Saturday, December 15, 2007

Demon Child

No of course not. He is an angel. But we are going to have to work on those red-eye effects. And also on his tendency to want to eat the little neighbor child.

Thanks to Auntie Rebecca for visiting us and bringing a camera!

Sunday, December 9, 2007

Leo smiles

Leo has been smiling more and more, but we've had trouble catching a smile on camera - his fascination for technology distracts him. But finally, when we told him it was for his grandparents, he was delighted to oblige:

Yes! And...

Leo is 2 months old today. It's taken a lot of improvisational creativity to keep up with him from day to day. I have found useful a tip learned in a workshop on how improv can help in daily life and work situations: there is a key phrase -- more like a mentality or attitude -- which is "Yes! And..." That is, one must affirm the other person, and then add on to it. Saying "No" or saying "Yes" and stopping is not so useful. So, for instance, in a comedy sketch, one person in the scene says "Doctor, I'm missing a leg!" If the other person responds, "I'm not a doctor, I'm a scuba diver!" The scene ends in disarray. If on the other hand the person responds, "Yes, you must be the one who called earlier, I have your missing leg right here. Try to remember it next time!" Then a whole scene can develop from there. In the case of the baby, if he is crying, I find it more helpful for my mental state to say, "Yes! You are hungry. And as soon as we get home I am going to feed you!" rather than, "No! Please don't cry! No, you're not that hungry! Come on, give me a break, I just fed you..."

Friday, December 7, 2007

Twelve pounds of plumpness



At a quick visit to the pediatrician's yesterday, we learned that Leo now weighs 5.5 kilos, or just over 12 pounds. Yummy!

(Photo at right of 12 pounds of pears by Jen Maiser, seen on the blog "eat local challenge", and subject to a creative commons license.)

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

8 weeks young

Yup, lil' Leo is nearly 2 months old already. Hard to believe -- it has been a blur. Can't even remember this morning, to tell the truth. But he has certainly changed a good deal in all this time. Besides being deliciously chubby now (oh those thighs!), Leo is also a lot more attentive, actually looking at us for long periods of time, which just encourages us to act very silly. And he is smiling a lot more too, though sometimes his smiles seem to appear at very odd times. Or he smiles beguilingly for minutes at a time at, say, the fridge. His little hands are getting a lot graspier, though as yet this does not seem purposeful. And he is still eating and sleeping well. We are getting more and more used to each other, so that even though he still occasionally seems like a little alien being dropped in from outer space, those times are becoming less frequent and we mostly get along well. There is hope for intergalactic understanding!

Apologies for the lack of photos. Our camera is on the fritz. :(