Uh-oh, Jesus

Last year Leo just sat in a carseat during Ash Wednesday mass and didn't seem to notice when the priest put ashes on his head:

But this year he kept saying "Ashes! Ashes!" and wanted to play ring-around-the-rosie so he's getting closer to understanding Lent. He kept looking at me and saying, "Mama has ashes." Then we looked in the mirror and he said, "Ee-oh has ashes."

He also seems to get that something not-so-great is going to happen to Jesus. He kept pointing up to Jesus on the cross and saying, "Uh-oh, Jesus." I said, "Jesus is okay." Leo said, "Jesus is otay." And isn't that what being a Christian is all about? "Jesus is otay."

The Snow Slide Lives On

Leo misses the snow but he has created a snow slide with his chair--totally his idea! I think he was inspired by the winter olympics. He may have a shot at the games someday, if not as an athlete, as a commentator.

Translation: "Okay, okay. Watch."

Even his Thomas the Train book gets in on the action!

Snow Scenes

There's nothing cuter than southern kids enjoying a rare snowfall. I'm including myself as one of those southern kids!

Frank and Leo built this snowman in front of our house!
It took a village to build this snowman!
Reagan (with a cute hot cocoa mustache) posing with Leo

Check out the make-shift "snow slide" (as Leo calls it) our neighbors made in their backyard!

The only kind of ball Leo hasn't encountered--a snow ball!

Debbie, me and Claire with our bundles

The trio is quickly approaching two! John (22 months), Leo (21 months) and Dawson (almost 23 months)

Leo preferred snow basketball to the snow slide.

Dawson hugged Leo but claimed it was just for warmth.

John and Leo when they first stepped out in the snow--not sure what to think.

Leo, braving the "snow slide."

For more snow scenes, check out my other blog!

Video Montage

The original purpose of this post was to show you how Leo can say "I love you." I've learned, though, that videos more than 45 seconds take FOREVER to post. I'm talking all day, all night and it still doesn't post! So I decided to just post three videos that would actually work (although they are completely unrelated, aside from the lead character).

1. "I love Rah Rah." This is the sequel to "I love you" where Leo said he loved me, dada, Popsy, Granny Jo and Nana. I told him to say that he loved Rah Rah and he laughed hysterically. A few minutes later he started saying "I love Rah Rah" so I got a quick video of that:

2. Dancing at Tia's House:

3. Chatting with best friend John:

Baa-Baa-Breakthrough

We knew Leo could sing "Twinkle Twinkle." It sounds like this: "Tinkle Tinkle uh uh TOW." And while we're mildly impressed with that, we do sing it to him every day before he goes to sleep. We're also moderately proud of how he can initiate other songs like "Itsy Bitsy Spider" ("Ittie Bittie Spi-dah") and "Muffin Man" ("Muh-in Man"). My point is that we're not easily wowed. We have high expectations for this little man.

So today when I was getting him out of the car after Mother's Morning Out ("Schoo!") he said, I mean SANG, "Baa Baa Black Sheep." And he didn't just sing the first line; he sang the whole first part: "Bah Bah Black Sheep, have you any wool? Yes sir, Yes sir, three bags full." Now it wasn't that clear but it was clear for a 21 month old. And clear enough that I knew exactly what song he was singing.

Well, I was majorly impressed. And not just because he sang so much of the song but because that's a song I NEVER sing! I knew that he had heard it a few times in his life but I seriously never sing it. I said, "Did you learn that at school today?" I thought for sure they must have just sang it. I wanted to email his teacher and ask but thought she might get annoyed.

He sang it again and I asked "Who taught you that song?" He said, "Rah Rah!" Well, I immediately called my mom and asked her. She said she sang it to him a few times when he was visiting. That was two weeks ago! He was singing it so well that I thought he must have just heard it minutes ago.

Later, I actually caught it on video!!

We just got back from the Y where he performed the song for all the amazed playcenter workers.

And here are just a couple of cute pics of our little singer. He earned those fake cookies today!