Christmas 2011

Before we headed to Twin Falls for Christmas weekend, we opened our presents for each other at home. Leo seemed to enjoy the unwrapping, he helped Mom and Dad open gifts!

Christmas Eve Lisa and Chloe joined us for dinner and present opening.  Leo loves cousin Chloe!

There were many dedicates, no-touchies, and one-finger touches for Leo...  you can see him eye-ing the center piece.  All in all he did very will and only broke one Christmas coaster - considering all of the decorations this is pretty miraculous.

Leo also really enjoyed playing with a toy that me and my brother grew up with, Jack-in-the-box.  He couldn't get enough!

Christmas morning Leo opened a couple of gifts, it was fun and overwhelming.  After two we let him just chill, run around, do his thing.  But this action shot is very cute.

and this train is pretty obnoxious, fun but obnoxious.  At least the volume has a min and max!

And after the packages were all unwrapped, I captured this shot of Pixie.  Seems she might have been a little exhausted and overwhelmed too!

This was Leo's last gift, a bike.  Well a training bike, watch out world!

We headed back to Boise Monday and settled into our week.  Leo really loves his new chair that Grandma Ra-Ra and Papa Joe gave him for Christmas.

Holiday Lights

This year we made it to the Botanical Gardens Winter Garden A Glow.  It was fantastic, so many beautiful lights, reindeer, Santa, and Leo's favorite was the train.  It was a cold evening so we bundled up and enjoyed the incredibly lit gardens!

Things to Remember

At 16 months old Leo is...
-Certain that any box, bucket or large container is something he can fit in to
-Saying bye-bye and waving, and saying hi and waving
-Giving the BEST hugs!
-A little shy when someone new comes around but warms up after about 10 minutes
-Using words and signs to communicate: Mommy, Daddie, milk, more, please (peas, so cute), bobby (cat? strange his name is willy, bock-bock (chicken)
-Running
-Laughing, this wonderful, hysterical, contagious laugh
-Pulling himself up on the couch to sit, run (in place), or play fort
-Happiest sitting in your lap while you read a book, he may even turn the pages for you
-Of the belief that books are edible, even though Mommy says they are not
-A climber, turn your back and he'll scale something - the fireplace hearth, a dinning room chair, the dinning room table, the coffee table, the list goes on
-Certain to switch from a foul mood to happiness when taken outside
-Believes that you must say "Bock-bock" when you step out the back door... you must
-A great sleeper (12 hours uninterrupted is the norm)
-Getting a mouthful of teeth. In addition to his top 4 and bottom 4 he now has his upper-right molar, lower right molar, and both lower eye-teeth pushing through. We can see the tops - Yowza!
-Very fond of his furry and feathered friends. He loves to pet Honda, Pixie and Willy. A special of delight escapes him when we get Willy's feather cat toy out, this requires parental supervision because he nearly clobbers the poor cat while whipping it around for him to capture with his paws. He also loves to visit the chickens and "talk" to them
-Tired of sitting in his high-chair and definitely prefers the booster at the same table as Mom and Dad -A food fickle little man.  The only sure pleasers are noodles, rice, broccoli, yogurt, fish crackers, and blueberries
-Happy
-So, so, so much fun

I'm sure I am missing many, many things. But the list will go on!

Thanksgiving

Normally we would head to Twin Falls for Thanksgiving, but not this year.  My parents were having their kitchen floors replaced and Lucy (their Boxer) has been recovering from being sick and needs a low stress environment. So, Kevin, Leo and I had our first Thanksgiving with just us. After breakfast we went for a great walk, everyone had fun and Leo got to practice his barking. One of the dogs that lives near the park was being quite vocal and Leo decided to bark back. Very cute. We also did a little leash training.

Pixie wasn't convinced this was a good idea at first, but she soon realized that she was in control and then was much more confident.

Kevin was very excited to cook a Cornish hen, I was having tilapia. We had the usual stuffing, mashed potatoes, fresh cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, broccoli - instead of green beans which Leo is not fond of.

Turns out Leo is not a fan of most traditional Thanksgiving food. I had him for a few minutes when I rolled up some mashed potatoes into balls and showed him how-to dip them in ketchup, that lasted for three "balls." Then he wailed and pitched one, smashed a second, and it was over. Lots of squished-up frowning face and "No!"  No to sweet potatoes. No to hen. No to fish. NO! to stuffing. Only yes was broccoli and yogurt. And a hallelujah from Mommy and Daddy when dinner was done. Whew, until next year.

And of course what would Thanksgiving be without a pumpkin pie? So for my food allergic husband (lactose and gluten) I made a vegan and gluten free pie. These types of baking adventures do not turn out well for me so I was more than skeptical, but this pie was delicious. Seriously. I mean I don't know that it would win a side-by-side taste test, but if you didn't know you'd say "this is one tasty pie!"

Birthdays, BIRTHDAYS!

I love my birthday, figure I'll enjoy them as long as I can. Hope I always have a good attitude about aging, so far so good! This year we toyed with the idea of going to Seattle to visit my brother but then ended up inviting him to come visit us. It was a great weekend. I had a facial that Friday, then went for a pedicure, came back to the house to have lunch with Drew and Leo and hang out, and then finished the day of pampering with a hair cut for both Leo and me. Saturday night Drew watched Leo so that Kevin and I could have a date - yes actual date that involved staying out past 10! WOW. It was a great 37th birthday. During his visit Drew taught Leo to combine his signs and words so that he could make multi-word requests like, more please, milk please, and please please! Which is what you see below... Please,

P-L-E-A-S-E!

Leo is also fond of giving kisses. And he does a good pucker too!

 Drew also saw Leo find his shadow. Quite exciting and scary. Since this first sighting Leo has caught his shadow a couple of times. Always a mixture of fear and excitement at first, then he wants to wave and point. He thought it was great fun when Mommy made a shadow dog that barked and growled. I have to expand my talents though I've only got the dog and butterfly in my bag of tricks. I love spending time with Drew, it is great fun watching him with Leo.

Until next time Uncle Drew. It was a wonderful, fabulous, most excellent birthday!

Summer Highlights

While the work was being done on the kitchen Leo and I spent a week in Twin Falls. It was great spending time with my parents, longest I've been home since I was in college! They enjoyed all the time with Leo, oh and me too...

My Mom and I took Leo to the pool while we were there. He loved it, even put his face in the water. He was enthralled with the other kids in the pool.







Here's a little video too!

Renovations

In August we had some work done to our kitchen and bath. It was a big project, and as all projects tend to do it went longer than expected. But we love all the changes. Here are before pictures of the kitchen.





And these are the after! The kitchen looks and feels bigger, and it is much lighter. We love it.





And we had our bath tub replaced and the tile put in... it is fantastic!