17 months and so big

One thing about being a toddler... they have a mind of their own. Leila is certainly her own person. She is very determined and wants to do things on her own and figure things out. But she is very sweet and also likes to be held by mommy... "Up!" I cook a lot with her on my hip. The way I see it this won't last so I am taking advantage of it. I should note she is still very small so she is easy to carry around!

According to "What to Expect, the Toddler Years" her vocabulary at 18 mos should be 50+ words. I think she hit 50+ words by 16 mos (she is now 17 mos). Some are basic, "mama, dada, dog, cat, banana, apple," and some more complex, "please, thank-you, Big Bird, peekaboo." She is still signing and we are really thankful for these strides in communication since it makes all of our lives easier.

Some days her curiosity pushes me to the limit. One morning, after climbing into a kitchen chair and then climbing up her bookshelf, I asked her exasperatedly, "Are you a monkey?" And she looked at me in all seriousness and said, "No."

Reading the Sunday Comics (we like Peanuts & Family Circle)

Spinning on her new toy... she warmed up to her Christmas presents, eventually

#1 Toddler toy... the Cozy Coupe, Princess edition. No, seriously, the license plate reads "Princess." This was a gift from my parents, and she didn't even let Patrick finish putting it together before she climbed in.

Here is Leila with my parents and her Cousin Sara right before Christmas

Leila and her best friend Avery playing at our new house

Our friends Cannon and Kylie came over to play at the new house. Thank you Jill and Jennifer for driving out here! It was really fun but Kylie did not want her picture taken.

Ryan and his mom Sarah came to play too and both kids loved this singing Snoopy toy. We are open for playdates, and take note, Sarah said the drive is not too bad :)

The Girl Who Asks to Go to Sleep

We never knew until we became parents that there was such a thing as "sleep training." Who would have known you had to be taught HOW to sleep? As adults, we look forward to sleep because we often do not get enough of it. Babies, not so much.

It took us until Leila was 9 1/2 months old until she began sleeping through the night. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact she is so small, and was just hungry. We have had her on a very strict schedule since she was very young, with an unwavering bed time of 7:30 p.m. She is (almost) always ready for bed by then, and will lay down on the floor to signify she is ready to go to sleep.

Well, last night I was at church so Patrick was putting Leila down to sleep. He said she came up to him, signed "sleep" a few times, then took his hand and led him to her bedroom so he could put her in her bed because she wanted to go to sleep. Isn't that adorable?? I wish I could have seen it. She is a very good sleeper now, but we still maintain a strict sleep schedule.

Leila is trying to walk while holding all 3 of her "loves"

Enjoying a beautiful afternoon at the park today

Leila loves her vacuum her bf Avery got her for her birthday. It makes real vacuum noises when she "helps" mommy clean the floors

Three Things

I am inspired by the updates of Leila's friend Cannon and also a post on babycenter.com to share three things about us that are unique. Leila has not had a lot of time in this world to do anything extraordinary, but there are already things about her that are super-special. If anyone reads this, we would love to know 3 things about our friends that are unique. I am making Patrick's list for him because he forgets we even have a blog, LOL.

3 Things about Leila
1. Her name means "dark beauty" in Arabic and strangely enough she was a dark beauty at birth even though her parents are pretty fair. She is now a blondie!
2. By 11 months she could perfectly communicate her needs to us through talking and sign language.
3. She went to Paris before she was a year old!
Leila's party trick: Sign language and animal sounds

3 Things about Laurie
1. Both my father and I have blue eyes with a brown spot in the exact same place on our right eye
2. I am the oldest of 6 kids
3. I swam in the Blue Grotto off of the Italian Isle of Capri before they closed it to visitors
Laurie's party trick: Elbows are double jointed

3 Things about Patrick
1. He went to the Black Tie & Boots Ball in 2001 when the President was a Texan
2. He has met Stephen Hawking, Gorbachev, General Schwarzkopf, both President Bush #41 & President Bush #43, and Rick Perry, among others.
3. He is an amazing craftsman and has built several pieces of furniture
Patrick's party trick: He can wiggle his ears

3 Things about Shrek
1. He hates water, yet when we come home during the rain he is always soaking wet
2. If you feed him at night, he will eat his food in the morning. If you feed him in the morning, he will eat his food at night
3. He knows when bed time is and will go get in his bed alone at the same time every night.
Shrek's party trick: He can shake hands

And here are some pictures of Leila now that she is one. She is definitely a girly girl. She not only wants to wear her purse, but also her bracelet and her sunglasses. She likes having shoes on, like mommy. She is a hoot. Her Gymboree teacher said they stop putting everything in their mouths around 15 months. I am ready for the dirt to stay on the ground.

Ready to roll

Leila loves to give hugs, especially to her dad (and dog)

Playing with her Uncle Jay, and dirt

Yum! She licked the bowl of cottage cheese clean


I see you Mommy!

When Leila is older, we will tell her we made her make her own toys (just kidding)

This singing pig was a gift from her Uncle Josh and Uncle Jay. She loves it and will spontaneously give it hugs. To catch it on film took a little prompting.

Leila is One!

Well the day has finally come for Little Bit's 1st birthday. What an exciting day. She woke up as usual at 8 a.m. and had a delicious breakfast of organic waffles and watermelon. I would like to point out she eats more than I do sometimes, and I think she is still under 20 lbs. We played for a bit and watered the grass, which takes an hour (I am Patrick's sprinkler system.) She likes to walk with her purse on, up and down the stairs to the deck, over and over and over. She also pushed her new dolly stroller around the house.

We got dressed and ran some errands, then stopped at Piccamolo for her first official cup of ice cream, birthday cake flavor of course. We ran into HEB to grab some essentials and got a small container of the extremely addicting grown-up whole milk macaroni and cheese. This stuff is delish and Leila loves it, so it was perfect for her birthday lunch (along with veggies.)

Next we went swimming and she clapped for the big kids going down the slide at the froggy pool. They loved it and started showing off for her. That wore her out and when she woke up from her nap we went to Gymboree play gym. Everyone told her happy birthday and we stayed for a whole hour, which is longer than usual. She amazed me again when a young baby was crying and I said "the baby is crying" and she did the sign for baby for the first time.

We went home, and had a yummy dinner of veggies, fish sticks, and of course more macaroni and cheese. Some of the food was thrown overboard to the dog but not the macaroni and cheese. When Patrick got home, she opened the rest of her presents from mommy and daddy: a ladybug book and a puzzle that makes animal sounds. She LOVES all of her presents so far, and we have not made it through all of them yet.

After that she was out by 7:30! She was exhausted and could barely keep her eyes open, which was really cute. Of course, we think everything she does is cute. This year went by in the blink of an eye. She is such a sweet little girl now, and so different from the raven-haired infant we brought home. She is hilarious and a little bit sassy. We love you Leilabug!

All smiles at Pop's birthday dinner.

More ice cream, please.

Hugging her new singing pig from Uncle Josh and Uncle Jay.

I love birthdays! Clap, clap.

First Steps!

What a day! We started the morning by going to our church playgroup. Leila's twin friends Charlie and Hazel know how to sign. I have been working on her for months to learn how to sign. Well, the twins were signing all through our lunch. Then, when we got home, Leila started signing too! Just goes to show what peer pressure will do, ha.

I was really excited by the signing. But then the day got even better. This afternoon, not once but twice Leila took steps! Just one step at a time, but actual walking! The funny thing is I don't think she quite knows how great it is since she has been moving around for so long. Way to go Leilabug! (aka Goober, Wiggles, Munchkin, Little Bit, Fileila) I will post video as soon as I can catch her on film.