10 months old

Dear Leo,

Why, you ask, is your 10-month post two and a half days late? Well, mainly because you keep your mama and your papa on the go-go-go! You are crawling everywhere and into everything. You are very independent and like to play with everyday things. Good thing we haven't invested in a lot of toys for you yet, since for the most part you find them to be less interesting than your empty snack container or papa's glasses case.







We've taken to calling you a professional wiggler--you do not sit still for much. Changing your diaper is a major chore (ie battle of the wills) since you refuse to lie still. "No Leo" is a constant refrain heard in this house. Whether it's because you are trying to stick your hand in the VCR, climb up the highchair, or pull something off a table, you like to test the boundaries (and retest them 30 seconds later and 30 seconds after that, and...).

You love to pull up and will even use a prone parent as a step stool. You cruise a little, but you'd rather crawl from place to place, even if it means pulling up, sitting down and crawling to the new location, and pulling up again.

You often crawl while holding something, a toy, the remote, anything, in your hand. This can make for more treacherous travel, but you persist in keeping your treasures near you.







You hardly spit up much any more (although you have christened your new rug several times already.) And we no longer include a bib as a regular part of your outfit, and we may go days without using a burp cloth. Instead you are mastering solid food and have the sippy cup figured out. You are getting more independent about eating and I think we're about to the end of the mashed foods we've been making--you want to be able to pick it up and feed it to yourself. Needless to say, we cannot skip baths anymore!








You take your baths in the big tub. It's a challlenge to keep you from playing with the stopper chain and from trying to stand up. You must think it's like a big pool. You've been swimming twice and the first time you love it and the second you weren't quite sure what to think.

The pictures in this post pretty well capture how inquisitive you are and how intently you study whatever is before you.








You've been using R, G, and maybe D sounds, and sometimes it sounds like you are saying "roar" or "rah" (a NE lion?) You still love books and Would love to pull them all off the shelf at every possible opportunity.

We love you very much and wish that you weren't growing up quite so fast.

Love,
Mama and Papa

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Several big changes have happened in the last few days. Among these are Leo becoming both the oldest baby in his room at day care and the only boy in said room. What will he do in the midst of such a harem? With six girls (five after Thursday -- see below) to choose from, how will he ever decide?

Thursday is the last day in the room for Leo's best friend. Elliana's mom used to work in the "prepper" room (I think this translates as 4-year-olds) at day care, but is leaving to take another position in a different environment. We haven't seen Ms. Jennifer since getting the news, so right now that's all that we know. Here's the rub: Elliana is the only baby currently in the room that plays with Leo. There are two other babies who are about Elly's age (they're all between a month and six weeks younger than Leo is), but the others are not very social girls.

The biggest change of all (for now) happened tonight: Leo took his first bath in the grown-up tub, without the baby tub. We probably kept him in the baby tub longer than we needed to, but we hadn't gotten around to getting any kind of skid prevention device. That changed yesterday, and here's the result:

Ta-da! Kitchen "after" pictures

A fresh coat of paint on the windowsill makes all of the difference!












This shows the shiny new backsplash and the detail in the countertop.










The cabinets look much richer against the darker floor and counters. We ran out of time to build the L with the counter there where the cart is at the doorway. I'm keeping my eye out for something I can buy and place there so people have somewhere to sit and talk to us.







We kept all of the same appliances. Now Leo has lots of crawling room!













Jeff and I built and installed the shelf ourselves.














I wish I could have gotten some good night shots--the new lights make everything sparkle and the colors are very warm. But, it is not too dark during the day, which is good.

I never feel like the lighting is very good in my pictures, but this should give you, gentle reader, the general idea of how the kitchen turned out.

miscellany

A few events/observations from the last few days:

1. Leo loves to crawl while holding onto a toy--sometimes one in each hand. I equate its danger level with talking on a cell phone while driving--it can be done, but increases the risk of bruises.

2. The other day Leo was wearing OshKosh B'Gosh overall shorts (see picture from 9 months post). At one point I didn't know where his pacifier had gotten to and gave him another. During the next diaper change I discovered where the first one had been hiding--in his pants. It must have dropped down inside the front of the bib part of the overalls. Jeff and I laughed long and hard at this--Leo thought we'd lost our minds.

3. Come next week Leo will be the oldest baby in his room at daycare. John and Dhruv (who are both around 12 months) will be moving up to the next room. This week baby Olivia--at 6 weeks old!--joined the room. Soon we'll also be getting John's twin baby brothers in the room--they're due in early September, but Leo may move up before they move in.

4. Leo is making progress on feeding himself with a spoon--he has pretty good aim. And Jeff tells me Leo uses his spoon to deflect the spoon we use. Anti-aircraft fire he calls it. Now if he can just get the hang of the sippy cup.

5. We have commenced with the changing table battles. Leo will not stay still for a diaper change and this has lead to some almost-messy situations. We're going to have to start changing him on the floor or something--although that's never gone over well in the past either.

bye bye birdie

When we went to go to daycare this morning there was a baby bird sitting on the roof of the car. It was sitting so still I thought it might be dead, but no, Jeff could see it breathing. We tried slamming the car doors and shooing it with a stick, no reaction. Finally Jeff made to scoop it up onto a file folder and it flew away. We think it must live in a nest in the tree that shades the driveway. Wish I had the camera with me! Leo couldn't figure out why mama and papa weren't getting into the car right away.

On another note, we try really hard not to compare Leo to other kids, good or bad, because they are each so different and develop and different rates. But, this week at daycare Kate, the licensing consultant (yes they are up for state licensing renewal this week), commented on what a beautiful smile he has and that it just makes you feel everything will be ok. She also said that he holds eye contact longer than any baby she's known (and said she, "I've known a lot of babies!"). Now if we can just get him to stop making great big bruises on his head in his attempts to conquer the world (i.e., get from place to place). Ms. Ete says he crawls faster than any baby she's seen--I find that hard to believe, but he is speedy.

Rhythm and Blues

As most of you know Leo is generally a happy child, however, like all children, when he is unhappy he lets you know it. After Leo eats dinner we leave him in his highchair so the grownups can eat dinner. Normally he's happy to chill. Some days however, he emits a whine that a 6 year old girl would be proud of. And bangs his hand on the tray of the highchair repeatedly. Hence my title of "rhythm and blues".