Leo in the morning

Mike caught these pics of Leo about a month ago.

Chicago, my kind of town!

Earlier this month, Leo and I traveled with my Mom to Chicago for a visit. We had a lot of fun hanging out with our family: Great Grandma Gert (aka Triple G); Uncle Dave and Aunt Marianne Schiavone; Brett, cousin Sarah, and Kate Hampson; cousin Mark Schiavone; and cousin Paul Schiavone and his girlfriend Katie. We stayed in a guest apartment at Triple G's retirement community, which was wonderful and gave us plenty of room and a kitchen. Highlights included a visit to a wonderful family-run Italian restaurant, a fun street party, and an Italian beef dinner at Dave and Marianne's. Leo was a very good traveller and tried lots of new foods including rigatoni, sausage, and Italian beef.

Out and about (Leo ages 9-12 months)

These are a bunch of pics that we took on my cell phone that I thought I should put together.

The first three pics were taken in Home Depot when Leo was about 9 months old. He grabbed that piece of pipe and we ended up taking it home with us. Who needs toys when there are 35-cent pieces of pipe to be had instead?

The next shots were taken in mid-July in the Blue Plate Diner. We were there with my parents and Uncle Gerry. We were pretty cramped in a booth, so Leo had plenty of chances to try to grab Gerry's roll. Gerry finally just gave the roll to Leo, who promptly started to chow down on it even though it was nearly as big as his head!

We encountered an unusually pretty pigeon in the duck park about a month ago and had to take her photo.

Finally, the last set of pics were from today. We had an hour to kill before the photo studio opened to get Leo's 12-month portraits taken, so we went to lunch at Dee's (a local diner). We had fun and Leo charmed all of the waitresses.

Future's so bright, I gotta wear shades

Leo loves to grab for my sunglasses and Mike's glasses, so I got him a pair of his own from the dollar store. Combine the shades and his new high chair in black "leather' with red trim, and he's one cool baby. The food stains on face and clothes are his own "personal style", of course.

Applause!

Leo clapped his hands for the first time yesterday and now does it often. Its so fun to see how pleased he is with himself. He's also learned to drink from a sippy cup and has a new high chair (the old one was off-kilter and he always sort of fell sideways).

New favorite foods this week: green beans, scrambled eggs, and well-watered-down juice (from a sippy cup, naturally). We tried chicken and potato, but neither were hits.

Burninating the countryside....

Aunts Jill and Carrie from LA have waited almost a year for this....Baby Trogdor! Sorry its a fuzzy picture--he only held still for a moment before he crawled off to...burninate all the peoples and their thatched roof cottages!!!

(Thanks, Aunties--seeing Leo in this onesie made my day!)

Lost? Watch the video and read the lyrics--and thanks for indulging this bit of silliness:
http://www.stlyrics.com/songs/s/strongbad21993/trogdor567838.html

Morning play

Leo took his morning lap around the pack n play, which Daddy managed to catch on film. He also got silly with Mommy.

Bonus: Leo' s current favorite toys are an empty Kleenex box and a bamboo back scratcher. His new favorite food is grapes.

Leo's new favorite things

Leo hit two major milestones in the last few weeks--he can pull himself up and he can feed himself finger foods.

Leo pulls himself up to a full, upright standing position just about every chance he gets. He also "walks" around the edges of his pack n play, holding onto the edge as he goes. It is such a thrill to watch him push up with his legs and be so pleased with himself when he realizes he's standing up. This, of course, has opened up a whole new world for him and new levels of caution for us!

Leo entered the wonderful world of finger foods and there's no looking back! His favorite by far is cheese, with bread, peas, and diced fruit in close second. The surprising thing is that he seems to be OK with some strong flavors; I got a sample of sheep's milk cheese at Costco last weekend and offered him a bite. He loved it and ate the whole piece! He's still working on mastering the sippy cup, but he's slowly getting the hang of it.

Leo 10-month pics

Recent photos of all three Napolitanos.

Growing fast!

Leo's growing so fast now that its hard to keep up. His latest accomplishments include:

• Last checkup earlier this month revealed that Leo is 29.75 inches long (89th percentile), 18 lbs 10 oz (12th percentile, but healthy), and has a head circumference of 45.5 inches (50th percentile). Other than his eczema, which we usually manage to keep under control, he's a perfectly healthy baby. The doctor noted that his skin was a bit yellow, but determined that it was due to Leo's love of sweet potatoes and squash and nothing to be worried about.
  
• Is still "army crawling", but has started to pull himself up to a kneeling and standing position (which is more like downward-dog pose in yoga). We're in for it now!
  
• Starting to feed himself some finger foods, but doesn't show a lot of enthusiasm for it yet.
• Loves to play peek a boo and patty cake, but doesn't really seem to "get" the So Big game. He doesn't clap either, although he loves it when we clap for him.
• Has learned how to hug--he throws his arms around my neck, squeezes, and I turn to mush. He also "kisses" occasionally, although its more like he's just putting his partially-open mouth against my cheek.
• Chatters a lot, and uses some syllables and sounds repeatedly, but no discernable words are coming yet. He seems to use "da" interchangeably for both Mike and me. He also clicks, raspberries, and makes other "mouth noises" often.
  
• Has both center bottom teeth, and we're expecting more soon since he appears to be teething like crazy right now.
• Although we generally don't let Leo watch TV, he loves the Disney cartoon Phineas and Ferb (which is hysterically funny for grownups too).
• Loves to be outside, especially when we go to the park to feed the ducks (and ducklings!).
• Loves books and being read to. Pat the Bunny is a new favorite, but Goodnight Moon is still the best.