Today you are ONE!

Time to PARTY!

We love music and our daughter does too. You’ve seen videos of her playing the xylophone, drums, and metal bowls. But you haven’t seen her dancing… Until now!

First up, some background.

In the past year I’ve exposed Miss Leyba to a variety of genres such as opera, blues, jazz, dance, techno, reggae, classical and hip hop music. Heck, when I was pregnant I listened to that stuff too, so make that the past twenty-one months!

I draw the line at country though; I can’t bear listening to it. And no one should be forced to listen to music they hate. I am having visions of Miss Leyba discovering country music in her tweens and blasting it in her room just to spite me. Hmm… Maybe I should delete this paragraph?!

Most recently I have been focusing on music that we can sing along to. Yes, Miss Leyba hums along with me. Sometimes she even starts humming and I can tell which song she is humming, so I start to sing it. She’s that musically inclined. She’s going to grow up and be a rock star. Or a physicist. Ahem.

Anyhow, one of Miss Leyba’s favorite albums right now is Songs from the Street: 35 Years of Music. We dance to songs like Captain Vegetable, Monster in the Mirror, and I Love Trash, but also a bunch of famous songs rewritten by the folks at Sesame Street to be more kid friendly. We’ve been listening to songs by the Goo Goo Dolls, Destiny’s Child, Melissa Etheridge, Paul Simon, Madeline Kahn (oh, she cracks me up!), and many others.

At one point we let Miss Leyba watch these “music videos” on the Sesame Street website when she was teething or upset and needed a distraction. We’ve since cut out all internet time for her (except for Skyping with the Grandparents and Aunt Laura), so now she gets to hear the songs instead of watching them. There’s nothing like a child sucked into a video program to make you rethink things. Suddenly even 15 minutes a day seems like too much for David and I. We may rethink things in a couple of years, but for now it’s banned.

But she loves her Sesame Street friends, so this CD seemed like a good compromise (and the library had it!).

I was going to post a video of her dancing to a Bert and Ernie song, but I took a few videos of her dancing to songs from this album, Runaround Kid, which is fantastic for kids of all ages and we highly recommend it! Anyhow, these videos were WAY better than the one I planned on posting… so here you go!

Warning: Miss Leyba is so adorable in the following video that you may be overwhelmed with cuteness. Watch at your own risk. You’ve been warned.

Leyba Dance Party from Carrie on Vimeo.

Miss Leyba has been breastfeeding approximately every two hours for almost a year now. I thought I’d do a little tribute post about the joys of breastfeeding.

So here is my list.

Why I Love Breastfeeding:

1. Endorphins. It’s like running a marathon with zero work.

2. It’s easy. I just have to eat well and drink plenty of water.

3. It’s free. I am eating a bit more now than before, but certainly not that much more than I ate when I was pregnant.

4. Endorphins.

5. (As Sarah says) It’s the ultimate convenience food. There’s nothing to pack up or remember. I can do it anywhere, at any time, with zero planning or prep work.

6. It feels good. Really good.

7. Did I mention endorphins?!

8. Heck, yeah, it’s addictive. (See above.)

9. I get to read while she’s eating (if she is asleep). This year I have read so many great books while MissLeyba was breastfeeding. (I’ve started a mini-list over there on the right; see recent reads.)

10. It’s so good for my daughter: for her health, for her comfort.

11. Breastfeeding is the ultimate way to sooth her when she’s upset. (See above.)

12. She loves it. It’s possibly her favorite activity.

13. It gives us an opportunity to cuddle together.

14. I finally get to use my breasts for their intended purpose. As a biologist, this is HUGE.

Here’s to breastfeeding Miss Leyba for about a year more. I’d like to continue as long as she needs, but we have another baby to grow… one of these years!

Weaning Miss Leyba is going to be such a bitch. The girl loves her warm delicious milk.

A year ago and very pregnant, I had a hunkering for ice cream. So we headed down to the local ice cream parlor and David took this picture:

Today we returned to the scene of the crime to celebrate a young man’s tenth birthday:

Yep, Miss Leyba got a good handful of ice cream.

Which Mama proceeded to lick off. Cause Miss Leyba most certainly isn’t eating that stuff yet.

In three acts.

Hide and seek with banana hair gel:

Hide and seek with banana hair gel from Carrie on Vimeo.

Daddy is so funny:

Daddy is so funny from Carrie on Vimeo.

Falling asleep at the table:

Falling asleep at the table from Carrie on Vimeo.

I put these on her head and waited for her to pull them off, because that’s what you do with hats–get them off your head as soon as possible because heaven forbid mom wants to block the sun out of your eyes or protect your fair skin.

Please pardon the mess in the background. A toddler hurricane has been spotted in Spritzer Leyba Land.

Where was I?

So she’s unloading the laundry basket and I put them on her head. And she looks at me and smiles and continues to unload the basket.

And continues to unload the basket.

And continues to unload the basket.

I am positive this was a one time occurrence, but if I try it again tomorrow she may keep them on just to prove me wrong. I mean, just to surprise me.

Because Miss Leyba likes to keep me on my toes.

until we know for sure (ha!) what her eye color will be. They say the color sticks once babies hit one year old.

Right now they are looking BLUE:

David thinks they change color in the light and are more green like mine.

I’m very excited about this because sometimes I think Miss Leyba is David’s clone in female form.

But when I was a kid my eyes would change color based on what I was wearing too.
And she has my hair color.
And my fair complexion.

I love genetics. Look, she’s my daughter! You can tell!

– – – – –

Wait a minute. Let’s backtrack and flip out. My baby toddler is about to turn one! I can’t believe it. Where has the time gone?! She’s going to be a teenager before we know it:

See, she’s already idolizing older boys. She’s so captivated by Jules and Jesse that she won’t even look up at me when I’m taking a picture. Those boys are just too cute.