Christmas Day

Our new tradition (started last year...two years in a row qualifies as a tradition, right?) is to host Aaron's in-town family members at our house on Christmas Day, which is also Granny G.'s birthday. Granny, Grandpaw, and Auntie Sarah came over around 3:30 and played with Leif for a few hours while I puttered in and out of the kitchen, finishing getting dinner ready. Since Granny G. has a history of showing up to babysit with a Matchbox car or two hidden in her purse, Leif had a *hunch* that some of the presents piled in the corner of the living room might possibly be car-related. Smart kid. Suffice it to say that Leif's collection now contains just about every variety of Matchbox car, truck, and van under the sun, and he is happy as a little clam -- that is, if there are any clams out there that go "Vroom, vroom, honk, honk, honk!" all day long. I am truly curious to see how long this car obsession lasts and what (if anything) will eventually displace it. For now, it makes him happy and keeps him occupied, so I am all for it!

Once it came time to sing "Happy Birthday" to Granny later in the evening, we discovered what a good device singing that song was to make Leif pay attention and smile for pictures. He LOVES the song and consistently grins, claps, and exclaims, "Yaaay! Again, please!" after every time it is sung. We probably sang it a dozen times over the course of the rest of the evening, either at Leif's request or for a photo op. I hope he still likes the song this much by the time his own birthday rolls around at the end of February!

Leif with the birthday girl


Hug for Auntie Sarah


A happy boy with Auntie Sarah


"Happy birthday to you..."


"Yaaaaay! Again, please!"


Trying out his big-boy trike from Auntie Sarah


Thank you again to Granny, Grandpaw, and Auntie Sarah for joining us for a wonderful Christmas celebration!

Christmas Eve

Per tradition, we spent Christmas Eve with my (Amy's) side of the family at my parents' house. Conveniently, Leif picked that day to start enthusiastically saying "Cheese!" and smiling broadly for the camera (or at least he picked that day to try it out a few times). He had lots of fun climbing on Grandma and Grandpa's living room furniture and playing with the extended family who had gathered for the occasion: Uncle Erik, Aunt Tami, Cousin Vivian, Great-Uncle Timo, Great-Grandma B., Grandma, Grandpa, and Great-Aunt Mirja. Although he was still not very interested in the process of unwrapping presents, he was very pleased with the contents of several packages, most notably the new set of Matchbox trucks from Auntie Mirja. Since he happened to have opened those before anything else, we ended up enlisting three-year-old Vivian (an adept and enthusiastic unwrapper of presents) to open the remainder of Leif's gifts for him while he sat nearby, totally absorbed in rolling his trucks around on the rug.

Leif in Matchbox truck heaven


Leif and Vivian awaiting the Christmas Eve smorgasbord




Refrigerator clip magnets: a versatile toy popular with both the under-2 and the over-3 crowds


Upside-down elf in training


Vivian attempting to sign "I love you" with her left hand while her parents smile for the camera


Christmas guests from afar: Great-Grandma B. (Buffalo, NY) and Great-Uncle Timo (Chisholm, MN)




Our gracious hosts: Grandma and Grandpa B. and Great-Aunt Mirja




Thank you, everyone, for the great gifts for Leif, the delicious food, and the fun time!

North Carolina

On Thanksgiving Day, we drove the five hours from Aiken (SC) to Durham (NC) to spend the remainder of our trip with Leif's Cousin Vivian, Uncle Erik, and Aunt Tami (a.k.a. Viv, Uncle Eck, and Aunt T). You'll notice similar themes in the photos below as in the South Carolina blog entry -- entertaining toddlers seems to be all about zoos and children's museums! The Museum of Life and Science in Durham was a big hit, as well.

Leif and Vivian hard at play in Erik and Tami's living room


Riding the nifty train at the Museum of Life and Science


Aaron and Leif getting their cars on in the "Go Zone" at Marbles (the children's museum in Raleigh)


A breakthrough for Leif: While at Marbles, he voluntarily put a hat on his own head for the first time EVER! And he proceeded to walk around with it on for at least five minutes before getting tired of it -- this from the kid who would not keep a hat on for two seconds all summer. We were stunned. Guess next summer we will just have to get him a big, plastic fire fighter helmet and we will be all set.


Tami, Erik, and Vivian -- what a nice family picture, and what a nice family!


On the last full day of our trip, we drove to Asheboro, about an hour and a half from Durham, and spent several hours with Erik and Vivian at the North Carolina Zoo. Aaron, Leif, and I then proceeded to Charlotte to catch our flight home (the next morning), while Erik and Vivian drove back to Durham. A good time was had by all at the zoo, and the rain we had been fearing might dampen our fun thoughtfully waited to begin in earnest until the very moment we were pulling out of the parking lot.

Communing with the plastic animals at the zoo






Erik later reported Vivian's take on our visit (which she declared while they were still in the parking lot at the zoo, just after we had left): "I'm afraid Aaron, Amy, and Leif will have to come visit us in North Carolina every day!" Fortunately, it's only a few weeks until we will be seeing each other again...albeit in Minnesota!

South Carolina

We spent Thanksgiving week plus a couple days on a relaxing vacation to the Carolinas to visit Leif's cousins and their parents. For the first half of the trip, we were warmly welcomed in Aiken, SC, by Leif's Aunt Jessica, Uncle Mitch, and Cousin Rachel -- known in Leif-speak as Auntie Ess, Uncle Itch, and Ach ("H"). We relished the temperatures in the 70s and 80s while we were there, particularly since we had gotten our first winter snowfall in Minnesota the day before we left on our trip. Below are a few photos showing highlights from our time in SC.

Leif had brought a handful of his own Matchbox cars along on the trip, but he was happy to see Rachel had more (and was willing to let him play with them!).


The cousins hard at work on puzzles


Rachel's most common response when I asked her to smile for the camera was either to look away or to stick her tongue out, but I did catch a few nice smiles now and then :-) .


On Tuesday and Wednesday of Thanksgiving week, we drove up to Columbia (SC) to visit several of their kid-friendly attractions, the Riverbanks Zoo and the EdVenture Children's Museum. Rachel seemed pretty enthused about having her car seat installed right next to Leif's and was very generous in sharing her Wheat Thins with him. With a bit of coaching, Leif quickly got the hang of saying "Thanks, Ach!" after each cracker gift.


Riverbanks Zoo


EdVenture




Back at Mitch and Jessica's house in Aiken, Rachel and Leif had a great time hanging out on the living room sofa, especially if Aaron was there to read books to them. There was a big basket of Rachel's books in the corner of the living room, but she always seemed more interested in checking out the books Leif had brought along on the trip. "Good Night, Little Bear" and "The Runaway Bunny" were particular hits.


Leif's other favorite activity at Jessica and Mitch's house was going for "rides" on the back of their very, very patient and tolerant golden retriever, Hunter. This activity (conceived by Aaron) consisted of Aaron holding Leif under the armpits to keep him more or less on Hunter's back for 5-10 seconds as Hunter tried to run away. As soon as each ride ended, Leif would immediately pipe up, "Ride dog again, please!" Hunter was an amazingly good sport about all this. Perhaps he felt he owed us after all the time Aaron and I spent petting him and scratching his ears each evening.


Thank you to Jessica, Mitch, Rachel, and Hunter for their hospitality. We had a great time!

Halloween

Aaron and I are not really into Halloween, so on October 31st this year, we continued our long-standing tradition of turning the lights off and pretending we were not home. However, we did invite the G. and B. clans over for a little Halloween Eve dinner on October 30th, giving Leif an opportunity to try on the snazzy Tigger costume I had picked up for him from the Babies R Us clearance rack the week before. My first attempt to entice him to put it on was an utter failure, however; getting a costume on Leif turned out to be a two-person job. Auntie Sarah and I made a second attempt after dinner and this time were (sort of) successful -- he kept the costume on for at least four minutes! Just enough time for me, Grandma B., and Granny G. to snap a few pictures....

Drooly Tigger


Checking out Grandma B.'s camera


Getting frustrated...need some reassurance from Dad


"Off! Off!" Off!" :( Poor Leif -- guess costume time is over until next year.

Van Cleve Park

Leif's Uncle Erik and Cousin Vivian (now known to Leif as "Viv," which is within reach of his current pronunciation skills) were in town recently to look for a place to live when they and Aunt Tami move back to Minnesota (!!!!!!!!) in December. Actually, for Vivian it will be a move *to* Minnesota, not a move *back to* Minnesota; at nearly 3 1/2, she is a North Carolinian born and raised! In any case, we are all very excited to have them (back) in town.

After the first day's house-hunting appointments were done, Leif and I were able to meet up with Erik and Vivian at Van Cleve Park, a great park located in the Como neighborhood just north of Dinkytown. Erik and I swapped kids for a little while, which meant that Erik got to join Leif in running back and forth across a wooden bridge shouting "Eeeeeeeeee!", while I got to assist Vivian in preparing for some kind of important (imaginary) ceremony and "sweeping out the courtyard" (because "that is a job that grown-ups can do"). Leif also enjoyed playing on the large rock and crawling under/through the interesting bike rack that you see in the pictures below.

We are already looking forward to next spring and many more fun play dates with Erik, Tami, and Vivian at Van Cleve Park!

Legos

Ah, for the days -- could it really be just a few weeks ago?! -- when Leif could play in the back porch in shorts and a t-shirt. Now, increasingly often, I have to tell him it's too cold to play out there...a message he is not very receptive to. He seems to take after his dad and is impervious to the cold.

As you'll see in the video, his lego stacking skills are coming along nicely!

Front entryway

If Leif is ever getting a little stir crazy but I don't want to take him outside for whatever reason (raining, almost nap time, etc.), I just open the door to the front entryway and I can pretty much count on another 10-15 minutes of happy, independent play. Not that there is much space out there, or much of anything in the space that seems all that interesting (at least not to an adult). But Leif still gets inordinate pleasure from playing with the shoes on the shoe rack, trying to pull out the sticky drawers of the storage bench, and now also playing with the lawn furniture cushions that we are temporarily storing there. I will be very sad when the weather gets too cold for him to play out there!

Bath time fun

Leif LOVES bath time, and recently he especially loves to throw all of his bath toys, foam letters, numbers, and "splash cards" (flash cards made of foam that stick to the tub wall when wet) out onto the floor while exclaiming, "Bye, five! Bye, N! Bye, duck!", etc. We didn't manage to capture his most enthusiastic moments of doing this on video, but the following two clips will give you the flavor of bath time with Leif.

Leif, Eric & Hal

I should have included this in the One and a Half Cakes blog post I put up a couple of weeks ago, but I didn't have our new(ish) videos loaded onto the computer yet. At their shared one-and-a-halfth birthday get-together, as you'll note in the video, Eric and Hal were more into interacting and giving things to each other; Leif was more into doing his own thing and protecting his stuff. I'm sure one of these days Leif will discover "MINE!" as his new favorite word. (So far he has not picked up on either "MINE!" or "NO!" -- and hopefully he won't for at least a few more months!)

What does Leify say?

Continuing in the same vein as the last post....

Roaring with Auntie

Leif always has a good time practicing his animal sounds with Auntie Sarah (a.k.a. Auntie Ooh-Ooh Ah-Ah) when she comes over. This video was taken in late August when the G. and B. clans were over to celebrate Leif's one-and-a-halfth birthday.

Big shoes to fill

One of Leif's recent obsessions is putting on Aaron's and my shoes. He's not so intent on walking around in them yet (as his cousin Vivian does in this video at just shy of age 2), although he is beginning to try. For the time being, he mostly seems to get a kick out of the balance challenge posed by simply getting his feet in and out of the shoes without falling over. Even with a nearby wall or someone's hand (or leg, as the case may be) to hold onto, it can be a tricky process. But he is always oh so pleased with the result!

One and a half cakes

For the last year or so, Leif and I have been in a sporadic small play group with two other moms and their little boys who are very close in age: Molly's son Hal is two weeks younger, and Monika's son Eric is a month younger than Leif. We thought the boys turning 18 months old was a good excuse to invite Eric, Hal, and their parents over for dinner and one and a half cakes in mid-September (yes, as I learned, Kowalski's will actually decorate half of a cake for you!). Big boys that they are, all three of them sat at the table and even dug into some cake with their kiddie forks. It was fun having all three dads there as well, since our play group is usually just moms and kids.

(For comparison with the pictures below, here is a picture of Leif and Hal meeting for the first time in August 2010, at age ~5 months.)

Happy one and a half, Leif, Eric, and Hal!




Monika provides some technical assistance with the cake

State Fair

We made our annual trip to the State Fair on August 31st. The highlights for Leif were running around in the streets (he especially seemed to like the crosswalk outside the Eco Experience building, where he kept running back and forth on the zebra stripes); sampling my fish taco and the non-chocolatey parts of a few Sweet Martha's cookies; checking the doors on all the parked trucks he could find; and grooving to polka music with a mob of senior citizens at one of the live entertainment stages. He also was pretty excited about the nifty electric wheelchairs some of the seniors were driving.

We tried out a "safety harness" (backpack with a leash) briefly while we were in the Swine Barn. Not surprisingly, being tethered was NOT a big hit with Leif; it lasted maybe 10 minutes, if that. Luckily, it was not a very busy morning at the Fair, so he did not have too many opportunities to try running off into a dense crowd of people!





Leif was all tuckered out after a busy morning at the Fair. He is generally not big on napping in his stroller these days, but as soon as I gave him his "emergency" pacifier that I still carry buried deep in his diaper bag, he was OUT! While Leif snoozed for the next hour, Aaron and I enjoyed a leisurely walk back to our car (by way of the Art Building).

Oven mitts

Leif continues to enjoy taking things out of the kitchen drawers and throwing them on the floor -- and on rare occasions, even putting a few of them back. (All right, admittedly, what he would generally *prefer* to do when playing in the kitchen is to climb up on the low bar on the front of the oven and try to turn all the burner knobs, but when I manage to dissuade him from doing that, emptying drawers is a reasonable consolation activity.)

On this particular day, he found the oven mitts, and even managed to figure out how to put them on. Not rocket science, I know, but I'm not sure he's ever seen an adult put them on, since I don't generally turn the oven on when he is around. Maybe oven mitts are just one of those things that are intuitive for toddlers, like iPhones.