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With Christmas coming up soon, I thought it was a great time to make some keepsakes for years to come with Leah. She, however, had a different plan.

After making some great, gooey finger paint, I put both of the girls into their high chairs to contain the mess and put some paint on their trays. Leah refused to touch it. She even whined when she got a little bit on her hand, motioning me to wipe it off for her.

Gabby fully understood the concept and went so far to even try a bite. Not sure how flour and water mixed together tastes but she didn’t try a second time.

In my years of teaching daycare and preschool, I never shied away from getting messy with the kids and always assumed my children would enjoy creating with messy materials too. Apparently not. I gave her some time but still she just watched. I did get a little masterpiece from her by encouraging her to use a paintbrush I had on hand.

I won’t whine and complain too much though as having a child who wants to stay nice and clean has its benefits too. I’m sure she will find a great balance as she grows.

Leah has been copying what she hears a lot more in the past few weeks and put two words together in a ‘sentence’ for the first time this week. As Morgan was leaving the house for work I told Leah to say,”Bye Daddy” and she did. She has also said hi daddy. She does love Morgan a lot and is always very excited to see him.

We have also been slowly working on toilet training which is going well. Leah seems to understand what to do when I put her on her potty. Depending on our schedule for the day, I try to sit her on the potty once every couple hours while I read to her. I have never read so many books to her in my life. I figured this would keep her sitting and occupied but didn’t realize I will probably have every kid’s book in the house memorized by the end of this week.

That’s all the big news in our household this week. Hope you all are having a good week too.

My sister lent me her pasta maker to try out. Though I was excited to make my own pasta, the turnout was a little disappointing. At least it was edible. I was ready to return it until I got a few pointers from a baker and I will try again when I have the time and energy.

Though you can’t tell from this smile at all, Leah has had one tough week. As all parents know, when your child has a tough week, your week is tough too. She steadily rotated between not eating and drinking to having a fever to sleeping a lot though the crying and crankiness stayed pretty constant. She wanted to be held and cuddled whenever she was awake which made me even more grateful Morgan took the week off. Her soothers were a constant companion until Friday when she actually played on her own for a bit while I was in the kitchen. I am so glad to see her personality shine once again as well as her smile.

I have been busy trying to rid our bathroom of the interesting colour combinations while finding some new ones. After much scraping, this is what I discovered on our cabinets. A lovely, shiny gold and yellow.

Now everything is white and waiting to be reassembled. Hopefully it will be all put together soon.

Though I firmly believe that Christmas decor should not be put up before December 1st, preparation can begin anytime. Here is one of the many cards I have been working on.

Morgan also took me to a Pizza, Pizza, Pizza making class this week. We weren’t sure what to expect but were pleasantly surprised. We learned about some new vegetables, how to roast them, made some pizza, ate some pizza and got some great new recipes. Overall it was a fun experience with a great instructor that gave me some tips for bread and pasta making. One of the recipes she passed on was for pitas and taziki. I tried it out yesterday night and we had an amazing dinner with Greek chicken, taziki, roasted tomatoes, roasted peppers, roasted garlic, roasted shallots and fresh pitas.

Morgan has been busy in our attic space preparing for our new roof and insulation. He has been cutting, drilling and installing plywood and giprock.

After a week of being spoiled with Morgan around all the time, I’m sure this week will not be quite so productive in terms of tangible goods. A part of me is looking forward to being back into routine with Leah with more pitter pattering of little feet running around the house. We haven’t been to the park in days or tried new fun things as we only had one friend visit this week. I would love to have Morgan around all the time but our retirement fund does not agree with my feelings.

After a day with Leah and her buddies, my work can’t always be seen but the rewards are pretty sweet. All of the evidence of the faces wiped, the grabbed toys returned, the toys cleaned up, the diapers changed, the hugs and comfort given, the books read and the lunch prepared has all but disappeared. However, the memories are made, new experiences have been explored and there are two little happy girls at the end of the day. Well, they are happy most of the time which makes me happy most of the time too.

Leah officially turned eighteen months old today on this rainy November day. She always seems to be learning new things and as well as finding new hobbies.

Her latest ‘hobby’ requires only her booster seat attached to the kitchen chair along with an adult’s assistance can keep her occupied for a very long time. Leah loves to do up the buckles and struggle to attach the tray before asking the nearest adult to take it all apart again. (By asking I mean various finger pointing gestures as well as blended vowel and consonant sounds that go higher in pitch the more excited she becomes.) She has also learned how to climb into her chair on her own but can’t get down on her own.

Leah loves to be independent as well. She puts on her boots herself anytime she see thems in her vicinity and will let you know her annoyance if you prevent her from having them. She loves waving to Morgan as he heads off to work, though she is sad to see him go, and then waving at him while looking he is getting his bike and as he rides down the street. She has figured out which window to run to and to climb onto the reading bench for the best view.

In the past few weeks she has vocalized a few more words clearly without prompting. She can say daddy, mommy, flower, ball, dog, Gabby, yes and no on her own. Leah has been copying us a lot more in the past week or so saying words like grandma, uncle, Trevor and water. Though she isn’t always clear when she copies us, I love to hear her attempting to vocalize words. She may not be able to say a lot, but her comphrension is amazing.

Leah also loves to help and be part of the action. She likes to help put the cut up potatoes into the pot, pull her wagon, wipe the floor and even was helping putting clean dishes away this morning.

As we look back on the last eighteen months, it is amazing to see how much Leah has learned and grown and we look ahead to what the next eighteen months and the many months beyond with joy.