Leo's been here 21 months

So glad it's 21 months and not 21 years! Not time to go to a bar with him yet.

(Thanks for the new kicks, Tia Kristin!)

Leo is demonstrating every day that he's getting closer to age 2--with his talking ability, new interests and tantrums.

He says lots of phrases and sentences including:
"Leo did that."

"I need that."

"I know, I know."

"I had it."
"Mama get."
"Mama make."
"Mama cook."
"Mama sit."
(We're working on adding 'please' into all of these phrases. Each can be replaced with Dada get or Nuh-no sit, etc.)
"Mama please take." This is my favorite phrase in this series because it means he's handing me his bowl and spoon rather than throwing it on the floor.
"My name is Leo."
"Mama play." (Right now he's saying "Mama play kick ball.")
"Play basketball."
"Basketball Outside."
"Up high. Down Low."
"Gah-doh up up" (Garage door up up)
"Leo bump head."
"Jump bed!"
"No more monkeys jumping on the bed." This is his longest phrase!
"Pants fall down." Sometimes he steps on his pants when he stands up in his crib. So when I go into get him, he says, "Pants fall down." Maybe I should teach him "Pants on the ground!"

Sometimes he surprises us with words we didn't even know he knew! For instance, my sister showed him a picture of him when he was a baby. He said, "Baby Ee-oh. Bald head." I don't remember ever saying "bald head" to him and neither does Frank!

He showed me his hand one day and it had black stuff all over it, probably from the car. He said, "Doity!" which meant "Dirty."

One day I was scolding him and I said, "Leo James!" He added "Simcik!" Frank said, "He pronounces it right and everything!"

I think he's got a good musical ear. The other day I sang, "I love you, you love me" (the Barney Song) which he's never heard and he said, "Flashing lights!" That might not sound brilliant to you but I knew that he meant, "That's the same tune as my school bus that has the flashing lights!" All the Fisher Price toys (airplane, school bus, dump truck, etc) sing that tune.

He's also really good at "name that tune" when I whistle. I was just casually whistling "Do you know the muffin man?" and he said, "Muffin Man! Muffin man!" I started whistling other songs and he guessed them easily! Blog to come on this one.

When I sing the ABCs I can usually pause at any letter and he can fill it in: "A, B, C, D, E, F..." and he says, "G!" He can finish with "X, Y and Z!"

He's not as good at counting but he does love the number "zero." One day his best friend John counted up to three so later I told Frank, "John can count! I wonder if Leo can count." Frank said, "Hey, Leo, can you count? 1, 2, 3..." and Leo said, "Cow Moo Moo!" So we'll continue to work on that one :)

Still loves everything to do with balls and has recently been exposed to golf (thanks, Grandpa Ron), bowling (thanks, Tia Thea) and volleyball (thanks, YMCA).

Oh, and he can say "YMCA" but he says it like this: "YM-SEE-A!"

Other destinations he knows: Tah-get, Best Buy, Mall, School (Mother's Morning Out) and everybody's house--Ee-oh's house, Dah's house (John's house), Dawson's house, Cah-Cah's house (Chantal's house). We just started music class again and when I talk about it, he's back in the habit of singing, "bah bah bah."

He's very interested in the potty and talks about it all the time. He won't, however, sit on his little potty although he does say, "Leo sit potty."

Other interests: "ooh ooh trains," "scubas" and Fisher Price little people. He has names for all of them inclduing a Hawaian lady he calls "Mommy" and a dorky tourist he calls "Daddy." Right now he's saying, "I get peace" which he said a lot yesterday and I don't know what it means!

We're amazed at how, when we read books, he can fill in a lot of the words. We just read the first part of the sentence like, "A cat and a rat and their new running..." and he says "Hats!" It really gets more impressive than that but that's the only example I can think of (since I'm being requested to "Mama set pins" for bowling right now).

Catch-up

I'm back in business. Here are some catch-up pics:


In his new frog towel. He's saying "Ribbit!" (Leo sits in the sink to brush his teeth, not to take a bath!)

On my birthday!

Visiting family in Houston (Sorry if you live in Houston and we didn't see you. It was a quick trip so the grandparents and Tia Kristin could get a Leo fix!)

With the Rah Rahs:

Chillin' with Tia K

Relaxing after a few holes of golf with Grandpa Ron:

At the Children's Museum with Popsy:

Hugs with Granny Jo:

Leo blog in Limbo

My computer is in the shop--something about 13 viruses. I'm using Frank's old (circa 2003) Dell laptop for now. This means I don't have access to my pictures of Leo nor do I want to upload new pictures to this dinosaur.

I will, however, share a cute anecdote.

If I had pictures/videos to go with this blog, I would call it "The Blame Game."

Leo somehow damaged his book called "Trains." I think he licked it or something so now the first page is coming apart and the parts of it are ripped up. When we were visiting the grandparents last week, Granny Jo asked him, "Leo, who did that?" "Daddy did that," he said very clearly.

Later, when Frank asked him, "Who did that?" He said, "Ganny Doh did that." (Granny Jo did that.) Then it became a game. Granny Jo asked him the next night and each time he accused different people--"Mama did that." "David did that." "Laura did that." And in a really low move, he accused Baby Ellie! "Baby Ah-yee did that."

A few days later he was reading "Pat the Puppy" with my mom (Rah Rah). He pulled off the rocking chair in the book and when I asked him who did that he said, "Rah Rah did that."

Since we've been home he has been fessing up: "Leo did that," he said last night when we asked him about the rocking chair. "Leo did that," he said when he showed me the spilled food on his tray. However, when it comes to his train book, he's sticking to his original story: "Daddy did that," he continues to say.

Hopefully my computer will be returned to me this week. If it's not, I'm gonna say, "Leo did that."

Train on the Brain

I expected a train phase. I see all the older toddlers playing with trains and chatting about Thomas. What I didn't expect was for it to come on so suddenly. This week Leo has decided he's obsessed with trains. Don't worry, Grandpa Ron, he still likes balls. But "choo choo trains" are his primary focus right now.

He has three trains:

A wooden one he got from John for Christmas. This one is cool because it has all these blocks on it that he can take on and off. Plus, it comes in three parts so it's easy for sharing (sometimes).

A plastic one I found at a garage sale. It's supposed to light up and make noise but the batteries have never worked. He doesn't care.

One that spells his name! This one is from Granny Jo and Popsy. I thought it was just something to look at but Frank got it down for Leo one day and he LOVES playing with it. When he stopped being able to sleep because he could see it on his shelf, we had to remove it from his room.

It's so cute when he's playing with the Leo train and he says, "Kah-boose!"

Every morning this week he's woken up asking for this Leo train. One morning (as you'll see in the picture), he wouldn't even let me dress him. He HAD to play with the train--semi-naked.

Oh, and his book called "Things that Go" that he always called "Bikes?" It's now called "Trains."

And his book that's actually called "Trains" that he used to slightly like? He now LOVES. I keep it in my purse for train emergencies.

I call this picture, "Playing with trains in my trailer."

"Even bed head can't keep me from my trains!"

Extreme Makeover: Toddler Edition

Leo had his first haircut this weekend. We took him to one of those kid-cuts places where he got the royal treatment--toys to play with, a lollipop, a certificate with a snip of his hair and a prize at the end (temporary tattoo).

We expected Leo to scream and squirm but since they bribed him with the lollipop, he didn't even know what was happening. In fact, they said, "He's the best first haircut we've had ever!" I mean, I thought maybe they'd say best first haircut this hour, this day but no, best ever!

Here are some pics in reverse order--after and then before. (Oh, and they don't serve chips and salsa at the haircut place; we took that pic at a restaurant):

"Teh-as Bite!"

Leo has requested that we observe Pacific Time today so that he can stay up and watch his Texas Longhorns in the national championship tonight! He likes to say "Teh-as Bite!" for "Texas Fight!"


We're all wearing our Texas shirts today. (Frank even wore his to work!)



I didn't expect to get trash talked to while dropping Leo off at Mother's Morning Out. A dad was there and he said, "You're gonna lose!" Then he told Leo and me to watch out because there were some elephants in the room. Turns out this dude went to Georgia and he was just being SEC-loyal. I told him I rooted for Texas A&M against Georgia but I sure don't call myself an Aggie!


"Texas, Texas, Yee-haw!"



"Bama, you're goin' down."

The Taming of the Do

I thought having a boy meant not having to worry about styling hair! But when you wake up to this...



...you gotta get out some water and a comb! Here, his hair is much improved.


But that didn't last long:
Yep, we're gonna need some dippity do.