Taking on the world

A couple of days ago, Leon has officially graduated from newborn status to being an infant. At least that is what Mommy's phone app says :). He definitely still has plenty of the tenderness and cluelessness of a brand new baby but he has been making leaps in his ability to take everything in, too. If you asked him, he'd say the awesomest thing is sucking on his fists and he's really good at it now, even using it to soothe himself to sleep (bonus!). We took a size picture with the big book but it was a little early because we were leaving for Slovakia and taking the book was not an option.

So, on his three-month birthday we took an alternative size picture with Bimba's (Slovak grandma's) old doll, Evicka, just for fun. Except it started raining a little bit while we were doing that and Leon was not a fan. Ooops.

The trip to Europe was obviously a big event for Leon. He got to ride all kinds of new means of transportation, starting with the plane. He did really well on the flight and slept for about six hours, entirely ignoring the widescreen display in an updated AustrianAirlines plane above his bassinet :). Being his daddy's son, he'll likely outgrow that soon.

While in Slovakia, he expanded his travel routines to include a train ride to accompany starka (greatgrandma) to her town. He expressed his excitement the best way newborns-turned-infants can and had to have his diaper changed right on the platform after we got off. So fun!

And he also got to ride a miniature pony the day after Tetinka's wedding. It is unclear who was more indifferent to that experience - Leon or the pony...

Leon did have a lot of fun at the wedding, where he enjoyed all the attention from our family and friends. It is lucky he is at the age where he readily shares adorable smiles with delighted strangers. He is still pretty picky about who holds him (the closer to Mommy, the better) but from the security of the wrap carrier or his stroller he is quite the social butterfly.

Smiles and Shots

This is Leon's 2.5 month blog post! He had his two-month check-up a couple of weeks ago and the vital statistics are as follows: 45th percentile height and weight (he is now over 12lbs!), and 95th percentile head circumference. So, we've got another big-headed baby! Woohoo! He's also getting better at taking his Richard Scarry size photo! 

Leon's favorite part of the doctor's appointment, of course, was getting his two-month shots:

Leon's mood seems to be steadily improving, maybe partially because Lucia is keeping him in a sling most of the day to prevent acid reflux. He's enjoying diaper changes these days instead of being fussy and actually even smiles a lot while being changed! It's pretty easy to get him to smile, and a couple of days ago he was smiling at me for about two minutes straight while I just goofed around saying silly words. Here's a cute little smile followed by a big one followed by a goofy one:

 

Despite the mood improvement, he still is easily startled by loud noises, but is getting more used to them, especially the ones that (frequently) come out of Dari's mouth! He is a big fan of Dari in general and enjoys watching him run around. That makes it a good thing that Leon is getting good at holding his head up! He is a real champ about tummy time:

Luckily for mommy, Leon is also getting better at sleeping and staying asleep. He'll do 6-7 hours in the early night, but Lucia is trying to work it out so he gets used to falling BACK asleep after waking up in the middle of the night. Leon seems to be relaxed and happy looking at trees and listening to the sound of his ocean noise maker, which he always sleeps to (in fact, it runs most of the day, even when he is out of the crib for awhile). He is still very interested in the world, always looking around for people and objects. I never expected a baby to be so attentive to his surroundings. The pictures below really do a good job of capturing his curiosity (and love of bath time!):

Leon is also getting better at controlling his body. He can suck on his fist with some success and apparently use his feet to activate his music. See the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-ytjAbzrzQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player

And speaking of feet, here's a cute foot picture that I wasn't sure how to include in this post: