Leo's been here 21 months

So glad it's 21 months and not 21 years! Not time to go to a bar with him yet.

(Thanks for the new kicks, Tia Kristin!)

Leo is demonstrating every day that he's getting closer to age 2--with his talking ability, new interests and tantrums.

He says lots of phrases and sentences including:
"Leo did that."

"I need that."

"I know, I know."

"I had it."
"Mama get."
"Mama make."
"Mama cook."
"Mama sit."
(We're working on adding 'please' into all of these phrases. Each can be replaced with Dada get or Nuh-no sit, etc.)
"Mama please take." This is my favorite phrase in this series because it means he's handing me his bowl and spoon rather than throwing it on the floor.
"My name is Leo."
"Mama play." (Right now he's saying "Mama play kick ball.")
"Play basketball."
"Basketball Outside."
"Up high. Down Low."
"Gah-doh up up" (Garage door up up)
"Leo bump head."
"Jump bed!"
"No more monkeys jumping on the bed." This is his longest phrase!
"Pants fall down." Sometimes he steps on his pants when he stands up in his crib. So when I go into get him, he says, "Pants fall down." Maybe I should teach him "Pants on the ground!"

Sometimes he surprises us with words we didn't even know he knew! For instance, my sister showed him a picture of him when he was a baby. He said, "Baby Ee-oh. Bald head." I don't remember ever saying "bald head" to him and neither does Frank!

He showed me his hand one day and it had black stuff all over it, probably from the car. He said, "Doity!" which meant "Dirty."

One day I was scolding him and I said, "Leo James!" He added "Simcik!" Frank said, "He pronounces it right and everything!"

I think he's got a good musical ear. The other day I sang, "I love you, you love me" (the Barney Song) which he's never heard and he said, "Flashing lights!" That might not sound brilliant to you but I knew that he meant, "That's the same tune as my school bus that has the flashing lights!" All the Fisher Price toys (airplane, school bus, dump truck, etc) sing that tune.

He's also really good at "name that tune" when I whistle. I was just casually whistling "Do you know the muffin man?" and he said, "Muffin Man! Muffin man!" I started whistling other songs and he guessed them easily! Blog to come on this one.

When I sing the ABCs I can usually pause at any letter and he can fill it in: "A, B, C, D, E, F..." and he says, "G!" He can finish with "X, Y and Z!"

He's not as good at counting but he does love the number "zero." One day his best friend John counted up to three so later I told Frank, "John can count! I wonder if Leo can count." Frank said, "Hey, Leo, can you count? 1, 2, 3..." and Leo said, "Cow Moo Moo!" So we'll continue to work on that one :)

Still loves everything to do with balls and has recently been exposed to golf (thanks, Grandpa Ron), bowling (thanks, Tia Thea) and volleyball (thanks, YMCA).

Oh, and he can say "YMCA" but he says it like this: "YM-SEE-A!"

Other destinations he knows: Tah-get, Best Buy, Mall, School (Mother's Morning Out) and everybody's house--Ee-oh's house, Dah's house (John's house), Dawson's house, Cah-Cah's house (Chantal's house). We just started music class again and when I talk about it, he's back in the habit of singing, "bah bah bah."

He's very interested in the potty and talks about it all the time. He won't, however, sit on his little potty although he does say, "Leo sit potty."

Other interests: "ooh ooh trains," "scubas" and Fisher Price little people. He has names for all of them inclduing a Hawaian lady he calls "Mommy" and a dorky tourist he calls "Daddy." Right now he's saying, "I get peace" which he said a lot yesterday and I don't know what it means!

We're amazed at how, when we read books, he can fill in a lot of the words. We just read the first part of the sentence like, "A cat and a rat and their new running..." and he says "Hats!" It really gets more impressive than that but that's the only example I can think of (since I'm being requested to "Mama set pins" for bowling right now).

Catch-up

I'm back in business. Here are some catch-up pics:


In his new frog towel. He's saying "Ribbit!" (Leo sits in the sink to brush his teeth, not to take a bath!)

On my birthday!

Visiting family in Houston (Sorry if you live in Houston and we didn't see you. It was a quick trip so the grandparents and Tia Kristin could get a Leo fix!)

With the Rah Rahs:

Chillin' with Tia K

Relaxing after a few holes of golf with Grandpa Ron:

At the Children's Museum with Popsy:

Hugs with Granny Jo:

Smells Like Teen Spinners

Most people in my spin class are 40+ and they're pretty serious spinners. There's also a teacher and a mom who are both about my age. They're serious too. Now when I say serious, I don't mean, like, "I'm-training-for-the-Tour-de-France" serious. But serious like "I'm-here-to-get-a-good-workout" serious. I mean, they still smile and have fun (except when we're climbing a really steep hill in which case they have these angry, pained looks on their faces).

But about once a week teenagers invade my class. I'm not against teenagers. They need to exercise too. Plus, they're usually the only ones who know the words to the songs. But they're far from serious about it. Here's what ALWAYS happens:

Two bubbly girls enter the class. They travel in pairs. I've never had one. Never had three. Always two.

"Hi! We're new!" they say. (Oh, really?)

They're always wearing the same thing: plastic jogging shorts that are too short and breathy for bike riding and a t-shirt that says something about their high school or college. Yesterday I had college girls so they had on sorority t-shirts.

I nicely set them up on their bikes and they giggle the whole time.

One of them asks a question in valley-girl-speak: "Um is this gonna be, like, really hard?"

Throughout the class they glance at each other and giggle. One makes fun of the other one and they giggle some more.

If a song comes on that they like, they look at each other and mouth the words (which I kinda like because I mouth the words too).

At the end they politely say, "Thank you! " I warn them that their butts might hurt for a few days and then they never return.

They all look so much alike and dress alike that last night when the sorority girls came in I thought they had been there before. But then I remembered that teens never come back so that would be impossible.

Also, last night as I was walking out of class I realized that I had forgotten to give the teens the butt warning. As I walked around the corner I saw two girls with plastic jogging shorts and pony tails. I said, "Oh, I forgot to tell you..." and realized these were two different girls! These girls had probably been to my class before too.

I think spinning is great exercise for the young and the old. So teens, get yourself some spandex shorts and come on back. Trust me, that freshman fifteen ain't coming off by itself.

Things I wish I liked: Flying

I used to love flying. I remember taking people to the aiport and wishing so badly that I could go somewhere. I also remember taking off on a Southwest flight to Dallas one time and thinking, "This is so fun, it makes me want to ride a roller coaster!" When I got to Dallas I convinced Frank to take me to Six Flags.

When Frank worked for AA, sometimes we got to fly first class (or just "first" as those in the know say). Oh, how I loved to fly first class--the warm cookies, the hot peanuts, the steaming towels. It's all about the heat I guess. We flew to NYC, LA, Chicago, Mexico, the Caribbean, Europe, my Grandma's house. Once we even flew to Vegas just for the day!

But on a bumpy flight from Lubbock in 2001, I decided I hated flying. I've hated it ever since. I get anxious, sweaty, nervous. I've still gone plenty of places but it's just not as much fun. I'm nervous before we leave, I'm nervous while we're flying, I'm nervous once we get there because I have to fly home.

If I wasn't afraid of flying, it would be awesome. I would enjoy looking at the different characters in the aiport, peruse the in-flight magazine and most of all, enjoy my travels so much more.

I've recently taken steps to overcome this fear of flying. Frank's dad (a counselor) told me about a website that helped one of his clients--www.fearoflfyinghelp.com It's a course written by a pilot. It covers anxiety attacks, the mechanics of flying and the stats on aviation safety. It's free so I figured, why not?

I've flown four times (two round-trips) since taking the course. I really think it helped me. First of all, I used to get really nervous during turbulence. But Captain Stacey explained that turbulence is no big deal. Most of the time it's so small that it barely registers on the pilot's whatchmacallit. And it's not like the plane is fighting to stay in control. He also explained the conditions that cause turbulence--heat rising up from the ground, weather systems, clouds, etc. The thing that helped me the most was when he said that if he flew for FedEx, he wouldn't even try to avoid turbulence because the packages don't mind bumps!

I also liked it when Captain Stacey had a little picture of an airplance with a smile that said, "The plane is happiest when it's in the air. That's where it's meant to be."

I'm not cured yet but each time I fly it gets easier. I also review the course before each trip. I'm determined to get over this so I can see the world and not stress about it. So maybe now I'll file "flying" under "Things I wish I liked: working on it."

Leo blog in Limbo

My computer is in the shop--something about 13 viruses. I'm using Frank's old (circa 2003) Dell laptop for now. This means I don't have access to my pictures of Leo nor do I want to upload new pictures to this dinosaur.

I will, however, share a cute anecdote.

If I had pictures/videos to go with this blog, I would call it "The Blame Game."

Leo somehow damaged his book called "Trains." I think he licked it or something so now the first page is coming apart and the parts of it are ripped up. When we were visiting the grandparents last week, Granny Jo asked him, "Leo, who did that?" "Daddy did that," he said very clearly.

Later, when Frank asked him, "Who did that?" He said, "Ganny Doh did that." (Granny Jo did that.) Then it became a game. Granny Jo asked him the next night and each time he accused different people--"Mama did that." "David did that." "Laura did that." And in a really low move, he accused Baby Ellie! "Baby Ah-yee did that."

A few days later he was reading "Pat the Puppy" with my mom (Rah Rah). He pulled off the rocking chair in the book and when I asked him who did that he said, "Rah Rah did that."

Since we've been home he has been fessing up: "Leo did that," he said last night when we asked him about the rocking chair. "Leo did that," he said when he showed me the spilled food on his tray. However, when it comes to his train book, he's sticking to his original story: "Daddy did that," he continues to say.

Hopefully my computer will be returned to me this week. If it's not, I'm gonna say, "Leo did that."

Train on the Brain

I expected a train phase. I see all the older toddlers playing with trains and chatting about Thomas. What I didn't expect was for it to come on so suddenly. This week Leo has decided he's obsessed with trains. Don't worry, Grandpa Ron, he still likes balls. But "choo choo trains" are his primary focus right now.

He has three trains:

A wooden one he got from John for Christmas. This one is cool because it has all these blocks on it that he can take on and off. Plus, it comes in three parts so it's easy for sharing (sometimes).

A plastic one I found at a garage sale. It's supposed to light up and make noise but the batteries have never worked. He doesn't care.

One that spells his name! This one is from Granny Jo and Popsy. I thought it was just something to look at but Frank got it down for Leo one day and he LOVES playing with it. When he stopped being able to sleep because he could see it on his shelf, we had to remove it from his room.

It's so cute when he's playing with the Leo train and he says, "Kah-boose!"

Every morning this week he's woken up asking for this Leo train. One morning (as you'll see in the picture), he wouldn't even let me dress him. He HAD to play with the train--semi-naked.

Oh, and his book called "Things that Go" that he always called "Bikes?" It's now called "Trains."

And his book that's actually called "Trains" that he used to slightly like? He now LOVES. I keep it in my purse for train emergencies.

I call this picture, "Playing with trains in my trailer."

"Even bed head can't keep me from my trains!"

Social Networking Sociology

After initially dissing Facebook and then reluctantly joining, I’m now a full-fledged-Facebook-fanatic. I’m writing status updates, posting pictures, writing on walls and even joining groups with names like “I can’t believe it’s only Wednesday.”

I’ve got 300 friends. Now some people have like 3,000 friends but I’m pretty proud of my 300. I used to have 301 but then this girl wrote a status update that was derogatory towards Colt McCoy and I de-friended her. You can do that on Facebook! It’s much harder to do in real life. Good thing we were only virtual friends.

And while I enjoy FB and how it’s connected me with long lost friends, there are some things people use it for that make me say, “Huh?”

Broad Invitations to Go Out: Someone will post a status like, “Hey, I feel like going to happy hour, anybody want to join me?” Sounds normal but keep in mind, the criteria for your Facebook friends is not as strict as for your real friends. Like you might accept a friend request from the creepy guy who was in your 10th grade health class, but you would never want to have drinks with him. So what if he responds? “I’m in! Just tell me where you live and I’ll come stalk you…I mean pick you up.” On New Year’s Eve I saw a girl post, “Hey, who wants to go out tonight?” Hello? Do you want to spend NYE with some random FB friend?

Broad Invitations to attend Events: “I’ve got an extra ticket to see Matchbox 20. Anyone want to go with me?” This is even weirder because it 1). Shows you’re kinda desperate and 2). You would end up alone with this random person. At least with the happy hour request you could get an eclectic group together.

Pyramid Schemes Disguised as Joyful Status Updates: People, if you see something like, “I can’t believe I get to go to Cabo San Lucas AGAIN! This “job” of mine is unbelievable. Let me know if you want to make some extra cash and travel for a living like me!” then you know your FB friend is not just social networking, she’s network marketing.

Farmville and Mafia Wars: What are these things? People play them who I know for a fact are way too busy to be playing online games. And it’s one thing if you want to play, but why does the status of your game have to show up on my home page? And why are you requesting farm animals from me?

Can’t we just go back to posting mundane things about the weather and acting like our lives are better than they are? Oh, that brings me to one last “huh?” People whose lives are so awesome that they have to post it on FB:

"Spending the day with my husband and kids. Life doesn’t get any better than this!"

Good for you! "I’m spending the day with a screaming toddler who I just wrestled to the ground to get a diaper on and he proceeded to remove it." I think I need to go to happy hour. Any one of my 300 friends want to join me?

Extreme Makeover: Toddler Edition

Leo had his first haircut this weekend. We took him to one of those kid-cuts places where he got the royal treatment--toys to play with, a lollipop, a certificate with a snip of his hair and a prize at the end (temporary tattoo).

We expected Leo to scream and squirm but since they bribed him with the lollipop, he didn't even know what was happening. In fact, they said, "He's the best first haircut we've had ever!" I mean, I thought maybe they'd say best first haircut this hour, this day but no, best ever!

Here are some pics in reverse order--after and then before. (Oh, and they don't serve chips and salsa at the haircut place; we took that pic at a restaurant):

"Teh-as Bite!"

Leo has requested that we observe Pacific Time today so that he can stay up and watch his Texas Longhorns in the national championship tonight! He likes to say "Teh-as Bite!" for "Texas Fight!"


We're all wearing our Texas shirts today. (Frank even wore his to work!)



I didn't expect to get trash talked to while dropping Leo off at Mother's Morning Out. A dad was there and he said, "You're gonna lose!" Then he told Leo and me to watch out because there were some elephants in the room. Turns out this dude went to Georgia and he was just being SEC-loyal. I told him I rooted for Texas A&M against Georgia but I sure don't call myself an Aggie!


"Texas, Texas, Yee-haw!"



"Bama, you're goin' down."

The Taming of the Do

I thought having a boy meant not having to worry about styling hair! But when you wake up to this...



...you gotta get out some water and a comb! Here, his hair is much improved.


But that didn't last long:
Yep, we're gonna need some dippity do.

Things I wish I liked: skiing

I can totally see the appeal of skiing: it's a rush, it's good exercise, it involves cute apparel. I can also see the appeal of the skiing lifestyle: it's fun, it's fancy, it involes beautiful scenery. Also, I love sports that encourage drinking and relaxing once you've completed them. Skiing totally does that. After a hard day of skiing, you're expected to sit in a hot tub and drink warm, fizzy things.

The problem is, I don't like it.

I tried it once. I didn't like the lifts, I didn't like the cute apparel (way too much of it), I didn't like the expense and I didn't like actually skiing. It's hard. And it's cold. I don't like being cold. I don't like running into people. I don't like being scared. I don't like taking 45 minutes to get dressed.

It's all way too much work for that drink in the hot tub.

But people look really cool when they ski. Like look at us here:

We're not skiing but we look like we are. My dad says we look as cool as Brangelina. It doesn't get much cooler than that.

I like looking cool. I like being compared to a mega-celeb-couple with a mega-diverse-fam. I like to say things like, "Ready for another day on the slopes!" and "I ski blacks."

But alas, it's just not fun to me. I'd so much rather sit on a beach. I'm not totally lazy; I'll walk on the beach too. I just don't like to put on a bunch of clothes...or go downhill...or again, be cold.

On the beach you can wear next to nothing, still get exercise AND have a fun drink at the end. Another point for beaches--you can even have a drink WHILE you're walking on the sand. Can't do that in the snow. So skiing--I wish I liked you. But I don't.