Whenever Leah gets into a situation she's not supposed to be in, say, for example, into Kennedy's polly pocket dolls, Kennedy will shout "Leah Alert! Leah Alert!" to let me know I need to come and get her. It cracks me up. I guess it's a statement that has suck in this family because the other evening at dinner Leah was grabbing Jake's food (again) and he was getting really frustrated and finally shouted "Leah Alert! Leah Alert!" It cracked me up. Leah is the first child in this family to need her own "alert". It says something to her character of loving to investigate, explore, and run her own world. Just today Brian called in from the garage, "help!" I ran to find Leah covered in corn syrup (Brian had a bottle out there from old scout supplies). She had knocked down the bottle, which broke, and then had it smeared all over her shoes, hands, hair, face. She sure had fun!
Although Leah leaves me purely exhausted by the end of the day, she also fills me with such joy. I love how she just goes about her day with such drive, purpose, and abandon. Honestly, I look at her and can already see the day when she'll realize she no longer needs me. She is so independent, yearning to explore and learn, that the day will come that she'll realize she can do pretty much everything on her own and will just check in with me once in a while to say hello. I hope I'm wrong, but right now it seems all she needs in life is her blankie, thumb (at bedtime), and occasionally a mom to kiss a boo boo.
