Who is that?

Everyone has a name. Leah has discovered this fact and is now calling quite a few people by name. Her name was first...then Baba...then Mommy. I believe GG (great grandma) was next. She's got Grandma down, although apparently she thinks Maca is the appropriate word. Sometimes she gets Grandpa too - Gumpa. She's been calling many of her stuffed animals by name - there's puppy and baby - and Rusty (the bear) and George (Curious George, that is) and Elmo, of course.

The first of her friends to be called by name was Asher. She doesn't spend that much time with him, but she seems to have quite a love for Asher. She now thinks that Ring-Around-the-Rosie includes "Asher Asher" before we all fall down. She's also got Cooper down. She's been calling Malia by name and even points down the hall towards her apartment calling "Ma-ee." She knows that the building's maintenance man is Ray - although she seems to think all middle-aged black men are Ray. She's also got a handle on Jackie the babysitter - but seems to think all babysitters are Jackie (including Millie at the gym). And Patsy the maid - who only comes every other week - but for days afterwards Leah says "Patsy?" whenever she hears someone coming to the door during the day. She talks to Shafi's parents on the phone about once a week - they are Dada and Dadi - and at other times she sometimes points to the phone and says "Dada?"

We're still working on the names of Leah's other friends. She's pretty good at repeating them when asked, so no doubt it won't be long before she's addressing everyone appropriately.

She continues to add quite a few new words per week - not quite a consistent pace - sometimes 3 a day and sometimes a day without. And she exercises her vocabulary quite a lot - answering a lot of questions, making request for favorite foods. Yesterday morning when she got up and asked for Baba and I said he was busy she said "Work?" and I said no he's still home. She asked "Sleeping?" and I said no he's on the potty. She then said "Potty? Potty?" and dutifully waited for him to emerge from the bathroom.

She still loves bath time - often asking for "Bath" or "Shower" when we're in the bathroom. Yesterday she asked for the potty during dinner. I put her on it and she actually went pee pee. So now she has another butterfly on her arm - the first one has mostly faded away, so she's pretty happy to have the new one. Hopefully that will continue to be incentive to use the potty. And maybe one of these days she'll even tell me before she needs to poop instead of after she's already done it.

Leah's latest bath time ritual - standing in front of the tub spigot with a light shower raining down on her head - and playing with the bucket:
All dressed up and ready for Peter Luger's lunch for Father's Day:

Hanging out at the bar waiting for our table - we had a 2 hour lunch and Leah behaved pretty close to perfectly - in case you're wondering, no, she did not eat the steak, but she was pretty happy with a combination of broccoli, creamed spinach and potatoes:
Having lots of fun at a going away party for a friend - Leah loves sitting on Mommy's lap:

Pee Pee on the Potty

Leah has been telling us after she poops for the last couple of weeks. This seemed like a good sign that we should start teaching her about the potty. I got a seat that goes on top of the regular potty so that she can feel like a big girl up there...and she already likes to climb onto the toilet lid. And I got some temporary tattoos - of butterflies of course.

We put her on the potty after dinner one night last week and read her a book about Elmo using the potty. It has buttons that you push to make sounds - Elmo's voice, flushing, etc. She was pretty excited to be sitting on the potty and to be reading an Elmo book. Suddenly she started to pee. We made a big deal, clapping and cheering for her. And we gave her a butterfly tattoo on the inside of her right arm.

I don't think she actually understood that she went pee pee on the potty or that it was the reason for getting a butterfly (or Becky, as she calls it) on her arm. But if we keep doing it she will soon get it. She's been asking to go on the potty a couple times a day now. And unless we're in a hurry we oblige. But she hasn't actually peed or pooped on it since the first time.

She's been a really big talker lately, adding about 3 words a day for the last several days. And she has put words together a few times, but it's definitely not a consistent thing. The other days she said "sit potty" but she hasn't put the words together since. She continues to say "all gone" but we're still not sure she knows it's 2 words.

Becky Becky buttefly:

Is that 1 word or 2?

Leah's been saying "all gone." You and I might think that is 2 words. But we're really not sure if Leah knows that or if she thinks it is 1 word. So we've been saying that she hasn't started putting words together yet.

But...yesterday she started bringing me one of her latest favorite books, "Old Hat, New Hat." She just calls it New Hat. And when she says it, it actually sounds like 2 sentences - "New. Hat."

It is incredibly cute. The first page says, "Old hat." That gets no reaction from Leah. But the next page says, "New hat. New hat. New hat. New hat." And Leah says, "New. Hat. New. Hat. New. Hat. New. Hat."

So we have officially crossed the multi-word threshold. More to come no doubt.

Little Miss Manners

I now consider my job as a mother complete. Hmm...okay maybe that's an overstatement. But for the first time ever, Leah spontaneously said "please" this morning. Of course she can't say the "l" so it sounds like peas - but I knew what she was saying. I have been teaching her to say please when she wants something - whether that is help getting up onto a chair or food or a toy. And today she brought me her yogurt melts (which I thought I had successfully hidden out of sight in the diaper bag - I guess she's too smart for me). I was saying no - I'm trying to save them for snacks when we're out and about instead of at home where she could have actual yogurt or fruit or countless other options. But when she started saying please, of course I gave in. I have to reinforce good behavior.

She's pretty good at saying thank you when I ask her to. So maybe one of these days she'll just bust out with it on her own...might be awhile...it's much harder to give positive reinforcement for saying thank you.

She's also been saying "all gone." I think she thinks it is 1 word, so I wouldn't necessarily count it as her first 2 word combo. But she holds her hands out with her palms up and says "ah go" - it's adorable.

She has been a bit slower with the new words the past week or so - but she can't keep up that crazy pace perpetually. And other than drinking copious amounts of water, she seems to be all back to health. She is getting another tooth - maybe 2 - maybe 4. Her top eye teeth seem to be very close to breaking through, especially the left one, and the top molars look like they might not be far behind.

We're not quite sure why she has been drinking so much water - seems like about 10 ounces an hour - which is basically a full sippy cup (it's a 12 ounce cup but the straw doesn't quite reach the bottom). That means lots and lots of diaper changes and some leaks, especially overnight (leading to daily changing of the sheet and mattress pad...ugh). I did a little research to see what could be causing it - of course the scary things that come up are scary. But I think they're also doubtful. She is sleeping through the night - not waking up in order to drink - so her excessive thirst seems to be only during the day. And she's peeing it all right out - she's not bloated or anything. And there's no odor to her urine. And she's not gaining or losing weight any more than normal. So - I guess she just really likes to drink water! And we're going to test out some other diapers. Today she's wearing Huggies Snug & Dry (she normally wears Pampers Cruisers). And tonight we'll be trying the Huggies Overnites, which are supposed to be thicker and more absorbent. If neither one makes a difference then I may try a couple other options. Or I'll just wait for this phase to pass. She's gone through leaking phases in the past too. And we recently went up to a size 5 - which says 27+ pounds - so we certainly shouldn't need to go higher than that any time soon.

Leah is always very excited to hold the keys on the way home...although it sounds a lot like "cheese" when she says it:
She seems to be fascinated by hula hoops these days...although she doesn't know what to do with them:

Not quite sure why she kept trying to take her dress off at the park on Sunday:

After not seeing each other for a week, Leah and Avery were very happy to be splashing in the puddles together:
Puddle splashing is one of Leah's new favorite activities:

A fairly uneventful week

Leah had the Coxsackie virus this week. She came down with it very suddenly on Saturday evening. She had a 104 fever and was drooling and had watery eyes. We took her to the doctor immediately and the doctor knew right away what it was. She showed us the small spots at the back of the roof of Leah's mouth indicating Coxsackie.

We were able to bring her fever down immediately with Motrin and then keep it down by alternating Motrin & Tylenol every 4 hours. That seemed to keep Leah comfortable most of the time, but she did have quite a few periods of crying. She was definitely having pain. The doctor said she probably feels achy and flu-like and the spots in her mouth probably feel like canker sores. Luckily the poor girls still ate pretty well and slept okay. She's been back in good spirits the last couple of days but still getting a mild fever in the afternoons and there are still a couple dots in her mouth.

We're continuing to keep her mostly quarantined for now, but I think we'll return to the playground circuit this weekend. And last night we took her to Shafi's cousin Rana's mehndi. She looked incredibly cute in her first lehnga.

Just before the fever started Leah was showing off her belly button in Tompkins Square Park in the East Village:

Feeling much better on Thursday and stomping in the puddles on the pier in Dumbo:

Posing with her cousin Tahzib and Aunt Himon:

Dancing and waving with Baba:

Just watching all the pretty ladies in their saris: