Look at those chompers

Leah's teeth have been coming in over the last few weeks. So far we're up to two and half. That's right. I count the one coming in as a half-tooth because it breaks through the gum and then disappears every couple of days.

The teeth-cutting symptoms are pretty minimal. She drools. She fusses. That's about it. I know that a lot of babies get ear infections and even need to chew on rubbery chewy things, but she has just gotten over whatever discomfort she has gone through.

What can I say? Leah's a tough girl. And like most of her good attributes, I credit her Mommy. She's rarely sick, and when she is, it just doesn't bother her. I know that she doesn't get that from me. When I'm sick, I'm bothered.

Very bothered.

-Sefton

Cousins

Leah made a few new friends over the weekend. She and I went to Charlotte for a visit at Dad and Barbara's and made the trip especially so she could meet her Aunt Emily and her three daughters Olivia, Abby and Lily who were in town from Arizona.

The girls got along so well and I've never seen Leah play so hard. Jason's daughter Addison joined us later and all of a sudden there were five girls between the ages of 9 months old and 9 years old. It was so good to see them all play together and I really enjoyed watching how differently Olivia (the oldest), Abby (the middle child) and Lily played with Leah. Lily mainly wanted to touch Leah, especially around the head and shoulders. Abby really enjoyed holding Leah and was good about using the toys to play with her. And Olivia did a great job caring for Leah. She held her sippy cup for her to drink.

It was also nice to catch up with Emily although I felt I needed to keep an eye on her so that she wouldn't take Leah back to Arizona with her. She has a lot of experience parenting because of her three girls and I enjoyed watching her with them. She is quite a referee, waitress, teacher and friend to them. I don't know if I would have the strength to do what she does.

Now, it is important to note that Leah also has two boy cousins named Auden and Logan who live in Bellingham, Washington. I look forward to the day when she gets to meet them and I hope that the day comes where Leah and all of her cousins can get together for a day. We could have used some boys there Saturday to even things out a bit.

-Sefton

ps-Happy belated Father's Day to all the dads out there. My first one was great. I got to take a nap and cook wings on the grill.

Who's That?

Leah's babbling has increased in the past couple of weeks and it has been fun to listen to her add sounds. A lot of what she says are things like "bah!" or "da!". The first time she said "da! da!" Darcey asked if that was her first word. As proud as I would be to be her first word, I told Darcey I didn't think it counted because there wasn't any intent. And once Leah even said "mah! mah!" which threw me. I've only heard her make the 'm' sound that one time.

We have been saying "Mommy, Daddy and Daisy" over and over to her and every now and then we throw in "Kitty" for good measure. I have also tried to say things to her to help her identify whatever she happens to be looking at so there have been long strings of disjointed words spoken while dinner is being made or while breakfast is being served. It would go something like "spoon red soft book kitty remote foot toes water…"

The picture posted here is of Darcey working with Leah on what I kind of think of as the Who's-That?-Daddy drill. I think Leah may be just starting to put me and "Daddy" together as the same thing which gives me hope that I could still be her first word.

-Sefton