Some updates

Well, not a whole lot is new with Matthew or me (other than going on a real date last night!!), but plenty is new with Leah! Every day there is something new. I love re-discovering things with her... it's almost like everything is brand new as I watch her learn about the big world around her. So, some cute (or maybe just notable) things:

• There is a light waaaaay down at the end of the tunnel. Leah's diaper days are numbered! For the last three days or so, she has said "poo" every time she messed her diaper. On the list of things to get for our new apartment in Seattle: potty training seat.
• Leah is learning her first color! She will point at my jeans and say "boo". Then point at the blue house and say "boo". The the blue car and say "boo". Don't try to trick her yet though... she may just get confused and call everything blue.
• She can tell my parents' two black labs apart, and call each by name.
• Her newest word is "owie". She sliced her little thumb yesterday with a tape measure (didn't know those were so dangerous) and got a bandaid. Since then, even today, she will hold up her thumb and say "Owie, owie, owie, owie, owie..." I think she is better though.
• Yesterday, Leah picked me a Leah-sized bouquet of dandelions. Then she proceeded to pick a couple dozen more, tear them to pieces, and throw them to the ground while saying "Doh!!"
• She says "weeeee" when something is fun! Example: hills.
• Long ago, Leah learned how to draw. She is still learning what to draw on. Paper, yes; bananas, no.
• Once she was drawing on a piece of paper with Grandma and me. Whenever one of us would draw something for her, Leah would take the pen and scribble right over it! Every time. Either she is grasping the concept of coloring, or she is trying to enhance our little drawings. Or she just thinks we do a bad job.
• Whenever she hears music, or the word "dance", she dances!
• Leah loves big chairs. She doesn't so much love her high chair.
• Her favorite food might be rice. It might be green beans or bananas or grapes or crackers. It might rotate.
• The most impressive animal she knows is a squirrel.
• She has a verrrry good memory. You can tell her what something is once or twice, and she'll remember it a few days later.
• Today Leah hid her face, said "Where is she?", unhid her face, and said "Peekaboo!"
• She is starting to combine words, such as "Bye, doggy."
• She will sometimes stick her finger in her mouth and say "Sshhhh..." if you try to get her to whisper.
• Her pronunciation couldn't be cuter!
• When Leah wants something, she will point and say "day-go"/thank you. When it is not clear what she wants, I'll say "What?" and try to hand her something. If I'm wrong, she'll say "no", I'll say "What?", and we'll get a little game going. Sometimes she'll try to play by herself, saying "Day-go. Wat? Day-go. Wat? Day-go." :)
• Leah knows what letters are. We have letter magnets and try to tell her what letters they are. For the last few weeks, she has pointed at letters (even just on a page or a sign) and made letter-like sounds. One time, we were out for dinner, and there were numbers on the side of the table in front of her high chair. She started trying to name those off, too!

Grandma's Necklaces

Leah loooooves to play with Grandma's necklaces. The more, the better. She would also like to apologize to Grandma for the ones she has broken :(

Walk Pictures

Here is a little visual to go along with my last post.


"Bee!"


Walking out to the dogs ("Dah-gee! Wuff!").


"Sha-tah! Taow!"


Just walkin' through the grass.


Picking flowers.


This has become Leah's "spot". She will sit down right here every time we go for a walk. She won't sit anywhere else.


Picking grass.

Walks

I like to take Leah outside on a walk most days. Here is how it went today:

After lunch, I pick Leah up and say, "Leah, do you want to go........ outside?"

"Saass!" This is her interesting word for 'outside'.

We get on our shoes ("shoosh") and I help her out the front step. Immediately she sees the container of bubbles on the porch rail. "Pop. Pop!"

"Leah, let's go for a walk first, and then we can do bubbles."

"No!"

"Want to go see the doggies?"

"Dah-gee! WUFF!" She is persuaded to follow me off the porch and begin our walk.

Just a few steps out, I hear "bee!" and sure enough, an unidentified insect flies by. "Hap!" I look down, and Leah is holding up her hand for me to 'help' her. Unable to refuse, I hold her hand and guide her to the dog kennel. We turn the corner at the side of the house and come within view of the doggies.

"Dah-gee!" Leah starts dancing away towards the dogs.

We stay and play by the dogs for a while, and then head for the back patio. As we walk past the windows, Leah points and says, "Bah-bah", her word for all of her grandparents. "Yes, Leah! Bah-bah" (whichever one) "is in there!"

We get to the edge of the patio, and Leah does something she has never done before. She voluntarily plops herself in the middle of a patch of buttercups. (It just so happens that I had done something I have never done before too. I left my camera inside.)

Here Leah discovers the joy that all kids everywhere discover at some point in their childhood--picking grass. I sit down next to her and am taken back to those late summer days about fifteen years ago, sitting in the middle of the field with my soccer team, listening to the coach explain a new drill... and picking grass.

Leah snaps me out of my flashback with "Fa-wa?" I look down and she is holding a flower out for me to take. Well, I can't pass this up. I accept the flower and pull out my cell phone to take what pictures I can. After one or two, Leah reaches for the phone and says "Day-goo!" ('Thank you', here meaning 'Give that to me'.) I hand her my phone, and she sees the picture of Matthew on it. "Daddee!"

After we get our fill of grass-picking, we get up and visit the doggies once more. Then we make our way back to the front door, but not without Leah remembering the bubbles. "Pop!"

"Okay, we'll play with the bubbles for a while." I don't know who enjoys this more, but we both have a fun time. Before my head gets too light, though, I put the bubbles away and bring Leah inside. And now it's nap time. But that's another story.

Seattle... and chocolate.

Last week, Matthew and Leah and I took a day trip up to Seattle. We wanted to check out the neighborhoods around campus and get some research going on where we want to live in a few months. We also had to drop off a few things at school. While we were up there, we decided to try out a few fun things around the city! We went out to eat, visited Matthew's aunt and uncle, went on some pretty drives, and spent some time on campus, which was beautiful. We heard about this park along the Puget Sound too, called Discovery Park, and decided to check it out. We thought, "Cool, a park along the water, I bet that will be a great place to take Leah and have a nice afternoon!" Well, it turns out that almost all of the roads are blocked off to visitors ("Authorized Vehicles Only"), and you have to park and hike across the 500+ acre park just to get to the waterfront. Try that with a grumpy 18-month-old! We didn't. We just found this "view point" a ways out from the water that was obstructed by trees. And then Leah slipped through a hole in the bench and hurt herself :( And then we left.


Our "view". At least we could see some of the Sound, and it was a beautiful day!


We couldn't drive through Tacoma without stopping at the Brown and Haley factory! We got all kinds of discounted chocolate, including a dozen raspberry mountain bar "boo-boos" for a buck!

Who knew such a tiny little place could make us so happy? ;)

18 months old!

Our sweet little "baby" has turned 18 months old! Sometimes it seems like time has gone so fast, and other times, it seems like she has to be much older than that. She has grown up so much in the past year and a half. She has learned so much and almost seems like a different person!

With 18 months comes nursery! I guess I didn't realize that I get to go, too. Well, if I want to keep Leah from screaming, anyway. The nursery leaders are very good and kind, but whenever I sneak a couple steps to the door while Leah is looking away, she starts frantically looking around and crying. It's like there's some Mommy sense, like an invisible string that starts tugging at her when I start to go too far. It doesn't help that nursery is during her normal nap time, so she is too tired to play very well. We'll work on getting her more used to nursery, so that soon she can be comfortable and happy with all the other cute little kids.

Okay, okay, here are some of the latest pictures. There is a picture from Leah's first experience with bubbles, her first trip to a strawberry patch, and another picture too cute not to post :)

Oh, "no"!

Leah has learned a new word: "No". She is becoming more defiant, more independent, and... more attached. What? You would understand if you spent all day with her :) She likes to do things her way, that's for sure! She also likes us to do things her way. And this is her new way of telling us what she doesn't like. It's really cute though (watch me eat my words in a few days, I'm guessing), because she bunches her little brow into a scowl and then uses her sweet baby voice to say, "no!"

You would think that this would turn her in to a little rebel, but she is also perfecting her "thank you"s. Well, it sounds more like "day-goo" right now, but it's pretty recognizable every time! She says "day-goo" whenever she wants to give, take, or exchange anything. We give her something, "day-goo". She gives us something, "day-goo". Repeat until bedtime.

Since this is the "Brewer Family Blog", I suppose I should update you on the rest of the family then. Matthew and I have officially become enhanced residents of Washington. Well, our new drivers licenses are enhanced anyway. Also, I worked about 15 more hours than my usual 20 last week. It was a little crazy watching Leah while working for 11 hours on Friday, but luckily she found interest in the Curious George movie... twice. Who knew the Man in the Yellow Hat actually had a name? Anyway, she was a real good girl, and we are both glad to be back on the 4-hour-a-day work schedule. Matthew has been working extra too, so we have both been busy. We love our evenings together, and the weather has been perfect at night to take lots of little walks through this beautiful area we now live in.

More later!