Wow! Is Leo already turning 14 months old? It seems like just yesterday that he turned 2 months... actually, I take that back. I gave up dairy when he turned 2 months and in cheese years that is about a million so it feels like forever ago ; ) The past 2 months have whizzed by. We have been keeping busy with a 6th anniversary trip, birthday parties (because Leo's little friends are also turning one!), and trading off date nights/sitting with Emily and Steve. I also had a couple of movie nights in there.
Leo is changing so quickly and it seems like things I was meaning to write down (things he was saying or doing) are already just a memory. He is moving through sounds, expressions, and physical achievements at a rate that makes my head spin! So while I can still remember let me try to write down some of these adorable things my baby Leo does...
Let's take it back to 2 months ago, Leo was saying bip bip bip bip ALL THE TIME. That quickly turned into bup bup bup bup bup ALL THE TIME. Now it is rare that I hear a bip or a bup from him. It was so cute and I am so sad. : /
Leo definitely lets us know what he wants... he started with simple pointing and a bip or a bup, then moved onto "dat" aka "that" and pointing. His favorite foods usually reside on the top of the refrigerator (bananas, apples, and snap pea crisps) so he took to pointing up there, saying "dat", and signing hungry. This was cute and annoying all at the same time because I really shouldn't be feeding my 1 year old only three things. We had to get creative with where to put his foods and hiding them from sight as once he get it in his mind to have something he will not eat anything else.
Sometime in the past month, Leo started giving hugs and as he got faster on his feet he would come over and sorta rush me and give me a big hug. I started encouraging those wonderful embraces by calling Leo and spreading my arms open and smiling. If I caught his eye, he would come running (or fast walking) and give me a hug that melts my heart every time. He loves it and so do I and he will even do it when we are in a crowded room (just as long as I catch his eye and he is not super interested in something else). Evan takes part now and we will sit across from each other and Leo will run back and forth between us giving us hugs. |
| We got Leo a bike seat! Can't wait to take a longer bike ride because so far he loves it. |
Leo often wakes up saying a word "ball,ball,ball" "cat,cat,cat" "dat,dat,dat" or "da,da,da" in a continuous stream until the light comes on and he can go find whatever it is is on his mind. In the past week he has added "book,book,book" to this habit and we often start our day by reading some of Leo's favorites. :-). On that same note, Leo will now "sit in your lap" and he does this by first handing you a book than turning around and backing up then plopping down. It is so cute!
Leo has learned about stomping his feet and will do so while dancing (that was the first place he did it in some miniature rendition of Flash Dance) and now will do it if I sing "If you're happy and you know it..." or if I am reading a book and say "Look he is stomping his feet!"
This brings me to Leo's dancing... this kid LOVES to dance. We have "dance parties" and he just loves it. He recently started requesting it by pointing to our tv and dancing (our music comes out of the speakers). Evan has started a playlist on Spotify of Leo's favorites. How do we know if a song is one of his favorites, you ask? Well, a Leo favorite will stop him in the middle of whatever else he is doing and require some booty shaking, knee bouncing, and head banging. The funniest is when he is in the other room and he hears a song come on that he loves.... he tries to walk and dance at the same time so that he can get closer to where the song is being played (he also used to do the same thing while crawling :)
I mentioned earlier about Leo learning to sit in your lap after handing you a book. Well, he LOVES being read to now. He used to be wiggly (still is sometimes) and not very interested but now it is evident that he gets books. He points to things in all the pictures, wants books reread multiple times, will sign when he recognizes something, and ask "dat?" when he wants to learn about something, he even remembers what Evan and I say or what sounds we make and will mimic us by pointing or making a sound on the pages we make them on (usually on the 3rd or 4th go around). My friend Megan (she has a 8 month old boy) gave Leo a book called Hello Florida and even wrote a message for Leo on the back of the book, which I usually read to Leo at the end. Leo loves this book and has been requesting it a lot lately by name. He waves hello and signs more (or says "mor" because that is a new word this week!) :) Well a few days ago we got to the end of the book with Leo turning the pages and he closed the book to the back cover and points directly at the message from his friend and says "dat!" I read the message, he smiled, he turned the book over and we read it again then... "dat!""dat!" (while jamming his finger at the message). It was so cute I recorded it and sent it to Megan and now I get to share it with you. This was our 6th time reading it in a row and Leo was getting tired but he still was doing some of his normal antics (he usually gets really animated while reading it with lots of signing and sounds from him) but he didn't disappoint when we got to the back page. 
This past week Leo has really started to climb... into his toy box, onto the cat tree, onto his toy piano then onto the chest it sits beside, the kitchen chairs... I could go on but I'll stop.
It is such an exciting time in Leo's life as everything he sees and
hears is just absorbed and a couple of days later he can say a new word
or make a new sound (just started "mooing" tonight!) Or he makes a new
connection with something I and/or Evan have been repeating to him for
months. He started saying "ice" last week... it sounds more like
"ccccc" but he has done it when I ask him if he wants ice and he goes to the freezer and starts in on the sound. I love it... every day is a new adventure. Some days are not as much fun because one of us is sick or just in a rotten mood but it is always an adventure. I'm adding additional pictures to share with you below... Enjoy!
