Thanksgiving 2009

Thanksgiving dinner was at our house this year so Mom and Dad came down from Ogden.
Before dinner, Dad and Mike introduced Leo to "carrier landings". As you'll see in the video, it requires sliding along a table on one's belly. The original version that Dad did in the Air Force was a drunken slip n' slide which involved dress uniform (preferably whites), a table soaked in beer or red wine, and stopping without using your hands before you slid off the table (like on an aircraft carrier--hence the name). Our version was a lot less messy, but still got a lot of laughs from everyone.

Dinner, featuring Dad's amazing smoked turkey, was delicious. Leo ate a bit of everything, and loved the garlic and artichoke dip that was our appetizer. He is constantly surprising me by how many foods--even strongly-flavored dishes--he likes! We got some video of pre- and post-dinner with Leo (see below). Leo decided that gravy could do double duty as a styling product, which explains the state of his hair.

Swinging and Dancing

Here's two new videos.

1) Leo learned how to dance a couple of weeks ago. His signature moves are swaying side to side and sometimes doing "happy feet" (a quick run in place move). He'll dance to any music, but especially loves the songs from the "radio" on his playhouse.
2) "Swing Time" is from our trip to the park this weekend and includes Leo's first time solo on the swings.

Leo's first haircut

Leo was starting to look a bit shaggy (see the "before" pic at top) so it was time to get his first haircut. We went to a place that specializes in kids' haircuts, where he got to sit in a seat shaped like an airplane and watch an Elmo DVD (and the other kids in the salon). He took it in stride--no tears, no fuss--and now he looks even more handsome!

Walking (almost) and talking (nearly)

Leo has developed so much in just the last couple of weeks. Here's a summary of what he's been up to.

• Walking: Leo "walks" very well when he's holding onto a push toy or somone's hands. He's still not sure about pushing away from support and standing/walking on his own.
• Talking: Leo's started to mimic sounds and has a few new words in his repertoire. Just yesterday he said "book" very clearly while pointing to one. I forgot to get my keys out before loading up with baby, bag, etc. and said out loud at the door, "Mommy was dumb and forgot her keys." Leo looked right at me and said, "Dumb, ma ma." :o)
• Eating: Leo's developed some interesting new food "likes" (like chai) and some usual ones (hot dogs).
• Dressing: Leo helps me when I dress him by putting up his hands, feet, etc. He also attempts to brush his hair.

Leo's latest checkup

Leo had his 12-month well child checkup yesterday. He is now

• 30.75 inches long (75th percentile)
  
• 19 lbs 3 oz (5th percentile).
  
• His head is 18.1 inches (25th percentile).
  

The doctor said that Leo's weight has slightly slipped off of the "curve" to maintain for optimal health. However, Mike was a skinny kid and so were both of our Dads, so it may be genetic. We were instructed to keep doing what we are doing: let him eat pretty much everything (except nuts, peanuts, and any seafood until age 2--due to my shellfish allergy) and lots of it.
Other than a little fluid in his ears that we'll need to watch, he is otherwise perfectly normal in health and development. The doctor noted his good-natured acceptance of her examination and he recovered very quickly from his three immunizations with the help of a graham cracker and a snuggle from Mom.

Three new posts today!

I uploaded three posts with pictures today--scroll down to see them all!

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.