A molar!

After several nights of at least one wake-up, Leah slept through the night last night. We all appreicated that! Her sleep issues were teething related - her bottom left "1 year" molar was coming in. It started to break through the gums a couple days ago, but now it's fully in. The bottom right molar is visible below the gums, so we could be in for some more sleep disruptions soon. But hopefully she gets a little break in between.

She now officially has 9 teeth. I don't think it's making much difference in her chewing ability yet, but we're certainly on the way to real chewing. Fortunately she has been eating pretty well lately. If she's really hungry she'll even eat some vegetables at the beginning of a meal - she's been chowing on broccoli recently. And she now likes meat - she's had lots of pork tenderloin and turkey this week.

Meanwhile, she continues to walk walk walk. Her balance is great and she's getting a bit faster. She's still a bit timid whenever there's a little step or change in flooring, but she's starting to get a bit more confident.

Leah's been enjoying exploring the apartment...even carrying things around with her as she goes:
She walked at the playground for the first time a couple days ago...look at that concentration: Showing off her walking skills for her friends at a playdate:

Checking out the toys at Erica's birthday party: And back where it all started...the Dojo:

She bangs, she bangs, and she moves, she moves

OK - I think this time Leah is actually walking. She walked a month ago...for one day. And then she stopped. Other than a couple steps here and there, Leah has taken a break from walking. But Friday she decided to start it up again. It's been three days and she has continued spending lots of time walking...sometimes she still crawls or bear walks or cruises...but lots of walking. And today she even walked all over the apartment - I think that seals it.

At the Dojo on Friday:
At Cadman Plaza on Friday: More Cadman Plaza on Friday:
At the Pierrepont Egg Hunt on Saturday:
At the park on Saturday:

At Cooper's birthday party on Sunday:

More of the birthday party:
And still more of the birthday party:

Leah's Texas trip

I took Leah to visit Grandma and Grandpa in Texas for Passover from April 7 to 14. The trip started on her 14 month birthday - hence no blog post for that. She spent the day on a plane with me. She was very good - played, slept, ate, only fussed the last few minutes. She did even better on the trip back - slightly longer nap (45 minutes instead of 30) and better playing and more time eating - no fussing - just a little restlessness, but who can blame her.

We did lots of fun stuff in Texas. Grandma borrowed lots of toys and books for Leah to play with at the house. We went to 3 different playgrounds, the zoo, the botanical garden, the Japanese tea garden, and 2 different duck ponds. It was about 75 and sunny most afternoons, so we loved the weather and spent lots of time outside. We also did lots of shopping - including getting Leah her first real sneakers and some other cute sandals and dress shoes. She's loving walking while holding on to a finger or furniture or anything else - so the shoes came in very handy for all of our outdoor activities.

Leah continues to expand her vocabulary - she can identify her head, feet, belly, belly button, and nose - and she can say eyes. As you can imagine, when she says eyes it sounds a bit like another body part - a$$. But hey - we know what she's saying. She's also getting very good at hi and bye and continues to wave at anyone and everyone.

So many toys to play with and so much space to play in Grandma & Grandpa's house:

We went for Seder at the Tobey's - and Leah very much enjoyed getting kisses from their little dog: Leah was a bit afraid of the bird being up so close at the zoo:
Grandpa played guitar for Leah - she seemed to enjoy it and even danced to the music - but her attention span was short as always:

Leah went up with the other kids for the four questions at the Temple Seder, but we decided she was best kept in the highchair:

Leah spent some time exploring the house in her diaper between daytime and nighttime outfits...she just looks so cute that way:

Leah looked like such a big girl dropping the bread into the water to feed the ducks...although we did have to stop her from eating it several times:

Hey - there's a duck - enjoying the bread from Leah:
Walking all over the botanical gardens with some help from Grandma & Grandpa:
Trying to walk up the slide at the playground, just like the big kids do:

We went to the zoo zoo zoo

Well, I haven't posted in awhile because Leah has been a bit sick...just a lingering virus...but she can't seem to kick it. And in order to help get her healthy and to avoid infecting friends, we've been pretty much just hanging out at home. After a week, she's still getting a bit of a fever in the afternoons and has a lingering cough and runny nose, but she's also got her first molar coming in, so maybe that's not helping.

Yesterday we had gorgeous weather - 65 and sunny - so we finally decided to get out and about. We took a family field trip to Brooklyn's Prospect Park - only about 30 minutes away by subway. We walked through the park and went to the Prospect Park Zoo. Right nearby we came across the Prospect Park Carousel and went for a ride there.

The zoo was lots of fun. Leah was fascinated by the sea lions and the ducks. She didn't seem too interested in most of the other animals, but she did look and point and smile and laugh. She might have been a bit afraid of some of them - no different than her reaction to most dogs - good to look from afar but they better not get too close.

She was not thrilled by the carousel ride. She seemed to like sitting in my lap on a horse until the thing started moving. The up and down part was fun - but when the carousel started spinning faster she turned around and clung to me - definitely not enjoying the ride.

And we leave for Texas tomorrow, so we've had an exciting day of packing today.

Leah was very happy to sit on the horse with Mom before the carousel started moving:
Not quite so happy once it started though:Her smile came right back when we stopped to watch the ducks though:

And after the excitement at the zoo, we went to the big lawn to practice walking:
She really likes walking as long as she has something or someone to hold on to - be it a hand or Baba's pant leg: