Leo's been here 17 months

He’s getting cuter and funnier!

Here is what he’s up to:

Beyond the Ball: I think I’m going to do a whole blog about Leo’s obsession with balls so I’ll keep it brief here. He now knows that there are different types of balls: high ball (the game he invented), beeg ball (big ball), keek ball (kick ball), foot ball, bah-ball (basketball), bat ball (his baseball bat and ball set). He can’t say it yet but he’s working on another game called door ball where he bounces the ball up against a door (or cabinet or fridge).

“Up Down” He loves to say and demonstrate this: Hands up high for "UP" and crouches down for "DOOOWWN."

Hot and cold: He knows that when I put something in the microwave I’m making it “haught.” And when we open the fridge it’s “code.” The oven is haught and as of this week, the windows are code.

Foreign language: I know some of his words sound Spanish (“beeg” for “big”) but he’s more into Romanian. He’s learning it from our Romanian neighbors across the street. Okay, all he can say is “Pa Pa” which means “Bye Bye.” He says it anytime he sees any of them. And when he sees their house he says, “Baby” because they have a nine-month-old.

Animals: His favorite animals are Ike (Ms. Chantal’s Chihuahua) and Kit Kat (John’s cat). When we arrive at either of their houses he announces the animal’s name: “Ike!” or “Kit Kat!”

Favorite games: He loves to play Ring around the Rosy (which Granny Jo taught him). But he just spins around in circles and he usually falls before we get to the “we all fall down” part.


Favorite songs: He still loves his Leo CD but sometimes he prefers Mommy’s singing. I thought maybe I had a future as a children’s singer but I’ve noticed other kids don’t like my singing as much as Leo. He loves the “Wheels on the Bus” and can do all the motions unprompted.

Okay, Leo is currently not able to amuse himself with his tool bench anymore so I better end this here. Enjoy the pics and video!

Monkey See, Monkey Eat

When it comes to food, I still treat Leo like a baby. While all his friends are biting, chomping and tearing their meals, Leo usually sticks with the spoon or really mushy finger food. But come on, he barely has six teeth! So you can imagine my surprise when last weekend, Frank just handed him half a banana and let him chew away. What? No cutting into small circles and then half circles?

I tried it again later that week:




And then yesterday (at Frank's request) I gave him the WHOLE banana, peel and all! Look at our little monkey:

Playing High Ball

Leo invented a new game. It's called High Ball. It's basketball with a high chair. He seriously made this up completely on his own. I just looked over and he was doing it. He's been playing it religiously ever since (that's two days now). As you'll see from this video, he still needs some practice. But as the founder of High Ball, I think he'll have an advantage when the season rolls around.

(Oh, and while Leo may have created the game, I created the name. I should be able to get in on some of the profits, don't ya think?)

Reverse Rain Dance

With all the rain and flooding here in Georgia, Leo decided to perform a "Rain Rain Go Away" dance. He created this all by himself. Rather than making the storms go away, though, it just made him really, really dizzy.

Hoop Dreams

Leo thinks he's the next Michael Jordan. I wonder if Michael Jordan started out with a basketball hoop missing half the net. Probably not...but he also didn't start out short and white. So while Leo has plenty of obstacles in the way of his NBA career, we love his enthusiasm for the sport and the fact that, at 16 months, he already has his own shooting stance.

Frank eventually thought of the idea to put the hoop lower (wonder if Michael Jordan's dad did that):
Sorry, you have to tilt your head to the left for this video:

Labor Day with Tia Kristin

Leo spent the holiday weekend charming his Tia Kristin. He did very little laboring as you can see:

Leo's Morning Out

Leo had his first day of "Mother's Morning Out" today at the local rec center. While I went to Target and did some cleaning, Leo hung out with other toddlers and (so I heard from Miss Noelle) played, rode cars, jumped on mats, had a snack and played some more. It must have worn him out because he CRASHED after lunch!

Here are a few pics from this morning:


"Hey, I see my back pack here. Where exactly am I going, Mommy?"

"Somewhere to play? Yea!"

"I'm ready to go!"

"Hey, dude, I think our mommies shop at the same place."

"Finally, I can shoot some hoops! Smell ya later, Mommy!"

Sunday Funday

In addition to turning 16 months old on Sunday, Leo also did all sorts of other fun things. See, when daddy's in charge anything goes. Here's what the boys did that day:

Some drinking:


Eating minus the after-meal face wiping that mommy always does:

All table manners went out the window:

Newspapers were scattered all about:

Daddy measured Leo's height by writing on the wall:

Leo watched the rain (and luckily, daddy didn't let him play outside in it!)

Daddy got tired of watching Leo and tried to send him off to school!


And here are some videos of the Sunday action: