Dining room table

Leif has discovered how fun it is to play under the dining room table. I find this especially gratifying, since I can actually remember how much I liked playing under the dining room table as a child (probably until at least the age of 7!).

Also, since our table has a couple of removable leaves that are held in place by little locks, playing under the table gives Leif another chance to use one of his favorite words: "Ock!" And he is slowly but surely catching on to the fact that he has to wait until he gets *all the way* out from under the table before he stands up. Ouch.

MN Zoo with Auntie Sarah

Back in early June, Leif and I enjoyed a sunny Sunday outing to the MN Zoo with Auntie Ooh-ooh Ah-Ah, otherwise known as Auntie Sarah. We trekked way out to the far end of the zoo to check out the playground, which turned out to be rather disappointingly small (although Leif found it fascinating that they had little rocks on the ground in lieu of sand).


A short walk beyond the playground was the mini-farm, where Leif enjoyed running around the cow barn (although he seemed more interested in exploring the building than actually looking at the cows) and ogling the tractors. One of the tractors even had steps next to it, so he and Auntie Sarah were able to climb up and sit on it. Time for a photo op!

The world is my jungle gym

Father's Day

We did not do much for Father's Day since it was also Marathon Recovery Day and we were driving back from Duluth, but ever-thoughtful Leif had at least gotten a card and a gift (two dad-themed board books) for his pa.

Father's Day hug!


The card (pretty eloquent for a one-year-old, I thought): "DEAR DADDY, THANK YOU FOR REDING ME BOOKS, CHANGING MY POOPY PANTS, AND HELPING ME FIND ALL THE DOGGIES IN THE WORLD. I THINK WE HAVE FOUND MOST OF THEM, BUT THER MAY BE A FEW LEFT TO GO. WE CAN MAKE THAT OUR PROJEKT FOR NEXT YEAR! LOVE, LEIF"


Aaron reads Leif "Daddy Calls Me Doodlebug"

Grandma's Marathon

On June 18, Aaron ran Grandma's Marathon in Duluth, setting a new personal record time of 3:53. I was there to cheer him on at Mile 19, where the race course transitions from Scenic Highway 61 to urban Duluth. Here he is, still smiling!


Leif had unfortunately lost interest in watching the race by that time and was off with Grandpa B. walking around the block and attempting to open the doors of all of the parked cars he could find.


On a sad note, my maternal grandmother passed away just a few days before the marathon at the age of 89. Leif was never able to meet his great-grandma in person (she was in a nursing home and we had not made it up to visit her), but I am glad that all three of us were able to attend her funeral in Chisholm prior to heading to Duluth for Aaron's race. We love you, Grandma, and we will miss you!

Maine

In mid-May, Leif had a chance to meet many members of my (Amy's) extended family for the first time at a reunion in Biddeford Pool, Maine, where my cousin's husband was graduating from medical school. Unfortunately, Aaron and I did a pretty poor job of remembering to actually dig our camera out and use it at opportune moments; I guess we were too busy having fun! In Leif's case, "fun" on this trip largely meant having Mom, Dad, Grandma, and Grandpa take turns watching him while he opened and closed various doors around the rental house approximately 8,000 times, turned the oven light on and off, rocked in the rocking chairs on the front porch, and practiced climbing up and down the stairs in the kitchen. He seemed to take meeting all the new relatives in stride, although he found he was not quite able to hold his own yet around his vivacious three-year-old cousins, Vivian and Rosie, who sometimes had very firm ideas about what little kids were and were not supposed to do. No doubt next time he sees them he'll be somewhat steadier on his feet and better able to hold up his end of the discussion.

We did manage to get *a few* good photos -- enough for you to get the flavor of the trip!

Leif with me, his uncle Erik and cousin Vivian


Leif meets his great-uncle Gaylord


Leif meets Cousin Susan and shows off his teething drool (the last of his one-year molars popped through on this trip)


Thanks to the rainy forecast, Leif scored his first raincoat at the beginning of the trip, an adorable red coat covered in doggies that was on display in the entry to Whole Foods, of all places.


Despite having dreary weather pretty much all week long (we did see **one hour** of sunshine on the last full day of the trip), we did manage to make it out to the beach across the street from our rental house a number of times. Leif showed some interest in the ocean and recognized that it was "wa wa," but he generally seemed much more interested in walking on the rocks. His frequent exclamation "Ock!" over the course of the week meant either "I want to walk on the rocks" or "I want to rock in the rocking chair," depending on the environment at hand.




Early on in the week, we took a trip up to the Portland Children's Museum for some indoor entertainment. After learning that we could get in for free using our membership card from the Minnesota Children's Museum (a member of the American Children's Museums consortium), we went back two more times! Leif especially enjoyed the water table, a music/rhythm exhibit that had a video of a traditional Nigerian dance playing on continuous repeat, and a mock spaceship where he could press buttons and toggle switches to his heart's content.


We also had a chance to see my good friends Tamara (in Boston) and Shuli (in Portland, ME) and their families several times over the course of the week, rounding out an enjoyable trip.

Leif uses his words

Leif has been trying to say (and sign) more and more words lately, which is both entertaining and useful. You can hear two of his favorites ("gah ga" for cracker/food/eat and "nana" for banana) in this video. Another frequent one is "wa wa," although he apparently was not thirsty when I was shooting this. For posterity, here are some of the other current entries in Leif's budding lexicon:

- knot (he can sometimes pronounce this fairly accurately, although it often comes out as "non" or "na")
- "ba" (for bear or ball)
- "nen" (for muffin or again)
- "guck" (for truck or duck)
- "gock" (for walk or lock)
- "ka" (for car, and often for other wheeled objects like bikes and strollers)
- "woof" (exclaimed just about whenever he sees a dog, or any of the various other four-legged creatures he thinks are dogs)
- "dah" (for dog, although these days it seems he is more likely to go straight for "woof!")
- "op" (for hop/rabbit)
- "apoh" (for apple or pineapple)
- "av" (for avocado)
- "sos" (for socks or applesauce)
- "off!" (applied to lights, his clothing, and especially his bibs at meal times; also used to ask us to let him into the office upstairs when he wants to play in there)
- "ot!" (for out, particularly when he wants to escape his stroller or his high chair)