How's That Sweet Baby?

Well, for one, she is just about full-on toddler. I say just about, because I still call her baby and she still answers to it. Hehe;-)

But she is the loudest, funniest toddler you've ever met in your life! Over the last few months she has:

Completely weaned herself off of her bottle. Just decided she didn't want it one night. I gave it to her, she turned her head in refusal. After a few nights, I stopped trying. End. Of. Story.

Unfortunately this has also led to her refusing to drink milk. She doesn't want anything but water out of a sippy and since that is her number one vehicle for liquid consumption...well, there's no milk. But yogurt and cheese abound! (and I have hope milk will return one day.)

She will bring her sippy to me when she runs out of water and growl and grunt until I fill for her. Then she says a polite thank you like the tantrum never happened. She does this with many things, but asking for her sippy to be filled is new.

She is perfectly capable of say "love you", but totally chooses not to say it anymore. It appears she believes actions speak louder than the words. I do get frequent hugs with back patting. I have reason to believe this is the new "love you", as it happens with a lot of emotion. Tres sweet:)

Kisses are very frequent. The "mmmmmm, mwah!" kind especially. I am completely saturated during play times that make her especially happy.

She loves playing at the splash pad at the club and floating in the lazy river. She politely tolerates her swim lessons, which kind of terrify her. I don't know if the Y is too noisy, or if she's just an elitest snob. I'm going to go with noisy though. It's a pretty nice Y.

If she is set on the ledge of a pool she will "jump" to me. She thinks it's awesome. At lessons, Michelle and I try to let she and Si play this game side by side. He's super polite and always waits for Leighton to "jump" before he does.

She likes games where you count to three first. My dad started using his fingers while counting and would sometimes use her fingers while counting. Ya know, like count to 3 and then tickly attack. She can make her fingers go to 2 on her own, but she only does it to signal you to "get" her again. And one is "on". Hilarious.

She sometimes uses her hands as puppets. I have reason to believe this started with Bill taking his hand and having it slowly move toward her to "get" her while narrating the actions. But she will hold up one hand and move it while babbling, then take a turn with the other and go back and forth. It's quite entertaining to watch.

She gets her to color, but she's easily bored with it and then wants to eat the crayon. We will keep working on that one.

So, while this doesn't cover EVERYTHING, these are some good memories I'd like preserve here. She is such a joy to Bill and I and really has changed everything about our life for the better. We are so blessed!