Leon N

Quick Update: 1,000 days of Leon!

2011-03-21T15:07:00.001-07:00

(I've got tons of posts queued up waiting to be edited and knit together, but in the meantime, Leon turned 1,000 days old yesterday!)

1 [marco@server 3:05pm] ~> leon-days.pl
1001 (143.00 weeks) 2.75 years

Long awaited behaviors

2010-02-13T16:31:00.000-08:00

Two things we'd expected Leon would do long ago, he's suddenly started. He loves swimming, and has for a long time. He's an accomplished swimmer (for his age) and even dives to pick up toys with relatively little assistance.

But until recently, he's never done the first thing thing they teach in toddler swim class: as of last week, he blows bubbles! Until it's time to swim or dive, that is.

Also, he's finally beginning to appreciate naps. Today he actually lay down on a nap pad, asked for milk, and ended up falling asleep on the couch after he'd finished his bottle. He only slept an hour, but this is a big step up from being rocked to sleep in his stroller, traditionally the best way together him quality nap time. Perhaps he's learning from the other kids at daycare.

Finally, I think we have confirmation on Jean's theory. He hasn't had any winter tomatoes, and he hasn't thrown up since. Jean's idea is that unlike summer tomatoes, which have lots of sugar in them, winter tomatoes are mostly acidic. He gobbles them like summer tomatoes, which is too much for his system, and they come back out!

Just like for peaches, we'll wait until later this year to resume enjoying tomatoes.

Eventful weekend?

2010-02-01T07:39:00.001-08:00

Recently on evening walks, Leon has discovered that he loves the moon. "Moon! Moon!" he'll exclaim, while pointing and searching the sky.

Also this month he'll repeat words if you ask nicely and persist.

Stayed out late at a Lindsay Wildlife Museum party on Saturday night. He pushed a two year old girl out of the way, but smitten by her three year old sister, who could pick him up two inches off the ground!

He's still throwing up, this Saturday at Costco almost immediately after eating the tomatoes out of my Caesar salad. A possible pattern is emerging? We will try withholding tomatoes (and citrus for good measure, since that's the only recent addition to his diet) for a while.

New Tricks

2010-01-20T22:06:00.000-08:00

In the past, we've posted to this blog using the first-person narrative style. I think that seemed a little saccharine, and got boring pretty quickly. There's only so many times you can you can write things like, "Ooh! These round things turn out to be potatoes," without sounding repetitive.

However, I often find myself faithfully trying to relate Leon's latest behaviors to his grandmother when she visits. I figure these little events could stand to be recorded, if for no other reason then that I'll be able to answer Leon's questions about himself when he grows up. ("When did I learn to count?" "Gee, I can't remember exactly when...") For those of you that we haven't shared the good news with yet, Leon has a very special present that'll be delivered a week or two after his second birthday. This blog might hopefully be a good way of recording his reactions to a new baby in the house.

So, let's give "microblogging" a try, in the hope that it's more useful and entertaining than nothing at all.

Here's some recent history, just to catch up to the present. Leon has an expansive vocabulary in sign language, and continues to learn more signs. His first sign was, 'milk,' which probably also meant Mommy for a time. We all learn new signs from a series of DVDs called, "Signing Time." Recently we've been trying to get him to use multi-sign words like, "good morning," "breakfast (eat morning)," and, "pajamas (sleep clothes)." He also speaks single words, and picks them up equally quickly. His first spoken word was, 'more,' as in, "more food please."

True to his Chinese-Italian background, he loves food. His favorite food is undeniably cheese, but any sort of berries are tops on his list as well. He isn't very picky, but will gladly ignore mushy vegetables if there's meat of any kind. He is as likely to hold a spoon (usually in his left hand), as he is to pick food out of his bowl. He eats oatmeal every morning, and recently we put some dried cranberries in to jazz it up a little.

Leon is inevitably exposed to technology. He is fascinated by my iPhone and laptop, but not for any reason you might guess. He sees both devices as wonderful ways of viewing pictures of himself. He learned this from my laptop's screensaver. Any time he sees either device, he goes to it and pleads, "Bibi! Bibi," to get us to start a slideshow. We try to limit his TV time, but without it, Jean would probably never manage weeknight dinners. Occasionally he points to the TV and demands, "Street!," hoping we'll turn on Sesame Street. If I give him an old Nintendo 64 controller, he'll sit and "play" a video game with me for a short while.

He's a very active boy. He barely managed lying on his back, and hated tummy time. When he was approximately 8 months old, Leon stopped playing with any toys and concentrated on hauling himself up to a standing position. He walked shortly afterward, and now he runs. He only sits still for TV, and usually gets bored before the end of an episode of Sesame Street or Signing Time. For Christmas, Leon got a variety of musical instruments, including a xylophone and bongo drums. He loves to hammer on them.

About seven months ago, we realized that children need to be taught how to go to sleep, and that we had no idea how to do so. We'd been letting him stay up until he got tired, sometimes 10pm or later. This was a big mistake, so we read a few books and gathered some advice. Now we start the bedtime routine at 7:30pm, and he's typically in his crib shortly after 8:00pm. We tried letting him "cry it out," which sort of worked, but was never satisfying. Now, I stay with him till he's asleep. This is less stressful, and he realizes that the crib isn't a terrible prison to which he's abandoned when we're done with him every night. Some nights, he even skips story reading, and points straight to his crib. Unfortunately, he's recently started waking up terrifically early. Perhaps the winter storms are waking him up. We try not to go to him until 06:00am. If we do so, he won't fall back asleep, and we'll all be exhausted. For example, last night he was restless from 02:40 to 04:00am! After alternately dozing and crying for 80 minutes, however, he finally fell back asleep. We all slept late, past 07:30am!

This is turning into a much longer post than I'd intended to write (from my phone, no less), so I'll get to the recent stuff.

This weekend, we attended a potluck and had dinner at an Ethiopian restaurant. Leon stuffed himself with enthusiasm. So much so that he threw up, both days! Before this, he hasn't so much as spit up in months. Cleaning the restaurant's unfortunately fabric-covered chair was challenging. It gave me a great excuse to grab the check, though. We left an enormous tip.

As I mentioned, we've recently had abnormally stormy and wet weather. Several times I've resorted to escaping the house by taking my two L's (Leon and Luna) to my high school. There, we walk underneath the covered walkways, protected from the rain. He loves to dance in the puddles (see video posted to flickr), but I leash him with a monkey-backpack so that he doesn't get totally soaked, as he did that first time.

Anyways, Leon tolerates hats and hoods now, but mittens are still too cumbersome. His poor hands turn pink on these walks! So, yesterday, I tried something different - I stuck his hands into the tiny pockets of his fleece jacket. It worked like a charm and he got it immediately. For the first time ever, Leon can walk with his hands in his pockets. Now he can point and touch as much as he likes, then retun his hands to a cozy place. I feel better about taking him to the high school and mornings at the dog park now that he can do more to keep warm.

Punk Baby

2008-09-28T23:07:00.000-07:00

Coming home from the dog park tonight, I wanted to let my mom and dad know how cranky I was so I cried really loud. Then my dad turned on the radio and I heard some punk music that was so interesting that right away I forgot to cry.

I was pretty cranky and wasn't really tired for bed, even though Dad said I was, so I stayed awake. Dad thought I might like some more music to help me sleep. I've decided I like Green Day. But only the songs with heavy drumbeats. I didn't like Wake Me Up When September Comes. So I woke up when that song came and cried until my mom came to feed me.

Creeping Baby

2008-09-27T23:25:00.000-07:00

I went to see my Uncle Jason today for his early birthday dinner. I think he doesn't really know what to do with me cuz he looked kinda uncomfortable holding me at first. His girlfriend Rebecca is much better at holding me and she doesn't ask "What do I do now?"

Dad wanted to show off how good I am at creeping now. So they put me on a big square coffee table. I still need help right now so Aunt Amy had to put her hands behind my feet so I could push off them. But she wasn't pushing me. I was chugging away on my own power.

Playing with food is fun

2008-09-24T22:03:00.000-07:00

My dad took my mom to Postino in Lafayette for her birthday. My dad was holding me in his lap while he was eating and I decided it would be interesting to grab at the stuff on his plate. I got food all over my hands. That was a lot more fun than eating the stuff. I think I might play with food a lot more in the future.

Three!

2008-09-23T17:02:00.000-07:00

I'm three months today! Boy I'm getting old.

More Tummy Time

2008-09-20T23:29:00.000-07:00

I tried holding my head up more today. I think I'm getting better at it.

My parents took me to A Taste of the Himalayas in Berkeley tonight. My grandparents were there and held me the entire time. There really wasn't anything on the table that I wanted to eat so my grandparents walked me around the restaurant a lot. I especially like this one sculpture on the wall that had a lot of lines and lights on it.

Tummy Time

2008-09-19T18:58:00.000-07:00

My mom put me on my stomach today. I got tired of just keeping my face on my activity mat, so I tried to hold my head up a little but it was kinda hard.

Sitting and Laughing

2008-09-17T14:51:00.000-07:00

Today, I tried bending my body up. Usually, my mom or dad help me sit up. But today, I wanted to see if I could do it myself. I didn't get very far, though.

I also tried a little baby laugh to see what that was like.

Things move

2008-09-14T15:45:00.000-07:00

I usually wave my arms around when I play was on my activity mat. Today, I tried moving my legs around in the air. The hanging things moved around too. I wonder if that's related.

Dad says I'm better at articulating with my fingers whatever that means.

Grumpy

2008-09-12T23:44:00.000-07:00

I like my grandma cuz she's always happy to see me even when I feel kinda grumpy.

I found them!

2008-09-10T13:41:00.000-07:00

It's hard being a baby. I got so tired playing on my activity mat, that I fell asleep on it. Playing is hard work.

A weird thing happened while mom was changing me. I saw these things appear above me so I tried grabbing at them. My mom said the flying objects were my toes. So that's what everybody at my dad's family reunion was talking about. They kept asking if I had found my toes yet.

Later, I was kinda tired but I didn't know how to go to sleep, so my mom held me on the washer during the spin cycle until I calmed down enough so I could fall asleep.

Sleep Sheep

2008-09-08T21:39:00.000-07:00

My Grandma's Sora's friends gave me a Sleep Sheep. I like it cuz it makes relaxing sounds. Sometimes it sounds like my mom's heartbeat, sometimes like the rain and sometimes like the ocean. I was kinda tired and cranky in the afternoon, but my mom turned on the Sleep Sheep and I went to sleep.

More babies in mirrors

2008-09-06T16:29:00.000-07:00

I started playing with the mirror on my activity mat and I saw another baby in it whom I liked to look at.

Who was that baby in the mirror?

2008-09-04T11:27:00.000-07:00

Dad was holding me in front of a mirror and there was someone who looked like dad holding a baby who was really interesting to look at. I tried to reach out to him and he tried to reach out to me.

Icarus

2008-09-03T23:25:00.000-07:00

My Aunt Amy's dog, Icarus, sat with me while I was visiting my grandparents.

I'm a volcano

2008-09-01T15:10:00.000-07:00

When I wake up in the morning, I like to eat, burp, poop and hang out with mom for a while and smile at her because she really likes it when I do that. This morning, I was sitting on mom's lap after eating. I hadn't burped yet, so I thought it would be fun to spit out ALL my milk all over me and Mom. Dad said I looked like a volcano. He said he wouldn't have believed it if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes. It was funny at first, but then I got hungry again. But that's okay. I like to eat.

It was really funny to pretend to be a volcano and I was in a good mood today. I haven't been in such a good mood since those yucky shots. I think it was easier to sleep today because I was in a better mood.

I even decided to try to roll over today, but I only could get onto my side.

Go Bears!

2008-08-30T22:07:00.000-07:00

I didn't feel very sleepy today so mom spent a lot of time with me. She read me a whole bunch of books to try to entertain me.

I watched my first Cal football game today. The Golden Bears won. I think I like bears. Mom and Dad said it was good that I like bears cuz maybe I'll go to UC Berkeley for college. They said I could go other places, too, if I want. They said anywhere except for some place called The Farm. They said they would pay for anything but The Farm.

Hungry

2008-08-29T11:06:00.000-07:00

I slept a lot yesterday and missed a whole bunch of meals. So I decided to wake up a lot last night to eat. I figure I can eat whether it's light or dark. It's the same to me and I was hungry a lot. My mom seemed kinda tired today, though.

Fever

2008-08-28T19:04:00.000-07:00

I felt very hot and yucky today. My mom said I had a fever because of my immunizations.

She gave me a bath to cool off. I've grown so much that I don't have to use the newborn sling in the tub anymore. Then she gave me some baby tylenol and I slept most of the day.

Yucky Shots

2008-08-27T13:01:00.000-07:00

Waah! I had to get my immunizations today. At first, I thought the lady was going to be nice. But then she stuck this weird syrupy stuff in my mouth that tasted nothing like milk. I don't know why I would want to eat such weird tasting stuff so I just let a bunch of it drool out of my mouth. But I accidentally swallowed some of it. Yuck!

Then the lady stuck me in the legs three times! I did not like it one bit. My mom held me and let the lady do it. Still, I'm glad my mom was there because she hugged me afterwards.

Drool and Weddings

2008-08-23T23:54:00.000-07:00

Hey! I'm two months today!

My mom got really excited because she saw a little bit of drool under my lip for the first time while I was visiting with my Grandma Sora and her cousin Ellen. What Mom doesn't know is that I'm going to make lots more drool. This is just the beginning.

I went to my first wedding today and met a baby named Maddox. He was really mature and a lot older than me. I think he was three months old!

Books, elephants and fingers

2008-08-17T19:52:00.000-07:00

My Grandma Sora read to me again today. I really like the funny voices she makes when she reads to me.

I'm really excited about learning to grab things. While I was on my activity mat, I grabbed the elephant's ear twice.

I'm also getting better and better at finding my hands and fingers in my mouth.

All this excitement is really tiring.