9 Months Old!

Well time keeps on moving forward (despite the occasional feeling otherwise), and our little Leo is now 9 months old. We had his 9 month checkup last week, and can report that he is now 24 and a half pounds, and is maintaining a head size in the 90th percentile. His weight and height have (thankfully) dropped from the 90th percentile down into about the 70th-75th percentile, otherwise I wouldn't be able to hold this kid for more than a few minutes. And his bottom two teeth been in for a while, with his top two joining the party in just the last week.

And he had been pseudo-crawling for the last month or so - he could move forward mostly by shimmying along on his belly. Now in the last week or two, he's really crawling with his tummy off the ground, and can really cover some distance in the 30 seconds I leave him alone to use the bathroom. In fact now he crawls to find me in the bathroom each time. Guess it's time to kiss privacy goodbye, eh?

And the coolest thing is that in the last few days he's really started to pull himself up on anything at a good height once he crawls over. And if you hold his hands while he's standing up and walk with him, he's pretty good at stepping along with you. I imagine it will be at least a couple of months before he's really cruising around and walking on his own, but it's cool to start to see a glimpse of that skill now. So the babyproofing continues, with more to come I'm sure, as we discover the new and various things he wants to play with that he really shouldn't.

And Leo has now officially outgrown the first of his baby toys. The fantastic exersaucer, which he loved loved loved for so long, now seems to frustrate him because it keeps him in one place. And ditto for his swing, and his jumper to a lesser extent. So we're packing them away, and are in the market for a big activity toy of some variety to take their place. We're happy to take recommendations if anyone has something they would recommend.

Leozeenyo

Here are some photos of the project I just completed - some felt wall hangings for Leo's room with various animals on them. There are a total of 10 of them, and I have to admit they are pretty cute. I had started these a few months ago, hand sewing them, then set them aside during the hubub of the holidays. Then I bought myself a sewing machine with some of my Christmas gift money, so I did some of the border stitching with that.
In related news, I'm developing product ideas for a small baby products company I'm going to start, which I've named Leozeenyo (modified spelling of the portuguese word Leozinho, which means "little Leo.") These animal hangings (perhaps modified) may be a part of it, along with a few crib mobile ideas I have.
The rest of the pics can be seen on my Flickr page - http://www.flickr.com/photos/clickclickchic/sets/72157623206752091/ - along with some other photos of what I've done in Leo's room. It's kind of a weird space upstairs in the former attic space, so the walls are all angled. Once I make a prototype for the mobiles, I'll post some pics of that too.

Some wintertime fun

snow bunny, originally uploaded by Click Click Chick.

January was a pretty snowy month here in South Bend, so we whisked Leo outside for a few cute snow pics. And they were quite fun and successful until Leo got his hands covered in snow, and consequently quite cold. I have a bunch more pics on my Flickr page - http://www.flickr.com/photos/clickclickchic/sets/72157623206708991/ - including a few more from outside, plus some other fun ones, including Leo's face after eating pureed beets.
Speaking of beets, Leo is starting to really eat like a champ - he's enjoying beets, beef, carrots, peas, barley, oatmeal, apples, and yogurt right now. Making his food is fun, and since he eats such small quantities we can afford to get him the good organic/free range/grassfed stuff. And he's got chicken livers and ground turkey to look forward to in the near future (thought I think he may have to fight Byron for the chicken livers, personally I say blehg to them). He's become a pretty vigorous eater, eating a full plate of three different items each evening, and usually yogurt with apples during the day.
In other fun news, I've been super crafty lately and have made some cute stuff for Leo's room, plus have an idea for a related small business, but I'll do a separate posting about that shortly.

Holiday Marathon = Complete!

Yes, I know it's been a while since I've posted. But in my defense, it was a marathon holiday season. We drove down to my mom's place south of St. Louis, and stayed there a week. Then drove up to Byron's folks in Chicagoland on Christmas Day, and stayed there 4 days. Then drove back to South Bend and hopped on a plane to my dad's place in Miami for a week. So we were away from home for about 3 weeks, and it was exhausting. Great fun though. Leo got to see all his grandparents (and meet his Great-Granna for the first time!), get his face licked by a dog (which he absolutely adored) and see almost all his aunts and uncles. There was snow, ice, and beaches. Planes, trains, and automobiles. OK, no trains. But everything but that.
Leo was the lucky recipient of an abundance of adorable clothes and great toys. He even got to help open some of them (and frankly once he did, all he wanted was the paper to chew on...). While we were gone, he got really good at sitting up by himself (which is great when it comes to playing with toys) and started pushing himself up on his hands and knees when placed on his tummy. He's THIIIIISSSS close to crawling - and is getting great at scootching himself backwards when he's on his hands and knees.
Also, his bottom two teeth have broken through. There was alot of consternation and wailing before that happened (and some more since) but he now has two little nubbins poking through. Which has led to me being bit a few times when nursing, which was not fun. Hopefully we can nip that practice in the bud, pun fully intended.
As for Leo's new year's resolutions, he told me "mamamama bababa aaa dadadada" which I translated into something about eating more vegetables this year, and learning to walk by the time he's 10 months old. (True story - an aggressively friendly preggo lady in Miami aka 'Auntie Michelle' made friends with Leo while we were waiting for our table at a restaurant and while she was holding him, declared that he had strong legs and would walk by 10 months. Crazy hormonal lady, but very genuinely friendly....)
We've all happily settled back in at home, and are enjoying dressing Leo up in all his new outfits and playing with his new toys. And yes, so far he's even enjoying eating all his vegetables. That's one resolution he doesn't get to break!
There are a ton more pictures on my Flickr site if you're interested: http://www.flickr.com/photos/clickclickchic/

What? Christmas is coming? That soon?

I know, I know, I just realized how long it's been since I last posted. And just how close Christmas is! The real truth of the matter is that I've been putting all my blogging energy into our food blog, www.thefoodieforkful.com. We're doing an-idea-a-day for foodie Christmas gifts. But back to Mr. Leo.
So the relieving news (for my back) is that his growth is slowing down a bit. When we were at his 6 month check-up, he was up to 21.5 pounds, slowing down from the 97th percentile in height/weight to the 90th percentile or so. Which is fantastic. Now maybe he can wear the same clothes for more than two months!

He's starting to get pretty good at sitting up on his own - manages to stay there for anywhere from 3 to 30 seconds before slowly tipping over like the leaning tower of Pisa. And when you put him on his tummy, he manages to scoot around quite a bit. Not crawling yet, but it's clearly not far off. His little butt gets up in the air a bit, but he can't get his tummy up just yet. Still giggling quite a bit when he is tickled (as long as he is in the right mood) which is frankly just adorable.
Leo will be the centerpiece of our Christmas card this year (no surprise there!). We did a photoshoot to get just the right picture, and the one we chose is really great. Here, for your viewing pleasure, are some of the runner-up shots.
Looking forward to doing the Tour De Grandparents for the holidays, starting in about a week - but it's gonna be a long time traveling around. But Leo's been begging to go visit his grandparents, so I guess we gotta go!

6 Months Old Already!

Yeah, six months old, as of yesterday. Which is just wild. He goes in for his six month check-up next week, so we'll share his updated stats then. I think he will now weigh in at 500 pounds.
Leo just getting over his first cold. Yep, that was fun. Byron had it for almost a week before Leo showed any symptoms, and when he developed a seriously stuffy nose it didn't seem to bother him at all. Except for when we tried to clean it out.... that part, he didn't care for. Any attempt to either wipe his nose, or suction the goo out with the aspirator were met with wild wailing and sobbing. With actual tears, which up till now has been really rare with him. Nothing like making your child really cry to make you feel like a fantastic parent. At least the stuffy nose seemed to be the only symptom, and didn't really alter his sleep pattern much (besides making it louder).
Other than being sick, not to much excitement here - Leo and I have been enjoying almost daily walks, enjoying all the fall colors. Leo continues to get stronger and more dexterous, getting pretty good at holding items with his hands. And he soooo wants to be able to crawl, when you put him on his tummy he tries to push with his legs and pushes up with his arms a bit - just doesn't seem to grasp yet that he need to do all of this at once to move. I suppose we should enjoy this non-mobile stage as much as we can for now, once he starts to crawl I'll be spending my days chasing after him.

First pool, first ocean, first Halloween!

For Byron's fall break, we headed down to his folk's vacation place in Naples Florida, for a little relaxing beach vacation. Byron's parents came down too, to enjoy a nice chunk of Leo time. Leo was outfitted with a whole bunch of great vacation gear - two swimsuits, a couple of cute hats, and an awesome pool float. He ended up loving the pool, and the pool float, partially because the water was so warm, I think. The ocean, he was a bit more skeptical about that. The waves seemed to make him a little nervous, and the water was pretty cold.













The plane rides were a mixed bag - he did pretty darn well on the way down (a direct flight) and on the first of the two flights home....but then as we started to land on the second flight, he melted down. Not too bad, all things considered.

Then this past Friday, one of Byron's classmates had a little Halloween party, and we dressed Leo up as a lion (we just couldn't resist) and we dressed as his lion tamers. I picked up a basic lion costume at a second hand kid's stuff store, then embellished it with some furry fabric, and I think it turned out pretty well. It was mostly fun just to see him looking cute, he of course had no idea of what was happening. Next year I imagine he'll be a bit more entertained by the whole thing.