“Let’s talk about trains”

 

Leo’s train obsession is so intense that I think it has officially eclipsed the ball obsession. (Don’t worry, Grandpa Ron, he still likes to talk about and play sports too.)

And speaking of Grandpa Ron, he’s the one who gave Leo this very grown-up book about trains that Leo is currently—hate using the same word again here—obsessed with. It’s a book about the history of trains and Leo makes us read it to him every day before nap and every night before bed.

Here he is with Frank, holding his “conductor” hat and making Frank read him this huge book:

He’s very particular about HOW we read the book. We have to start with the back cover and Leo says, “Let’s talk about it.” We are to read the back cover and then flip to the front. Then we “talk about” the pictures on the front. “Which is your favorite?” he likes to ask. Then Leo flips the pages and we stop only when he wants to. If I want to stop because I think a particular picture looks pretty or interesting, that is not allowed. He has all these catch phrases like, “That’s the MARTA train,” (it’s not) and “That’s the Dinosaur Train.” Sometimes he remembers things we’ve told him like, “That train is in Australia” or “That’s called the Super Train.” 

I was so amazed the other day when Leo pointed at one of the trains and said, “I rode that train when I was a baby.” It was the Durango-Silverton train which he did ride when we went to visit David, Laura and Ellie in Colorado for Christmas 2009. Leo was only 20 months old!

As it turns out, Frank had told him that when he read it to him on a previous night. Still, we were impressed that he remembered which picture it was. After all, he can’t read. (I don’t think.)

After we read the “Big Train” book, Leo gets to choose another book. Lately it’s always “Freight Trains” which is a regular kids’ book. The other night I said, “Maybe we could read a different kind of book” and he said, “Okay, Terrific Trains!”

And one more funny train anecdote: I was explaining to Leo that I have this running grocery list on the dry erase board in the pantry. I said, “If you think of something we need, tell mommy and I’ll put it on the list.” He said, “We need trains.”

Risky Business

 

After a successful session of doing his “business” in the potty today, Leo’s get-up reminded us of a young Tom Cruise so of course we had to snap some pics.  We even tried to add the sunglasses at the end:

 

Leoisms

I subscribe to this writers’ newsletter where the editor has a little intro note where she usually mentions one of her son’s “Maxisms” (funny or sweet things that Max says). I’m going to copy that and call Leo’s “Leo says the darndest things” Leoisms.

Here are a few recent ones:

Leo was asking me “What things are not fun?” I said, “Well, you know how you don’t like it when the sun gets in your eyes? That’s not fun.” He said, “Actually, I close my eyes.”

When I told him Granny Jo had left on the plane to go back to Texas he said, “I need another grandparent to come.” I thought that was so cute because a). He thinks he’s entitled to grandparent attention all the time and b). He even knows what the word “grandparent” means!

He keeps opening the fridge and the freezer and trying to get in. I once saw an episode of Punky Brewster where this happened and it’s freaked me out ever since. I keep telling him not to do that because he will get trapped. So the other day he opened the freezer and said, “I will get trapped and you will have to eat me!”

When I picked him up from the babysitter’s house yesterday he ran outside to the car and exclaimed, “The sun makes me happy!”

Yesterday we had a big #2 accomplishment on the potty. As I was “coaching” him through it, I said all sorts of crazy things, including, “You can do it. You are the master of the potty.” So after he had finished and drank his chocolate milk (his reward for going #2, gross, I know) he ran into his room (no bottoms on), waved his hands around and kept screaming, “I’M THE MASTER OF THE POTTY! I’M THE MASTER OF THE POTTY!”

 

And here are some pictures of our potty master at the zoo this past weekend:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Mommy, you look like a caboose!”

And that, I think, is the highest compliment you can get from a 2 and 3/4 year old. Plus, I really looked quite caboosey today:

 

I’m 22 weeks now and I decided to check out how I looked at 22 weeks when I was pregnant with Leo:

 

 

OH MY GOSH!! My belly is soooo much bigger than it was the first time. In comparing to the old pictures, I look more like I did at 28 weeks with Leo.

Leo is sweet and hugs my giant belly. Other times he threatens to pee on it. Oh, boys. And in case you haven’t heard, Baby Donald Duck is ALSO a boy! Here are some previews of him:

 

 

He just started moving around some. I’m hoping he’s a little calmer than Leo. You can see in one of the photos that he’s sucking his thumb. He did that in his 8-week ultrasound too. Here we are finding out that we were going to have another little boy:

 

By the way, Frank told me that night that my outfit looked like something Leo would wear. Is this what I have to look forward to with a house full of boys? Years of ridicule over my clothing? (I knew I could bring it back to the caboose headline!)

And because no blog is complete without a picture that includes our first-born, here he is with his buddies John and Dawson at our MOMS Club Valentine’s Day party today:

 

Put the Pedal to the Metal

Leo got this classic tricycle for his birthday last year and for the past nine months, he’s just happily scooted along with his feet on the ground. But this past weekend he discovered the pedals. Well, I guess he always knew there were pedals there but he discovered how to use them. We were impressed with how quickly he gave up his Fred Flinstone ways and started really cycling, even on the part of our driveway that’s uphill!