Not sure how so much time manages to go by between postings these days, maybe it was the marathon 2 week road trip extravaganza to my Mom's place then down to Dallas to see Vic & Sarah. Sounds like a good reason to me. Yeah, so Leo and I drove from South Bend to St Louis (approx 8 hours) which was actually pretty good, then a few days later we hopped in the car with my mom and drove 12 hours down to Dallas to see my brother's family. It wasn't 12 hours of peace and joy, but it was honestly better than I expected.
Our visit was great - Vic & Sarah's kids Thomas (6) and Elizabeth (3) were obsessed with Leo from the moment we arrived. He was hugged, carried, read to, talked to, played with (sometimes without his willing participation) and it was really fun to see them all together. Thomas was particularly smitten and told me several times that "Leo sure is a cute baby." Not what you expect to hear from a 6 year old boy. I think he really liked the idea of having another boy to play with instead of his sister, despite the fact that Leo couldn't really play with him very well.
The trip home to my mom's was less peaceful than the ride down, and our return leg home a day later was the final straw for that poor kid - about half of the ride was loud wordless protests from him about his unhappiness. But we made it! He is totally done with car trips for a while. We're headed down to Miami to see my dad in a few weeks, so we'll see how the plane ride goes on that one.
But the real exciting fun is that Leo is walking now! In about a month, he's gone from a step or two at a time, to barely crawling at all and standing up from the ground without support. He's zooming all over the place, and enjoyed a few scenic strolls through gas stations while we were traveling. And he making more and more word sounds - I think I've heard kitty, duck, bathtime, giraffe (bathtime is his favorite time of the day, perhaps because his nakedness allows him free access to get grabby with himself - so it's a happy word for him). He's looking more and more like a toddler every day instead of a baby. And I think the transition from two daily naps to one isn't far behind either. High school can't be far away.....
For travel pics, check out my Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/clickclickchic/sets/72157624465430097/
