Our Giggling Girl

Here are three new videos from the past ten days. Hope you enjoy! And as usual, make sure your speakers are on... especially with this one!

Leila Plays the Spoons

Leila's Idea of Reading

A Farewell to Athens

As most of you already know, David, Leila and I have concluded that it is best to keep our time in Athens short and sweet, so we're moving on to the West Coast. We'll be leaving at the end of the month to spend a week in Florida with David's family before we fly out to California. We'll be staying in Visalia, where my parents live, while we plot the next move (yes, there will be yet another move in our near future. We thought that a gypsy life for Leila's first year would help her be better adjusted in her later years. It's all part of the plot).

Below are some pictures we took at one of Athens' foremost musical landmarks -- the railroad trestle from R.E.M.'s first studio album, "Murmur." And lastly, a group shot from our favorite park, Memorial Park.

Latest Delights and Delicacies

Leila's curiosities are getting harder and harder to satisfy. She is in constant need of new activities and stimuli. Her new rainforest jumper station is just the thing to keep her entertained (and get her tired).

She recently developed a taste for her toes. Leila has always been into having her toes tickled and licked (thanks to Hula), so now she's figured out a way to take care of it herself.

More of this to come...

Leila's Slirpin' Up the Cereal

Breaking News: Introducing Solids

Leila's teething pains are clearly causing her increasing levels of pain, and as a result, she's been increasingly difficult to nurse and also harder to keep asleep (woke up three times last night, instead of her usual, single 3am feeding). So, we decided to offer her some "solid" food. We first gave her a cold carrot to gnaw on. She actually did a remarkable job of sucking the juice from it, leaving the orange stick sadly limp. 

We also fed her some spoonfuls of milky whole grain baby cereal. She was resistant on the first try last night, but today, she took charge of the spoon (the exact spoon I used when I was learning to gum down some big girl food). She succeeded at getting about half the food in her mouth and the other half all over her face, shirt, hands, my hands and my skirt. Not bad. And another major breakthrough in life with Leila Raine. 

And here's a picture of Leila sitting in the backseat of our neighbor's stroller last week. She really seemed to  enjoy strolling the streets of Athens with a new perspective. Riding shotgun is Konrad, who we've looked after for a couple mornings.