Leila and the Leapster

Several years ago, Aunt Karen and Uncle Peter gave Simi a Leapster as a present. Simi loves his Leapster. Over the years, we have added game cartridges and the Leapster is still one of Simi's favorite things to play. Which is why Leila had to pick it up and give it a try.

Admittedly, I found it amusing watching Leila attempt the Leapster. It's for ages four to eight and she's two. She's a little young to master the Leapster. But it kept her amused even if she couldn't get the thing to work.

To my surprise, as I was listening to her playing the Leapster yesterday, she was answering all the questions correctly. She got her colors, shapes, and letters correct. She even logged on under her name and managed to collect 343 seeds - which means she's been doing some serious winning on the thing. She's two!

That'll teach me to under-estimate my girl...

Size Does Matter

Although Leila absolutely adores Simi, she chooses to play with Asher. The other day, we learned why. "Simi is a big kid", says Leila. "Asher is a little kid, like me", she continues. OK, then. Now we know.

For the record, although Asher is four years old and Simi is six years old, Asher is almost as tall as Simi.

Leili's Hair

Me: Come here, Leila, let's fix your hair.

Leila: But it's not broken.

Introducing Petita

Two year-old Leila is a great big personality in a teeny tiny little pint-size body. She's under the 25th percentile in height for her age group and 95 percentile in weight. But what she lacks in size, she more than makes up for in attitude. In reaction to something, she crinkles up her little nose and says, "I don't like it", with such gusto and spirit that you truly believe her and back away.

As you know, we used to call her "Leili", which is short for "Leilita". In pure Leila form, she replied, "I NOT Leili, I'm Leila!!!". OK, then.

So imagine our surprise when, the other day, Leila announces that her name is "Petita".

"I NOT Leila", Leila says, with her nose all crinkled up. "I Petita." OK, Petita, eat your breakfast, please.

Petita toddles off after her brothers, following them in whatever they do. Jumping into the trampoline pit - no problem for Petita. Running after and kicking a soccer ball - sounds good. Making your hand in the shape of a gun and chasing your brothers around the house while making shooting sounds at them - that too.

Then there's the sweet side of Petita, where she hugs her baby doll as she drags her across the room. Or when she goes into her pretend kitchen and fixes you a meal and toddles sweetly over to you and hands you the plate full of pretend "eggies and pasta" or an empty cup of tea.

I can't wait to see what name she chooses next.

Milestones

It's been a big week for Leila here in the HinJew household. She's moved out of nappies and into training undies. She's very excited about it and showing everyone her new pink underwear. She says now she goes pee pee on the potty just like her boys. Well, Leili, perhaps not just like the boys.....

She has also made the long overdue transition from her crib to her big girl bed. She and I made the trek to the store to pick out new sheets for her new bed. She excitedly picked out sheets with the Disney princesses on them. I wasn't surprised; she's so into princesses these days. I suggested to her that we buy the Tinkerbell sheets too, so that she'd have a spare set. She didn't really care about Tinkerbell and just went along with it to make me happy. So now Leili is in her big girl bed and wearing big girl underwear.

In other Leila news, she insists we call her "Leila". We've been calling her "Leili" for nearly her entire life. Now, when I call her "Leili", she replies, "I not Leili. I'm Leila!". OK then.

My baby is growing up....

Gymnastics Finale

Last night was "Last Class Blast" for Asher's gymnastics class. Simi's is yet to come. Each class performed a short skills show for the parents, then they were treated to a cook-out (except Asher), then they were given a full hour of open play on any of the supervised equipment.

Asher did GREAT in the skills show. He did a backwards somersault by himself - something he has never been able to do before. He also did a cartwheel by himself. During open gym, he walked on the balance beam - even walked quickly on the balance beam - by himself. He's never done that before. He jumped on the trampoline and brought his knees into his chest - 10 times in a row. And then he did it again and again. My jaw stayed on the floor in utter amazement.

Asher and Simi really enjoyed themselves during open gym. They sprinted about 50 feet before launching themselves into the foam pit. They climbed up 4 feet and took a running jump into the pit. While Simi's never been afraid, until yesterday Asher never just launched himself into the pit. He always jogged slowly up to it, stopped, then climbed in. Yesterday's display, on Asher's part, was completely out of character. And it completely surprised me coming from a kid who couldn't balance on his own two feet just days ago. What changed?

Simi was a sight of speed, strength, and grace last night. During his games of cat and mouse (the cat chases the mouse into the foam pit), he was never caught while he was the mouse and always caught the other child (even the much older ones) while he was the cat. I'd come to expect seeing this during his gymnastics class, but it surprised me to see him running faster than children much older than he. And when jumping into the pit, he flings himself MUCH farther than any of the children - even the ones much older than he. There were times when I had to climb into the pit to rescue Leila and I never realised the strength needed to climb out. Yet Simi makes it look effortless. I had visions of him exceling at long jump, pole vault, distance and sprints during high school track. Luckily for him, that's more than a decade away and I'll have likely forgotten that vision by then. I'm so incredibly grateful to Dr. Pigula and Children's Hospital Boston for fixing Simi's heart. I just can't believe how great he's doing.

Leila was a toddler full of frustration last night. She wanted to follow her brothers in their activities and let everyone know her disappointment when she was stopped. She would have run the 50 feet and flung herself into the foam pit if I let her. In fact, towards the end of the night after most of the children left, I did help her do that. She also would have independently flung herself into the foam pit from a four foot height. Kristin, Asher's teacher, helped her do that. The girl is fearless. If her brothers can do it, she insists on doing it too and won't take no for an answer. That's my girl.

Asher was so proud of the ribbon he earned in gymnastics yesterday (the one that EVERY child receives). He brought it into school today for show and tell.

All three children poured themselves into bed in sheer exhaustion last night. They woke up tired. And they can't wait until Simi's last class blast so that they can do it again.

La Leilita and Her Food

It's no secret that Leila loves her food. After her tonsilectomy, she gained six pounds in a mere two months. I honestly have never seen a child eat as much as she did in the two-three months after her tonsilectomy.

Before her tonsilectomy, I felt like those huge marbles were getting in the way of her eating; that concern was confirmed by her post-surgery gorging. Leila hadn't gained a pound, between ages 1 and 2, but she gained six pounds in the two months post tonsilectomy. WOW!!!

Leila also loves to cook in her pretend kitchen. She cooks up all sorts of things and delivers it to each one of us. She "cooks" eggies and pasta for Simi because that's his favorite dish. She "cooks" pork for Asher. She "cooks" all sorts of things for me. And she always brings me "tea" with my meal. She's very busy in her kitchen.

Now that Leila has recovered from her tonsilectomy, we've stopped giving her Flovent and have been preparing to submit her for an endoscopy with the thought that she might have the same disease as Asher. Now, that thought isn't so certain. She's been doing great ever since her tonsils have been removed.

Now we've been adding in all sorts of allergenic "Asher poisons", like wheat, eggs, and fish, into Leila's diet. Leila isn't certain what to make of the new foods - she just looks at it like, "what is this?".

While Leila is a bit perplexed on her new change of diet, Asher is - most definitely - very unhappy about it. I think he felt like, with Leila sharing his diet, he wasn't singled out. Now, he very much is singled out. It is difficult to upset my easy-going Asher, but this change in Leila's diet certainly has him upset. We add insult to injury by making Asher drink some nasty-tasting vitamin supplements twice a day. This kid just can't get a break.

Leila, when she gets mad, makes a "mean" face. Good golly, this girl gets MAD! Naturally, we all laugh at her when she gets all huffy. We point to her face -- all scrunched up -- and say, "Leila has her angry eyes on."

The other day, Leila and Asher were quibbling and Leila said to Asher, "Asher, I have my angry eyes on." All of us just fell over with laughter.

That's my girl.

ABCs

While Simi was in his 1 to 2 year-old classroom at day care, his teacher suggested to me that he was ready to learn his ABCs. I bought the foam letters and during bath time, I began to teach Simi his ABCs. We started with three letters and we made a game out of it. Simi quickly learned his ABCs.

Asher learned his ABCs, too. Since I bathed both boys together, Simi always answered the questions for Asher and Asher didn't get to learn his ABCs in the same way as Simi did. Asher learned them in the way Asher prefers to learn - by watching a video.

Leila, being the third child, doesn't get a chance to learn her ABCs. We're way to busy to teach them to her. She's already two years old and we have just barely begun to think about teaching her the letters. We just started sitting her on the potty (another thing we're late on. Asher was potty trained before age 2 and Simi was well on his way). To keep her interest, I've been teaching her the letters.

Perhaps it's her age; Leila is catching on tremendously quickly with her letters. She's going to learn them all in no time.

The Leila

Now that Leila has gotten those monster tonsils removed, she's a very different child. She's eating like CRAZY! In her entire second year of life, she gained only one or two pounds. Now, just a mere one month post-surgery, she's gained four pounds! The girl just doesn't stop eating now. She's a little fatty! She loves her fat, too. She rubs her little Buddha belly and smiles and jumps up and down to jiggle her little baby fat. Admitedly, it makes us all laugh. I feel like we must have starved her last year when her tonsils got in the way of her eating.

Last night, during bath time, when I told the boys to clean their penises, Leila reached down and tried to clean hers. She looked very confused until I distracted her with some soapy bubbles and a toy.

After the bath, Simi and Asher were playing "super-heroes", which brothers tend to do instead of putting on their pajamas. They had their hooded towels on their heads and used the towel parts as capes and ran around the room and pushed each other. Leila just had to get in the act too. Except she's a lot smaller so she can trip on her towel cape. And get hurt when her big brothers trample her. That didn't matter to her and there she was, Miss Pink Girl, pushing and flying and running with her big brothers.

On St. Patty's Day, Leila dressed in pink, as she does every day. She just loves the color pink. Simi mentioned that Leila would get pinched because she wasn't wearing green. Personally, I pity the fool who tries to pinch that girl! She'd pinch them right back - and scream at them in the process!

That's my girl..

Pink

Leila LOVES the color pink. Perhaps it seems a bit stereotypical, but she's really really into the color. She chooses her clothes these days and she insists on wearing the color pink. She insists on wearing her pink shoes (not her tennis shoes, which are white with pink trim, but her PINK shoes). Although they're not pink, she LOVES her black patent leather shoes. They're very girly. But the pink ones are definitely her favorite.

The other day, while we were in the grocery store, she noticed some yogurt in a pink container. She just HAD to have it. "It's PINK!", she screamed at the top of her lungs in the middle of the grocery store. Didn't matter that she wouldn't want to eat it, she just had to have the yogurt in the pink container.

I think those marketers know what they're doing.

Leila Sans Tonsils

It is nearly three weeks post tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy and I'm proud to report that Leila is now nicely recovered. She's doing GREAT!

She's eating, easily, more than her two older brothers combined. Golly, that girl can really chow down! Prior to her tonsillectomy, she barely ate. In fact, she hadn't gained a pound in a full year (and she's only two years old). I suspect she's gained a pound just in the past week with all she's been eating. I have honestly never seen a child eat as much as Leila has been eating this past week or two. Wow!

Leila learned to talk with two large marbles (her tonsils) in her mouth. Once they were removed, she had a very difficult time talking. I couldn't understand a word she said. Now she has to relearn how to talk. She's working on it, but it's still difficult to understand her. I suspect, in time, her speech will improve. Of course we'll give her speech therapy if she needs it.

Even though she's back at daycare and it's the middle of the winter, she is congestion-free. It's the first time ever! And now, just because I wrote this, I suspect she will come down with some incredibly nasty bug!

I'm so glad she had her tonsils removed!

Leila's T&A

As Raj mentioned, Leila had her tonsils and adenoids removed. She had her adenoids removed last year, but they grew back. Her tonsils were HUGE. She couldn't breathe and was constantly getting sick. While she was under anesthesia, the ENT also inserted ear tubes since her first pair was such a godsend.

For recuperation period, the ENT prepared us for 7-10 days of absolute misery. Having tonsils removed is quite painful. Then, on day 7, the scabs fall off and the bleeding begins, which could be a problem.

So far, Leila's recovery is congruent with the description. It's painful, so she cries and cries. She says, "hurt hurt hurt" and "ouch ouch ouch" and just cried. I give her tylenol with codeine, which takes the edge off her pain but makes her nauseas. On Saturday and Sunday, she was sick. She laid around like a sack of potatoes - feeling terrible and dry heaving all day Saturday. In the middle of the night (why do these things ALWAYS happen in the middle of the night???) she vomited and vomited and vomited - and spent all day Sunday laying around nearly lifeless. The ENT doctor on call says she must have gotten a virus because vomiting isn't a complication of a tonsilectomy. Luckily, she's over it and we're moving on, happy to be this far past the surgery.

Poor Leila, she learned to talk with HUGE tonsils, which were like having marbles in her mouth. So now that they're gone, she can't talk. She squeeks a lot and makes lots of nasal sounds. I can't understand a word she says. I'm sure she'll adapt in due time.

Leila having her tonsils removed

Leila went in for surgery today to have her tonsils removed. She had her adenoids removed last year at this time, but she was too young to have her tonsils taken out. She's still younger than they would have liked (3 years old is usually the minimum), but they were enough of a problem that the doctor agreed they needed to come out now.

She'll probably be miserable for a week. After that, hopefully, she'll no longer have chronic sinus infections, she'll stop snoring, she'll eat much better, ... generally be much healthier. We're really looking forward to that.

She's Two!

Leila is now two years old. We celebrated by browsing her baby pictures and eating allergen free cupcakes. She got a pink balloon and some ribbons in her hair and she was super-happy.

At first she wanted to put on a pretty dress, but then she changed her mind and stayed in play clothes. That's my girl.

When Simi turned one, we had a BIG party for him - mainly because we were thrilled that he actually made it to his first birthday. We've had a big party for him every year since.

Asher's first birthday was low-key, but from his second birthday on, he's had a big party.

In true third child fashion, Leila's first and second birthdays were low-key. Maybe next year she'll get a big party for her birthday. Or maybe we'll wait a few years.

Tea Party

Leila received a tea set from her aunties this year. So of course we had a tea party! Among the invitees were brother Simi, cabbage patch baby, Simi's puppy, Simi's baby sister doll (which we got him before Asher was born to prepare him for Asher's impending arrival), and me.

I poured the tea. Leila drank rice milk in her tea cup and ate potato chips. I drank make-believe tea from my tea cup. Simi drank orange juice from his tea cup and used the saucer as a tiddly wink. Leila fed her milk to the dollies. I cleaned up the mess. Asher joined us for the last bit of tea, then they all got up, threw their tea cups on the floor, and walked away to watch a movie.

I can't wait until the next tea party!

The Leila

It's been a LONG time since we've had a Leila update. The hazard of being the third child; I can relate!

Leila's daycare room had their holiday party yesterday. Leila wore one of her favorite holiday dresses - a pink velvet one with fake fur around the wrists and neck with matching pink nappy cover. She was thrilled that she got to wear her white tights and black patent-leather shoes. She loves those shoes. She can barely walk in them (I think they may be a little big for her), but she insists on wearing them to school every single day.

Leila is speaking in full sentences now. She says, "I love you, mommy". She also says, "Eat, Simi!", which is usually screamed out at the top of her lungs. I think she's heard me and Raj say that a few thousand times... She says a whole lot of other things.

Yesterday, she said she wanted a yellow candy cane. I handed her the box and asked her to pick out the yellow one. So she did!

Leila's First Purse

Every day, walking to and from her room at daycare, Leila insists on carrying her lunch bag. Never mind that the thing is bigger or weighs as much as than she. Mostly, she drags it on the floor behind her as she toddles down the hall.

So today I bought her a purse. It's pink with pictures of pixies (think Tinkerbell) on it. Leila absolutely loves it.

The first item to go into her purse (courtesy of her brothers) were two matchbox cars. Leila carries it on her shoulder, exactly like you should carry a shoulder bag, and she struts her stuff across the room. She's thrilled!

That's my girl!

ITP

Leila has ITP. She got it as a result of the MMR vaccine.

The doctor explained that a person normally has about 100,000 platelets in their body. Anything under 40,000 is bad. When we brought Leila into the doctor yesterday, she had 4,000 platelets.

This morning, after treatment, the platelets were up to 18,000.

Confession Time

OK, it's confession time: Leila and Asher are Jerry Garcia fans.

To be fair, they're also David Grisman fans. And fans of They Might be Giants. And also fans of Antonio Vivaldi, along with G F Handel. Not to mention anything which even remotely sounds like a song for children. I guess you might say they have eclectic musical tastes.

Our current favorite is "Not for Kids Only", by Jerry Garcia and David Grisman. Leila rocks to "Jenny Jenkins" while Asher's current favorite (and mine too) is "There Ain't No Bugs On Me". We all like "Hot Corn Cold Corn". I can almost envision these two chaps sitting in front of each other, one with a guitar and the other with a mandolin, jamming away. I can even envision it being a regular event. Gosh, what a treat it would have been to be present at one of those events! Raffi who?

So if the next time you see Leila and she has flowers in her hair and singing "Sugar Magnolia", you'll understand why.

Feisty Girl

There's no doubt who rules the roost here: Leila. This little half-pint is FEISTY and she makes sure that she gets what she wants. Heaven help you if you try to change her nappy when she doesn't want to be taken away from her brothers or if you try to take a toy away from her. If you make her mad, she'll HIT you!

She's also tremendously funny - especially considering that she's a mere 19 months old. It definitely seems like she's heading into a successful career as a comedienne.

Today we went to the swimming pool. I was shocked when Leila plunged into the cold water, lay on her back and even let her ears get wet (unheard of for a baby her age). And she even did some kicking when I encouraged her to kick.

That's a smart girl!