Weekend Fun at the Park and the Zoo

We had another great weekend. On Saturday, the weather got a little warmer as the day progressed, so we decided to take Leah out to another park close by to enjoy the sunshine and get some fresh air. This park was a lot nicer than the last ones we tried so this is the one we'll be going back to. We finally decided to take the stroller out for a test drive. Our approach in terms of exposing her to new things, especially contraptions that are confining and where she has to be buckled in, has always been "one thing at a time". Since she's been doing a lot better in the car seat and the baby carrier lately, we decided to finally give the stroller a try. We took a little walk around the park first, and since it was a mildly breezy day, she even giggled when we faced the wind. She surprised us by not only tolerating it, but actually enjoying it. The only thing was that she is still a little small and we had to put something behind her back to prop her up so she could sit more comfortably. Then we went to the playground and there was a really cool swing for little kids that we put her in twice and she laughed and smiled. She didn't even mind being strapped into this. There was a little car she sat in with daddy and then he slid her down the slide a few times, too. The park and the stroller were such a success that we decided to take her to the zoo on Sunday! Our local zoo isn't the greatest, but she didn't notice. The point was just to take her out to see other things and other people, and enjoy the nice weather. It was great to see that she could handle a few hours out and about without a meltdown. She enjoyed riding in the stroller and looking around at all the new and different things and people. When she did get a little fussy, she rode around on John's shoulders which always cheers her right up. Since it was a very sunny day, we decided we better get a hat for her. So we stopped at the gift shop and the only hat we could find that fit her was this funny one. It made her look even more boyish, but we thought she looked really cute and it fit her perfectly. She tolerated it, but didn't really like it.


The funny thing is that when we got back home and showed her in the mirror, you could see her checking herself out and smiling at herself thinking she looked pretty darn cute in her new hat. Now she actually loves wearing her hat and doesn't mind having it on all day at home. I don't know if she paid much attention to the animals. When we were at the aquarium, she was actually more interested in the other members of her own species. We were standing holding Leah as she stood along a carpeted ledge in front a large fish tank window. But instead of watching the fish, she was more fascinated by this little red-headed curly-haired girl, and kept walking over to her and touching her. We had to pull her away several times. We were laughing but apologizing to the other girl's parents, joking with them saying "sorry, she doesn't get out much". We ended up having a great time at the zoo. She did great and we are looking forward to taking her all over the place this summer.

More Baby Frankenstein Videos

Last lamp standing

We thought we'd done a pretty good job of baby-proofing the family room, but it's still a work in progress. Even before we brought Leah home, we'd been busy re-arranging the room, changing out furniture, removing decorative accessories, and replacing a sharp-edged coffee table with a big leather ottoman. In the last month, I've also had to remove another end table that she was using as a climbing device and three more lamps because she was either trying to pull them down or chewing on the cords.

It's amazing how kids gravitate towards the very things that you don't want them to touch. So instead of having a bunch of things in the room that we have to tell her to stay away from, we'll just put them somewhere else for now. There's only one standing lamp left in the room, and I have the lamp base wedged underneath the couch so it won't tip over. She still tries though.



She recently figured out that the fireplace glass doors actually open, and since she could pinch her little fingers in the folding doors, we'll have to do something about that right away. It's always been hard keeping her away from the fireplace. She seems to love crawling along it, standing on it, banging on the glass doors and admiring her reflection.



She's also figured out that her tiny arms can reach inside the lattice doors of the TV cabinet and push all the buttons for the TV electronics. So, we're just trying to keep up with her, especially now that she's started walking

First visitor

Our very first visitor, my sister Holly, came to visit this week for 3 days and we had a great time. Leah was a little shy and wary at first, but that only lasted about 10 minutes and then she approached Holly and let her hold her. Leah was soon being her funny, entertaining self, especially now that she had a captive audience.

She danced to her favorite music, showed off her impressive walking skills, made her silly face where she squeezes her eyes shut and purses her lips, and tried to steal Holly's camera whenever she was holding it. I think Holly now knows what I mean about how hard it is to get good pictures of Leah since she is always on the move.

As a mother of four-plus, and a grandmother of three, Holly's been there and done that. So she helped me brainstorm about some of our sleeping and eating issues, and I learned a much more efficient technique of changing a poopy diaper (which I immediately put to good use).

It was also really awesome not to have to worry about cooking and cleaning up the kitchen for a few days, since Holly really helped out with that. She cooked us a really nice steak dinner the first night and we had takeout the rest of the time.

I think the timing of this visit was just right. Leah has just started feeling much more secure and less anxious the past few weeks, and so we think our self-imposed isolation policy, although it's been really hard on us, has been a really good idea.

Walk on...

We've lost count of how many times Leah has been walking and how many steps she's taken. She's been doing it pretty regularly now, so I think we can officially say that as of the last weekend in April, at 9.5 months, she has started walking! She can even pivot and change direction, stop and squat, or turn around to look at us, and keep on walking. But she is just so tiny, it doesn't seem possible!

Baby's gettin' her walk on!

So far, Leah's been doing about 3-5 steps pretty regularly. But this morning, Leah took about 15-16 steps towards me, then a few minutes later she took another 7 steps. And later when John got home from his trip to Brazil, she showed off by doing another 12 steps for him! We don't have it on video since it's still pretty sporadic, but she's definitely making great progress and it won't be long before she's really walking.

Too many pictures

It's official. I've been put on notice for taking too many pictures of Leah. It's only been about a month since she's been home, and my computer hard drive is already overloaded and at the critical stage. It's probably because I take about a zillion pictures a day and never have time to actually sort through them to delete the bad ones, so they all end up being stored. Today, I ended up having to remove a bunch of things from the computer and transfer them to a new portable hard drive, so I think I'm ok for now.

Anyway, can you blame me? First of all, she's just so darn cute, I can't even stand it. Secondly, even though I have the camera with me all day long, it can still be a real challenge getting a good picture of her since she's always moving. Even after snapping 10 pictures of the same moment, I somehow still end up missing the great little faces she makes because my camera is too slow or the picture ends up blurry. It's been so much fun having a new subject to snap pictures of again. Leah's so much fun to watch and I don't want to miss a thing.

Running hurdles around the house

Now that we've installed yet another baby gate in the family room (that makes 3 downstairs and one upstairs), we're essentially doing hurdles to get anywhere around the first floor. It's a little inconvenient, yes, especially for me since the height of two of the gates is exactly the same as my inseam measurement, and I've already clumsily fallen once trying to get over while carrying stuff (fortunately, not Leah). But given the configuration of our house, it's easier to keep her contained in the family room, which is now fully baby-proofed, than to give her free roam in the kitchen and access to the second set of stairs that start in the kitchen. Plus, we'd prefer not to drill holes into the banister and the walls if we can help it.

From the first few days home, Leah has decided she loves to climb the stairs, and does so without notifying us. I'd say she climbs the stairs about 2 or 3 times a day, with me right behind her, of course. The reward for her is that she gets to go up to her room and get toys out of her toybox all by herself, so she does it every chance she gets.

Fun weekend

We finally had some nice, warm weather on Saturday here in Cleveland, so we decided it would be a great opportunity to take Leah outside to enjoy the sunshine and fresh air, especially now that she's finally getting more comfortable with everything. We went to a local play park and took a walk and held her in our laps on the swings. Let's just say she was not too impressed and just sat there with a blank expression.




I mean, this is a kid who is normally a real dare-devil. She loves any physical activity, like being thrown high up into the air, being hung upside down by the ankles, being zoomed around the house like an airplane, riding in the baby carrier while I run and jump around. Nothing makes her laugh like riding on daddy's shoulders while he runs around the house and up and down the stairs, or when we hold her and then pretend like we are about to drop her. So it was a little out of character for her to not enjoy the swings, but we have found that it usually takes a while for her to warm up to any new experience, and this was her first time outside at a park with us here. In the meantime, we have scoped out the park situation around here. We found a better one that looks like more fun, and we'll try that one next time.

We also ended up at the Babies 'R Us and Toys 'R Us twice this weekend. I've noticed lately that even though she will still sit in her jumper, she prefers to walk around the outside of it to play with it. So we got her a couple of fun new toys, a stacking toy...




...and the Leapfrog Learn & Groove musical table, and she can stand next to it and walk around it. It was a real hit. She's fascinated by all the buttons and levers and the sounds and music it makes. She dances and squeals and jumps. It's so tiny, but it's the perfect size for her and it'll definitely keep her entertained for a while. It might drive us a little crazy, since she loves to open and shut the same little compartment over and over, playing the same song. But hey, she's having fun.

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After our trip to the toy store on Saturday, we thought we might try to go to the Korean restaurant 30 minutes away since it's been a month since we've had any Korean food and I was really craving some. Well, we got about 10 minutes away and she was not having it, so we ended up at a Wendy's instead. Not quite the same, but it was her first "restaurant" experience with us here. I fed her a bottle while we ate. As usual, she attracted a lot of attention, and two older ladies who were eyeing us started talking to us, "Oh, HE's so cute, what a charmer, I've been flirting with HIM and HE's just darling!" We quickly corrected them to say she is a girl, and they immediately switched to, "Oh, she's just a beauty, how gorgeous, what a pretty girl...". So, if you're keeping count, that's the 3rd time people have thought Leah is a boy, even though we always have her dressed clearly as a girl. So, how long will it take for her hair to grow out?

On Sunday, we ended up at the baby store again to buy a new baby gate and stock up on stuff we needed. Nowadays, I carry her everywhere in the baby carrier, which she greatly prefers over sitting in a shopping cart. In fact, this week, I managed to take her places 3 times by myself in the car and with the baby carrier, and she did great! She's been easy in the car these days, barely protesting when being put in the car seat, and as long as it's a short drive and I strap her into the baby carrier at the store, she will go anywhere with me.....so it looks like I'm finally being released from house arrest.

After we were done at the baby store, we decided to give the Korean restaurant idea another chance. This time she did great in the car. And at the restaurant, she was very funny and charming. We kept her busy with some applesauce, some sticky rice, and potatoes. We had a barrette in her hair this time so there would be no confusion! Anyway, she was being really animated and was making eye contact with other people in the restaurant, bowing at them, smiling at everyone and trying to get their attention. The two waiters loved her and had a lot of questions. We actually found out from them that there is a Korean association near the restaurant where we could take Korean lessons with her. This is great news since we didn't know of this before and think it would be great to expose her to the Korean language as much as possible, as well as learn Korean ourselves.





On the way home.....

Smart girl

On Monday the 13th, Leah did something I thought was pretty darn smart. She has a Ball Popping machine by Playskool that she plays with a lot. You put balls in it, and push a button and music plays while a fan blows the balls up into the air and some balls wind back down into the tubes. I usually set it on its side because she often tips it over when she tries to use it for support. So I was in the kitchen doing something (a big step in and of itself since she is now letting me walk away sometimes)....and suddenly I heard the ball popping machine come on and her squealing. I looked over and she had set the machine upright, pushed the start button, and was was feeding balls into it all by herself! I think that's pretty clever for a 9-month old!

This picture is from a different day, but just so you know what I'm talking about...