Our Little Elf

Christmas always feels different when there are little children around. But with new babies, it is extra special. Leon's excitement about wrapping paper and bows, rather than the presents is likely to move even the staunchest materialist. His curious, puzzled exploration of Christmas trees and ornaments is guaranteed to wake up your attentiveness to life's details. Add some cute Christmas baby outfits to the mix, and you are ready for the season.

That is the mood Leon brought to Kentucky, where he went to be a little elf for Grandma and Grandpa Seybert. He loved it and and enjoyed all the extra attention. He did not want to miss out on anything and when Dari was opening his presents, Leon made his first crawling move only to get to see better. Okay, probably to get to put the wrapping paper in his mouth. But still, the fact that he did it by the Christmas tree just made that milestone one bit more precious. Another special moment was when Leon got to meet Greatgrandpa Arthur, whose name he shares as his middle name. They had a great time hanging out!

 

To get energy for all his extra socializing and pre-crawling exercise, Leon has been really into solid foods, liking it all and developing some preferences. For example, if presented with baby rice puffs and rice chex, he will pick out the puffs, drop them off his chair (!), and then enjoy the chex. Should the chex be missing, he will complain until some appear. As long as there are some chex, he will tolerate anything else. If his preferences remain stable, we can work with it :).

Collections

So we are pretty much done with images of a baby lounging on the Richard Scarry book. If allowed to, Leon would chew up one specific corner of it - that has been his favorite way to "devour" literature lately. We are working on getting to the content but he is often so adamant that we have to shorten our reading session and preserve our mini library. Maybe this will improve when the top teeth finally pop out. Or maybe that is when the destruction will start for real!

Recently, Leon got a present from our Ithaca friends Steve, Melanie and Tommy to help celebrate his eight-month birthday. If Leon the Bear looks familiar that is because you may have seen some celebrity babies walking around with one of their own. Or, perhaps, you remember the one that Dari got back when he was a tiny baby. Either way, we love the expansion of our collection and the obligatory photo session was a must. So here are a few extra pictures to go with the 8-month book shot.

 

 

Apples to Apples

Leon is our little adventurous baby. Well, he is still not (ad)venturing very far but he is definitely up for trying new experiences, whether it comes to visiting new places (especially while riding in the Bjorn carrier), grabbing everything within sight, testing the limits of his balance (while sitting) and, most exciting of all, in the food department! This evidenced in the following video, in which Dedo decided to let Leon try apples in a new form (he is a big fan of the puree already).

http://youtu.be/E8vLNgIbSho

How refreshing after all the texture trouble with Dari! Let's hope that this keeps up. You can also see Leon being very adamant about making his preferences known. He seems to be developing his own little sign language (the advantage of being a younger sibling is that your parents are likely better trained at recognizing these communication attempts early ;)). For example whenever he does NOT like some food or is full or
does not feel like eating, he will start banging both hands against the tray. You might think that that is just what babies do but it is really quite consistent in his case. Maybe, on some level, he figured out that that minimizes the probability of Mommy getting it in his mouth without spilling and drew some connection between his flailing and the end of the feeding session. Here is Leon checking out the high chair in a restaurant for the first time.

 In non-feeding news, Leon has been rolling over here and there but just does not seem too interested in perfecting that skill. In another display of strong opinions, he usually "requests" to be seated, so that he can lean over to all fours and try to push himself around, working to get his feet out from under him. This expands his reach somewhat but does not get him into too much trouble, yet ;).

He has also been spending time with Dedo, who has come from Europe to watch him while Mommy completes the tasks associated with a finishing semester and a starting fellowship in downtown DC. So far, Leon has been really easy on Dedo and basically slept through the half-days that they were alone. Here you see Dedo practicing his skills as a fancy arm chair for Leon, who has mastered self-feeding at daycare, apparently :).

 As a bonus, Leon is also an outdoors sleeper, so that makes scheduling significantly easier - stroller walks don't exhaust him but stabilize his routine. Sometimes Dari joins too, and is very cute about making sure Leon is warm enough.

And finally, Leon has also been waving at people. It is not clear that he understands the full meaning of "bye-bye" but he is pretty good about returning the gesture. The funniest part is when he starts observing his own hand waving and doesn't notice the person he was waving to left already :).

Not Falling (Anymore) this Fall

We are happy to announce that Leon's training wheels for sitting up, aka the boppy pillow, are now off. It is actually a very nice period in stages of baby mobility, from the parents' perspective anyway. Having mastered sitting up without even the occasional plop that is followed by immediate calls for outside intervention, Leon can entertain himself nicely but since he has not figured out how to do much else (our kids are apparently notorious non-rollers) he stays put. We'll see how long that lasts.

There is some catching up in terms of general updates that we need to do. And it is not necessarily because this post is coming unusually late. Rather, the last one went live right before Halloween and Leon's 6 month check up. Leon's costume was a little bunny, which mommy crafted from our existing seal hoodie. Who knew that those two creatures were such lookalikes? Leon didn't seem to care much but he did enjoy the bjorn ride he got out of it for the daycare Halloween parade.

At the doctor's office we were informed that consistent with appearances, Mommy's genes appear to be the slightly more dominant ones for Leon. He is currently 75th percentile for height and 23rd percentile for weight. It will be interesting to see if he ever catches up on Dari with height and then we would really have a twin situation on our hands. This is not unlikely. If Leon continues his current enthusiasm for all foods presented to him, he will be eating a greater variety of options than his big brother in no time! Forget the applesauce and bring on the cauliflower and spinach and beets :). This picture was taken right before he started solid foods = that's how much baby Mommy made, ha!

Fortunately, one thing Leon is not into eating (reportedly) is the paint at his daycare, where they expose him to creative activities frequently.

He is known as the chatty baby at school, where we had a parent-teacher conference last week. Yes, they have those for babies. Although the focus is less on the little people and more on what the big people do with them. Fortunately, we did not get a talking-to about anything specific like sleeping or eating (the other parents did). Must be because the teachers don't have to deal with Leon still waking up periodically at night... But still, good job baby!

 And here's a picture of Leon taking in the beautiful colors we were all treated with this fall!

Happy Half Birthday :)

Baby Leon has been very busy before his half birthday. As if racing to "seem his age," he managed to grow a tooth, learn how to sit, expand his range of consonant sounds, try his first food and even get his first food allergy all in the span of about one week! So we have much to report in this blog installment. 

The tooth and first solid food went together. We got pretty lucky, actually, because all along we were telling Dari that he could not feed Leon anything because he did not have any teeth. So it was super convenient that when he was ready to start solids, the first sharp little guy peeked out. It caught us a bit by surprise but Leon insisted Mommy check out his gum one morning by grabbing her finger and gnawing on it, making sure she did not miss it. As if he wanted to explain a very rough episode at daycare the day before, when he refused to take any bottles and she had to run over to feed him THREE times! Good thing it was her fall break and she actually could. Much to our relief, Leon seems to be enjoying the new foods. His first taste was of avocado mixed with breast milk and he was a BIG fan. Unfortunately, it seemed to have given him a rash on his face, so Mommy promptly replaced it with peas. Those met with only lukewarm reception but it seems that Leon likes the idea of a spoon enough to get over that. On his actual 6 month birthday, Leon got the closest thing to a cake that there is for babies - oatmeal cereal. He approved loudly. So it seems we are off to a great start!

Having pulled out the high-chair and bibs again, Mommy could not resist taking a picture of Leon and put it alongside Dari's when he was the same age. Twins or not?

 The little fall break / tooth break incident aside, Leon has been having a good time in his guppy classroom, which is very warm and relaxing. Really, it should be an officially recommended stress-relief therapy for people to stop by rooms filled with happy babies each morning before work :). One such morning, they could be found posing for their "class picture." How cute is that?

 You can pretty much tell everyone's age by how well they are sitting. By now, Leon has gotten a lot more confident at that, although sometimes he still gets a bit too excited and topples over.

Besides documenting his gross motor progress the picture above also demonstrates Leon's super mellow and happy disposition. He is very chatty and often tries to get our attention, most of all Dari's. Unfortunately, Dari appears somewhat oblivious to the excited squeals and kicks and hand waving that Leon sends in his direction but that is likely to change very soon. The other day, when Leon grabbed a toy the right side up, Dari seemed very impressed and praised him with a "good job, Leon!" excitedly. Wait until he starts grabbing the big boy toys too!

Entertain me!

"Why have I been playing with this toy for an ENTIRE MINUTE? Why has Dari stopped moving? Can I please be done looking at this corner with no one talking to me? Why am I in my car seat when we are not leaving RIGHT NOW? Can I try the boppy for a change? I think I will roll over towards the fluffy thing over there..."

This is probably what has been going through Leon's head on most days recently. He has always been letting us know when he is bored but now, in an interesting spin on understanding object permanence, not only does he get that things exist even when he does not see them but that FUN things exist when he can't see them too. That has made life with him easier in some ways and more difficult in others but certainly more fun.

 Lucky for us, Dari is always ready and willing to provide entertainment. Recently he got some reinforcements when our friend Ryan came to visit and play. As you can see Leon is almost sitting on his own and thoroughly enjoying the new perspective. He has also been practicing rolling over to his back and still seems a little surprised but pleased when he manages to do it.

 

Leon also got to try a big-boy swing but he was not moved by it, possibly because he is still accustomed to little-baby swings and bouncy seats (either at home or at daycare) and the one at the park was decidedly "no frills."

The following video shows Leon practicing his piano skills and every time he drops it or when he somehow activates the auto-play music (when you hit that thing enough it is probably likely to happen) he's like: "oh, that's cool, did I do that? what happens if I keep doing the same thing? oh, something new? well that is just so fun!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DERUMaVv0V0

Little does he know about the kinds of fun still awaiting him in the next few months. Stay tuned for first solid foods pictures - he may be ready! His toes have been the favorite meal of late and we may want to diversify his diet a bit :).

And finally, celebrating his 5-month birthday, here is the book size picture. Although Mommy used a different lens this time that makes it seem like he outgrew the book by a lot but in reality they are about the same. So much for a controlled study ;).

Guppy in Chicago

Leon continues to be a smiley, mellow baby, ready for all kinds of new experiences. Perhaps we are just lucky that this appears to be his nature, or, perhaps, this is some evolutionary mechanism that younger siblings are born with to survive the LOVE from bigger brothers (or sisters). Generally, Dari  has been very nice and helpful around Leon, rocking him in his seat, bringing Mommy wipes if we accidentally run out, or as the following picture shows, simply doing what he has learned about bath time, when Leon got to visit in the tub one night.

Leon was a little confused but not upset about the sudden downpour and Dari was very proud of the assistance he provided. Still, let's just say that we will not be repeating that experiment for a little while. Dari also helped to show Leon around on his first day of daycare, which is literally next door from Dari's old and new classrooms. We love knowing all the teachers and they, in turn, are amused at the resemblance between the boys. So the "Hello, I'm new here" shirt may not have been quite accurate after all...

Leon seems to be a big fan of the time he is spending as a "Guppy." He is in the middle, age-wise, among his few friends there and it is appropriate that in the "emotions" wall decoration he was assigned the "happy" slot.

 He is very curious about the other babies and eager to check out all the different toys. It helps, of course, that Dari regularly test drives all of them (and reports any missing batteries and such) at the beginning of each day at drop-off :).

It is not uncommon for Mommy to find Leon asleep when she comes by in the afternoon - he is just in no rush to leave "school." That is a bit of a relief because we were a little nervous he might have trouble sleeping if there is enough background noise. We count this among the advantages of starting daycare at 4.5 months.

Otherwise, however, Leon has been more and more active, enjoying tummy time and the different positions, including supported sitting and hopping in his jumparoo, that we now have him try out.

 He was also down for joining Mommy for his first ever political science conference in Chicago. When not busy presenting work on sustainable development (okay, he slept in at the hotel with a friend while Mommy did that), Leon got to explore the city a little bit. He took a touristy picture at the "bean" in Millennium Park and then, of course, put his own "signature" twist on that. Are you noticing a theme with these diaper changes yet?

Oh, and he found his toes in Chicago :). 

Double the baby

It is a bit hard to grasp but Leon has now doubled in size since his birth day. He did great at his four month doctors' appointment charming everyone with happy smiles - until the shots came, anyway.

With his percentiles of 27 for weight, 47 for height, and 95 for head circumference, the nurse described him as a "smart string bean," which we take to be a good start. He is now over 14lbs and although he grew "only" seven inches he is outgrowing not only most outfits but also the sideways laying in his crib, resting in the bouncy chair unbuckled, and being shuttled around the houses in a one-handed hold.

Still, he has plenty of skills that make up for the loss of tiny-baby status. Most notably, he seems to actively observe the world and try to figure it out. Here is Leon focusing to comprehend the activity at Dari's daycare birthday party (too loud and chaotic even for the older ones among us ;):

Just today, his favorite moving object, Dari, showed him what the deal is with the satiny lovey blanket that Leon got (and that Dari's had since he was about four months too). Leon figured it out right away. The plan is, that this will help him with transitioning to sleep and, eventually, with teething as well. Did I mention he's growing up way too fast?

PS: This year's awful mosquito season got Leon too and he misses napping safely outdoors while in Slovakia.

Going With the Flow

Considering how little he still is, Leon has endured all the travel and other adventures that Mommy and Dari exposed him to amazingly well. He celebrated the opportunity to face forward in the baby bjorn for the first time by joining us on our trip to the castle ruins and seemed to be taking it all in. Shielding him from the sun was a bit of a challenge because of his new-found squirming and hand sucking skills but Leon would agree that the views were definitely worth it :). With sun protection in mind, we also found some unusual nursing / burping spots that he was totally cool with in the end.

Before leaving Slovakia, Leon got to hang out with Bimba the way he likes the best - ready for a fun chat :)

 He did not skip a beat when we were on the road again, and made himself comfortable at our airport hotel room right away. 

He peacefully slept through the check-in process, which can be a little tedious with all the baby gear and necessary special tickets + tags. He took a break from napping only to let Mommy change a huge diaper BEFORE he got on the plane (something she was quite grateful for) and then nodded off again for a nice nap in the bassinet that he finally warmed up to this time around. Who could ask for more?

 The special baby challenges were not over back home either. Jetlagged, Mommy forgot to bring a diaper on a walk to the playground but rather than cutting Dari's playtime short, she decided to improvise a little and used the swaddle blanket we had on hand as a cloth diaper. Leon's response - cool, I have a diaper AND shorts!

Once home, Leon has been checking out some new toys he's been slowly (or quickly?) growing into. Thankfully, one of the main criteria for purchasing our jumparoo was its stability around older siblings and at the time we did not even realize how much we'd appreciate that feature. Dari has been VERY eager to show Leon how to operate all the attached toys. Meanwhile, Leon has been more interested in Dari's antics, which there is always an unending supply of. So it all works out.