Several times a year our local farms host open houses and we get to peep inside. This was one such weekend so this morning Miss Leyba got to make some special animal friends and we all got to sample delicious goat cheese and ice cream! (You know that was Mom and Dad’s favorite part. Local, organic, creamy goodness.)

Here is Miss Leyba excited about the chickens (above) and confussed that they won’t let her pet them or get any closer (shown below).

Eventually she got very grumpy about the whole thing and then cried when we wouldn’t let her pet a brooding chicken. Go figure that the only chicken in the pen that was sitting still enough for her to get close was a biter. (I comfort myself that she would have cried harder and longer had she actually pet the hen and had it bite her, as the farmer assured us it would have.)

We then moved on to see a mama goat and her kid:


He was fascinated with our daughter.

Doesn’t she smell so good?


Oh, wait, it was the hat that he was after! Evidently that was the delicious treat. (Reminds me of that beloved book Gregory, the Terrible Eater.)

Initially she was very surprised by his attention and then truly thrilled.

The Next farm activity? Riding the tractor, of course!

That lasted exactly five seconds.

(Yes, it was turned on and, therefore, noisy and vibrating. Not so much fun for the younger kids, evidently.)

All in all, she had a wonderful time and sobbed hysterically the entire way home cause she wasn’t ready to leave (when is she ever?).

Can you tell she’s working on four canine teeth, so she’s in a real pain, and possibily having a growth spurt all at once? Poor emotional babe.

Either that, or we are mean and horrible parents, who wanted to get out of the heat and head home for lunch. That’s a good reason to cry too, I suppose. Ahem.

Happy Weekend!

We are entering the world of complete sentences over here and, wow, is it fun!

Suddenly I understand Miss Leyba so much better! I cannot tell you how awesome it is when she wakes up in the middle of the night and says “Switch Sides, Mama!” or “Owww Teeth!” I finally feel like I can meet her needs without all the guess work that parenting a little baby requires. (Okay, we’re not 100% there yet. Sometimes she says “More!” and I honestly have no idea what she wants more of.)

Hearing her express herself and finding her own voice is such fun and so darling.

I especially love her forming sentences. Let me give you some examples.

This morning she looked out the window and said, “I see fog!” Boy, was she right! It was so foggy that we couldn’t see past the blackberry bushes at the end of our driveway. The field across from our house and the hills were completely fogged in. SO beautiful. Yeah, we could see fog all over the place.

When Miss Leyba helps me unload the dishwasher she tells me the name of each item as she hands it to me: “a fork”… “a spoon”… “a knife”… “a bowl”… what a help! (I can’t get nervous about her dropping things; dishes can be replaced but building a little girls self-confidence and skill-set are priceless!)

Each day she names everything while pointing. For example: a towel, a wall, a pen, a book, a shoe, a door, a car, a cat, a baby… note the use of the word “a” before everything. That is very important, evidently.

She also loves announcing what she’s doing: “I crawl!” “I dance!” “I read!” “I draw!”

She’s mastering the art of a “I + activity + you” sentence. Such as, “I tickle you!” “I pat you!” “I hug you!” “I touch you!” “I call you.”

I think this comes from almost 20 months of my constantly putting words to the things we’re doing. I spend most of the day explaining what we are doing and naming things. At some point I’m going to stop doing this and it’s going to be a shock to her system. I have a feeling she’ll keep talking non-stop though.

Some girls are like that.

Yep, takes one to know one.

Our latest thrift store bargain (The Very Hungry Caterpillar Sticker Set for 25¢) provided several hours of entertainment today.

If you want to buy these colorful, literary reusable stickers for yourself, they are available at Amazon for $10 or you can pick them up at your local independent bookstore.

Remember Miss Leyba enjoying blackberries and ruining that cute white ruffled shirt? Well, I took a movie that day of her singing the “Happy Not Sad Song,” Miss Leyba’s version of that popular Sesame Street song “Sing.”

Video: “Sing!” with blackberries from Carrie on Vimeo.

Want to see Nathan Lane’s version of this song? Here you go:

I love Miss Leyba’s rendition. She’s got that special something…

Welcome to autumn in Northern California. 90 degrees one day, 60 degrees two days later.

Good thing we went to the beach on Thursday!

Hope you all had a great weekend!

I’ve so enjoyed setting up spaces for Miss Leyba and all her stuff (i.e. books, wooden toys, art supplies, stuffed animals, and dress-up outfits!).

Here is one such area.

David built these shelves for Miss Leyba and then painted them with a non-toxic, no VOC milk paint in this playful turquoise (I LOVE it!).

The shelves are also super deep (and very heavy), so you can access items from both sides and we don’t need to worry about the shelves toppling.

(Believe it or not, we now have even more books crammed in there as I’ve recently discovered our thrift store sells 25¢ board books. I now stop by several times a week to pick up books. Yes, it’s become an addiction).

I had such fun arranging her things here… and now face the daily challenge of getting everything put away in its place. Luckily for me, Miss Leyba loves Helping Mama, so lately she’s been very amenable to clean up time.

Not that you can tell right now, of course. Our living room looks like a tornado flew through it.

Since I want to maintain my image as a domestic goddess (*cough*), I won’t bother to post pictures.

I’m sure you understand.