leo is one

WE MADE IT! It really doesn't seem possible that you are one. It feels like it was eons ago that I was in that hospital room holding a brand new baby Leo. Everything since then has been a blur of happiness and survival.

I say survival because juggling the needs of two little ones is certainly a lot of work, but you really did make it as easy on us as possible. You've been such a delightful baby that I'm having a hard time accepting that we are officially out of babyhood and into toddlerhood.

We had so much fun celebrating your birthday with a circus lion themed party. More to come on that later. For now, let's cover everything that's happened over the last month (or so...I've come back to this post several times over the past 2 weeks and have failed to finish every time. I blame the fact that I've been solo parenting a lot lately due to Dada's work travel).

The most exciting development is that you are now walking! We knew it would probably happen this month, and sure enough, on Super Bowl Sunday with Aunt Mae Mae, Uncle Boo and Abby in attendance, you took 2-3 little steps. We all failed to capture it on camera, but there were witnesses so it did happen! It took a few more days before you were replicating those few steps, and maybe a week or so after that before you were truly taking little walks. Even as recently as 7-10 days ago, I would say you were about 50/50 crawling to walking, but now that you can stand up without any assistance you walk everywhere.

I love this beginning walking stage so much. You literally toddled around with your arms in a goalpost pose to help with balance. You would just kind of take off and then lunge forward hoping someone or something would catch you. I loved being on the receiving end of that with those chubby cheeks and big smile coming toward me and falling into my lap all day long. You were so proud of yourself! Unfortunately, not everything is as good a landing spot as mama so you racked up a fair amount of bumps and bruises along the way. You are pretty steady now, and able to catch yourself with your hands or bum. You are still climbing stairs like a madman, and you are getting pretty good at going down stairs as well. We are obviously still spotting you, but I'm hoping you'll master them fairly quickly. You even tried to climb out of the bathtub the other day, and you almost succeeded.

Sleep remains the same. Thank goodness! You sleep through the night from about 7:45-7. There have even been minimal tears when I put you down recently. You usually still take a morning nap around 10/10:30 but sometimes we skip it if you slept in late or if we are out doing something. You won't really nap on the go anymore, but it's not a big deal for you to just skip the morning nap so that's been nice. Your afternoon nap is still about 1.5-2 hours, and I wake you up by 3:45.

I'm down to just 3 nursing sessions - morning, before nap, and bedtime. I think we'll just see how the next few months go, but I can already tell you are gradually nursing less and less. We have introduced cow's milk and you seem ambivalent - you don't love it, you don't hate it. You prefer water. You are still eating most of what is put in front of you, but it varies from day. One day you might not want chicken, but the next day, you'll have several helpings. If there is one food that you never seem to love, it might be raspberries or pears. You love using utensils, and insist on having your own spoon or fork (otherwise, you'll demand mine!).

You have 4 new molars now! You actually cut the first two on your birthday weekend, but luckily they didn't seem to cause much angst. They kind of surprised me because I forgot the first set of molars come in before the canines. I was on the lookout because you were drooling and chewing like crazy so I felt your gums one day and was surprise to feel a big, sharp molar. Only 8 more teeth to go and then you are all done.

What did cause some angst around your birthday was the absence of Mama. Even though the spotlight was on your birthday, I got to celebrate too. We went away for a night while Shi Shi and Papa manned the circus at home. You weren't thrilled about it (boy were you clingy when I got back!), but you weren't a complete disaster either. Shi Shi had to offer some extra snuggles around 11:00 p.m. but you otherwise did OK. Unfortunately, most other caretakers don't have such luck. We drop you off at church nursery every Sunday and MOPs nursery twice month, but you rarely make it the entire time without Mama getting called to come get you. We'll just have to keep trying until you learn that Mama always comes back.

You have started to really play with toys intentionally and figure out the "proper" way to get them to work - putting your cars right way up and racing cars on the track, stacking rings, etc. You love knocking down whatever Charlie is building with his magnatiles. You like taking things in and out of containers, and in general, just figuring out how to get into things, work things, etc. We are starting to work on using your shape sorter and doing beginner puzzles.

You also still LOVE balls. We got you a little pop-up tent, which we filled with 300 balls to make a ball pit. I'm sure I'll regret this (I already do to be honest), but it makes you so happy. You love to play catch, and just today I caught you and Charlie throwing the ball back and forth, which naturally melted my heart. You have a pretty good arm for a one-year-old. We also notice that you favor your left hand so we'll see if that sticks.

Your other favorite toy is the toilet. You love unrolling toilet paper, you love putting things in the toilet, you love splashing in the toilet. You love the toilet so much that I almost wish Charlie wasn't potty trained so we could go back to keeping all the bathroom doors locked. :)

Here are some things you don't like: socks and shoes. You ALWAYS try to take your socks off, but you usually stop after getting one sock off so you are constantly walking around with one sock on. It drives me crazy always having to look for the other sock. Since you are walking now and we have had a few nicer days to play outside, I had to put you in real shoes, which you didn't love.

You also don't like diaper changes. You just have better things to do with your time. I try to get your brother to entertain you otherwise I have to hold your still with one hand while trying to change your diaper with the other.

At the top of the list is your hatred for not getting your way. You are becoming more and more vocal about what you do or don't want to do. For example, if I move you away from the toilet or don't let you touch the stove knobs, you cry and pout. You also LOVE pushing the buttons on the ovens and then, of course, hate when I don't let you.

You are saying more words, but they tend to come completely out of the blue and then we don't hear them again. You seem to decide every now and then to just go for it. So far, we've heard "uh oh, hello, wawa, and jungle." Random, I know, but they have all been caught on camera or heard by more than one person so I promise we aren't making it up. Dada and mama remain the only two in regular rotation. Dada is still your favorite, but just these last couple of days, I have heard a ton of mamas.

You continue to learn new tricks all the time. When you decide you want to do something, you are a quick study. Papa taught you how to do (what he calls) head-knockers, where you just kind of lean into someone for a little head bump. Boys....lol. You love doing it at the table while eating. You still give great high fives, and we are working on waving. You attempted to wave at the nurse at your 1 year well appointment.

As you have become older and more aware of your surroundings, you definitely are more apprehensive around people. You used to smile at anyone and everything, but now it takes more effort to get laughs and smiles out of you. You are very ticklish, though, so that works like a charm when I want to get giggles out of you. You still have this amazing guttural chuckle. Sometimes it seems like you go straight from grunting to laughing.

As has always been the case, if there is anyone who can make you laugh the hardest just by being silly, it's Charlie. You want to always being doing whatever Charlie is doing (and you are learning how to get into things much faster since you have his example to follow). Charlie has mixed feelings about you always wanting to play with him. He likes that you are walking so you can play "chase" with him, and he loves playing catch with you. He doesn't like when you knock down his magnatile creations. But I see you both learning how to navigate in each other's space more and more each day, and it's pretty cute to watch it all unfold. By and large, you both like each other very much and you are starting to interact more each day. Charlie continues to be a big help, and has lots of opinions on my mothering skills ("put baby down" "i do it" "i'm helping" and on and on).

The cutest thing is that Charlie still calls you "Baby" all the time. I think it started because we often refer to you as Baby Leo so Charlie just shortened it to Baby. The way he says it in his sing-songy way gets me every time. BaaaaaaaaaBY. The truth is that he's not wrong. You're still Baby Leo to me, and you always will be so you might as well just get used to it.

leo is 11 months

Happy 11 months! One month to go until the big first birthday. We're running out of onesies for photos so I had to squeeze you into a 6-9 month one this month. I'm shocked I got it to snap, and it stayed just long enough for the photo.

We had a pretty decent snowfall earlier this month. Unfortunately, you were sick at the time so you didn't get to play outside too much. We took you out just long enough to get a cute photo of you all bundled up. I think your stomach just got all out of whack because everything was running right through you for 5-6 days. We started to get worried you were getting dehydrated, but every time we approached the maximum time your doctor said you go without a wet diaper, you would finally pee. I'm so grateful we managed to get enough liquids in you to avoid taking you in for an IV in the middle of a snowstorm. Whew.

You are always punctual. The day you hit 11 months, we caught you standing unassisted. So far, you can stand for maybe 10-15 seconds before slowly squatting back down. You even took one half step before sitting back down. You look long and hard when we reach out for you to walk, but every time you resort to crawling. If I had to put my money on it, I'd say you will be taking steps by the time you turn one next month.

Speaking of turning 1, birthday prep is in full force for your circus party. I'm having lots of fun planning all the fun little details while still being in complete disbelief that you are almost one.

You have still been doing great with two naps/day, and you are back to sleep through the night on the regular. There have also been fewer tears before bedtime lately. Perhaps you are finally learning that it's far more pleasant to chit chat while falling asleep rather than just protest with tears.

You still love to eat, but you don't necessarily love your high chair. For as much as you want to eat, you can't sit in your high chair very long without getting fussy or antsy. I think it might be a bit uncomfortable for you so we're going to try a different style chair to see if it's a better fit. There isn't much you won't eat, but peanut butter seems to be a favorite right now. You can definitely inhale an entire tortilla covered in peanut butter. You also love drinking water out of whatever cup or water bottle is nearby - mine, Charlie's, etc.

We are still nursing, but we can start introducing cow's milk soon. Waking you up from you naps and snuggling while you nurse is still one of my favorite parts of the day. You are so warm and squishy when you first wake up., and hopelessly foggy as you rub your sleepy eyes (your poor lower eyelid is always red because you rub it so much you've irritated your skin).

You say "dada" all the time. You also say "mama," but I probably only hear 1 mama to every 50 dadas. I'm not positive anything has truly counted as your first word yet, but if we had to call it today, dada would win. Sigh.

Your hair is completely out of control these days. Of course, I can't bring myself to cut it, but you have basically grown wings on both sides. If we can hold out until summer, I know your hair will curl right up in the heat and humidity. Maybe I'll just take a little off the back to avoid mullet territory.

You still love playing ball and you still love playing with everything Charlie has. It's getting harder and harder to just relocate you and try to distract you with other toys. I fear I'm about to enter the stage of life where I am constantly acting as referee. It's not that your brother doesn't like you. He always makes sure the pillow is placed at the bottom of the step in case you fall (even though you can safely navigate 1-2 steps now). He loves to share food with you and make you laugh or tickle you. But yeah, he doesn't love when you get in his way or try to play with his things.

You already love cars and trucks. You are great at moving the cars along the race track, and you love watching them slide down the tower. Charlie got a robotic snake for his birthday, and it might be your favorite thing right now. You chase it all over the house, and you are most delighted when you finally catch it.

When you aren't chasing the snake around, I can usually find you in the bathroom. You love exploring all the fun things in the cabinet, unrolling the toilet paper or splashing in the toilet. It was a little easier to keep you away before, but now that Charlie is potty-trained, we have to keep the doors open so he has access. This has brought you great joy.

You are pointing at all kinds of things now - especially in your books. You still like the lift-a-flap books the best. You are working on high fives and waving bye bye - both in progress, but you're trying! We have also been working on signing "more" during mealtimes. You played a version of peek-a-boo behind the curtain yesterday.

You are still navigating the stairs like a champ. You can climb the entire flight of stairs in no time at all. You can easily go down the one step on the main floor, and you can get down the two stairs leading into the basement no problem. I have spotted you before and let you climb down the big flight of stairs too.

It's amazing how fast you can pick up on things and imitate new things. Dada and I have both noticed that you seem to learn things quickly. I sometimes wonder if you catch on quicker because you have a big brother to show you the ropes around here.

As you get bigger, we are starting to see more personality...and more opinions! You are certainly not a difficult baby, but you aren't as laid back as your big brother was at this age. You demand a little more attention, and you seem to have more thoughts about what you want and when you want it.

You have the best chuckle and big smile, but you can be very shy with new people. There is no doubt you are a mama's boy, and separation anxiety has reached its peak (or at least I hope it has...I'd hate to see it get worse!). We've had several weeks now where I haven't been able to leave you with anyone other than Dada. Church and MOPs nursery have been a no-go in the last 1-2 months. However, I'm happy to report that you made it through the entire sermon in nursery this week and also lasted for an entire MOPs meeting. I wouldn't say you were the happiest either time, but you weren't inconsolable. We have a babysitter coming this Saturday so we'll see how you handle that. It's hard because the only way for you to learn is to practice, but it still hurts my mama heart to know you can be so unhappy when I'm away.

You are also starting to get mad if we don't let you do something or if Charlie takes a toy from you. It's no longer quite as easy to just replace the toy or activity with something else. You have also had a few spells lately where you were just plain unhappy for a couple of hours for no explainable reason. It seems to usually hit in the evening, and leaves us scratching our heads. It's probably different things every time - teething, illness, tiredness, who knows? I still don't understand why babies don't come with manuals or at least mood rings.

We can't wait to celebrate you in one short month!! Love you, mean it.

leo is 10 months

I took the photo a day early this month, but I'm almost 2 weeks late with the post. That's what happens when a monthly milestone falls on Christmas. It just means I have all kinds of fun things to report...and probably not as much to say in 2 weeks when I do this again. :)

I think you hit another growth spurt recently because looking at you today, you just look so massive. You barely fit in your infant car seat. You have outgrown many 12-18 month clothes, and while you are still in size 4 diapers, I bought some size 5s to try and you can easily fit into those as well. You also have two new teeth and more on the way.

Your interaction has been off the charts this month too. It's so fun to see more personality coming out. You are picking up new skills left and right. You learned how to clap at the beginning of the month, and you even recognize that you are supposed to clap when we start singing "if you're happy and you know it..." Tonight, Dada successfully taught you how to high five. You can turn the pages in books, and you've started to point at things. You think it's so fun when Dada points at you and you point back. It's very ET of you both.

You also started "talking" this month. I probably remember it so clearly because it was Charlie's 3rd birthday, and I was already lamenting how quickly my boys are growing up. You woke up that morning and turned on the babble like flipping a switch. All kinds of "dada" "baba" "gaga" noises with lots of new variation. I hate to admit it, but we hear a lot more "dadada." There's still hope because nothing has sounded like an official first word yet, but I'm afraid I'm going to lose that one.

You may say "dada" first, but in my heart, I know you're a mama's boy. This can be both good and bad. Sometimes only mama will do, and you don't like not being in my presence. Even in Oklahoma for New Years, you were pretty clingy with mama - often nuzzling into my chest when others wanted to hold you. You did warm up to people after a few days or as long as I stayed within few/didn't leave for too long. I'm not sure when we'll attempt a babysitter again. I'm afraid it wouldn't go well.

Sleeping and eating remain the same. You weren't a great sleeper over this last month or while we were in Oklahoma - not terrible, but not the dream baby you were on our last trip. I'm hoping we can get back to sleeping through the night now that we are home. You still love solids and eat anything put in front of you. We've successfully weaned down to 4 nursing sessions/day. We have skipped morning nap a time or two lately without too much trouble. I think you'll probably be ready to drop your morning snooze on the earlier side, which is fine by me since it usually means an even longer afternoon nap.

You were a good traveler again. Even though we got delayed landing in OK and then had to wait a looong time for a gate and our luggage, you were such a champ. On the way back home, we had an early, early flight and you fell asleep on my shoulder before we even took off!

You are really getting around cruising these days, but you aren't quite brave enough to take a step. I have caught you standing for a second or two after letting go, but you always get down to crawl from point A to point B. You'll use anything as a push toy to help you walk around - chairs, stools, small tables, boxes, etc. Perhaps most exciting this month, you learned how to navigate the step down into the living room. Now I can worry just a tad less about you bonking your head every time I turn around.

Your favorite toy is whatever Charlie is playing with at the moment. This works out great since 3 yr old's love to share. Insert eye roll. It's definitely been a little more love/hate recently. You both have great moments of hugging, laughing, tickling (Charlie loves to pretend to be the tickle monster getting you) and reading books together, but also some more challenging moments of stealing toys and hitting/pushing. You do love bath time together, and my favorite thing is when you talk to each other. If you are babbling, Charlie will make those same repetitive sounds back and forth with you. Charlie also loves to share his food with you. This is normally fine, but I've had to intervene a few times before he shoved a whole grape or popcorn in your face.

You love playing with balls. You think dribbling balls is hilarious, and you've learned how to roll the ball back and forth with Dada. The toilet brush and toilet are also on your favorites list. Sigh. You like to open drawers and pull everything out. And you love dumping toys out of bins as well. Unlike your brother, you don't seem scared of loud noises - you crawled right over to the vacuum the other day to investigate. You were pretty fascinated by the tree as well. You liked to pull off ornaments and chew on them. Luckily, we have plenty of soft ornaments to put near the bottom in reach of tiny hands.

Goodnight Moon is still your favorite book. Charlie has requested it recently, and once you hear me start reading, you always make a beeline to come over for story-time. Speaking of beelines, nothing gets you more excited than nap time. When you hear the water running, you cannot be held back.

Of course, as you get older, you also get more opinionated. You are still delightfully drama-free 95% of the time, but you have your moments. You get mad when you want to eat (I don't blame you), but you also get mad when you are done eating and want to get out of your highchair and move around. You have learned how to take your bib off and you love throwing your water sippy cup on the floor. Diaper changes have become a wrestling match, and there are still tears at bedtime pretty much every night. You've also been a little more resistant to getting buckled into your car seat lately, but once strapped in and moving, you're fine with it.

Birthday party planning has started in earnest. Less than two months to go!!

leo is 9 months

I know I sound like a broken record, but there just isn't a better to describe you other than happy, happy, happy. You're happy when you wake up, happy when you're eating, happy when you're playing, and happy in the bathtub. You're happy to be crawling, happy to be pulling up, and happy to be exploring. You are not so happy when you are sick, and not so happy about bedtime these days.

You weigh 22 lbs (84%) and you are 30.5" long (99%). You are wearing 12-18 months clothes and some 18-24 month things too. There were a lot of firsts this past month. Two holidays, one time change, lots of big tub baths, one beach vacation, your first time in church nursery and also your first fever and first stomach bug. Whew.

On Halloween, you wore the carrot costume that Charlie wore on his first halloween. It was just too cute to not use again (also, the lion costume I ordered for you didn't fit because you're giant). Charlie went as peas so you could match. It was a beautiful evening, and you loved riding around in the wagon and chewing on a glow-stick while Charlie went trick or treating. The peas and carrot were a big hit!

We used the dreaded time change to move your bedtime by 30 minutes. It actually really worked in our favor. You now go to bed at 7:30, which is the same time as Charlie. You also graduated to the big boy bathtub. So now after dinner, you and Charlie take a bath together much to the delight of both of you. Charlie has taught you how to splash, and he loves to help wash your hair with what he calls "shampoop." You love the octopus bath toy, and you get mad when it floats away. Luckily Charlie helps make sure you always have it. After bath, I get you in your PJs and nurse you while Dada reads to Charlie. Then it's lights out for both of you at 7:30. It's been really helpful to have you on the same bedtime schedule.

This also means your wake times and naps overlap even more. You usually wake up between 7-8, nap from 10-11 and then from 1:45/2-4. Naps aren't a problem, and bedtime really isn't either, but you have definitely figured out the routine and you fuss as soon as you get out the bath because you know what's coming. You do like reading books - the peek-a-boo and lift-the-flap books are your current favorites. Once we put you down, you usually protest for 5-10 minutes and then sleep all night (you did have a few nights lately where you wanted to nurse in the early morning, but I think that was just a growth spurt. You were back to your solid 11-12 hours last night).

The time change has also allowed us to put you in church nursery a couple of times when we can squeeze in an early nap at home before church. The first time I dropped you off, you did great and made it the whole time without them having to call me. The second time was also smooth sailing. The third time was a bit of bust, but it wasn't really your fault. You hadn't taken a morning nap so you were just too exhausted and got a little cranky after the first hour.

Perhaps most exciting this month was our vacation to Turks & Caicos. We met Shi Shi and Papa there for a week of sun and sand. You were a dream travel baby. You did great on all the flights and during two long travel days. You slept in a crib in our room and didn't skip a beat. You went down for naps and bed like a complete champ. I don't think you ever even cried or woke up in the middle of the night. I would wake up in the morning and you'd be sitting in your crib next to me with the biggest smile. You did, however, have your first ever fever while we were there. You were just a bit out of sorts one day and sure enough, by that evening, you had a little temp. But it was gone by the next morning and you were back to your happy self. You loved being in the pool in your floatie. We took you for your first dip in the ocean as well. Like most babies, you were a little puzzled by sand and mostly just tried to eat it.

You have more than mastered crawling. You are so fast! On the last day of vacation, you finally conquered pulling up. You'd been so close all month, and I honestly think the airport in Turks & Caicos was your first time to really pull up on something taller than the little step in our house. You pulled up on one of those leather airport chairs and never looked back.

Of course all the mobility means you can get yourself into more trouble now. You love pulling on the knobs of our dresser and opening the drawers. Fingers have been caught. Getting up a step also means you sometimes go back down the step. Head bumps are numerous. You also love pushing doors back and forth and pulling on the pocket doors in our room. Again, fingers have been caught. Your other great love is electronic devices and power cords, which I'm constantly trying to keep out of your reach.

You still love swinging, and you also still love hanging out in your jumperoo. Charlie likes this too because it keeps you away from his toys. Now that you are mobile, you can get to whatever you want...including whatever Charlie is playing with. This has caused a few kerfuffles, which have occasionally resulted in tears for you and time outs for Charlie. We've been working with him on making sure you always have a toy to play with and this has really helped. He's usually happy to share a toy of his choosing if it keeps you away from his other things. 

Despite his hesitation to sometimes share with you, you and Charlie both still really love each other. Charlie loves to make you laugh and he always keeps a watch over you. He makes sure you always have enough puffs to eat and that you have a toy to play with and that you aren't about to fall down the step. He loves when I put you in his crib post-nap so you can both jump up and down and roll around laughing. Lately, he's been playing hide and seek with you by covering you up with his cloth hamper. Both of you just laugh and laugh when he does this.

Right before you officially hit 9 months was your first Thanksgiving. It was a bit of a doozy. Nana, Grandpa, Uncle Tad, Aunt Monica and your cousins Zachary and Isaac all came. Unfortunately, Charlie passed the stomach bug to you and mama (Dada, Nana and Isaac eventually went down too). We both spent Wednesday night throwing up, but we didn't discovered you had been sick until Thanksgiving morning. Dada went to get you up, and you were covered in vomit. Poor lil bubby. You bounced back pretty quickly, though - definitely faster than I did. By mealtime, you were happy to eat a plate full of turkey, mashed potatoes and rolls.

Speaking of eating, it's still a favorite activity. You eat everything and so far, no allergic reactions to anything. You really loved the turkey. Otherwise, it's hard to tell if you have any favorites because you seem to like whatever we put in front of you....or whatever you can find on the floor! You nurse 5x a day (first thing in the morning, before afternoon nap, after both naps and before bed). You are so good about eating solids that I hope you won't be too difficult to wean. But right now, I hate to think about giving up all the snuggles I get while you nurse. My favorite time of day is when I wake you up from your naps because you are so sleepy and sweet while you nurse. You do still bite sometimes when you aren't hungry so I've learned my lesson on trying to nurse when you aren't interested!!

You have a huge, toothy smile, the brightest blue eyes, and the best chuckle. You're hair is getting long in the back and a few curls have started to form. Your cheeks are still glorious and your neck lost in your rolls. You are extremely ticklish. You make all kinds of fun sounds these days. Lots of happy grunting and guttural noises. You also trill your tongue all the time. We're working on clapping - you love banging toys together so we'll see if you can catch on soon. No more signs of "mama" or "dada" - the serious campaigning starts now to see who can get the first word out of you.

While you are still smiley with other people, we are starting to see some shyness come out. Sometimes when people approach while I'm holding you, you'll shyly nuzzle into my chest and give just a little smile like you're playing hard to get. It's the cutest and very endearing.

I took you to your well visit today in a sweater that said "Never grow up." I know I'm losing this battle so I'm just trying to enjoy every little moment of this sweet baby stage. You make it so easy to enjoy. It's such a joy to watch you grow. Love you, mean it.

leo is 8 months

This month was SO much fun. I said in my last update that I thought everything would really take off soon, and I was not wrong. You are officially on the move, and loving every minute of it.

You started army crawling pretty soon after hitting 7 months, and then you spent a couple of weeks doing a lot of planking in the process of trying to learn how to crawl.  At 8 months on the dot, you started real crawling on your hands and knees. It must have been your way of celebrating mom and dad's 10th anniversary. We knew you were *this* close, and sure enough, you just decided to up and do it one day. There wasn't too much easing into it. The day before you had taken one or two lunges forward, and the next day you were crawling across the room no problem.

Even though I knew this was coming, I still feel unprepared. Sometimes I'm still surprised when I find you somewhere quite far from where I put you down. To make matters even more complicated, your next move after crawling was to immediately find a way to climb the step from the living room into the dining room. It's almost like you were just chomping at the bit to get over there and figure it out. Needless to say, things have escalated quickly around here.

Of course, being mobile has huge advantages for you. You love exploring....and you love finding trouble. You really enjoyed picking up the air vent so we had to secure it to the floor. You also love licking the fridge. The upstairs landing is a bit of a problem because it has a step down. Naturally, you always want to head straight for it. The other day I found you halfway off the step with your brother helping you down so you didn't get hurt. It was both sweet and terrifying. Don't worry, we do have a gate, and yes, it was closed. Still, mama clearly ain't ready and I need to adjust more quickly!!

Somehow you've managed to become even more expressive. You have this cute little happy grunt that you do all the time. Perhaps it's because you are so delighted with yourself and your new mobility. You smile and laugh all the time, and we can tell you take great pride in your accomplishments. You are trying to pull up on things, and I suspect by next month you will have mastered that.

You are starting to do more babbling, and I've definitely heard a "mama" or two. I'm sure it's not intentional yet, but one of the most clear times you said it was right after I said "bye bye" and was walking out the door. I'm determined it will be your first word so hopefully we are on the right track.

You may have noticed I didn't start this update talking about sleep. I'm so relieved that's its a back-burner issue right now. You continue to be a great napper, and your are still sleeping through the night. I don't think I had to go in during the night one time this month. Hallelujah. Sometimes you'll cry before bed, but it's usually very short-lived. Waking you up is the best. I like to go in and take you to the chair for cuddles while you nurse. Since I don't nurse you to sleep anymore, it's my best time of day to get in my snuggles. When you wake up on your own, you hang out in your crib rolling around and chatting for a bit. Then when I go to get you, you always greet me with the biggest smile. It melts me every time. Sometimes Charlie joins in the fun and climbs into your crib with you. He likes to bounce up and down to make you giggle.

You are really starting to enjoy your toys. You like rolling the many trucks we have back and forth, and you seem to gravitate toward the O-balls. You love the toy piano and you crawl over to it all the time to just bang away. You love the mobile above your crib - it's a nice little distraction to get some smiles out of you before bedtime. You also really love plastic water bottles just like your brother did. The first thing that motivated you to crawl was a water bottle.

You took one bath with Charlie earlier this month. It was big fun, but you were still a little too unsteady and you kept wanting to lunge forward. You've pretty much outgrown your baby tub so we'll make the leap to the big boy bath soon.

You are incredibly ticklish - especially your belly and your neck rolls. Charlie still loves to make you laugh, and will often say "baby laugh" in addition to "baby silly" when you giggle. You have the best belly laugh that almost makes you topple over in pure glee. It's one of my favorite sounds in the whole wide world.

Charlie is still your biggest helper. He likes to make sure you have your water cup and keeps your baby puffs coming. I think you still like Charlie more than just about anyone. Of course, now that you are more mobile and starting to have opinions about what you enjoy and want to do, Charlie is having to learn how to adapt. Sharing has become more of a challenge. Charlie isn't always thrilled that you can now access whatever you want - including his toys. We try to head this off by telling Charlie to make sure you always have a toy. He is starting to sort what is a baby toy and will often bring something over to you to replace his toy that he wants to reclaim. This system seems to work for now, but it's only a matter of time before I'm breaking up fights over toys.

Every once in a while, Charlie will take out his anger on you. Luckily, Charlie is not an angry kid so this is pretty rare. It never has anything to do with you either - there is no doubt Charlie LOVES his baby Leo. Sometimes you are just the nearest target. One time he took a swipe at your face with his hand because he was upset he had to come inside when he wanted to keep playing outside. You just looked up at him and smiled. We were almost dismayed because it would have been a more helpful teaching lesson if you had reacted with tears.

But these instances are rare. For the most part, you are your brother do great together. I catch Charlie "helping" you all the time, trying to make you laugh, wanting to hug you, and even "playing" with you, or at least playing right beside you. Charlie also loves pushing you on the swing. Sometimes when you are napping, Charlie will talk about waking you up because I think he misses his buddy.

Solids are still going great. You love to eat, and shovel anything put in front of you into your mouth. I literally don't think you've rejected anything yet. Of course, now that you can crawl, we have to be really careful what's within reach. You managed to find a grape under the buffet and popped it into your mouth. Luckily, I saw it happen and fished it out before any harm was done. You do a great job of chewing before you swallow. You love drinking water out of your sippy. All your eating is aided by the help of your 4(!!!) new teeth. All four top teeth came in at once. You took it like a champ, though, and barely registered any discomfort.

In addition to solids, you nurse about 5-6x/day. You are super efficient (and also easily distracted) so it only takes 5-10 minutes to get in a feeding. You did bite me a couple of times while teething, but I've learned to pay attention to your signals so I can avoid that from happening. Ouch!

There is really only one thing that makes you really mad - when you run out of food on your tray. Otherwise, you might get grumpy when you are done with your meal, when you bump your head or maybe when you get really tired. Otherwise, you are a pretty darn content baby.

We went apple picking and to a fall festival this month. You rode around in the wagon taking everything in, and did great despite taking both naps on the go that day. The only time you aren't super expressive is when we are outside. I think it's because you are too busy observing everything. We've been playing outside a lot enjoying the beautiful fall weather. You love to swing, and you've been great about taking your morning nap in the carrier or stroller.

You bring us so much joy every day. One of my favorite rituals is after your last feed, as I'm walking you to your room, we go find dada and say "give him your smile." Every single time, your whole face just lights up. Thank you for being such an easy-going, happy baby. And thank you for having the fattest, most kissable cheeks!

leo is 7 months

We are officially in the second half of your first year! The 7-month milestone seems like a bit of a tipping point. Maybe it's all in my head, but it feels like things just really take off from here. You're definitely not my little baby anymore. Although, let's be honest, you've never really been that little.

You were back to being your fat and happy self this month. Thank heaven. Besides a growing desire to be entertained, you've been an easy babe lately and we've had a fun month with Dada being back in town and a visit from Shi Shi. You are wearing size 4 diapers, which somehow already seem a little snug, and you are mostly in 12 month or 12-18 month clothes.

But let's be honest, everything starts with sleep. A sleeping baby is a happy baby and a sleeping baby makes for a happy mama too. We worked HARD to get here, but you've become an A+ sleeper. You sleep 8-8 and take two naps from 10:30-11:30 and 2:00-4:00. It's almost like clockwork every single day, and there are seldom any tears when I put you down. Hallelujah. We always read Goodnight Moon and sing Jesus Loves Me right before night night time. You smile and giggle your way through the book and you often lay your head down on my shoulder while I sing to you. They are some of the sweetest few minutes of my day (with a naked Charlie yelling "Hey Mama!" from the shower being a close second).

Perhaps even more exciting, you rarely wake up to eat in the middle of the night now. I wasn't intentionally night weaning, but one night you just slept all the way through...and then you did it the next night and the night after that. Before I knew it, you had slept all night for several nights in a row. Since that stretch, you have woken up 2-3 nights, but I can almost always pinpoint the reason why (one morning you woke up with a new tooth!). The fact that sleeping through the night is the norm now is pretty been life-changing!

I think a huge part of your sudden night sleep has been your solids intake. Mostly out of convenience, I started putting you in the high chair for three meals/day because it felt rude to leave you out when we're all sitting down to eat. And you've made it very clear that if you're in your high chair, you want food. It feels like we went from 0-60 with solids. I remember with your big brother, it was much more gradual, and he wasn't eating 3 meals until maybe 9-10 months. But one thing I love about having a second kiddo is that we already have so many routines and norms established, and you just naturally fit right into them. It feels so much less overwhelming since we aren't starting with a blank slate on everything.

You eat whatever we eat. If anything, I have to make sure you don't each too much table food so you'll still nurse enough. You even have a pincer grasp rapidly developing. You pick up small pieces using the tips of 3-4 fingers. From the start, you never really raked food into your palm and smashed it into your face (like someone else I know...). That would have been expected, but you're an advanced eater. :) You really had no trouble picking up food, chewing and swallowing from the start. It's been pretty impressive actually. I thought there would be a little more of a learning curve, but I really shouldn't be surprised. We don't call you fatty fatty for nothing. So far, I think you've liked everything that has been offered. Cheese seems to be a favorite, and watermelon was a big hit too. I'm always shocked at how little food ends up on the floor or in your bib because you've managed to actually eat most of it!!

Helping you out with solids, are your very first teeth, which finally popped through on the bottom. I guess you really were teething after all. In addition to growing two teeth, you've also grown a ton of hair. I should have mentioned this last month, but between 5-6 months, it seems like you went from bald to a full head of hair. Jury is still out on the color, but it's definitely not red - more of sandy blonde. What is certain is that you have big, beautiful blue eyes. They light up when you smile. Some people say you favor me, but most often, people think you look like your brother.

You already have so much personality. You give the biggest smiles, and you're an incredibly easy audience. I swear a fly buzzing by could get a rise out of you. You're extremely ticklish - especially poking your belly and tickling your neck, which I believe is there buried under all of your chins. And yes, Charlie still makes you laugh most of all. I think you two already have a secret language, and I swear you've already plotted against us a few times.

Speaking of Charlie, he's obsessed with helping you these days. He loves putting the baby puffs on your tray and giving you your sippy cup of water. As soon as I get him out of his booster seat, he makes a beeline to your side of the table to hold the water cup for you to drink from. We had to put you on opposite sides of the table because he kept sharing with you and insisting on offering you more food and water. Sometimes, he's been known to pull himself around the edge of the table to get close enough to you to refill your try with food. I think he gave your babysitter quite a scare when she came out of the bathroom to suddenly see Charlie sitting next to you helping you drink your milk from the honey bear bottle.

Charlie loves to bring you toys and he pauses all the time to come over and gives you hugs, kisses and tickles. Now that you are older and doing more things, Charlie likes to be helpful with your routines. He knows what bib you wear, which cup is yours etc. and he never misses an opportunity to tell me if I've missed a step. He's pretty judge-y about my parenting and already very protective of you. Nothing gets by him. The other day you were sitting on the floor and I stepped away to grab something. Dada was trying to get Charlie to go downstairs to play, but he refused to leave you unattended (even though I was coming right back and you were perfectly safe where you were). Nevertheless, Charlie was concerned and it was about the cutest thing ever that he refused to leave you behind.

If you are crying and I don't get to you right away, Charlie will often try to comfort you by sitting down next to you and holding a chew toy up to your mouth. He's becoming more attached to you by the day. And yes, he still insists on pushing the stroller. And yes, I still have to subtetly help steer. He also likes to come over and help you play with the toys on your jumperoo. When you both get up from your naps, I often take you into Charlie's crib and you both roll around laughing, reading (& chewing) on books, and giving hugs and kisses (and some hair tugging by you - luckily Charlie doesn't mind). Watching your brotherly relationship grow is one of my favorite things in the whole world.

You are sturdily sitting up now, and you've learned how to transition back to your tummy without just flopping over. We still have the occasional tumble, but it's mostly when you lunge into something hard. You've been spending more time up on your knees when you rock forward from a sitting position, but you haven't learned how to move anywhere quite yet. I can tell you are frustrated by this, and I know it probably won't be long before you figure out some form of crawling. Almost as soon as I put you down in a sitting position you lunge forward onto your knees before falling to your stomach. I don't think it's because you don't want to sit as it is that you want to figure out how to navigate on your hands/knees.

You really love my necklace and pull on it whenever I'm holding you. You like being outside and riding in the stroller. We tried out the bucket swing and you were delighted. You love music and anything that plays music. Favorite songs include If You're Happy & You Know It and Smooth Road - both of which your brother enjoys too.

You are currently obsessed with an elephant stuffed animal that plays You Are My Sunshine. It was a toy I had when I was a baby, and you always find a way to roll over to it. You like hanging out in your jumperoo and anything that you can chew on. Poor Sophie the Giraffe gets eaten alive most days. Bath time is still big fun, but you are starting to try to climb out of your baby tub. It's probably time to ditch the little tub soon. You like post-bath time when you're wrapped up in a towel. We always get the best laughs out of you while were drying you off and putting on lotion. Then, of course, you fuss while we wrangle you into your diaper and PJs.

You still nap great on the go, which allows us to get out and about in the morning. If we go to a park or to MOPS or to church on Sundays, you sleep for 20-30 minutes in your stroller or carrier, which is enough to get you by until your longer afternoon nap. It's nice that you are flexible so we aren't stuck at home all the time!

You grew two teeth, lots of hair and started sleeping through the night this month, but perhaps most exciting of all - I left you with a babysitter! We did a few trial runs with Dada and Shi Shi, and everything went A-Ok. You drank your milk like a champ from the honey bear and went down without any fanfare even though Mama wasn't involved in the process. This gave us confidence to leave you with a paid babysitter for several hours while we went to a Packers/Redskins game. I'm happy to report that you were a dream. You took 3 "bottles", ate a good lunch, and went down for your nap like a champ. When we got home, both you and Charlie were happily playing with the sitter, Nargis. It's such a relief to reach this milestone and know that I can leave you in capable hands without any angst. 

And since I feel like I have to point out flaws too...the big one right now is how easily you get bored and demand attention. You've always liked being held (and you still do!), and your ability to sit up, roll and scoot backwards has helped keep you occupied, but you still get bored of each room/toy/activity pretty quickly. I don't blame you - babies aren't exactly known for having great attention spans. You can also have fussy periods in the evening. It's not every day, and I can't really figure out what brings it on, but some evenings you're just kind of a crank. You can also get fussy when nap/bedtime draws near.

We took 6-month/family photos earlier this month, but that's another story for another day. Let's just say that scheduling photos when it's still so hot outside and the day after your vaccinations was probably not the wisest move on my part.

The weather is finally starting to cool down, and we're looking forward to all kinds of fun adventures this fall. You'll fit right in with all the round pumpkins (but you definitely did not fit in the lion costume I ordered for you so back to the drawing board for halloween costumes. :) We love, little buddy. We hope you're always as smiley as you are right now.

leo is 6 months

A whole half year. Praise be that we have all survived keeping TWO spawn alive at the same time for 6 whole months. If there was a theme for this month, it would be fat and fussy. Don't get me wrong, you still smile at anything that comes near you, but you were also a big ball of fuss this month. Your nickname got a little longer as I dubbed you fatty fatty fusspants.

Speaking of nicknames, I overheard Charlie repeat "Fatty Fatty" the other day so I suppose it's time for a new term of endearment. I'd really hate for that to be used out of context. Yikes! You actually have a lot of nicknames. You rarely just get called Leo. It's either Baby Leo, The Baby, Fatty Fatty, Lil' Bubs or really whatever tumbles out of my mouth.

You are wearing mostly 9-12 month clothes. Some 6-9 month things still fit, and we've also pulled out some 12-18 months things that are a tad big, but workable. You are still in size 3 diapers, but Amazon is delivering size 4 diapers this month because I suspect you'll be ready for them as soon as we get through your current box of size 3s.

I'm not sure if it was developmental leaping, sleep training, teething or just general baby angst, but you were certainly more demanding this month. It made for a long month - especially with Dada being gone for most of it. But I do see light at the end of the tunnel. The last few days you've gradually been getting back to being your happy, content self.

The other theme for this month was sleep. It was high time, and I finally just ripped the bandaid off. Nursing to sleep just was not working anymore because you kept demanding more and more comfort nursing. It was going on for 1, 2, or even 3 hours every. single. night. I knew it would be challenging to break that cycle (it has been!), but I also knew it was best for all parties involved. So we set a bedtime, nailed down nap times, created a solid bedtime routine, and then just let you work it out from there. That's a really nice way of saying there were tears...more tears than this mama would have liked.

The first night was definitely the hardest. As soon as you stopped crying and finally went to sleep, mama had a good cry herself. I knew all of your needs were met, and I knew it would only be worse if I tried to go in and comfort you (been there, tried that, you just got more mad unless I gave in and nursed), but even though I knew it was the best decision, it was still rough. Luckily, you improved every day and save a few bumps in the road when we got off schedule (or, you know, the direction of the wind changed), you've done really well.

You now take two solid naps in your crib - about 1-1.5 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon. One of the best parts about this schedule is that you and Charlie both nap at the same time in the afternoon, which is so necessary for mama's sanity. You go down for naps no problem and fall asleep on your own without any fussing. You still protest at bedtime, and honestly, I think you're the kind of baby who just needs to blow off steam for 10 minutes or so before falling asleep. I can deal with that. Once asleep, you do great - waking up just once to eat around 4-5am. You sleep 8pm-8am, and it's been life-changing for this mama!

You still have glorious rolls (and those cheeks!!), but I think you're starting to level out on your weight gain. You get so distracted while eating! It feels like I'm always feeding you because you eat all the time but only for 3-5 minutes before you start looking around. We'll find out how much you weigh this Friday when we go in for your 6-month checkup. We've played around with solids a little bit, but haven't started in earnest yet. You grabbed a piece of naan bread out of my hand at dinner a couple of weeks ago and stuffed it into your mouth. And that's how you started solids.

We got the high chair out of the closet, and we do put you in it during dinnertime. It's mostly just to keep you happy and entertained at this point, but also so you can munch on some teething crackers or pieces of bread. I promise we'll graduate from carbs soon - that's just the easiest and least messy option right now before I'm ready to really ramp up with table food.

You started sitting up like a champ just after hitting 5 months. You went from tripod sitting to sitting up unassisted for several minutes in a matter of a few days. You learned so fast! And it certainly has made you happy to be sitting up and reaching for whatever you want. You also use rolling to get where you want to go. You haven't started propping up on your knees yet - thank goodness - but you are starting to push with your arms to scoot backwards. Of course with sitting up comes tumbling down. Although you can sit for a long time, you still haven't quite learned how to dismount so eventually you kind of just topple over. No matter where I put you or how many soft pillows I arrange around you, you always manage to bonk into something. It never fails. Luckily, you're pretty tough and hopefully you'll learn how to catch yourself soon.

The other big development this month was learning how to use a straw! There was no hope for the bottle, but I felt you were finally big enough to try a straw. I ordered a special training cup and within the first try, you were happily sucking milk out of the straw. I mean, who is this baby who HATED the bottle for so many months?! It took a few tries to get the hang of actually sucking AND swallowing the milk, but now you can down 3-4 oz no problem. It's pretty cute to watch you sip through the straw with such delight.

When we were in the throes of sleep training, we realized you did better on the nights where we had practiced with your honey bear (the straw training cup looks exactly like those plastic bears that hold honey) before going down to sleep. So now it's just become part of the routine. I think you must really like being stuffed full of milk before nighttime - hence the reason you were demanding so much nursing before! I pump before I go to bed and then we use that milk the next evening to help top you off before bed. It's a little unconventional, but I'll do whatever it takes to have a baby who will sleep.

Because you can now drink milk from a straw cup AND fall asleep without mama, the real test is coming soon - can mama leave you for more than 2-3 hours??? We need Dada to be home so he can be the guinea pig for that. From there, we'll see if we can graduate to a babysitter. :)

You've been enjoying your jumperoo more each day. Books are also more exciting to you these days. We read Goodnight Moon every night. I love our cuddle time before bed when we read together. You still like music, and it's become part of our routine for me to sing "Jesus Loves Me" to you as I'm putting you down. Bath time still earns 5 stars - you laugh hysterically when we put the bath cup on your head and you watch it tumble off. You love being outside and having lots of things to look at. I'm excited for cooler fall weather when we can be outside for longer stretches of time.

You are quite ticklish and you love playing peekaboo or just watching us make silly faces at you. You welcome all forms of attention. Charlie still entertains you most of all and gets the biggest laughs out of you. You like any toy you can put in your mouth. I swear you are *this* close to getting some teeth, but I've been saying that all month and nothing has popped up yet so who knows?!

You've been happier riding in the car these days, and you're pretty great about sleeping on the go. If we go to the park in the morning, you'll happily snooze in the stroller or carrier. Of course, you are always happy to be held - especially while walking around. You spent a lot of extra time being held during all your fussing this month.

I'd say Charlie has been more interested in you this month. He likes to bring you toys - especially your watermelon teether. He'll also bring your baby gym over to you and turn on the musical star. Before we leave the house, he'll gather a few toys to put in your car seat with you. I think he finds you a little more interesting now that you can sit up and grab toys. On the downside to his renewed interest is that he thinks its funny to push you over. It's not overtly malicious, but he sees you tumble over while sitting all the time, and he apparently thinks it's funny when "baby fall down." It doesn't happen very often, but we've instituted time outs to hopefully help curb that behavior. Again, it's a good thing you're tough. I suspect this won't be the last time you'll have to learn how to hold your own against your big brother.

I'll end with my favorite moment from the month. One evening you were being particularly fussy during dinner. I was trying to clean up the dishes so I turned some baby lullabies on my phone and set it down next to you on the floor in an attempt to keep you happy. Soon enough, you rolled over onto my phone, managed to call the pediatrician's office and left a 30-second voicemail of yourself crying. I went to pick you up and saw what was happening. What are the chances you managed to do that with just one roll?! I can't imagine what they thought the next day when they got that voicemail. 

I hear you stirring from your nap so it must be time to wrap this up. We love you! Happy half year!