here she is modeling her 'Top Model Hat'. That is what she calls it.

Rites Of Passage

Leah asked to have her ears pierced last night.

In many families this wouldn't even be a topic of conversation since many girls are pierced as babies. Newborns ears heal quickly, there is barely any resistance to the needle when its done and newborns heal quickly. Less chance of infection.

Nevertheless I never felt comfortable with the idea of putting holes solely for the purpose of decoration on her body without her consent.

Today we took her over to Utopia to have the professional body piercer there talk to her about it. It is important that Leah understand that she has to clean the piercings every day, by rotating the hoops and applying antiseptic cleaner. The piercers won't do it unless Leah absolutely wants it done. She can't be scared or forced into it.

After visiting there twice today she decided she is going to wait until she is 5 before thinking about it again. The piercer is a guy and she wasn't crazy about a guy piercing her ears.

I suspect this will change on Monday when she goes to school and sees her BFF's earrings again.

Then we will be back at Utopia next Saturday and probably every now and again until she finally becomes comfortable with the whole process.

Much like visiting Santa.

With Santa and with the characters at Disney we pushed her a bit. With the piercing thing we won't push her. Putting holes in her body, that will always be her choice.

She can wait.

5th Birthday Information.

Leah wants to have her birthday part at the local farm. Would you believe they already have parties booked for August? I reserved her party date for August 8th.

Winter Fun With Dad

Kindergarten

Leah is officially registered for kindergarten. She has made her 5th birthday party plans and they should be finalized this week.

She is growing up much to my protest.