Grandma and Grandpa Time

Leon had a great time with his Kentucky grandparents. Last time grandpa helped feed him over Christmas, Leon was on pureed purees with the tiniest spoons and now he eats everything and most happily everything that his big brother rejects, such as pizza toppings - they are quite a team that way! The ice cream cone in the picture below is, in fact, the bottom of the one that Dari (for some reason...) did not want to finish. And, of course, he had to help Mommy with her birthday cake. This may seem like diabetes in the making but Leon probably prefers broccoli to cupcakes, actually. So I think we're good there.
  

During our time with grandma and grandpa, we also went to visit our friends Mike and Margie for a little outside grilling time and Leon was fascinated by Margies' outdoor-friendly unbreakable stemware and even practiced some early bar tending skills, because, you know, the cork screw looks like an awesome toy!

In fact, Leon is in mimicking everything and it is so fun to see. Sometimes it is helpful, like with vacuuming, sometimes less so, like when Dari taps his crackers on the table and Leon observes, repeats, crushes them, and laughs at the mess. That, in turn, makes Dari super proud that he "taught" Leon something and the cycle of mischief continues.

Leon is using his observation and improved fine motor skills to work on his signs too and my favorite new one is his gesture for "Where is it?" interchangeable with "What is this?" (below) - so, as you can imagine, he uses that one A LOT these days.