Celebration Dinner

Helene and Gary-Matt's Aunt and her husband, hosted a dinner party for their daughter Jacquie's recent marriage.

Aunt Michelle & Cousin Karen


The Newlyweds


The Secret Behind Leah's Good Behavior-Bribery


Leah, Ruth, George...and Lindsay


Ruth & Leah

Birthday Party Pictures

Hey everyone! If you have any pics of Leah's birthday party could you send them my way? I only took like 4 pictures or something that day so I definitely need them :D

Thanks!

Guess Who's 2?

Happy Birthday Leah!

We went to the Bronx Zoo with Matt's parents to celebrate Leah's birthday. I took tons of pictures but haven't gotten a chance to upload them. Will do it after the weekend.

We had a great time!

My Lil Rocker

Leah has some awesome clothes. One of the latest additions to her ever increasing wardrobe was a cute rocker/punkeque outfit I got super-duper cheap at Denny's Childrenswear. Ever been in that store? You are lucky if you find a pair of leggings for less than 20 bucks. It is boutique children's clothes. A lot of it is tacky and ugly but they have one clothing line called Sister Sam that I have a love affair with. But they are crazy expensive. So I got to thinking, made some connections with people at my job and around town and guess what? Now I get some of their stuff super cheap :D

Here is Leah being a snob.



And here she is rocking out with Elmo.

Ms. Qdoba

Leah the Gardener

Leah helps Ruth with her gardening. She picks the tomatos, puts them on the window sill and so on.

Yesterday I went over there to pick some stuff and I said to Leah "Hey could you sit down over there while I pick some of this?" And off I went, I come back and she is walking towards me with a handful of tomatos. Heh. Such a good helper she is.

Then we get home, she takes them out of the bag I put them in and one by one puts them on the windowsill to ripen.

First Day At Daycare

I didn't take any pictures. Too busy trying to remember everything Leah needed to remember the camera. She was up, ate breakfast. She had some nonfat vanilla yogurt with fresh strawberries and a whole grain wheat waffle.

We dropped her off at 8 in the morning. At first she wouldn't part with Matt but within five minutes or so she was sitting at the table with a bunch of other kids coloring. We left. It was difficult. I peeked through the window to see if she noticed. She was fine.

I held back on calling for a few hours. I called, no answer (the kids were out playing, which I expected) and they called me back. They couldn't reach me at work so they left messages at home and my cell. That made me happy :D They said Leah was doing well.

I left work and picked her up. Dave gave me a ride so I got there early. Leah was fast asleep on the cot, laying on one of the crocheted blankets Jenny made for her. They said she ate some of her food. Drank all her stuff and more. Had pretty dry diapers for the 5-6 hours she was there. Went potty when she needed to go. After about 2 hours they said she started crying and asking for me but they got her calmed down and distracted by telling her they were going to go out and play.

When I woke her up to leave she was definitely happy to see me, but she also seems annoyed that I would leave her for so long. I expected as much.

I know that on Thursday when we drop her off, it will not go as well. She will know that we are leaving, that will change everything. Today she thought it was just a one day thing. The next couple of times she will realize it isn't temporary. But over time she will adjust.

They said everywhere she went everyone kept asking them who she was and saying how beautiful she is :) Heh, they also couldn't figure out Matt and me were from. Leah is getting more tan everyday. It throws people off.

Leah and Talking, other things

Leah talks...a lot. She repeats everything and doesn't forget it. Because of this she has her first swear phrase which I am trying to break her of, and not to mention myself as well, since it is my fault.

Her latest collection of phrases and short sentences are:
"I'm tired", "Come here", "Thank you for dinner", "Where is my _____?", Can I please have it?", "What is it?", "What is that?", "Why?!", "Can I go to or in ______?" and so on...too many to list. And everyday its another 4-5 things. Hard to keep track of. Her vocabulary has her doctor impressed :) She has a few spanish phrases like "Dame ahora" (Give me now), "Porque no?" (Why not?), "Te quiero" and a few others. She knows a ton of spanish words.

I am sure now that she is going to be surrounded by other children all day she will coming home with some wonderful words AND not so wonderful words.

Another thing that Leah is doing more is understanding abstract concepts.

For instance, if I tell her she can go to the pool later when Daddy comes home, she doesn't ask to go to the pool until Matt comes home. She doesn't drive me up the wall asking me every five seconds to go in the pool.

If I say to her "Leah if you clean up now, you can go sooner." She will understand and clean up. And then tell me "All done. Clean. Lets go!"

She also understands the difference between yes and no. Ask Leah if she needs something and if she does, she will say yes. If she doesn't she will say no.

She also understands some opposites, up and down, tall and short, big and small.

She also talks about her dislikes and likes. Give her something she doesn't like and she will tell you "I don't like." But if something tastes good she will say "I like, yummy."

The milestone for her age for vocabulary is can use 50 words or more. I have counted nearly 150 and still counting. Good to see she is on target.

I would say more than half of her speech is understandable to me, family and friends, and about half her speech is understandable to most other people.

She uses short sentences more often everyday. She talks about herself a lot. Today she told me that "I want curls, no pony" and "I am cute".

Oh we are creating a monster. But a lovable, wonderful monster we all love very much.

Milestone for things like naming at least one color don't usually happen until she is about 30 months old and so on. There are things I don't put pressure on her about. That is one of them. It is normal for toddlers to pick one color and stick to it. Sometimes she will point to something and say "Orange" and it is orange. If you ask her she will tell you 99.9% of the time that the thing is green.

I asked her today if she knows her friends names. And she said "Lilah."

Today she is asking Why to everything. And wondering around the synagogue like she owns the place.

She is well on her way.

Visit to P.S. 96 & to Abuelita

Today we dropped off Gilberto at my dad's and went to visit my mom, my grandmother (Abuelita) and Uncle Eric. Matt and I took Leah to Bronx Park East, played for a while, took some pictures of Leah playing on the same slides I played on with my siblings when we were kids.

Then we had a delicious dinner at my uncle's. He is a great cook.

Richard Roger's Public School 96


Leah going down one of the tunnel slides.



Abuelita giving Leah milk.

New bed

Spent the day trying deperately to get Leah's room in order. Purged a ton of stuff. Have a long way to go. Here are some pictures of Leah in her new bed (the crib my mother got her actually converts into a full size bed, the headboard is part of the crib.) Leah has never spent much time sleeping in her crib, prefers a larger bed to the daybed.

So here she is enjoying herself. She sleeps in it. And doesn't let you forget everything in the bed is hers.


And here is the door that Louie was nice enough to spackel for me and now I still have to repaint that part of the door. See all the nice pink? :D I did that all by myself! With my dad's painting tips of course. And Leah's Growth Chart that Linsday got for Leah's 1st birthday. I have two pictures ready to go in.


Here are the doors to her closet.


Here is the wall. (This is sooo interesting, I know! :P)


And last but not least, a lot of stuff that needs to be put away, a window that needs dressing and Leah's wonderfully heavy dresser.


I have a lot of work left but I am proud of the progress. And Leah's seems to enjoy all the extra room and her new bed.

Beach Day

Today we had a full day. It started off with a trip to Jones Beach. Christina and her friends were there, Kitti and Toni and John. We played, had fun, I got a ton, Leah left with a body full of sand. We had a great time.

Then it was off to Christina's for some more fun. We had hamburgers and hotdogs, grilled to perfection by Matthew (Christina's boyfriend). Then we wished Amanda and Dave a Happy Engagement.(They were engaged over the week in Puerto Rico. How cool is that?!) We ate some delicious ice cream cake to celebrate the occasion. Leah and Delilah played all night.

Two peas in a couch

Leah and Matt hanging out.

Many faces of Leah

I asked Leah to pose for the camera today. This is what she gave me.

What?


Sly?


Head tilt/smile


SMILE!!! Major Cheese Smile.


Aww, I know I am soo cute.


Surprise!

Playdate

Delilah came over for visit.

Here are many pics of the beautiful Delilah.





I like torture little children, especially girls. How? By styling their hair into pigtails. I know. I am horrible. I got hold of Delilah's hair, poor child.



Then her dad took em out. Here she is sitting all by herself on a chair. Got up and down on her own. Too big-it is pure craziness how quickly she has grown.


Then it was Guy's turn at the torture thing.




Leah is looking on.


Leah's turn.

Leah's Love Affair

Leah has a love affair with the pool. She loves it more than anything and anyone.

Potty Time

Cause I have no life. And would like to embarass Leah to the fullest extent (and because I am a proud parent)...

Here is Leah on the potty.

Ruth brought over some home made chocolate covered desserts. Leah went immediately for a chocolate covered pretzel so now we have a chocolate covered Leah.

22 Month Doc's Visit

Went to the doctor today for Leah's well baby visit. I tend to skip most of them but we needed to get some vaccinations because she needs them for daycare.

Afterwards the doctor gave her a lolly pop. She sat at the bus stop enjoying it.

Happy Birthday Matthew!

Today Matt turned 26 years young.

We went out to dinner. Had a great mean at the Black Forest Brewery.

Leah ate her food then decided to go to sleep. She found a comfortable spot.

22 Month Milestone Update

-Can wash and dry hands, and brush teeth with help
-May know when she needs to urinate
-Will pretend feed a doll
-Can take off own clothes with help
-Learns words at a rate of 10 or more a day
-Can walk up stairs
-Searches for hidden objects
-Names all body parts
-Enjoys helping around the house
-Can set simple goals (e.g. decisions to put a toy in a certain place)
-Can kick a ball
-Can throw a ball overhand
-Can name cat or dog when you show a picture
-Can make short sentences (Me go)
-Can kick a ball forward
-Follows two-step requests
-Understands opposites
-Might be ready for a big bed (already in one)
-Can name a simple picture in a book
-Can use 50 single words
-Can sing simple tunes
-Can make two- or three-word sentences
-Takes more of an interest in playing with other kids
-Talks about self (likes, dislikes)
-Asks "Why?" (god help us she already asks why about 2 million times a day)
-Half of speech is understandable
-Starts talking about self
-Begins to understand abstract concepts like sooner and later
-Becomes attuned to gender differences
-Learns to jump
-Can put on clothing
-Is using the toilet on a semi-regular basis. Dry diapers at night and uses the bathroom every morning :D


Leah continues to make us rather proud. She is learning a lot, very quickly. Couldn't ask for more.

Anniversary

Matt took us to Benihana's for our 4 year anniversary dinner. It was a surprise. It was a nice one.

We sat with really nice people.

We got one of the trainee chefs who you could tell was nervous. And the woman to the right of me was complaining a lot. But I think the guy did a great job. She was partly complaining he wasn't Japanese. But little does she know they have all kinds of chefs on staff there. Even the head guy isn't Japanese. Even though she thought he was. *rolls eyes*

The food was great. And lil Miss Leah was well behaved and ate EVERYTHING.

She ate shrimp, zucchini, onions (her favorite), soup, salad with the dressing on it, chicken, steak, mushrooms. She couldn't get enough. She loved the rice. She ate like everyone else, even with chopsticks! She managed to get them together the right way and picked up some onions with them. So proud of her!

Her manners are better at the age of nearly 2 than some adults I know. She is also polite, sociable and a budding conversationalist. She spoke to the woman and her daughter to our right. She asked the daughter for her name and the girl said Samantha and right after Leah said "Hi Samantha" clear as day!

Right before they sang the woman Happy Birthday they asked her name, she said Trish and Leah sang along with them and she said "Bye Trish" as we were leaving.

When the cook was doing the volcano with the onion trick Leah sat there and said all bright eyed "Wow! That's cool!".

*sigh*

I am quite proud of her. Her disposition when we are out is unbelievable. Even with the terrible twos approaching, she is still pretty manageable. :D

More pic slides to test

New Stuff

I am working on some updates to Leah's website. Going over dead links/pictures and so on.

A new photo viewing program I am working on putting on here. Sort of like this one.

Puerto Rico

We went to Puerto Rico for the week of Easter. Had a ton of fun, took a bunch of pictures. I will have them up soon.

Ava Jane

Another baby was born! Except its finally another girl for Leah :D Ava Jane. I am not 100% sure on all the birth info but as soon as I get it there will be a proper announcement.

In the meantime, Congratulations to Gaby and Michael!