Magic Tricks

Leon has all kinds of new tricks up his sleeve. The first, involves him sneaking up to people's bags, carelessly left just sitting somewhere in the corner and thoroughly exploring their contents. Most recently, he did that with the bag of a magic-show magician guy at a small girl's birthday party we recently attended. I let him poke around for a little bit, to see what would happen and he actually got out one of the wands and was trying to see what it does... Unfortunately the phoenix feathers and silver dust must have all fallen out because no Harry Potter sequel followed ;). 

 Leon is also getting more and more stable on his feet. And although that still means he only takes a few steps here and there, it frees up his hands for all kinds of fun new experiments. His new favorite: sliding doors. The screen door on the balcony tops the list, with the one in the shower a close second. How fun!

Finally, he's been a little better about not falling asleep every time he spends more than 5 minutes in the car, which opened up the magic of riding around in the stroller, as opposed to the car seat and admiring the world more upright and engaged. We took full advantage of this during our impromptu weekend visit to the Zoo, where Leon walked a good amount too (holding my hand) and enjoyed a sandwich with big brother Dari on a bench between the flamingos and vultures :). He continues to have very good table manners and a healthy appetite, which is particularly magical for Mommy! And by way of an update on the last post, we seem to be coming around on cow's milk - just in time for his 1year-1month birthday :)).

Opinions

So it turns out that our little baby Leon has some very big opinions on a wide range of things and activities. He is also getting more adamant, if not efficient, at making them known. For example, a recent morning kitchen scene had him tapping his hands on his tray with excitement and smacking his lips in anticipation of breakfast. He would NOT let Mommy scramble eggs if he were not presented with the peace offering of three cut-up strawberries (better scrambled eggs than strawberries, right Dari? - big brother still prefers his fruit pureed ;). Of course, Leon can TELL that the yellow stuff in the frying pan is for him and INSISTS that it be presented as soon as its ready. Warnings about temperature don't go very far. Then, while devouring (somewhat) cooled eggs, Leon notices that Dari has a pear and MUST have it. Dari, well disposed over a nutella sandwich, offers the pear to Leon, who is frustrated upon finding out that the stem is NOT edible. Pear on the floor, Dari horrified. Leon resumes eating eggs and strawberries but soon starts pointing at something else on the table which to this day we have not figure out. He was so insistent that he had to be distracted with a plastic spoon and a cup of his own, which he happens to be a big fan of. For now. When all eggs and strawberries disappeared Leon made the one sign he is very diligent with: "all done!" :)

Among his other likes are naps outside in the stroller, bunnies, cows, his water bottle, our fridge magnet (yes, we only have one ;), the vacuum cleaner, duplo blocks, and broccoli. And of course, bubbles!

http://youtu.be/DD_3FX3H774

His dislikes are milk, milk, and milk.  That's lots of fun for me and his teachers. He does like cows, though... He can now be cajoled into the car seat and diaper changes without completely losing it and is coming around on (not) getting up super early, taking a little nap after nursing at 6am (yay!).

Finally, in contrast to these very strong opinions, Leon is also spectacularly indifferent to some surprising things like walking (who cares, when crawling is so effective and stable?), differentiating among animals (when I said he likes bunnies and cows, I meant all animals are either a bunny or a cow. We maaay have noticed ducks and dogs :), and bread. And now that I gave you the rundown, watch it all change in like a week! This is him asking to drink out of the bottle too.

Birthday Adventures

Yes, it is hard to believe but our once tiny baby is now ONE! Just as alert, 50 percent longer (29''), nearly three times times heavier (20.5lb) and infinitely smilier. That makes him slightly smaller than average in terms of appearance and off the charts with personality :).

We had a little party for Leon and Tetinka Livinka came to celebrate all the way from Sweden. Dari decided Leon would have a bunny cake and he took that very seriously, when he's been making the sign for bunny ever since, whenever he sees anything with somewhat long ears. On his actual birthday, we took him out to lunch at the nicest baby-friendly restaurant I know of (Chef Geoff's, if you are looking) and Leon showed us that he is ready to be a big boy when he enjoyed some salmon cakes and sweet potato fries, all with manners better than some adults nearby :).

During the following two weeks, Leon showed Tetinka around DC, visited Georgetown, and even bought some cable prime time notorious cupcakes. We also shopped for some house-warming (okay, small storage) items in IKEA and Leon thought that was special fun as well.

 Finally, although there are no growth charts for hair, it was hard to miss the fact that Leon needed a haircut and so I finally gathered the courage and, just like that, the baby was transformed into a stylish young man in a matter of 10 minutes. It took us longer to get used to than Leon but I'm thinking he will love it, since we are about to get some long-awaited warm weather and he will be much much cooler this way. On top of being cool already, of course ;).

 

On the move

Sooo, let's pretend that the most recent post was not two book pictures ago ;). This one is from when Leon was 11 months.

The posts have not been missing because there has been too little going on with Leon. On the contrary! Leon and all of us along with him have been on the move, quite literally, and sometimes it's a bit difficult to keep up. Back in March, I had to travel to Toronto for a conference and Grandma Seybert came to spend a few days with the boys (which she later extended to over a week and saved us all from insanity while changing addresses). Leon had a great time with her!

He's been busy growing teeth, perfecting his unconventional crawl, tasting EVERYTHING - food and non-food. It's actually funny, how we never had to worry about Dari picking up anything off the ground and putting it in his mouth. Meanwhile, Leon thinks wood chips at the playground make for an excellent appetizer and diaper boxes, or any cardboard, really, are the perfect dessert. Still, I'm ready to be a little vigilant if the prize is a gourmet baby. And that Leon is, so far. It is not uncommon for him to eat half my plate, simple because he in intrigued by the new tastes and textures. Leon needs all the extra fuel to chase after Dari, climb down stairs (which we successfully taught him), and just to, you know, sleep and grow :).