It’s that time of the year…

for Natalia’s visit! We are so lucky: every year one of my good friends from elementary school comes to town for a geology conference and we get to see her! Last year (on the right, below) she saw me pregnant, three days before I was put on bed rest:

And this year she met my daughter:

We’ve known each other for almost 20 years. It’s remarkable to share in these life events together.

Natalia, we’re already looking forward to next years visit! Our family loves this tradition.

Daily Activities: Color Grouping

Every day we go over colors. I like to make piles around the house with color-similar objects for Miss Leyba. I try to put different objects together each time to keep it interesting. Here are several groupings from yesterday morning:



Oh, the above photograph, how it makes me chuckle. I think she’s saying, “Mom, why do you have my carrot? Can I please play with it now?”

Finally Miss Leyba had enough:


“Who cares about colors?! Come on, Mom, let’s read!”

And she’s off!

Someone has been practicing walking every day for months. Here’s the latest method that she came up with all on her own:


There she goes! from Carrie on Vimeo.

She’s since been loading up the laundry basket (with toys and books) and pushing it all over the house.

::::::

Two cute stories:

From the dining room I hear her crawl off down the hallway. I assume she’s gone to the bedroom (as the bathroom door is usually closed), so I scurry after her and SURPRISE she’s not there. I check twice and freeze in panic mode. Where is she?! Then suddenly I hear a lot of giggling and bang bang banging going on. I run to the bathroom and she’s standing at the toilet banging on the seat cover (thankfully, we always keep it down!). She was VERY proud of herself (knowing full well that she’s not allowed to touch this magical contraption called a toilet) and I nearly had a heart attack.

The other day she crawled into the bedroom and closed the door. She then sat up against the door so I could only open it VERY slowly by pushing her forward with the door (thankfully, she wasn’t standing!). I had flashes of Miss Leyba as a preteen refusing to let me in. It’s only about 10 years away now. Not that I’m keeping track or anything.

Friends and fun

Last month (yes, I am still WAY behind with the posts) we met up with our friend Jenn and her adorable daughter (who is 10 months older than Miss Leyba) at the Bay Area Discovery Museum. The museum has a toddler section full of age appropriate activities and MISS LEYBA HAD A BLAST! (Us too, of course!)

Here are some photo highlights, and a video, below, from our trip:

Puppet show time! Miss Leyba adores (idolizes!) Jenn’s daughter.


Water table fun! (Miss Leyba got so wet! David and I didn’t discover the waterproof aprons, shown above, until it was way too late. We’ll be on top of it next time. At least we had a change of clothes!)

So much fun making beautiful music together.

Check out the “live” version:

Music at the museum from Carrie on Vimeo.


We’re so lucky to live here and have such great friends! We heart you guys!