New Video: Leo discovers new toy on the Exersaucer

Leo is slowly discovering new toys on the Exersaucer - yesterday it was the spinning triangles, but who know's what it'll be today or tomorrow!

4. month checkup

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Today we went to Dr Van Vleck for our 4. month checkup, and this time around Leo was a champ! He was super good, playful and smiley, winning over the good doctor. He is now 6.9kg (15lbs 4oz), which is still a relatively-lean 60th percentile, and measures 68.5cm (27in) in length, which still puts him in the 95th+ percentile. What did change is that his head is now 43.5cm in circumference, which means he's up to 85th percentile - seems his head size is slowly catching up to Tata's...

Apart from measurements Leo also got a chance to show off his best tummy-time and head-holding moves, which earned him a strong "A" from the good doctor. Just check out the little guy in action:



Finally, though, we had to get some more shots, which Leo definitely did not like, but manned-up and stopped crying after less than half a minute! Afterwards he just remained quiet and soon fell asleep in Tea's arms:

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Happy 4th Monthday Leo!

Leo's present to Tea was that he slept 9 hours last night, from 8:30pm until 5:30am! His present to me was a huge poop this morning...

If you were wondering how Cheryl deals with two babies...

...here's your answer:

"yummy!"

New pictures: Leo's 16th week

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"Look at the camera!"

This past week was one of two halves - the first was getting as many moments with the little guy before Tea went back to work full-time, I went back to working full-time on my research and Leo was handed off to Ms Cheryl. As you can see, we had a lot of good times, some of which were pretty goofy :)

The gang back together over brunch

Leo was the best little baby too, charming everyone at the Saturday brunch, and then falling asleep just as our food arrived! Generally we took the weekend to relax and prepare for the week ahead, when the nanny-share would start at our place, so I decided to celebrate Sunday morning by spending an hour-and-a-half cleaning the fridge so that it's presentable to the guests :) On Sunday evening Ruti came over to keep Tea company at home, while I went with Luis to see the ultimate guys' movie of the summer, Hangover II.

"Tata, this salad looks yummy!"

Then the week began, Tea went to work, I went to study in Caribou Coffee... and you know what? The world did not end! Sure, we don't get to spend as much time as we did (and would like to) with our favorite little man, but it's very comforting for us to know he's in Cheryl's capable hands, and his huge smile and laughter every time we pick him up at 6pm is a testimony to the fact that he's being treated very well! Plus, this way we get to enjoy every moment with spend with the little guy!

"I'm the king of the world!"

P.S. It was a great week, but if there was one thing we could put on top of the wishlist for next week it would be lower temperatures during the day - on Wednesday and Thursday it was over 35C, so Leo had to stay home both days! Ultimately it's better than going outside, just a little bit boring...

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Leo Loves the "Airplane"!

This is our new discovery - Leo loves to play "airplane"! We "brrrr" him up and then he goes "ziuuuu" down, sometimes he'll even go "ta ta ta" when he sees enemy airplanes :) There are only two "buts" in all this fun: (a) Leo still drools like a sheepdog so our shirts are very quickly wet, and (b) since Tea and I are not in the best shapes of our lives our legs only last 2-3 minutes with a ~15 pound baby on top...

Leo Loves Cheryl!

It's been three days and so far Leo is loving his time with Cheryl! What do they do exactly? In her own words, they "sang a few songs, made funny faces, talked about the color green" :) She also makes sure he gets plenty of tummy time exercise, which is good for our little tike's development. Oh, and somehow he always takes a long, hour-and-a-half nap with Cheryl even though he never does that with us :( Hope her good influence rubs off, we'll see this weekend when we spend the whole day with him...

Leo the American Boy!

It's official - Leo is now a citizen of United States of America! OK, so he became a citizen the moment he was born, and we even had a birth certificate saying as much, but it was not until we received the blue passport in the mail that it finally sank in for us...

Now Tea and I just need for Leo to turn 18 and we can start applying for US citizenship ourselves as part of "family reunification". Though who knows, maybe by then the passport to have will no longer be American, but maybe Chinese or Indian :)

New pictures: Leo's 15th week

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On our way to New York

This was an exciting week, beginning with our second road trip to New York. It was much easier this time, and would have been almost perfect had we not gotten stuck in Manhattan traffic for 2 hours! It was Leo's bed time by then and he was not happy to be in the car. But otherwise, he was quite a good traveler, and slept most of the way.

We had a great time hanging out in Jersey City as well as around Manhattan - we attended several bachelorette activities for our friend Caro. This included brunch at a nice hotel, a recording studio where Caro recorded some great vocals, and yoga in Central Park. Tata Kriss came back just in time on Sunday before the activities became a little bit inappropriate for a baby boy! Leo loved meeting Caro and her sisters, and was quite a flirt with the girls. Aunt Camille is proving to be quite a natural with him and even put him to sleep! 

Yummy Sophie!

Back in DC, Leo is developing new skills. He now holds his head up on his own without any problems, loves sitting and even standing. He has also started grabbing things and loves his new toy Sophie the giraffe - a gift from Zeynep who works with Nana Stamenka.  He is also more talkative than ever and loves talking to his aunt Ruti who is visiting us often.

We are getting ready for next week when our nanny Cheryl starts full time.  We hope Leo will enjoy spending time with her and his friend Violet.

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New pictures: Leo's 14th week

A perfect family portrait (never mind the borrowed baby :)

Another exciting week, which started off with Shannon, Dan and myself testing out the double stroller on little Violet and Leo. The stroller, a.k.a. Baby Ferrari, passed with flying colors, and both of them were comfortable in their respective positions.

That's one lucky little baby

On Saturday Tea's friend Semida came for a visit, and was an instant hit with little Leo who even, good boy that he is, took a break from fussing to be all smiley for his auntie. Semida, who is from Romania and has several siblings said that he's one cute baby, which I take to be an objective statement on good authority from a person who's had their fair exposure to babies over the years :)

Just your normal Sunday afternoon in DC:)

Sunday was equally exciting for our little explorer, as we went for Matteo's birthday barbecue in Deep Creek Park. We were treated to some amazing grilled meat and other Italian/Argentine yumminess, and since I (Kriss) had some of the fine Argentine Malbec Tea drove us back home. And I am glad to report that the drive was positively uneventful, at least after we got out of the parking lot where Tea wanted to rearrange the bumpers on another car :)

"num, num, num..."

However, not all is smiles and fun - this week Leo started teething and while no, this does not mean his teeth are already coming, it does mean his gums are very itchy and can hurt, which is why sometimes he'll cry for apparently no reason. What helps is a mild numbing gel we put on his gums, as well as the contraption you see on the picture - a chilled teething ring :)

"Mommy, Daddy, I like this one - can she stay?"

To top off such an eventful week Ruti surprised us all by moving to DC for the summer, to our great delight. But none is more delighted than little Leo, who immediately took his new Auntie!



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