First Trip to the Zoo

Leah got a chance to take advantage of some Spring-preview weather over the weekend, and made her first visit to Zoo Atlanta. We were able to catch up with the Parness Family, and thank Micah for being our own personal tour guide! Leah loved all of the animals, and waved at most of them. She often said "Hello" to the different animals, including an enthusiastic "Hello big lizard" for the komodo dragon. Leah was very excited to see lemurs, who remind her of one of her tv friends, Zaboomafoo. The pandas were very interesting, and she was lucky enough to get face-to-face with one of them!




Leah is quite fond of elephants these days. They weren't outside yet when we started our tour, but we got pretty close to one of the big guys just as we were leaving the zoo. He was snacking on crunchy green bamboo. Leah heard him crunch, and saw the green stuff, and proclaimed "Broccoli!". I corrected her, and told her that the elephant was eating bamboo. Later in the afternoon, we went to play group and I told the elephant/broccoli story a few times. The last time I told it, I said "....and she said 'broccoli'." Leah immediately corrected ME with "Bamboo!". Nothing gets past our girl!



In addition to our fun at the zoo, Leah had a busy weekend. She had breakfast at Goldberg's with Daddy Erwin & Judy, hit the park at Brook Run, partied with Gymbo at Micah's 2nd birthday, AND went to playgroup at Judah's house. Up this week, we are expecting a little visit from V.V.!!

Daddy's Birthday Weekend

We celebrated Alex's birthday this past weekend by taking a weekend getaway. V.V. and Grumpa met us at the Lake. We had such a fun visit, and explored a bit of Middle Georgia while we were at it. On Saturday, we took a road trip to explore the towns of Athens and Madison. In Athens, Leah got to romp on the green with V.V., and see parts of the University of Georgia campus. She was so tired after playing and lunch, that she took a nap in the car on the way from Athens to Madison. She didn't have her sleepytime friends with her, so she gabbed onto Grumpa's finger, and fell asleep holding on to him!




Sunday, we stayed closer to home. We went to feed the ducks, and they finally came to eat! Leah had been 2 or 3 times before, and the ducks weren't ever hungry. We also saw some fish. They stole the bread that the ducks missed.



After visiting the ducks, we hit the playground. Leah had the place to herself, and had a ball running around and climbing all the way to the top. We spent Sunday afternoon around the house, enjoying the sunshine on the deck and dock. Leah exercised her imagination by feeding Jack "apples" (dead leaves), and "noodles" (pine needles). Amazingly, Jack found that game to be a lot of fun. He didn't actually eat any of Leah's goodies, but he would nibble on them and wag his little nub. Of course, no trip to the Lake would be complete without a little time on the dock. Buffett could spend hours out there sniffing the breeze.




We finished the birthday celebration with buffalo wings and V.V.'s famous birthday cake while we watched the Super Bowl. Leah's next few weeks are busy with every day happenings. Lucky girl, her V.V. will be back in just a few days, and Valentine's is around the corner!

Odds and, errr....ends

Leah has had a quiet few weeks. She has been settling in to her new activities at Gymboree and music class. She seems to enjoy both, and is especially getting into the tumbling at Gymboree. She has had a little cold - more snot than anything else - so we've been pretty close to home for the last few days. Here is a shot of Leah playing "night-night" with Buffett. Except, perhaps Buffett wasn't playing?



Leah's big excitement this week is the introduction of her potty. We don't think she is quite ready to start potty training, but she has taken an interest lately. Not only did Leah get a new potty today, but that also meant granting her regular access to the downstairs bathroom. First, she was just giddy that she could explore the new room that had previously been off-limits. She splashed in the dog bowl, and pulled a little toilet paper off of the roll. Then, she sat on the potty (fully clothed of course). Daddy cheered for her, and she got a big kick out of that. Leah wandered out of the bathroom for a few minutes, and then she went back in. I followed her in, she sat down, and I cheered. She then looked around from her new vantage point, and grabbed a magazine off of the cart next to her. Hey - what do grown ups do when they sit on the potty? They read a magazine! Her Daddy came to see what I was laughing about, at which point, Leah looked around at her potty and asked "Buckle?". Everything else she sits on or in - stroller, highchair, toy car, carseat, etc. has a buckle. So, it only made sense to her that she should also get buckled into this new seat. After she gave up looking for the buckle, Leah walked over to the big potty and flushed it. She then spent another 15 minutes tearing up the bathroom, until her Daddy couldn't stand it anymore and shut the door. I have a feeling that our water and toilet paper expenses might be on the increase for a bit here..

Fist Hair Cut

Leah had her first haircut this afternoon. I have been mulling it over for the past 2-3 months. Of course, we want to keep growing her hair. She is pretty feminine, but I can't wait until she has enough hair for pigtails...or braids..... Leah was working on quite the mullet, and it finally made me crazy enough to take her for a little trim. She did MUCH better than we expected her to. There were no major theatrics, and only a small fit of silliness. I must say that I was impressed with the kiddie-salon we went to, and it was worth a wait to have this experience in a low-stress environment!

Before: Fly-aways in the eyes. Major mullet in the back.


Showing off her comb-skills on Elmo. Elmo was a good distraction. Adding the comb to Elmo was brilliance!


Have to hold still for the front...


After! What a superstar - no tears, minimal fussing, and a little head-shaking. The difference is subtle, but we were able to get rid of the whispies in her eyes and minimize the mullet!

Happy New Year!

Leah has had a fairly quiet beginning to the New Year. Tonight she got a little messy with her butternut squash at dinner. While I was capturing the mess for posterity, we caught a few things on video. First, is Leah describing her current state of affairs. Second, is a message for her grandparents.

Happy Hanukkah

Leah had an extremely busy weekend! Most importantly, she got to visit with V.V. and Grumpa. They came all the way from North Carolina to help Leah kick off the celebration of Hanukkah. First, they took Leah to enjoy an Atlanta classic - the Pink Pig. Leah loved looking at the pig, and she ended up enjoying the ride too. However, the process of getting strapped in did not go so smoothly. After the ride she kept saying "Ride. Train", so I really do believe that she had a nice time. After the Pink Pig, we went to Eclipse de Luna for dinner. Not only did Leah taste some exotic tapas, but she also was charming the whole restaurant as she danced in her high chair. She even had the gruff-looking waiter smiling & waving by the time we left!




Saturday morning was the Zaban family Hanukkah party. V.V. and Grumpa were treated to fresh latkes, Aunt Sara's homemade challah, and lots of other yummy treats as we celebrated. Leah got to sample her first real latke at the party, because she was too little to eat them last year. She definitely liked the latkes (what isn't to like?) with homemade applesauce, but her favorite was chocolate half of her black-and-white cookie. In a first time effort, I made the black-and-whites from scratch. They were not as pretty as the ones we get at Goldberg's, but were pretty darn yummy! Here Leah shows her ability to multi-task: opening a present with one hand, while stuffing challah in her face with the other. =)



Sunday morning, we all got up and rolled out to see the Learning Groove perform a Hanukkah concert. We hung out with the Parness family. Leah ate some donuts, and grooved to the music with Micah. I think everyone had fun, and we're looking forward to taking a music class with Mr. Eric & Mr. Michael from the Learning Groove in the new year.





The final event in our weekend was a real treat for Leah. We had a little Hanukkah celebration with Bubbe & Honey, and V.V. and Grumpa. Leah rarely gets to have all 4 grandparents to herself, and she took full advantage of the situation. She helped light the menorah(s), opened lots of presents, and entertained us all. Leah's special gift from V.V. and Grumpa was a super-cool kitchen. Once she "opened" the kitchen and the bowls and spoons that go with it, she then went about cooking oatmeal and soup for all of us. She also was very meticulous about "washing" all of her dishes and cookware in the sink. Leah then impressed us all by eating an extremely grown-up dinner. She ate some mustard-crusted lamb, wild rice with balsamic mushrooms, LOTS of steamed broccoli, and of course she finished it all off with one of those black-and-white cookies! I still can't believe that we're only one night into this holiday - I hope Leah isn't let down if the rest of the week is a bit quieter!!

Thanksgiving and Beyond

Leah had a fantastic Thanksgiving. She got to spend tons of time with V.V. and Grumpa. She also got to visit with lots of other special people. She had her first meeting with Uncle Mike, and also got to meet baby Claire. Leah ate her first Thanksgiving dinner this year, since she was too little to eat last year. She liked the sweet potato casserole and the satin pie best. In fact, after tasting the chocolate satin pie, she said "happy". Every time she wanted another bite, Leah would request "happy". I think the pie has officially been renamed from "satin" to "happy pie". Really, it makes grown ups happy too, so the name fits! One of Leah's favorite parts of the weekend was visiting the animals at Aunt Christina & Uncle Jay's farm. She met goats, sheep, llamas, chickens, ducks, kitties, and pigs. Leah was not too sure what to make of the pigs, but you can see some photos of her meeting Luna the llama and Violet the sheep. The other really cool thing that Leah got to do on the farm was to wash her hands in the sink. She liked that so much, that she insisted on doing it twice!



Leah had the chance to paint some pottery at the J last weekend. She painted a plate for Hanukkah. She was very good at using the damp sponge to wipe down the plate before we painted. She also liked using the paint brush. She was not quite as happy when we painted her hand for a hand-print. It was a fun morning, despite the hand-painting. We got a new camera over Thanksgiving, so we got the chance to practice shooting at the park yesterday afternoon. It is amazing what a difference a fast camera makes when taking pictures of speedy munchkins! Here are some of our shots:





Coming up, Leah will be riding the Pink Pig with Honey. We are also expecting a visit from V.V. & Grumpa just in time for the first night of Hanukkah. As always, I have TONS more photos than I am able to share here. If you want to see more, just let me know and I can send a link.