"Layla's Turn"

Getting ready in the morning, we put our socks on shoes on while sitting on the Foyer floor by the door each day. Daddy sits in the living room and puts his on. We don't leave at the same time, so Layla sees this primarily on the weekend. This morning I take our stuff to the Foyer and sit down. "No, Layla chair", she says as she takes her socks and walks back to her room. Sitting on her favorite chair (the soccer ball one), she works on getting her socks on. "Can Mommy help with your socks?" I ask her. "Layla's turn," she responds determinedly. I sit and watch her and wait patiently. She gets a sock half on, hands me the other and says, "Mommy turn."
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I hear a fart from my sweet little baby. She giggles, pats her butt and says, "Poopa". "Toots, I think. No Poopa," I say in return. She shakes her head and says, "Poopa, Momma, Poopa." Indeed it was not, but the "poopa" saga continues. I am starting to think it's a synonym for diaper, she says it when she would like to be changed. Potty training is getting closer every day!
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Hoisting Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed she calls, "this big book, this book."
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"Yellow Bus!!!" for almost all vehicles yellow.
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"Blue" for the commuter bus.
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"More, More" when not enough cars are driving by. I guess we will always need to live on a busy street??
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"choo-choo" when we drive by the train station a block from home. And then real joy when the train is actually at the train station.
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"Baaaa, Baaaa, Baaaa!!!!" ([loudly, with enthusiasm) and pointing to the stained glass window of Jesus with his flock at church. During a scripture reading, and it is otherwise dead quiet.
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Things I love about my girl:

Her wide blue eyes while standing on the communion kneeler with her hands folded and getting her blessing.

Her patting my back when I am consoling her.

Her kind nature: pulling over an ottoman, patting it while saying, "momma" and pointing for me to put my feet up.

She cuddles with books. No kidding. She used to look at them but now she snuggles with them.

She unzips he pajamas down to her feet before she falls asleep.

She takes joy in all things, screeching at a robin fluttering around in her tree, new trucks for the bathtub, airplanes overhead, and wrestling with Daddy.

Corn on the Cob

Last weekend we had dinner out at Tim and Lucille's. Rachel was getting the grill warm for the first cookout of the spring. The weather was alright. Nice enough to be outside for awhile and explore all that is starting to bloom in the garden.

Playing 'airplne' outside with Uncle Victor

Layla also got to try out her first corn on the cob. Apparently, Mommy cutting the corn off as not good enough. She wanted to eat like the grown ups do. And she did a pretty good job!

At the head of the table with her cob of corn!

Grandpa Steve's Bday - A Month Late

So I finally got around to downloading some pictures. And that's because Layla is sleeping in!

A giant card and artwork from Layla.

Fun with cousins!

Hangin' out with Grandpa

Mommy, I love you!

The very best words a mother can hear, if I do say so myself, and I got to hear them for the first time this morning.

Our Layla has been quite clingy and lovey the past few days, wanting Mommy and Daddy to carry her and hold her on an almost constant basis. This has been translating to tougher departures from day care in the morning. I try not to linger, because I know it makes it worse, but the teachers are often busy greeting other families and I don't want to leave her all alone.

Today I spent a few minutes getting her set up with some trucks and playing with her friend, Addie. When I got up to leave she started to cry. I turned back and blew her a kiss. As I walked out the door I hear her call out to me, "Mommy, I love you!"

Fun in the Sun

Our annual pilgrimage to Tucson was met with nothing but the best weather we could have dreamt up. It's always a little suspect in early March, but we lucked out with tons of sunshine and warm temps. It was especially nice since they had 3" of snow a few days before we got there!

Our first day we kept hearing "hot", "hot" until we took her pants and shirt off. There's nothing like running around outside in your underwear, in the winter no less.

Layla was thrilled to play outside on the playground and go for walks, best of all she liked exploring Grandpa and Grandma's backyard and looking for wildlife in the preserve beyond.


We were all borderline desperate for a break from the dreary winter weather here and the chance to spend some relaxing time with family. We golfed, loafed, ate and even visited the zoo.

Jason and Layla feeding the giraffe some carrots.
Their tongues are 18" long!

A monitor lizard out for his morning walk.

Layla helping Grandma prepare eggs with mushrooms.
Now, she likes eggs but I thought the mushrooms would eliminate her desire to eat them. Mommy was so wrong. She ate all of hers and then all of mine; literally shoving mushrooms in her mouth. I tried it this week with broccoli and it worked!

Learning to play 'heart and soul'.

Cousin Jessie and her boyfriend, James, came down from Phoenix on Saturday and spent the whole day with us! We wouldn't let them leave. It was a first time meeting James and we all loved him, but I neglected to take any pictures of him.....

Kitten's First Full Moon