Preparing Passover -- with Perks

It's time for Passover! Which, like all Jewish holidays (except Yom Kippur), means time to eat. And time to get busy in the Giszpenc kitchen. Leo's very favorite thing is helping, as loyal blog readers know. His second favorite thing is eating. He got to do a lot of both yesterday.

Here he is helping Papi chop the carrots.


And to go with the carrots, they had to peel some potatoes (don't be alarmed: it's a butter knife).


Mum and Dad were working on some cream for a Passover cake. Leo helped us whip it. (Thanks to Vlado for the cool chef's toque.)


Ever the perfectionist, Leo carefully did some quality control. It took a lot of trials and sampling, but he did declare the cream kosher for Passover in the end.


He tells us he is looking forward to Passover next year in the Giszpenc kitchen.

Happy Birthday-and-a-half!

Leo moves fast these days.



It's getting harder to catch him on camera. He is so busy driving his train ("tchoo tchoo!") and his cars ("vvvvvvvvvvvvv") and finding new ways to get into mischief.




Everything is new to him. The other day he discovered watches. His daddy let him play with his watch, and since it didn't fit on his wrist, we suggested he put it on his ankle, to which he warmly agreed. Now he can keep track of the time as he rushes about.



Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Leo also is exploring a creative side through the plastic arts (specifically, bold assemblages of actual plastic).



In the above case, plastic rings with tennis ball. Below, plastic cars with sandals, Russian doll bottom, and tiny teddy bear.



Boy, he's come a long way in the past half year, not to mention year. But he's still loads of fun and keeps us plenty busy -- that sure hasn't changed.