The D'Amato Family: Happy 4th Birthday Leah Jo!

November 7, 2008 we met our sweet Leah Jo. She was this beautiful round ball of baby fat and we were instantly in love. I could not wait to introduce her to her two big sisters. Her first name is Leah because David's middle name is Lee and it was an easy way to incorporate this sweet father of 3 girls-we do call her Lee-Lee as a family name. Her middle name is Jo because her paternal great grandfather, who passed away the August before she was born, always called his wife, Great Grandma Koebler, "Jo" (her name is Josephine). It was a way to honor both of them and always remember him. (We had always intended to use his name "Charles" as a boys middle name, but that never happened!)

Leah is our funny one. Making her sisters laugh all the time. She absolutely loves My Little Pony and because she has an amazing auditory memory she can recite almost entire episodes for you! I love that she has developed independent play. It is hilarious to hear her in the toy room with her ponies, dinosaurs, and horses. Her story lines are creative and funny. She knows all her letter sounds, counts to 20 (at least) and backwards from ten. I take zero credit for that....she has grown up in the school room and has absorbed everything. Even now she will be on the computer (her first love! HAHAHA!) and turn around to pay attention to Mayah's first grade lesson. She wants to make up the sentences for spelling pretests/tests. She loves her Bear-Bear and a good Fancy Nancy or Pinkalicious book at night. She is very independent and knows what she wants. She has developed deep emotions over the past few months so I am watching my tone around her as she is very sensitive to that now. She gives great hugs and "little" kisses which make her laugh. I am even more in love with her 4 years later!

The day before her birthday we went to Shamrock Farms for a field trip. No School. Dadddy came. Super fun!