21 month old Leah

Lest I forget my girl at this age, here's a little update on her.  There is always so much to say about this little fireball.  She is so full of life and energy, although as she gets older, I see her sitting still more and more and remaining focused for longer stretches of time.  Sacrament Meeting is no longer the sideshow it used to feel like and she actually sits through the whole hour quite well (I'm in awe at how different church is for us these days - I swear she was the most out of control toddler at church just a few months ago). 

A recent favorite activity is trying to put on her clothes.  She can spend up to 20 minutes just trying to put on different articles of clothing.

She hasn't figured out how to put her clothes all the way on correctly...here she is wearing a pair of jeggings on one leg (over her other pants) along with a pair of underpants on her other leg. 

Found her with this shirt on her head one morning.  Makes her look like a rooster, I think.

And here she is sporting Dallin's shirt around her neck and a nursing cover worn in toga/type fashion.  

She loves to take socks off and on, as well as shoes, but she can only put them on her right foot.  For some reason her left foot presents a big challenge to her.

Along with trying on clothes, Leah loves babies...both dolls and real ones.  She takes good care of her baby dolls and stuffed animals. She pretends to change their diapers and wipes their bottoms with real wipes.  She loves all kinds of purses, bags, and necklaces, and usually brings a bag with us whenever we leave the house...she rarely leaves the house empty handed.

She takes such good care of Dallin and on a couple occasions has been able to ease his tears when he wouldn't allow any of the rest of us to calm him down.  She gently pats his head and looks in his face while saying "sh, sh, sh" over and over...it's beautiful.  She also shares all her food with him and wants to get all the same attention he gets, even if its negative.  If he is crawling toward the stairs and I tell him no, she then crawls towards the stairs and waits for me to tell her no.  Or if he's playing with the DVD player and I tell him no, she gets down on her belly like him and does the same thing, looking at me to tell her no, too.

And she babbles. And babbles and babbles.  Her grandparents have all been witness to her unending chatter on the phone.  And though most of her chattering and babbling is unintelligible, her vocabulary is fairly extensive and growing.  I don't want to forget her talking at this point in time, so here are the words she says most frequently and what they mean:

Mommy - Mom or Dad (she can say Dad, but recently refuses to refer to Dave as Dad)
Nammy - Banana
wa-wa - waffles or water
wa - walk (when she wants to walk instead of riding in the stroller or be carried, or when we're helping Dallin walk)
bo-bo - bread or apple
ba-ba - pacifier
bubby - baby (anybody smaller than about 4.5 feet is a baby)
eye - she says this whenever she sees an animal she doesn't know the name (or sound) of...she just points to their eye and identifies that body part
bubbo - bubbles
ba - ball or balloon, or any sphere (the other day she pointed to the moon and said "ba")
mmmmmmm - cow (
zhzhzhzh - bee
uh-mow - cat (and dog...though when you ask her what a dog says, she'll say, "oof, oof", but if she sees a dog, she calls it "uh-mow" - her version of a meow)
I don't even know what to write for her pig sound....it's like the noise camel trainers make to direct the camel, like you're trying to clear your throat
bye-bye - refers to outside, purses and cars, as well as whenever we leave (she is CONSTANTLY asking to go bye-bye)
shishy - refers to both fishy crackers and fish
boo - books or boots
shush - shoes
eeee - eat (whenever she's hungry)
wheee - playground
ha - hat
how - hot
nigh-nigh - refers to any crib or bed, also what she says when she's really tired.  Sometimes when she gets really upset, she starts to throw a fit, then stops and asks to go nigh-nigh.  We're not sure if she wants alone time, or if she just recognizes that she's tired.
memo - Elmo...she says this when she sees Elmo, or when she wants to play with the ipad (we have an Elmo app) or when she wants to watch Sesame Street
sha or sho - sure (anytime she responds in the affirmative)
no - the obvious.  I've learned when I hear her telling Dallin no (or when she says "uh-oh") it's definitely time to investigate, because he's most likely getting into something he shouldn't (usually meaning he's eating something he shouldn't)
ah-da - all done
go-guh - go-gurt (a recent favorite treat)
sigh-sigh - siren (she does a pretty good impression of one, too)
aw - doesn't do it justice without hearing the intonation, but she says this whenever she sees a cute picture of a baby or an animal
moh - more (sounds like she's saying it with a British accent)
owie - she'll talk about owies for forever

She also has a few favorite songs that she'll request by "name": ABC's, "Here's a Ball for Baby" (she says bubby and does the beginning hand gesture), "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam" (BEE), "Old MacDonald" (E-I-E-I-O).  And there are a few songs she requests by hand gesture such as Twinkle, Twinkle (puts her finger in diamond shape), Eensy Weensy Spider, and Wheels on the Bus (does the motion for going round and round).

Sorry for the list (if you made it through it)...again I just wanted to remember all her cute communications at this point in time.  Leah continues to be a load of fun as well as a handful.  She spends some time in "time out" every day and it works wonders for helping her get herself back in check.  She gets fired up so easily, but she also gets over it just as quickly.  She has a wonderfully affectionate little heart and her hugs can make your day.  She's very social and says hi to all.  We went to the temple visitor's center the other day and a sister missionary from our ward was serving there that morning.  As soon as Leah saw her, she ran up and gave her a big hug...it was pretty sweet.  She is very good at folding her arms (and kneeling if it's our night time family prayer) for prayer and she will often be the one to remind me to bless the food when we sit down to eat.  She gets really distracted during family home evening lessons unless we are singing a song.  The other night our lesson was on being an eternal family, and at the very end of it, I said something like, "Leah, it's an amazing blessing that Heavenly Father gave us the opportunity to be together as a family forever" to which she immediately replied, "E-I-E-I-O".  Okay then.  We sure love her.