If I have to sum up this new season with our toddler I would say sass, smiles and SO much talking! Leighton talks nonstop and has a little comment for just about everything. When she bangs her knee (or hand, arm, anything) she will say, "Oh my that hurt reallllllly bad." If she likes something she will say with delight, "Oh my goodness!" Some of her other favorite phrases are, "I'm just kidding" , "Not yet" , "Here, let me show you" , "I look pretty, see" , "OK, you see??" the last one comes out when she's trying to convince me to let her do something and is always followed by her little head shake. Her little personality is so funny.
She has also started singing all the time and learning the motions to songs. She's been listening to "The Wiggles" since she was a baby but has just started singing all the songs randomly and even does the motions. She's obsessed. OBSESSED with Annie and sings "Tomorrow" at the top of her lungs. She likes to push off all the stuff on Gracen's little wicker table and uses it as a stage to sing us all of her favorites. She says, "Hey Mama, fatch (watch) me sing dis song right now, ok?" The other day I was taking a video of Gracen drinking water from a straw and when we watched it back we were dying laughing because you can hear Leighton singing, "Oompa, Loompa, doopaty do. I got another puzzle for you." The little Oompa Loompas are never far from her mind haha! She also loves to sing, "I'm bringing home a baby bumblebee..." and the "ABC's." Both are school favorites :)
Leighton thinks she is a comedian and is always performing for us. Toby and I always get so tickled with her because we just can't figure out where she comes up with the things she says! One day I was putting on her shoes and she kept saying, Whooooa, I'm going to fallllll right outta dis chair, whoooooooa" and was pretending to fall over. She has also entered the "Will say anything in public that is sure to embarrass your parents" kid phase. Oh my. She loves to point out our family members' "doppledangers" when we are out in public. She will pretend like she really thinks it is them & chase after them saying "Hey wait for meeeeee (insert family member)! She seriously thinks she is hilarious.
At the grocery last week I was trying to decide on something to buy and I hear, "WOW Mama, look at HER HAIR. Dat girl. Her hair is pretty. WOW oh WOW." I look over to find a lady with some extreme (read hideous) hair extensions in. The lady turned around and said, "Yeah baby my hair is pretty like yours!" I was so embarrassed because her hair was hideous but I guess she was proud of it. I'm still not 100% sure that Leighton wasn't trying to be funny! She is rotten.
She also likes to yell out at the grocery when she thinks people are following us. On senior citizen day (I went on accident and let me just say NEVER AGAIN!) she kept yelling, "Hey ole man quit following my Mama and Baby sister!" If you lead on that you think she is funny she will do it over and over and over again! We tend to pretend like we don't even hear her and most of the time we have to fight off our smiles as we reprimand her. She loves to say, "I'm just kidding!"
She has a love/hate relationship with sleeping! Once she falls asleep she will stay asleep forever! She totally takes after me in this sense. I always love a good nap. Getting her to sleep usually takes a few attempts. She is the QUEEN of stalling! One more short show, drink of water, book, back rub, blanket, the list goes on and ON. Lately she has been requesting a different toy each night to sleep with and will insist on having it before she falls asleep! One night Toby and I searched the house for a good 45 minutes for a baby monkey and another night we looked all over for her beloved "Cinerwella" ring. We found a total of 5 rings in our search but none were Cinderella and we finally had to send her to sleep with a broken ring that we claimed was the broken Cinderella ring. She was pretty sad and we felt pretty bad about it.
Leighton is starting to get a little picky about what she will eat. She gets whatever I make for dinner but her plate is usually modified to include more cheese and less meat :) She is a steak lover, especially filet! We don't make her eat everything on her plate but we always ask her to try at least everything. Even if it's only one bite I always feel ok if she has agreed to try it. Her favorites are pasta, cheese, rice, steak and SOUP. She doesn't really like fruit but will eat bananas, grapes and mandarin oranges occasionally. I hated fruit when I was growing up (it was a texture thing) so I know where she's coming from but I still encourage her to eat it.
She still goes to school two days a week and is eager to go each morning. She's been having a little trouble with pushing during free time and has had to sit in several timeouts. None of which have seemed to phase her in the least. There are several kids in the class who are "pushers" as the teacher says and Leighton is in that group. Sigh. We talk about keeping our hands to ourself ALL THE TIME and using our words. I feel like we are a broken record to her haha. Before she walks into school each morning we remind her and she always looks annoyed and says, "OKaaaaay Mama."
Her teacher started a reward system where if the kids have had a good day they will each get a star to bring home. Toby and I have talked about this star nonstop and have told her she can get ice cream, go to get pizza & play games, go to the park, anything to convince her to bring home a star! We talk it up so much and then I ask her if she is going to bring me one and she says, "Noooo Mama I don't weally like stars, ok?" At least she's not a wallflower...right?!! :)
She has recently become obsessed with caterpillars and butterflies. It started when my sister showed her a cocoon on our porch and has escalated into a full blown obsession. We have to go outside and look at the cocoon at least five times a day and I swear we have watched this video 5,000 times. This week she is starting to learn about caterpillars at school and I have a feeling her obsession is going to come to an all time high. Once Leighton gets obsessed with something it can take her months to get over it (or sometimes never like Oompa Loompas haha).
She tricked me into thinking early on that she was going to be such a girly girl with her desperate love for baby dolls and all things baby but lately she seems to be showing her tomboy side A LOT. She loves to wrestle and play outside, swing, run, go on walks, cheer for "Koo-Kay" and shoot hoops. She does still hate getting dirty, bugs in all forms (except caterpillars lol) and LOVES makeup, lip gloss and getting her hair fixed. She is a tomboy by day, diva by night :) Love her little heart!
Being Leighton's mama has taught me to live in the present, appreciate the little moments, laugh a lot and have a whole lot of patience. It is so wonderful to see the world through the eyes of a child who is amazed by so many things around her. Our little Miss Sunshine keeps our family pretty bright. We love our big sis SO much.
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