Leo graduates to big-boy stroller seat

It's been a long time coming, but the visit to the good doctor Van Vleck today gave us a push to switch Leo to the big-boy seat in his stroller. Why is this important? The seat is rather flat the way car seats are without a special surround for his head, so he has to work to keep an upright posture. This is turn is good for his back strength and, hopefully, will lead to him sitting up soon outside the stroller. Additionally, the seat allows better ventilation which is great news for the little guy, who has been sweating like crazy in DC's August heat.

Leo REALLY enjoying his bath

It's crazy how far we've come from the first time we put little Leo in a bathtub, when at first he would cry, and then he would just lie there passively. Now, bath time is often the thing that makes him happiest when he's tired in the evening (OK, second happiest :), and he really has a great time - just see for yourselves:

And here is a reminder of what it was like at the beginning (minus the crying, the video was carefully edited :)

Leo says "mama"!

For the past week or so Leo has become very vocal, constantly trying to tell us something. Needless to say Tea and I have been trying to give him a gentle nudge in the right direction, barraging the poor guy with "ma ma ma" and "ta ta ta", although "bla bla bla" is usually what it sounds like:

But then out of nowhere on Saturday Leo gave us a beautiful "ma ma ma". Of course this is not quite the same as "mama", and it was not directed at Tea per se, but it's a step in the right direction! Now, Leo, how about some "narewolwerowany rewolwerowcze..."? :)

Success part 2: The Sequel!

The tradition of posting boring pictures of empty bottles continues, but as with "Success, part 1" there is a good reason for this. Namely, this empty bottle signifies the first time Leo drank formula since when he was 1 month old! This is very important for us because this way we have a backup in case milk runs out. That said our main aim right now remains to introduce Leo to solids, and that is going slowly... 

Leo loves Star Wars! (kind of)

When it comes to choosing hobbies or general tastes I think it's fair to say both Tea and I believe that it'll be absolutely up to Leo to figure out what he likes in life. That said, no one said we can't give him a little "nudge" in the right direction, plus it's common knowledge that Star Wars (the real ones) are the best movies ever made!

P.S. I'm already on the lookout for a black baby hat in the shape of Darth Vader's helmet ;)

Leo's "I want to crawl" exercise

Leo really, really wants to start crawling, but while he has the strength he does not quite have the coordination... Either he pushes away with his arms, but then he can't get his butt up, or he pushes away with his legs, gets the butt up, but the nose dives straight into the ground :) As you can see that does not deter him from trying, and oh boy is he letting me know it's hard work!

Success!

This empty bottle is really good news!

You're probably wondering what's so special about an empty bottle? Well, it's actually great news because Leo just emptied a bottle of milk which had been frozen. You see, as any guide would tell you we would freeze any extra milk which Leo did not eat in the freezer, but unfortunately recently we found that Leo does not want to eat that milk! And since he does not yet eat solids nor takes formula (we're currently on the lookout for one he would like) that meant that we were completely reliant on fresh milk. But now we tried "scalding" (almost boiling) the milk to kill off the enzyme that made the milk taste bad to Leo, and voila!, it seems we found the source of the problem. From now on we just need to scald the milk before we freeze it. The only question now is what do we do with all the other milk we already have in the freezer that he won't take - hopefully he'll change his mind one day, otherwise we'll have to donate it.

Leo takes over the bottle

"I'll take it over from here, thank you very much!"

The other day when we went shopping Leo decided to take matters into his own hands and took the bottle from me as I was giving him water. Needless to say he was not as "efficient" as I would be, and most of it ended up on his bib, but it's nice to have an independent son who's not scared of trying something new :)

Leo and Mama play peek-a-boo

Who said babies in the 21st century need TVs and games to be entertained? :)

Leo is slowly outgrowing his "lazyboy" chair

When Leo was born and we put him in this chair his head hardly reached the "bunny ears", now the they're more like a collar :) Guess we should accelerate that sitting training so he can see us when we put him on his activity mat on the floor.