NOT

Leo loves to not only say what something is, but also what something is NOT. He really seems to understand that some things are sort of similar but not exactly the same. Here are some examples:

His "snack trap" is always filled with either Goldfish or Cheerios. When I give it to him he says what it is NOT:
"Not Cheerios."

And if it's Cheerios, he says, "Not Go-fish."

Today he said something about Granny Jo. I said, "Granny Jo is coming to visit you soon." He said, "Not Rah Rah." (Not his other grandma.)

We went to Kohl's and I told him, "This is Kohl's." He said, "Not Target."

I asked him what state he lives in and he said "Colorado." I reminded him that he lives in Georgia and he said, "Not Leo's house."

I was emailing my friend Debbie and I told him, "I'm sending a note to Ms. Debbie." He said, "Not Cuhl." (Not Claire.)

And in an unrelated story, I give you another example of Leo's brilliance:

There's this really nice guy who works at the YMCA on Saturdays named Kevin. He always greets us at the door and he always wears a sweater vest. Frank and I have commented to each other that it's kinda funny how he always wears one (not the same one, just always an sv) no matter what time of year it is. At Christmastime we brought Leo up to the Y to have his picture taken with Santa. Leo was wearing a sweter vest so Kevin said, "A guy after my own heart! I love the sweater vest!" That's really the only time I remember Leo being around when we talked about Kevin and his sweater vest.

Well today I was about to put one on Leo and I said, "Look, Leo. You're going to wear this nice sweater vest" and he said--and I'm serious!--"Like Kevin."

????

I said, "What did you say?

He said, "Like Kevin!"

And just to be sure, I said, "Where is Kevin?" He said, "YMCA!"

OMG. I can't stress to you enough how little contact Leo has had with this guy and how not often we speak of his sweater vest. I think he remembers from that one discussion at Christmas!

I just have one thing to say: Not dumb.