Another Leah snapshot

Another letter of sorts to Leah so one day she can have a little snapshot of what she was like at 2 years and 2 months old.

Dear Leah,

Mickey Mouse, Elmo and Tigger are still your favorite, although you are beginning to show interest in Minnie Mouse, Daisy Duck and Princesses (including "princess" dresses).

You still love dancing and you positively glowed during your first ballet class this week.

You have wonderful manners, saying please and thank you without being asked, even to strangers.

You are amazingly friendly to others, saying hello and bye-bye to everyone, even strangers, and you always try to make friends with other kids by saying "Hi baby?" or "Hi kid!".

If you hear a baby crying in a store you feel very bad and will say "aww, baby sad, it's ok".

You love when Mommy and Daddy sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to you before bedtime/naptime and we can hear you singing it to yourself after we have tucked you in and left the room. Speaking of bedtime/naptime, you like to be reminded that "you will feel so much better after your nice nap" and that Mommy and/or Daddy will be "back in to get you in about an hour" (or whenever you wake up). If we don't tell you this you won't go to sleep.

You love to have your fingernails and toenails painted.

When you kiss someone you do it like a little French girl, kissing both of their cheeks first!

When we get home from shopping you immediately start helping me take stuff out of the bags, and you even try to put away some of the food if you know where it goes and can reach it. You are such a wonderful little helper.

You love to bounce "like Tigger".

You like to play "kick" (soccer) with Daddy.

You would eat fresh strawberries and blueberries by the ton, for every meal, if we allowed it.

Your bunny "Ba" is still your shadow.

You are sleeping on a little pillow and you like to be tucked with your little quilt.

You are not very interested yet in potty training so we are going slow but you did use the potty once the other day.

You see things as "little" or "big". As in, I am "big Mommy" (nice...lol) and you are "little Leah".

You like to take your shoes off in the car so you can see your "piggies".

You know your ABC's, you can name all the major colors and some shapes and can count to 18 although you often get stuck a bit around 14 (you tend to repeat that a few times and then jump right to 18).

You sing the cleanup song when you are putting away your toys.

You like things to be neat and orderly; when you see messes in stores or even on pages in a book you will say "opps, clean up!"

You still pronounce "freckle" as "beckle"- too cute! and "leg" is "egg". So when you see the freckle on your leg you say "egg beckle". Love it.

Nothing lights up your face like when you see your Daddy walk in the door.

When you see something you like you often say "ooohhhhh cuuuuuuuute". And you like to call things "cooties" ("cuties").

You quickly and very easily become fixated on someone you love who has a "boo boo" or who is sick. You get very concerned saying "aww...oh no! I kiss it better!" and you will ask repeatedly whether they are "all better", even going so far as to suggesting a plane ride to see PopPop when he hurt his back (no lie!). It is sometimes tiring to hear all day about Nana's paper-cut from 2 months ago but ultimately it shows us so vividly how warm and loving your heart is.

Some of your favorite books are the Ladybug Girl books, I'll always Love You, If You Give a Moose a Muffin, If You Take a Mouse to School, Puppies and Piggies, Little Bunny Follows His Nose, Chamelia, Guess How Much I Love You, If You Give a Pig a Pancake, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Treasury, No Babysitters Allowed.

Like in the book "Guess How Much I Love You", that you like so much, you tells us "I love you moon an back" (I love you to the moon and back- it melts my heart.)

You are still very spirited and can be explosive if you don't get your way but you recover quickly and are a joy to be around. We adore you.

Love, Mommy and Daddy