A Very Merry Christmas, Indeed

On Christmas Eve, Leila opened about a dozen fabulous presents from her Dad, Grandma and Grandpa in Florida. We did the whole event on Skype. Two into the Christmas Eve present-opening extravaganza, it was looking like we were all going to be sitting at the computer for half the day - Leila was painstakingly meticulous about how she opened each gift, tearing off tiny pieces of paper and then laying them tenderly beside the present before tearing off another tiny piece. She soon realized that her zeal for discovering the gift inside the pretty paper was much cooler than the process of unwrapping, and we were in business, pulling out beautiful new outfits and cool toys and books. Big thanks! Leila is loving her new outfits (has already worn each of them in less than 3 days) and has put together the pieces of the world several times.

Later that evening, Leila was wound up to the maximum in anticipation of Santa's arrival... Santa, who would reward her diligent efforts to retire her daytime thumbsucking, Santa who would hopefully deliver her the "shiny party shoes" that she's been talking about incessantly. I responded to her last "Mommy, come in here" at about 10:30 that night. And the next morning, with all the practice she'd had the day before, she tore into her presents (and sometimes other people's too, not that 4 out of 5 weren't for her anyway). Here's what Christmas morning looked like...




Mmm... monkey bread Christmas breakfast...
Leila's new digital camera (thanks Uncle Kris!) was a big hit. I think she took 400+ pictures in 24 hours.

Putting the world together...
The next day, in one of her fab new outfits (with shades on, no less)...

Montecito 2010

It just might be an annual thing. For the second year now, a great group of friends headed up to Sequoia National Forest for a weekend winter get-a-way at Montecito Lodge. We were five families strong this year -- Clarks, Duttons, Tootles, Stahls and us. And it was better than ever. Not only was the company fabulous, but so was the weather. And there was tons of snow (though it had been about a week since it had fallen, so it was getting a bit crunchy). Leila had been psyching herself up for the snow for two weeks and indeed, she did great! On our first outing, she charged ahead with the boys, eager to soak up the experience and dig her hands into the snow.
Below, Leila's first taste of snow...
Of course, there were plenty of whimpers, whines and meltdowns, but nothing she didn't recover from quickly enough. Every time she started to slip or sink, she quite dramatically fell apart. But within minutes, she'd be stomping ahead again, full of sass and spunk.
She called these pink mittens her "strawberry shortcake mittens..."
Posing with the lodge bears...
She proudly sported her reindeer antlers for much of our first day at the lodge.
Cutest kids on the planet? I think so.
Sunset...
Leila and Jack were cracking up with this book...
And the adults got in some archery lessons... so cool! There's something really powerful and primal about launching an arrow from a bow.
Pretty in pink... the girl spent much of the weekend decked out in pink, from head to toe. By the end of the weekend, Katia referred to her as a cute little strip of bubble gum in the snow.
A sunny snow trek...
Dance party on night 2...
Leila and Harper getting warmed up for sledding...
Leila was into the idea of sledding, but after one run down the hill with me, promptly decided that it wasn't really her thing. We went down two more times, but she much preferred the slow pace of getting pulled along flat ground.
One last snowy pic with my bubble gum snow angel...

Leila in the Rain!

We woke up to rain this morning and Leila immediately wanted to put on her rain boots and go out and splash around. She so thoroughly enjoyed the experience that she wanted to say hello to all the faraway people she loves so that they too could share in her fun!

Leila in the Ocean!

Here is how we spent our last day on the beach. In every way, it was perfect! I'm so glad I got this on film... makes me giggle uncontrollably every time. Look how fast her feet move! I'm so proud of her. Being near and in the ocean was a major breakthrough for Leila.

Our Vacation in Southern California

We arrived at Leo Carrillo State Park on Thursday night (the 11th) for the beginning of our vacation. Vacation, indeed (that is, until I locked my keys in the trunk, but I'll pretend to skip over those 9 hours of drama/trauma by merely alluding to it here. Done.). This was our campsite, # 126, a perfect site with loads of shade from a sprawling sycamore and some other kind of long-and-lanky-limbed tree.
Leila's introduction to SoCal beaches was less than enthusiastic, but far better than her recent NorCal beach experience (in Sea Ranch last month). The waves were much more gentle in Malibu and the seascape was much less rugged/dramatic/intense. She was freaked at first, but allowed herself to be won over by my perseverance and enthusiasm. Eventually she touched the Pacific with her toes, and even her fingertips.

The next morning we spent a few hours at Zuma Beach building sandcastles and strolling down the shore.


After our beach excursion on Friday, we stopped in for a wine tasting on the way back to our campsite - a nice, indulgent treat for "mawmaw" (my new name, according to Leila). Leila delighted in smelling each wine and sharing the whiffs with her Baby Annie (pictured below).
Later in the day, we went for a brief hike to try to catch the sunset. The highlight of the short hike for Leila was the cactus along the trail. The highlight for me teaching Leila to squat and pee. BIG success (and much easier than the seemingly simple task of teaching her to pee on the paper protectors in public bathrooms! We struggled with this one on the trip.)
After spending 9 hours and $325 to retrieve the keys that I locked in my trunk at the campsite on Saturday morning, Leila and I finally made it to Long Beach in time for Roller Derby. Below: Leila, me and Auntie Momo.
I'm pretty sure that this picture was taken during Leila's complete and utter captivation by the fire dancer halftime show. It was truly remarkable... I've never seen fire dancers hula hoop with fire... now, that's H-O-T!
Sunday - Long Beach Aquarium. Leila absolutely loved this experience. And of course, I want to interpret that love as new fuel for sparking what will surely be a ragingly passionate love for water! I hope my little mermaid discovers her fins soon! She definitely thought the fish, seahorses, seals, jellyfish and bamboo sharks were superlatively cool. "Onward!" Below - jellyfish...
Touching bamboo sharks, sting rays and other friends...
Tide pool...
GLEE...
This "magic wand" accompanied us on our journey (thanks for sharing, Leeloo!) and posed for several pictures, too. Leila has taken a new interest in photography, which unfortunately, has resulted in a broken camera. Looks like Leila and I are both asking for cameras for Christmas. The rest of our trip's pictures were taken with my phone.
Me and Leila got a chance to pose together with the fish (and magic wand) too.
On Monday, we enjoyed a very relaxing spa day. I was a little nervous about taking Leila to the Korean Day Spa, but as it turns out, she loved being naked and playing with cups of water near the cold water pool, and she really enjoyed the sit-down showers. And we all enjoyed the Korean lunch. After the day spa, we took a stroll down the beach. Leila's fears, unfortunately, returned and she didn't want to have anything to do with the ocean.
And when we got back to the house, Isa's daughter, Leeloo was home. Leeloo is five and super adorable and took charge in dressing Leila up like a doll. It was quite the innovative fashion show!
Before we left Long Beach, Leila got in some good bonding time at the park with her new friends Leeloo and Kensa. On Tuesday evening, we met up with Aunt Barbara and Bruce for dinner, then spent a quiet night at a hotel in Sunset Beach. The next morning, we spent hours on the beach building sand castles, chasing waves and collecting shells.

Leila loved every second of our last morning on the beach. It even evolved into some nudity as every bit of Leila embraced her love of the water.


Video coming soon....

Happy Halloween!

Leila wanted to be a butterfly for Halloween. Of course, I couldn't let her be just any butterfly, so I tried to wrap her up in the exquisite colors of an Eric Carle butterfly (you know, The Very Hungry Caterpillar who eats through days of fruit, cupcakes, pies and sausage and then wraps himself up in a cocoon to then bust out as a beautiful butterfly?). I labored over these wings for far too many hours, patternless, but inspired by greatness and then inspired by the deadline of Halloween itself.
Leila loved the wings, but after about 45 minutes, she felt freer without them. Was it worth it? Sure. I'll find a way to get some more use out of these wings, one way or another.
Bounce house at Leila's B.F.F. Maddie's church. They had an amazing time in this bounce house.

Maddie, Leila and Olivia...
Bean bag toss...
Then we hit up the Montessori preschool, which decked out all the rooms with fun Halloween carnival games.


And at last, we finished up our evening at the Clarks' casa and Leila made one last demonstration of her wings and got one last handful of candy.

And even the day before Halloween, she was getting into the colorful spirit of winged creatures...
And, of course, our pumpkins. Keeping to the theme, yes, that's a butterfly in the middle.