All three kids had the same fine blond hair, blue eyes, and chubby cheeks. Since Leah's clothing is decidedly pinker than the boys', I made all of the photos black and white.
At five months Leah is getting to be a handful. Sometimes she wants to be held, and sometimes she wants to be down, and she is more than ready to let me know that whatever I'm doing is wrong. I'm almost ready to say that she has learned to be willful, which bodes ill because we have 12 more years until she is a teenager.
She is showing no signs of sleeping through the night. I put her down at 8pm and it is normal for her to wake up 10, 2, 4 and 6am. I attribute it to the breast feeding (which I would never give up). Eli likes to think that is partly due to some quirk of genetic makeup common to all three kids.
Leah has a trick that she has learned, or that we have taught each other. We used to do it with the boys when they were crying: cupping or patting fingers against their open mouths to make a "baa baa baa baa" sound. Leah will do it with us even when she isn't crying. In fact, it normally makes her coo and start to talk.
Leah is also walking now. Ok, not really walking, but she scoots around in her walker quite well. We started her in it 3 or 4 weeks ago and she has already gotten the hang of it. Like all kids, first she only moved backwards. Then she learned to go sideways, and now she can cruising forward. It is adorable when she tries to follow her brothers around the house because she can't get on and off the carpets. I love this stage because I can pop her in the walker while I cook dinner or prepare lunch for Avery and Zach.
Here are some cuuuute pictures of Leah hanging out on her tummy. Now that she is older, she prefers to lay on her tummy rather than on her back. She is even able to push herself forward a little bit. She doesn't roll over much, but can do so when sufficiently motivated. And, we now have to buckle her in her car seat because she has started arching her back now and inching forward until she falls out.
This spring the boys are playing in a tot soccer league. It is every Saturday at 11:30am for the next two months. They are in the same class, which is nice because we won't have to split up, and we won't have to devote half the day to soccer. At this age there are no games or scrimmages, just activities and drills to build up their skills and get them comfortable with the ball.
Last week was the first class of the season. The first thing we noticed was that soccer is serious business in Loudoun County. The field where we met had at least 12 teams (of various ages and skill levels) practicing every hour, starting at 8:30 and running until some time in the afternoon. And this was just one local elementary school.
It is entertaining to watch the kids, and to watch their coach cajole them into participating. They do warm-up exercises, running exercises, kicking drills, and ball-control drills. For the kids it all seems like playing games, but you can see that they are picking up the foundation of the skills necessary to play a real game of soccer.
The only downside was picking up a little sunburn. Even little Leah got some on her arms and head. I don't know why it didn't occur to me that we could get a burn in the middle of April. I guess in my mind I only equate "hot sun" with "sun burn".
This morning I woke up at 8:30am. Leah was next to me, looking into my eyes, but for once she was not pulling my hair or climbing all over me. Then Eli came into the room and offered to take the baby and make breakfast. Then Avery came in, gave me 100 kisses, sang me a song, and hugged me. When I finally made it downstairs, I was greeted by sunshine and spring weather. Could the morning be any more perfect?
Last weekend Eli surprised me with an overnight trip to Baltimore's Inner Harbor. The plan was to drive up, go to the Baltimore Aquarium, spend the night, and then drive to Brian and Maggie's house in Pennsylvania for Madison's 5th birthday.
Everyone enjoyed the field trip, but it was very tiring. Eli and I had to carry Leah through the aquarium because strollers weren't allowed. We lasted for about an hour an a half, and by then the kids were pretty much done as well. Zachary's favorite part was the giant pool where the manta rays live. As we climbed up each floor he would go to the center and look down at the pool on the bottom floor.
We had a very comfortable night at the Marriott Inner Harbor. The beds were luscious, and the boys stayed asleep through Leah's feedings. In the morning we gorged at the buffet breakfast, and then drove up to Wernersville. Once again, Leah was the star of the party. Now that all of the cousins are getting older, the "baby fatigue" has worn off and everyone wants to get some cuddle time.
Leah had rice cereal for the first time today. I didn't expect the reaction she had. Usually babies jerk back and spit out food when they are first learning to eat, but she just rolled it around with her tongue and then swallowed.
Eli got to do the "first meal" honors, which is fair considering I've been feeding her for four straight months. He made sure she was wearing her VT bib from Aunt Nora for this big moment. So, rice cereal for a month, then we'll start adding new items: mashed carrots, potatoes, green beans, apple sauce... Yum!
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