A very Choo Choo Christmas!

This Christmas was the best we have ever had! Now that Leo is older, he really can embrace the idea of celebration and thoroughly enjoyed all his toys. To say this was the best day of his life so far would be a giant understatement.

Leo woke up at 6 am and we told him that Santa had come. I took him to the living room where Joe was waiting to record the whole episode. Leo had one wrapped gift waiting on top of his covered train table. He opened the gift to discover Duncan, which is the only specific train Leo asked for. Next, we had him lift up the blanket to reveal the train table. Leo even said "happy!"

We proceeded by having Leo open the rest of his gifts which included an assortment of trains, a T- Rex (the only other gift Leo requested), clothes, and a toddler car set. Lucky boy! Leo played for a solid 5-6 hours before his nap time. He cried when we had to change his diapers and clothes and he didn't want to break for food. He really was enthralled by all his new toys.

For dinner, we went to my parents and continues the festivities with turkey dinner, followed by a gift exchange. We picked names and were secret Santas, which I really enjoyed.

Joe and I had a relaxing day as well. Now that we are parents, the focus of the day has shifted from us to Leo, but isn't that what Christmas is all about? I did manage to receive some really fun gifts though! Thanks everyone and Merry Christmas!!!

Busy times!

It's been a while since I have been able to update the blog because my part-time gig at WS has turned into an almost 30 hour a week job. After working long nights, I am exhausted, but I am still enjoying my adventure away from home. Leo has made a habit of getting up between 5:15- 5:30 am every morning. This is way too early for me and by the time I have returned from the gym and it is time for his lunch, he is crying for sleep. I have been napping with him recently to catch up on lost sleep. Napping with Leo is one of my favorite things ever!

Leo certainly is enjoying the holiday season and has a whole new set of words now. He says Christmas tree and Christmas lights. he LOVES all the decorations and squeals with delight when he sees decorated houses or store displays.

Leo also has been saying T-Rex and loves to sing the T-Rex song from his favorite television show Dinosaur Train. We owe the creatives at PBS big time.

Leo loves to throw balls and says catch now too. He has quite the arm on him and I predict that he will play baseball in the future.

Leo has started calling me mommy, which I adore. In the morning, he will call for "daddy" and if daddy doesn't appear, he will start calling for "Joe." It may be the cutest thing he says. He also now says his name , which sounds like "ee-oh," and will say things like "ee-oh crying."

I believe Leo is on the verge of a major verbal break though. He tells Joe and I stories by stringing together various words. By the words he is using, we know he is reconstructing an event that might have recently happened, such as "Tiffy, Martin, church."

He is also starting to understand some more complex ideas. He knows how to count up to three and he realizes that the I-pod needs to plugged into the computer. If I am looking for my I-pod, he will run to the computer to where the charger is.

He continues to love Gymboree and feels right at home there. He also loves to visit his friends at the gym including Even, Ben and Ferris as well as Grandma.

He has remained very social. He is not shy at all and gives high fives and smiles for everyone he meets. He is quite a ham and loves to show off for people.

Santa Visit

We took Leo to visit Santa the day before Thanksgiving and he really enjoyed himself. To ensure a successful photo, we did a few trial runs to get Leo use to the old guy. Leo told Santa all about what he wanted, "choo choo, cars, Halloween." Santa seemed a little perplexed about the Halloween request, but ensured Leo that he was on the good list.

Happy Thanksgiving!

What I am most thankful for.

Rock 'n Roll

Rockin' out Hendrix style!

Today I got a few adorable pics of Leo playing with his guitar. Is this a sign of things to come? He can always woo the ladies if he can serenade them.

Growing up

It's been a while since I have updated and I have only taken a few photos of Leo this month.....blame it on my new job. I started a seasonal position at William Sonoma and have had a great time, but as a family, we are still adjusting to the change. Leo is more clingy the mornings after I have worked, which means I get more hugs. Although he misses me when I am at work, Leo has been enjoying bonding with Joe and is becoming much more independent. It is easy to put him to bed and he usually tells us when he is ready for bed by saying "night, night."

Speaking of hugs, Leo is much more generous with hugs now. He will often ask for "big hugs," which Joe taught him. It is basically a hug in which we squeeze him really tight. He also loves our family "group hugs." With group hugs, we all hug simultaneously and say "group hug, group hug, group hug," squeezing a little harder with each chant. I know this sounds unbelievably corny, but these are some of my favorite moments in life.

Leo is constantly surprising us with new words. Last night he threw a ball and said catch. He also combines words on a regular basis. while we were at Target, he saw a Christmas tree made up of nothing but ball ornaments and he said, "ball Christmas tree." He is starting to know the names of different Thomas trains such as James, Duncan, Gordon, Harvey and Percy.

Joe had a birthday last week and unfortunately I had to work at night. While I was at work, Tiff and Martin stopped by and brought Joe/Leo a gift of Nerf balls. Ever since then, Leo has been in love with them and constantly says "Martin, Tiffy, balls." We are still working on the Aunt and uncle bit.

As you can see by the photo, Leo loves building /stacking things and then making them crash. Also, a favorite game of his is to collect all of his books and put them in the laundry basket.

Leo's 2nd Halloween

We had the best Halloween ever! Leo was the cutest little frog and really got into the spirit of the holiday. For weeks leading up to the big day, Leo has been talking all about Halloween. He watched It's a Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown about 50 times and yelled "Halloweeeen," every time he saw pumpkins and other decor and is also quite fond of ghosts.

We started out night with a visit to see Aunt Tiffy at show off our little frog. Next, we made out way to Grandma and Grandad's house to do the same. Leo was lucky enough to get a couple trains for his Thomas collection (the aquarium trains) and he wouldn't let go of them for hours).

Next, we took Leo trick or treating around our neighborhood and we all had so much fun. Leo really got into knocking on the doors and would even try to enter people's houses when they opened the door. Of course, he got showered with attention and given ample candy for his efforts (yeah for mommy and daddy who will get to eat most of it). Everyone was so delighted to see our little frog come to their door too and although he didn't quite master saying trick or treat, he always said good bye.

Afterward, we decided to head to our church for the Harvest Festival. It was a bit late for Leo, but he had fun playing a bean bag game with Aunt Tiff and enjoyed all the chaos of the event.

We couldn't ask for a better day. I am already looking forward to next year!