Settling back into home

Well it's been a whirlwind summer, and it's finally done. Ok, technically it may still be summer, but Byron started back up at school last week, so it's fall to us. Byron traveled almost every week for his internship, and Leo and I took several long trips (most recently to Florida to see my dad in Miami then a week of family vacay in Naples).
Leo was mostly fabulous with all the travel - in fact on our return trip from Florida, Byron and I were on separate flights (Byron direct, me with a connection) so Leo traveled home with Dada, and did splendidly. I thoroughly enjoyed sticking my nose into a book with zero interruptions on my flight!
Our Florida trip was great - Leo got to spend a whole week with Grandpa & Elisa, lapping up the Miami beach scene - and as per usual, picking up a few more adoring grandmothers along the way. That kid is a grandma magnet. Though he did seem a little confused when they all wanted to speak Spanish to him.
Somewhere along the way, Leo somehow developed a fascination with ceiling fans (there are alot of them in Florida, no surprise). He now likes to adamantly point at them (repeatedly) until you say the word fan. And, in the last week, he has started to do the same thing with light fixtures. Future contractor? Who knows.
Leo has definitely come to appreciate the beach much better than the last time we were in Florida (when he cried as we got even close to the water) and now giggle maniacally when you first walk him up to the waves. In fact if we didn't hold him back, he would happily run face first into the ocean until it covers him. He also discovered the joy of chasing the birds on the beach - he can't fun fast enough to catch them, or fast enough to make them fly away, so he just runs after them, laughing like a madman, as they walk as fast as they can in the opposite direction. It's pretty freaking cute.
We also got to see my high school best bud Corinne when we were down south - she and her hubs are just moving to Miami so she drove out to Naples for the day, then we stayed with them the night before we flew home. Leo was all over her right away - and he was so excited by her dogs that he managed to actually scare them off a bit. 25 pounds of squealing toddler is enough to scare off two dogs, no matter how big they are.
All in all, it was really great to get around this summer and see everyone, but it's practically delicious to be back home. We're working on transitioning Leo to a one-nap-a-day schedule, and looking forward to playgroups with all the other student families. And oh yeah, Notre Dame football. :)
I'll have more of our summer's picture to share in about a week - the charging cable for my laptop died and I can't get to the pictures I had already downloaded on there until the replacement arrives. Here are some that were still on my camera.

We're Walking

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/

13 Months

It's official - our little man is on his way from infant to toddler. He's 13 months old now, and has been cruising around the living room nonstop behind anything with wheels for about a month now. And he got several cool big toys with wheels (a big train, a buggy, a walker) for his birthday, so there is usually a veritable stable of potential cruising vehicles strewn around the living room. He'll push them around, walking behind them, and move around the room with one hand on a toy or furniture at all times. Then in the last week he's increasing started letting go while he's standing still.
Then a few days ago, he took a couple little steps without any support! Granted it was just a couple little steps getting from Mom to Dad, but it's a pretty exciting development nonetheless. So flat-out walking seems to (finally) be in our near future. Which I imagine will mean more work, but also more fun.

Happily, Leo seems to be coping well with Byron's extended travel schedule this summer for his internship. He's usually gone Thursday thru Sunday, which is much better than being gone all summer like we originally expected. Leo seems to be young enough to not really know that Dad's gone until he comes back home and gets all excited to see his Dada again. On the downside, naptime has become much more chaotic and unpleasant now that I am weaning him entirely off breastfeeding. I had cut down to just nursing at naptime, which was an easy transition, but as I am now ready to regain sole proprietorship of my body, he has to fall asleep for naps on his own. It's an uphill battle, but a necessary one. He's still sleeping really well at night, so if naps are terrible for a few weeks then I suppose we'll all live.
And while Byron works this summer, Leo and I have a growing list of summer travel plans - Chicago, Missouri, Dallas, Miami.... Looking forward to it!
Check out more pics at http://www.flickr.com/photos/clickclickchic/sets/72157624173884249/

Happy Birthday Leo!!!

Yes - Leo turned one today! And celebrated by enjoying his new backyard swing (and he loves that thing), and destroying the rest of his birthday party cupcake. And I do mean destroy - I'll need to vacuum tomorrow.
So hard to believe he's turning 1 - I can still remember what it was like to have a life before he was born! But it's hard to remember a time before his sweet smile. Yeah, he can be alot of work, but he's incredibly sweet and an all-around happy little guy. Not to mention that he is now sleeping though the night, which gives him bonus 'good baby' points. I'm not the kind of girl that's frequently driven to sentimentality, but it's hard not to get all sweet and sappy over him on this milestone. Three cheers to all of us for surviving his first year, and looking forward to many more to come! We love him more than we ever expected, and he brings us more joy than we thought was possible.

If you want more pictures of the handsome man, they're up on my flickr page, see the link below.

Birthday Party!

Birthday Party Weekend, originally uploaded by Click Click Chick.

Leo's big #1 birthday is approaching, so we had a little birthday party for him on Friday before all of Byron's classmates head out of town for the summer. The house was packed (cold and rainy weather, so the planned garden party idea was nixed), many delicious homemade treats were enjoyed (gourmet burger bar, homemade ice cream sandwiches) and Leo even got his own giant cupcake. Which he actually seemed a little confused by....but I guess if you've never had icing before, it can be confusing. Also his Kern grandparents came to visit from Chicago for the weekend, and he got a bunch of new toys - a Radio Flyer wagon, a push-around buggy, a tree swing in the back yard, baby Legos, trucks... all sort of super cool stuff! We'll put up an official birthday photo on his actual birthday, the 13th. Check out the rest of the birthday pics on my Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/clickclickchic/sets/72157623902215971/

The Blue & Gold Game

Every spring Notre Dame plays a football scrimmage game they call the Blue & Gold game. It's surprisingly well attended (so many rabid fans hungry for football) and we all enjoyed it as a family last Saturday. It's free for students and little kids, so a great occassion to get the little man out into the stadium. It was unfortunately cold and a bit rainy, so we weren't sure how long he'd last, but he loved it! He enjoyed a little MBA Family Life Committee tailgate beforehand, and contentedly sat and watched the first half of the game without squirming, fussing, or anything. Hooray!




He also showed two small but entertaining developments the same day: he started to clap his hands, and started to sort small objects. The clapping we'd been trying to teach him for a little bit, and he seems to have really caught on to the idea. The object sorting is really entertaining - he started by moving a pile of goldfish crackers, one at a time, from one compartment on his stroller into another, then moving them back. Then later the same day, he started shaking all his small plastic shapes out of their bucket but then putting them back in one at a time. They're small developments, of course, but really cool to watch.

Happy Easter!