Lea will actually say "tyderd" when she's tired. We were at the store, a little past nap time and she was leaning her head in her hand and saying "tyderd" She's so sweet. This is Lea asleep at grandma's. We had a small melt down because she didn't have her usual pillow so we came up with a "grandma pillow" a pillow just for Lea at Grandma's house. Look at that big girl. Grandma, mom and Lea went shopping. We got some great play equipment. Lea can say "Charge it" Oh and she eats apples. Lea takes bites all by herself... skin and all. Now you see the apple. Now you see me gnaw on the apple. Now you see the apple that looks like a badger has had its way with the poor apple, but she can sure use those 6 little teeth!
I know most of you are here to see cutie pie pictures of Lea, and there are some new ones, but I had to post some of my other cutie pie! Dan has been looking for some high school pictures and did find some, but they're not as cute as these. The Neal family famous photo of Dan reading the government book stuck in a pot. The caption on the back reads "This book tells you how to get in this pot, but it doesn't tell you how to get out? Hmmm?" June 15, 1967 Chico, Calif And then in a different pen it says "My favorite of all!" You know I think we have that pot in our kitchen!
And also a photo of Dusty, Sonny, Danny and Teresa Lincoln New Mexico, - Sept 1969.
What a great guy and a great family! I'm lucky to have him. Happy Birthday Danno (a few days early).
Well ok they weren’t the same day. Lea got new clothes from Aunt Teresa and was playing with a hair band and ended up looking beautiful. Thanks to a dying camera battery I couldn’t get the shots I wanted, she’s beautiful in these photos, but nothing compared to real life! But I’m prejudice. And then another day we were out playing. Mommy drew on the sidewalk, Lea’s smart, but she’s not that advanced yet. She does know Star and Circle pretty well though. Oh and she swung a lot that day and decided instead of blowing bubbles, she’d chew on the bubble wand. She must be getting her molars because she chews on anything she can get to the back of her mouth and she is one cranky girl a lot of the time. She also walks around with her tongue out or in the side of her mouth. There is one photo here that is of a strange smile, that’s because she has her tongue over her lip. Last night I thought she was tired because she kept putting her hand to her head and leaning over until she was almost upside down. Dan said she’d been doing that all day and we figured out she was probably holding her cheek where her toothies are aching. Poor little thing. Its about time though. She’s had the same 6 teeth since October. The doc didn’t seem worried, so we won’t be either. As grandpa says, the longer they take to come in, the stronger the teeth will be. It makes me feel better at least. And she does pretty well with just those six. In this batch there is a photo of her eating an apple. We used to slice the apple and peel it, now she wants almost the whole thing. She wouldn’t eat the slices, she wanted a big chunk of apple and bit right into the skin part. She worked that half an apple until it was just a little ball of gooey skinless apple. She know how to use those 6 teeth she does have!
Because if mom asks you not to drink bath water our of a cup, the logical thing is to drink it out of a boat. HEY... you didn't say don't drink out of a boat, now did you?
Poor little thing has no toys to play with in the bath! But she loves her letters, and can get about half of them right, although she tries harder with Daddy than with Mommy.
Wahder, wahder...oh and tosies too! This child could spend all day pouring water from one cup to another or in the bath. She would grow gills if she could. She LOVES the wahder!
This is a song I invented for Lea because she tends to drink bath water and eat bubbles (but can't stand to have bubbles on her hands!)
So then after we spend about half an hour to 45 minutes IN the bath, we then spend 15 to 30 minutes on the step stoll playing in the sink water and brushing our teeth... much less time brushing teeth than anything else. By the way at the end of this video, the only thing that toppled was the tooth brush and it didn't even hit the floor. Its just hard to keep a camera dry while water is flying.
And finally my cute nakey bear says her name. Its a hard name to pronounce if you're only one and a half!
That's ice cube for the uninitiated. Lea started saying that last night. She's always been good at saying and playing with Ice. But eye boob was new. At the 18 month check up the nurse practitioner, Faith (who we like very much) was blown away at how many words Lea know. Dan said about 50 and Faith said that is what she expects by 2 yrs! So that got me thinking, and I sat down and wrote all the words I could think... I did include Elmo, Earnie, Big Bird, etc, but did not include animal sounds such as Moo, Meow, and Vrrrp (with one arm raised means elephant). I came up with 82 and I keep remembering others. Eye boob was not on the list. So if I can't brag on my blog, where can I brag? The kid has a great vocabulary. Eye Boob included.
Lea also has initiated play, which I love. She just starts to woof, meow, rib-bit and make elephant noise and I guess what animal she is. Its so adorable and creative. I really value the difference between her making an animal sound when I ask for it and her coming up with the idea to pretend she's a cat. She is becoming a good pretender. She pretends to lick the plastic ice cream she got for Christmas. That's adorable. I'll have to take a video if I can get her to do. She's so funny. She also pretends to run the water at her play kitchen and push buttons on the play microwave.
Water... she'd grow gills if she could. She always wants waDER or water. She wants it in a cup so she can drink it, pour it into another cup or generally spill it. We got her a step stool so she can stand at the sink and brush her teeth and wash her hands. We spend about 40 seconds brushing teeth and 40 MINUTES pouring water from cup to cup, bathing pooh and piglet and generally seeing how much water we can get away with splashing out of the sink. Lea loves the waDER! But if given a task she's very focused. I have a humidifier in her room because she's had a cough for about a week. So I take a pitcher of water into her room to fill it. This was a battle because Lea wanted to play in the water until I figured out to give her a measuring cup with a bit of water in it and we both go fill the humidifier. Lea even gets to pour her water in the humidifier, then we take our empties back to the kitchen. I'm happy I didn't have to get frustrated at Lea splashing in the humidifier and Lea has a visible sense of accomplishment. She is a GREAT helper!
We had a wonderful Christmas with lots of family. We were lucky enough to see many family members over the holiday, but it kept us running. On Tuesday, Mom, Grampy and Margarete met me for the long wait to see Santa at North Park Mall. We heard stories from him and took some photos in the mall. We talked about Santa, played with a santa doll, watched Santa hold other kids, and Lea was saying "Santa, Santa" as we were next in line. We put her in his lap and the crying began! Santa didn't have as much patience as I would have thought for her, but he was sweet about it, albeit in a hurry. He said "She must be one. One is the hardest age." So we took it in stride, got out with our self taken photos for free and called it a day. We did get some cute portraits in her fancy dress.
We met Linda's family on Thursday with an informal dinner and a rousing game of bingo with prizes! Great Grandma Dusty was there, if a little worse for a fall. She was sore in the ribs, but a joy to be with. A cute pink Santa hat from Linda! What a perfect baby hat!
Friday we finished our Christmas things and headed to Emory to spend the weekend with mom, Grampy, and Margarete. We went to a German restaurant in Emory Friday night. Margarete got to talk to the owner in German and compare recipes. Very good food and a fun dinner. Saturday afternoon brought a drive to Denton for dinner with Dan's Aunt Bonny, a wonderful afternoon with Sonny and Dusty, and toys thanks to Lalania. A fabulous dinner and wonderful presents. Thanks so much. Chrismas eve we had early gift giving in Emory because we were expecting a visit from Margarete's friends (she hadn't seen them in 15 years). Due to car trouble we didn't see them until Christmas day, but it was a wonderful visit. Margarete really enjoyed seeing them and we enjoyed meeting them. They travel much of the time but live near mom, so perhaps we will see more of them. Christmas Eve was full of presents from each other and while we felt like we'd kept it to a minimum there were boxes and boxes of great stuff! Lea got an Elmo rocker from Grandma Lynn... we opened the box and Elmo was without eyes... Lea didn't seem phased and, with some adult assembly required, Dad had it together in a flash and Lea was off surfing with Elmo.
We got great presents sent from Grandma JoAnn and Aunt Marie & Uncle Dave & Godfather Joe! Again thanks so much! Then Christmas morning brought a sweet letter from Santa and more little presents left in our stockings. Santa was very practical with windshield washer fluid for everyone, among other little gifts, but the washer fluid brought the biggest raised eyebrows! good ol' Santa always knows what you really need. Christmas Day brought the tastiest turkey ever and Dan V., Linda, Teresa and Robert to share it. More presents, wonderful sweet gifts for all. Another hearty thank you! A great family time. And the day after left Lea looking around for presents... why could she open them 4 days in a row and then not today, she seemed to say, but she took it in stride and the present of babies printed on magnetic paper seemed to be a hit. There was much sorting of the babies, out of the bag, on the table, in the pockets. She loved all of her toys and has played with them all! One of the fabulous gifts from Linda & Dan was a towel with princess crown that Lea has taken to wearing like a cape. She wore it for quite a while christmas day and when we got home on Wednesday she wanted to wear it. We also did use it for a towel... silly us
Grampy and Lea playing together. It took her a while to warm up but then she was flirting and playing with her new best friend... although she still wouldn't sit in his lap. She's got stranger anxiety something fierce. Lea got pictures of babies on magnet paper and she loves to sort the magnet babies and put the magnet babies in pockets!
A glimpse into the holiday festivities in Emory. Appearently no one but grandma knew I was trying to video Lea...
We had an Arctic blast the week after Thanksgiving. Dan, Lea, my mom and I drove to Minnesota for Thanksgiving where the weather was a balmy 50... but we come back to Texas to an ice and snow storm. It was not as severe as the news would have had us believe, but Lea did get to see and play in her first snow fall.
"Deerlick beloved we are gathered here today..." Lea's pun during Punderdome game 5-22
"Boat, Boat, Boat!" = Danger when there was water coming into the boat on Beavers Bend Lake in 4-22 with Kim
Puff Puff Piffle make me sniffle — Lea argues that that is the saying, not make me just as small as Sniffles 2017
Osonate [Aw-son-ate] sauce = Arsenic sauce in the Grinch song "You're a three decker sauerkraut and toadstool sandwich with arsenic sauce!" 2016
Germ hole to germ hole = a kiss at church during peace be with you when mommy is sick
anti quote = always comes with finger quotes. I believe she means "And I quote" but she is adamant that it is anti quote. 5-12
Sam Philips Hand = Philips head screwdriver after Dan told Lea it was named for a man named Philips.
Compliment = The word Lea kept using instead of Accusation during our first games of clue. As in "I can't make a compliment until I get to room, right?"
Ark el Harold's Angels Sing and And The Jelly Hosts Proclaim= Hark the Harold Angel's Sing and With Angelic Hosts Proclaim
"Wolf gloves" = Fox Glove flowers. In a story Lea asked what foxgloves look like, so the next morning she wanted to look them up and asked Dan to look up Wolf gloves. It took us a while to figure out what she was talking about. 8/10
"mows my teeth" = what the electric tooth brush does
Seener = Venus I think. As in "I love you to Seener and Mars and back again"
Box of socks = what's inside a wrapped package so Lea doesn't give the gift way.
amn't = "I am not" as in "No, mommy I amn't"
Ep-a-cot = Epcot center. On our Disney trip Lea made this word 3 syllables.
Ray-B-C = CB Radio. There is a picture of the pigeon talking on the CB Radio in a book and Lea can never get the name right. You know talking on the Ray-B-C.
Smash 'em Turvy = Smash 'em up Derby. Smashable Turvey is what Lea thought I said, so now when we play cars we play Smashable Turvy.
skull = pirates. Anything decorated with skulls Lea says are pirates, as in "Your shoes have pirates on them."
licky pills = cough drop/throat lozenge
chicken hairs = tiny hairs on mommy. I remember my grandmother calling the tiny mostly invisible hairs on her face "chicken feathers" so I said that to Lea one day. Now even hair on my legs are "chicken hairs" as in sitting in my lap saying, "Mommy your chicken hairs are POKING me!"
Ouchie Lea! = The natural equivalent to "Ouchie Mama" which I say... me being the mama... so Lea figured out she needed to say "Ouchie Lea" Took me longer to figure out why she said it that way. Makes perfect sense if you're 3.
Be Patient, Be Calm Mommy =Lea's calming influence on mommy. Her cute little voice when I've spilled something all over the kitchen floor.
Cotton Ball = Cannon Ball... that's what Lea called Dan's "diving" in the pool, as in "Do another cotton ball Daddy"
schlopp schlopp = ice cream or treat. It comes from The Dr. Seuss book The Thinks You Can Think. "You can eat schlopp schlopp, you don't have to stop." And there is a picture of two people sitting at a table. Lea said that was Mommy & Daddy, so the next time we went out without Lea I said we were going for Schlopp Schlopp and that she and Grandma could have ice cream which then became schlopp schlopp on its own.
Bergen = "Let's find a Bergen" -This means, let's do the Gem Hunt on Webkins which features an old salty dog. After several days of wondering what she was talking about, we heard the dog say in a drawl, "Let's see what Bargains we can find" and we both had an "ah ha" moment.
"Den DC" = Where Godmother Sherry lives. Lea's shorthand for Washington DC.
"Heavy Strong" = chin ups or pull ups. Lea used to do "heavy strong" on the bars of her crib and now does them on the playground.
"If you say so, I say so"= I will relent to doing what you say or you have relented to what I have insisted on for the past 20 min. Very cute in a staccato voice.
Old McDomino's=McDonalds, as in "I want to eat at Old McDomino's"
"ploblems" = problems as in "Mommy I'm having shoe ploblems"
"oat mill" = windmill @ grandpa's house
"floppy nest" = pack and play bed @ Grandma's
"za-cunni" = zucchini — usually as in "No, no za-cunni"
"why cause" = because
"nap thirty" = response to what time is it after lunch?
"attention horde" = extension cord
"as fast as me can"
amn't I = aren't I. I've listed this before but thought I'd note that she still says it at 8 yrs/third grade old even though she reads at a 6th grade level. I still find it cute.
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