NOW WITH EVEN MORE PHOTOS!

Not much new to report with regards to Lea. She's loud, fun, and now feeds herself. Granted she only feeds herself puffs, but it's a start.

Here are some more pictures from the last month or so.

Lea and Sloane. I believe Lea is plotting her future stealing of Sloane's sock. Or not, she is only 11 months, come on.

Lea wanted quesadilla's this night. She was not impressed with the mushed up green beans we forced on her. She does love cheese though. So that's something.

Mona Lea. Smile is a little less mysterious though. Fun note, we took her to the Science Museum where they currently have an awesome traveling Leonardo Da Vinci exhibit. (Seriously, very cool. If you live near Des Monies and you haven't been yet, head butt a wall, and to the exhibit. Okay, you don't need to head butt a wall. But serious, go see Da Vinci. Get cultured people) Were was I. Oh yeah...so she was super cool at the exhibit. We let her crawl around in the Mona Lisa exhibit. No punch line. It was cute.

Lea no longer fits in her swaddle.

Nope.

Lea the Thief

Two posts in back-to-back? What is this, five months ago? Ahahahahahahahahahaha.

But seriously people. That was weak.

Okie dokie let's talk Lea. (Heavy on the nerd talk in the next paragraph. Please don't judge. If you have never played an RPG in your life some of the terms may be foreign. If you have no idea what an RPG is either look it up, or skip to the pictures. If you are interested in playing an RPG I suggest anything from the Dragon Quest/Warrior or Final Fantasy Series. Wizardy was cool, but they are no longer produced. I also love the Legend of Zelda, but it's not a traditional RPG. I will punch myself for making you read this. Sorry.)

Just saying that she steals was inappropriate. I believe she has taken a new profession--Thief. Personally I would have liked her to become a Mage, Warrior or Martial Artist--but who am I to judge. Regardless, she has set forth on the path of being a Thief. She is doomed to pickpocketing and only being able to use a bow and arrow, or a dagger--as well as being the first one to die in her party (Why do thieves have such low HP?). Although, it would be cool to have a baby pickpocket. No one suspects the baby.

Lea also worked hard at trying to pull herself up on the couch. She was tired and was less than successful. This led to tears. Tiny, tiny tears.

SUPER FANTASTIC PICTURE TIME!

Starbucks Lea! I couldn't be prouder. (Seriously, greatest.....picture.....(wait for it)...EVER!)

Starbucks Lea 2.

Starbucks Lea 3.

Lea's 3rd favorite game. Stealing whatever mom and dad use once it hits the floor. Cups, mugs and water bottles are her choice toys.

Lea leveled up after this theft. She is now a Level 5 Thief (+6 Purloining, +4 Skulduggery)

New Year New Skills

Here's a quick recap of the past couple of months.

We traveled lots for Christmas. Lea got sick the first full day away from home, which was as awesome as it sounds. She would let anyone touch her but Kate for three days. Fantastic. She punished us when we got home by waking up every two and a half hours. So counting our travels, we slept a total of 5 hours in four nights. To top all that off her little virus attacked her little tush the first full day back. She had diarrhea for two and a half days-then gave it to me. Kids, the gift that keeps on giving the whole year round. (I was planning on a marathon posting secession the week I had off from school, but the sickness drained all motivation-not that I have any motivation when I'm feeling normal.) So yeah, that was Christmas. (Lea did get spoiled with gifts. Everyone was too kind in giving our little monster lots of things to play with.)

Lea recently learned to play peek-a-boo by herself. She unplugs the computer from the power source and tries to plug it back in, nearly successful. Lea attempts to put my ring back on my finger. And yet she still will not feed herself.

She also steals. In the past couple of weeks, Lea has stolen a pacifier (right out of another child's mouth) and a sock (right off another child's foot). We've been able to settle out of court with the parents of the victims.

While visiting our pals the Van de Walles (castleofvandewalle.blogspot.com) in Perry, a pet dog was being naughty. The dog was wanting to lick Lea, so he was placed in his kennel. The pup wanted to talk with the rest of us, which led him to being muzzled. Once the animal was locked away and silenced did Lea preceded to crawl over to his cage, multiple times, to mock the poor animal. Yes, this is my daughter.

Enjoy the pictures.

*Note: There are no X-Mas pictures because I'm dumb and my wife is forgetful. E.G.- the camera was left at home.

Lea's favorite past time.

Lea's second favorite past time.

Lea and her BFF Sloane. (And Kelly and I doing our best high chair impressions as we quietly discuss how much better our lives our since the girls have taken over every waking moment)

Lea the thief trying to make amends by attempting (failed) to place the stolen sock back from whence it came.

See you all in 2012

Ah man it's December!

So the wife claims I haven't posted on the blog since November and that was only pictures at that. Whatever. I think she's delirious. It's cold and she doesn't handle the cold very well and makes crazy claims. So maybe she's right on this one. (Please reference an earlier post about me not trying anymore. I blame the Internet.)

Quick hits of things Lea has done in the past month.

She's opened a child proof bottle. (A feat that I've been encouraging but has yet to be repeated.)

She's accomplished forward motion. Now she can attack from all 360 degrees.

She's still bald. My students have begun asking me if I shave her head. (I need to start telling them that indeed I do shave her head. For religious purposes.)

She just received her first dradle. I see a gambling problem in the future.

She's sitting herself up. Very ninja like though. We have not seen the act. She goes from laying to sitting in a split unseen moment. We think she maybe a mutant, or a superhero. Like the Flash. (Is "the" capitalized in the Flash?)

We are doing interblog promotion with the Castleofvandewalle blog. The paterfamilias (Kelly) of the Vandewalle clan is staying with us for a few weeks. I'm testing out to see if Lea like Kelly better. If so, then I've got a replacement in case I need to disappear for any extended period of time.

We spent Thanksgiving with Grandma and Grandpa Sand, as well as Uncle Greg, Aunt Sue, and cousins Ben, Sam, and Jake. It was good times, except for sleeping (Lea thought she needed Katy to sleep. Weird baby. I thought we should have let her sleep outside.) Unfortunately we forgot our camera battery. Instead we drew stick figure portraits of everyone there and taped it to Lea's forehead. I think this is a good way to make the memory stick. (Kate would like to point out that only half of this paragraph is true. You can decide which half you believe is fictitious)

I turned 30.

She loves playing with remotes and pop cans. She's very fond of smacking things with empty pop cans. Kids are cool.

Here is a link to a video of me trying to teach her to fist bump. Not sure if she quiet got the concept.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fQZsld034I

Fun pictures!

Pictures

Lea discussing the philosophy of social dadadadnymics

Couple of things for tonight gang. First of all the kid is an Internet genius. Lea is a fan of the computer. Kate and I are pretty sure the laptop has become her favorite toy. I've posted past pictures of her smacking the keys to hear the noise. Well apparently Lea has had a purpose pounding on the lapper this entire time. This evening Kate was doing some intensive reading about the affairs of the world on People.com. Lea rolled over to the computer and started pounding away. When Kate returned Lea had cruised the information super highway and landed on ms.com (MS Magazine, not a magazine a movement). She was able to both use Google and click on the fifth website that popped up. Brilliant and a feminist!!! WOOT! We couldn't be prouder. (granted our little ball of political savviness is playing with a cheese stick wrapper while kicking the fire place, hey a girl needs time to unwind)

Second thing. I'm posting some links to videos I've posted on youtube. (The video format my phone uses does not work with blogspot. I'm forced to use youtube.)

Talking:

First link is the best. Talking up a storm with a fantastic serious face at the end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBLN3-Zrlrg

Next two are similar with the first--with the exception that my ridiculous voice ends up on the video as well. I sound dumb in real life. That makes me sad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-FkJ92CCGA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ry-IVB_Y0z4

Peace out

Pumpkins Pumpkins Pumpkins

Here are some more pumpkin pictures. By the way, I'd like to state that while backing up Lea's pictures I noticed that we have over 600 pictures of her. To put that into perspective, there are two baby pictures of me in existence. 600 to 2. Think about that. (And no I will not listen to a digital picture vs. film argument)

I swear we could give this kid a bail of hay and she'd be entertained for a month.

Lea ignoring her first boy. My job is done.

This is when people stop being polite and start getting real.

Lea vs. the Gourd. A struggle the likes which man has never see.

Lea in a basket. Pleased with me.