Leo's brain explosion

No, I'm not talking about his head splitting in two via staircase crash or excessive vomiting. I'm actually referring to Leo's vocabulary taking a major step forward this past week. I've already referred to the fact that Leo has surprised us with how many words he had by 18 months, but now he's already taking the quantum leap forward to lots and lots of words (and of course, as a parent, what constitutes a word to me is actually just the ability to communicate something using some sounds that sound kind of right...although there's no denying that his "Hi" and "Bye" are solid). This past week alone, Leo has picked up HI, BYE, ME, LIGHT, SNOW, HAT, HAIR and MEOW. Plus, he's switched what a dog says from "WAWAWA" to something kind of like "YIP YIP YIP". It's cool to see his excitement at being able to get his ideas across to everyone.

Also, Leo has applied his brain explosion to his Hush-a-Bye class. He has really started mimicking the sounds and rhythms that we sing to him and has really taken to performing along to actions in class (walking in a circle holding hands, hopping, clapping, etc.) It's really cool to watch!

There are a couple of cute things that Leo does now that should also be mentioned. Within the last week, Leo has started delivering killer raspberries to everybody's exposed parts: arms, bellies, legs, whatever! Also, Leo has started giving the cutest little kisses - he puckers up, closes in for the kill (he prefers the lips) and then closes with a little smacking sound. They really are awesome. We now present a raspberry attack video, as well as a video of Leo making Lego people kiss.



Oh yeah, here's another cutie of Leo killing an ice cream cone.

The last couple of weeks

Ugh. Bring on the spring. So the past two weeks here have really been something else. Let's start with the good stuff. We had a great visit with our friend Jen from Toronto - it was her first time seeing the kids since I took my leave so Leo was a very different boy. As per usual, we had a great time together hanging out, catching up, eating great food and having a couple of adventures, including Winterlude.


Leo loves snowballs!

Max and Daddy tag team a Beavertail.

Mommy and Max check out an ice sculpture.

The Monday morning after Jen left, Leo and I were going up the stairs from the basement and I let my guard down at just the wrong time. Leo logrolled down all 13 wooden stairs onto our tiled basement floor. It was pretty horrifying to watch. Leo grew an instant goose egg on his forehead and was really upset. It took him about half an hour to settle down and that's when the monitoring phase began. I kept a close eye on Leo all day, pretty nervous that he'd done some real damage. However, Leo's mood, behaviour and balance were all normal throughout the day. His nap was a little longer than usual, but his appetite was also normal. All in all, Leo has bounced back nicely. I'm posting a couple of visuals of the goose egg and ensuing bruise. Enjoy.





Had to put this video in here. For the longest time, Leo has been saying "Dumpaday" to himself over and over again. Not sure what it means. Sometimes, he just says it. Sometimes it's a song. Anyway, I had to film it for posterity...and it definitely shows the bumps and bruises pretty well.

OK, so by the end of last week, Leo seemed to be A-OK and I was psyched to get out and do something with the kids this week. However, in the middle of the night on Sunday, Leo started vomiting for a few hours. This was followed by a couple of days of nasty diapers and a horrendous rash. Wednesday morning, things weren't improving and so I took Leo in to the clinic. Diagnosis: double ear infection. That's four in four months. I mentioned this to the doctor to see if it would raise an eyebrow. However, it seemed like this was still within the realm of normalcy. Doc suggested that the infection accounted for the tummy issues, but then there was more, er, upheaval Wednesday night and....drumroll....Max joined the party Thursday night. I have a hard time believing that the two sicknesses were not coincidental and now Holly has a bout as well. So I guess I'm the last domino to fall. Thankfully, Leo's back in the game and after a couple more days, Max should be up and about again. In the meantime, this has been a crazy first exposure to family-of-four sickness. Obviously it won't be the last, so we're taking notes :)

P.S. Holly and I took this awesome "time lapse" series of photos. The first is at the doctor's office Friday morning, the middle ones are on the couch on Saturday and the last is at the mall Saturday night (when Holly was at her lowest point, I took the kids out to the mall to get some air). Yes, that is a baby seat that he is in.

Random January content

Before getting into the excitement that has been the past week, I have another batch of pictures and videos for all of you. Here goes.


New Year's Day - Max and Mommy hanging out in the Market eating Beavertails. Word on the street is that the Market is a pretty sketchy place to be the morning after New Years...lots of people looking like zombies.

This is Leo in his element. How high can I get off the ground, be reasonably sure that I'm not going to hurt myself, yet look like I'm in a really precarious position? My favourite is when he drags a step-stool into the middle of the floor and gets on top, saying "Jump! Jump!".

No caption needed.

So they had these Disney Princesses tattoos at Maddie's 3rd birthday party. We thought we'd have some fun with one. The best part is that, because his tummy is such a low-use surface, the tattoo stuck around for about two weeks.

McDonald's dinner+empty bag=dress-up time.


Welcome to Max-hearts-Maddie corner. Can't remember why the pumpkin outfit came out that night...

We went to see a friend play hockey at a community rink one night and Max was fascinated with the penalty box. I lifted him into it and he freaked out. Put it on the list of things Max is irrationally afraid of, which is still topped by opening the drain while Max is still in the tub.

After the brutally cold January weather cleared out, Max and Leo were pretty willing to play outside. Especially in our backyard, where we've cleared out some space on our patio. The kids don't really like deep snow, but they do love shoveling and trying to make snowballs.

Yes, this is Holly supervising 4 kids in one restaurant booth, none of whom were older than 3 years, 4 months. We all went to the Newport for the 3rd birthdays of Max & Leo's friends, Rosie and Lily. Lots of kids. Great food. A super fun time.

A caregiver of one of Max's classmates taught him this one. He thinks it's hilarious.


This was the first day Leo showed me he could kind of carry a tune.