Category: Miss Leyba

So much to be thankful for

A very late Thanksgiving post…

For the second year, our dear friend Kate-Robin joined us for Thanksgiving. And this year she brought her girlfriend Jen. It was a blast!

Kate-Robin cooked the most delicious Butternut Squash and Hazelnut Lasagne as our vegetarian Thanksgiving main dish. We also baked this Spiced Pumpkin Bread, which has been our favorite holiday treat (and gift to friends!) this year. We highly recommend both recipes. Super yummy.

And what Thanksgiving in Wine Country isn’t complete without a trip to Chateau St. Jean?! (Wow, do we love that winery!)

Miss Leyba adored playing with both Kate-Robin and Jen. Here is a morning moment between Kate-Robin and Miss Leyba:


Morning play with Kate-Robin from Carrie on Vimeo.

p.s. Miss Leyba popped her first tooth!!! More on that soon…

Letter to Miss Leyba: Month Ten

Dear Miss Leyba,

You are ten months old and still don’t have any teeth. We can’t believe it either. You now have four in place and just about ready to break through, but we are not holding our breath. We’ve been waiting for them to pop for months.

This month you have been perfecting your skill set: turning pages (now completely on your own), cruising the furniture and moving towards walking by yourself, and TALKING! We thought you talked a lot before… well, now you talk even more!

Your latest talking shenanigan is screaming “mom, mom, mom!” over and over when you want me or when you want me to do something for you. Like when I took away that piece of paper you were eating and you wanted it back. Or when I dare to put the laundry up or unload the dishwasher or, heaven forbid, go to the bathroom without you. “Mom, mom, mom, mom” you shriek and crawl after me clearly shouting, “Wait for me!”

You want to be next to me all the time and are endlessly curious about what I am working on. Honey, I really don’t think I am that interesting… but I am glad you think I am and want to spend all your time with me. I feel the same way about you. Even when you are asleep: I can still stare at you for hours while you sleep. It just doesn’t get old. You are adorable in everything that you do.


Despite wanting to be near me at all times, you still love playing independently. I love this because it means we can both work on projects that interest us.

Unless my project interests you too, in which case you want to help me!

Here you are unpacking the laundry basket:

And coming over to visit me while I am taking photos:

You are also getting very good at yoga and are an expert at the following poses:

We are so proud.

You continue to perfect your pincher grasp and like feeding yourself bits of sweet potato, red potato, rice, spaghetti squash, and banana. You like to teeth/suck on slices of apple and carrot. You frequently share whatever you are eating with us — holding out your spoon or treat to us so we can eat too. We love how generous you are. Thank you for sharing, sweetheart!

You are getting very good at using the mouse and love to type on the keyboard. Here is a message from you:

    9 njhb nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
    p 7 bn bnn nmb,nmk h bv KMNJKHYJGHET
    DDDDDDDDDDDDD3 BLOK
    M MZNM Zjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj%%%5555 NB BV VZ BVGBFFgggggggggggggggf

Keep growing! Keep exploring! Keep having fun!

We love you.

Love,
Mama

Miss Gourmand


She stole this apple from the fridge and rolled it around the house for two days straight.

Someone has discovered the joy of solid food. After placating us for three months, Miss Leyba has finally realized that solid food is delicious! She just wants to eat and eat… And eating more during the day means sleeping for longer stretches at night… what can we say?! We’re thrilled!

She now eats the following, pureed:

    red potatoes,
    sweet potatoes (adores!),
    apples and apricot (loves!),
    apples and plum,
    butternut squash,
    avocado,
    banana,
    quinoa and rice cereals,
    apple,
    pear, and
    peas.

She likes to eat with a teaspoon and feed herself. We hand her the spoon with some food on it and she pops it right in her mouth. She then sucks and bites on the spoon… for a while. When she’s ready for more she usually throws the spoon towards us signaling it’s our turn to load it up again. She’s also very interested in “drinking” from her bowl (we use individually sized wooden salad bowls to feed her: eco groovy, toxin-free, and non-breakable).

She loves to drop her (adorable PVC-free) placement on the floor (over and over again)… and she tries to toss the spoon too if we don’t intercede fast enough. Exploring gravity is a near constant activity (for several months now). One of these days we hope this game will get boring, but only because we’re tired of picking stuff up over and over again. We love that she’s so curious!

Playing under the kitchen table is another fun game. Hours of entertainment there with empty yogurt containers (to roll around) and pots and pans and blocks and books. It’s THE place to be right now (when she’s not trying to climb the furniture).

(By the way, on our trip we discovered that it appears we can’t use restaurant high chairs anymore: Miss Leyba quickly discovered how to stand up in them and climb on the table. What bad table manners! She also loves paper napkins — evidently tearing them into little bits is akin to an out of body experience.)

Mama’s sugar high

Dear Miss Leyba,

Thank you for helping me unpack the groceries.

I am so glad that you were utterly fascinated by the shrink wrapped (all-natural) candy canes (that I am saving for Solstice). Colorful boxes covered in plastic are such fun to play with.

I know that the candy canes are colorful and intriguing, but sorry, love, it’s going to be a long while until you try refined sugar. That’s because sugar is BAD for you.

I try to set a good example for you, but this is one instance of do as I say, not as I do.

Love,
Mama