takeabow

After reading this book, Leo learned a new trick.




























He calls it "takeabow"

return

Well, I made it back from my conference more or less intact. It doesn't seem like Leo missed me much--he slept, ate, and played well while I was gone. No pining for his mama. He pines more for Mason when we go too long between playdates. I guess I know how I rank!

He did keep saying "my mama" when I got home last night though. He was dressed in his pajamas and coat and boots when he and Jeff met me at the airport. Dinosaur pj's and toddler boots are very cute together!

Head Twinkle Spider Bus

In the last couple days, Leo has taken to randomly singing bits and pieces of songs. We've heard parts of (at various times) The Itsy-Bitsy Spider, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star/Bat¹, and Head Shoulders Knees & Toes.

When various things happen with toys (like puzzles coming apart), he'll also rather stoically whine "It happens." [How one can be stoic and whine simultaneously I still don't get, but he manages.]

They did various Valentine's Day things at school this week. He brought home one that he made which was a heart drawn on the page with a whole bunch of very small animal stickers attached. They weren't very sticky, and he chose to move most of them to his hand, thusly:










(My eyes are closed because I spent the day home sick from work, and was pretty beat.)



We also let him loose with the camera again tonight. Most of the "pikkers" he took were of Mama. Here's what he came up with:

[1] I assume that everybody knows Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. This is, in fact, the version that he sings at school. However, anytime that I sing the song to him, I consistently sing it as Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Bat, as from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. What can I say? I'm still trying to convince Kirstin to let me introduce him to the Gashlycrumb Tinies.

Manners

Leo has really been using his manners lately--and I think it's just lovely. There's something so cute about "crackers please!" He also uses thank you semi-consistently and "excuse me" has shown up a few times. He's also been saying "be careful" and "be gentle" and it's so cute!

He finally slept all night last night (except for a brief bout of leg-thumping on the mattress around 3am--I think he slept through it, but I didn't). He still has a cough and a runny nose, but not much we can do about those. Since he doesn't have a fever and his snot has been clear (sorry, but we aren't into subtlety here) we've been sending him to school.

Yesterday he said "play Deanna?" I think he really enjoyed playing with her on Saturday night when Jeff and I went out on our big date (dinner and dancing). Too bad they'll probably be moving once her husband finishes his masters, since he's in the military. So far she's been our only baby sitter since we've moved here.

Still haven't gotten the pictures from the Shedd developed--maybe this weekend we'll get around to it.

more Leo!

The background image on my cellphone is a picture I took of Leo when I first got the phone. Now whenever I open the phone and he sees the picture he says, "Leo!" and then, "more Leo!" (as in, I want to see more pictures of Leo please!").

Toddler's-eye view

One day last week, Leo managed to wrestle the camera away from us, and wandered around playing with it. He didn't take much that was actually usable, but there were a couple amusing ones. Presented below for your approval:






Also in the news: we had our first successful use of the potty chair last night (liquid only), which was probably a complete accident.

I went out to finish the tip of the driveway this morning, and Leo decided to come along. We were outside for awhile, because it takes some time even to just shovel 8" of snow off of the apron of a two-car driveway. We were outside for long enough that he had a runny nose, parts of which started to freeze to his face. Hearing him echo me that he had "booger-sicles" was really quite amusing. Unfortunately, we didn't have a good way to make an audio recording of it.

Knee-high to a toddler

Or almost 8" of snow. They canceled the public schools and daycare is closed, although the university is open. Luckily today is my research day this week so I can (try to) work from home. But between shoveling and Leo wrangling, it'll be less than productive. I do have a desk shift this afternoon I should go in for though.

I got half of the driveway shoveled before our neighbor offered to let us use her snowblower. I accepted, but didn't get very far before I realized I had very little clue how to use it effectively. Snow here, snow there, snow, and when I ran over the grass, leaves and grass everywhere! So, I used it until it stalled (about 10 minutes) and then returned it, claiming I had done "enough." I suppose I should learn how to use one--you'd think growing up in WI I would have learned how to use one, but I guess we were old-fashioned. Or else Dad just didn't want us messing with the snowblower (did we have one, I don't remember?). Of course I could have just had Jeff come out and do it, but now he's stuck shoveling the rest. Sorry honey!

Potty training note--we are off our game. Er, that is, Leo had a mixed day yesterday with a few potty tries, a few successes, and a few diapers. Mom, I know your post comment the other day was serious, but it made me laugh so hard I almost fell off of my chair. Cheerios to aim at indeed!