Naked Baby Dance

I meant to include a picture of the naked baby dance in the blog below. But since I forgot, I thought I'd give it its own blog.

This is what Leo likes to do before bath time. He loves to be naked and he loves to dance. There are more pictures but I don't want to post them and risk being under investigation (or the object of hatred from my child when he's a teenager).

Leo's been here eight months

Leo's into:
Crawling!
Clapping
Saying "Mama" and "Dada" but not necessarily to the right people
Banging on things
Playing with all the toys he got for Christmas (including a drum which helps with the banging)
Playing with things that aren't toys (like beer cans, the trash can, shoes and the rug)
Eating books, having books read to him
Climbing on things, including people
Doing the naked dance
Listening to his CD of songs with his name in them ("Let's pretend, Leo!" and "Leo, I think you're special")
Um, did I mention crawling? Gotta go!

On the move

If Leo could talk I'm pretty sure he'd quote Dr. Martin Luther King today:

"Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty we are free at last!"

I'm starting with the man in the mirror

Leo, meet Santa. Santa, meet Leo.

Leo experienced a range of emotions while meeting Santa for the first time today:

Confusion: Who is this old man and why are we dressed alike?

Fear: Wait. I don't think I know this guy. And I don't think I like him!

Determination: Well if he gets to hold me and take a picture with me, I'm gonna take some of this white stuff off his face.

Satisfaction: Score! I got some of the white stuff! I'm so gonna eat it. Take that, Santa.

Sometimes friends fight

It started out fun...

...still playing nice...

...later, Leo would say that John started it but as you can see, Leo provoked John...
...and John fought back:

Please hold your applause until after this video

Cuddly Bear

Leo likes the cold weather so much, he is going to be bummed when he learns it's only like this a few days a year:

How do ya like them apples?

Apparently, not at all. This was Leo when I tried to give him apples. After one bite he refused to open his mouth:


I mean, the kid likes peas, carrots, squash and sweet potatoes. I was actually saving apples because I thought he'd like them so much that he'd never go back to veggies.

After he wouldn't eat the apples, I gave him peas and he gobbled them up as if I let him skip dinner and go to dessert.

Who doesn't like apples? And it's actually apple sauce which is even better! I should know; I ate the rest of 'em. His reaction to that? "Fine, mommy. You eat my apples. I'll eat my socks."

Leo's been here seven months

(and one day).

Besides sprouting a few hairs on his head, here are the other mature things Leo does:

• He sits all by himself
• Gets up on all fours and rocks
• Eats carrots, peas, squash and sweet potatoes and is eager to try fruit or just about anything on our plates
• He talks about things like "blah blah blah" and "dah dah dah" and "mah mah mah"
• He laughs when we tickle him under his chin (or really, just when we put Aquaphor on his neck and he thinks we're tickling him)
• He's interested in everything, wants to grab stuff and put it in his mouth
• He drools a lot but we haven't seen any signs of teeth
• Just this past week he seemed to notice a difference between mommy and daddy and everyone else
• He still spits up and now it's colored.

Here's what Leo likes:

• Books about hippos
• Eating books (about hippos or otherwise)
• Eating mommy's hair
• Eating mommy's glasses
• Eating his own socks
• Eating food
• Playing with Edison, the alphabet catepillar (Thanks, Charlie and Colman!)
• Listening to mommy talk on the phone
• Using daddy as a jungle gym
• Riding in one of his four strollers
• Being held while walking around (don't even think about sitting)!
• Songs that involve someone touching his feet like Over the River and Through the Woods, the part that goes "It stings the toes and bites the nose.."
• Playing peekaboo

Tough Guy

We already know Leo is not going to be tall. We're trying to toughen him up so he won't get picked on in school:


"Don't even THINK about shoving me into a locker!"

"That's right. I'm flexing my biceps. My friend John's got some too! You don't wanna mess with us."

More Mommy Show

Leo still likes to watch me exercise. And yes, we are listening to the "Salsa Y Merengue" music station on digital cable.

He won't take this lying down

Leo can totally sit up on his own now. He doesn't have to hold his feet. He doesn't fall over. He holds his back nice and straight. He's very confident in his sitting up ability.

Mommy and Daddy, however, aren't there yet:

Leo, the vegetarian

Leo has quite a palette. In addition to breast milk, he also eats sweet potatoes, squash, carrots and peas. He likes all of them equally. Here are a few pics from this weekend when we introduced the green stuff:


"Peas rock!"

"Hey, why am I the only one eating this mush?"

"What? Haven't you seen a bald dude eat smashed peas before?"

Talkin' Back

This is Leo's favorite game:

Best Week Ever

Leo is growing and changing so quickly, I had to tell him, "Slow down! That's too many blogs!"

So I decided to combine a few events and tid bits into one blog. Here are a few things that have happened to Leo in the last seven days:

He experienced his first Halloween as a lion. I tried to explain to him about trick or treating: "See, you go to the door and you say 'trick or treat' but don't worry about the trick because they always choose treat..." and then I realized it doesn't make a lot of sense.

He tried "real" food. That is, if you consider smashed up sweet potatoes real food:

He made faces like he didn't like it but kept opening his mouth for more.

A neighbor gave us this jumpy swing which is his new favorite apparatus.

He continued to practice sitting up. He can do it for a couple of minutes and then he "falls down and goes, 'boom!'" (which is a cute thing mommy says to him).



And he got his first pair of jeans (thanks, Tia Kristin!)

Patriotic Baby

At the polls this morning I told Leo that we were doing our civic duty. When we got home I realized he must have thought I meant "doodie."

Leo's been here six months

That's half a year!

Here are the amazing things Leo can do:

-Just today he's decided he has lots to say. In addition to babbling "mamamama" he can now babble "dadadadada" and "blah blah blah." I think that if you asked him what mommy talks about he'd say, "blah blah blah blah."

-He's still working on sitting up. He can do it but I like to stay close by.

-He rolls from back to tummy and tummy to back. He likes to sleep on his tummy now.

-His favorite apparatus is the activity mat with the jumpy swing coming in a close second. Right now he's on the activity mat and he's a little frustrated because he rolled onto his tummy and now he can't see the dangly things.

-He's still a fan of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

-If he was stranded on an island he would definitely want to have Good Night Moon, But not the Hippopatamus and Leo the Late Bloomer.

-He smiles at everyone; he's very non-judgmental. He does get especially excited when daddy

comes home though.

-He cracks up laughing when we rub Aquaphor on his neck.

-He likes bath time.

-He eats rice ceral and oatmeal and will start "real" food next week. He's fascinated by our food to the point that we can't eat in front of him unless he's eating too.

-If you hold him you must be standing up. Sitting down is not allowed.

-He's excited about Halloween tomorrow because he's going to be a lion.

Pictures from his six-month check-up today where the doctor described him as "wonderful" and I agreed:

Getting his vision tested. He wasn't sure about this pirate patch!

Sitting up all by himself!

"Mommy, why are you so far away? I might need you to catch me!"

"Are you sure this thing is accurate?" He weighed 17 pounds, 6 oz.

"This can't be right! Can I get a recount?"

Cuteness runs in the family

I don't mean to brag but if you bought a picture frame and this shot was in it, you wouldn't think it was weird. In fact, you might think, "I'm going to keep this adorable family in the frame because they are way cuter than my own family."

We had a photo shoot with Frank's side of the family and the whole thing was saved by a game of Peekaboo. Every time you see Leo smiling and/or laughing it's because someone is behind the photographer, making a fool of himself, holding up a blanket, jumping up and down and screaming, "Peekaboo!"

And since I didn't get her permission to post these on my blog I want to give a big shout out to the amazing photographer who took these: Kimberley with Slice of Life Photography in Katy, TX http://www.asliceoflifecreativephotography.com/

Because really, we're not always this cute.

Nobody puts baby in the corner!

But he sometimes puts himself there. Now that Leo can roll over, he likes to sleep on his stomach. And not just in the middle of the crib (where we put him), he likes to inch his way into the corner and stay huddled there all night.

This is where I found him yesterday morning when he woke up:

(And he's in his sleep sack, not a sleeveless evening gown as it may appear).