le vent du nord / the north wind

Leo very much enjoyed his birthday (which has been continuing for several days now). Here's "le vent du nord" on his second round of blowing out the birthday candles (once was not enough, so he did an encore):



Thanks to everyone for their kind thoughts for Leo on his birthday!

Men at work

Leo has learned that, with a little work, anything can become anything else. He's been industriously applying this principle to our house, where little now remains that is not part of some kind of train. Everything in the sitting room is a train. Everything in the dining room may also be a train, but it is hard to get in there to check (because of all the trains). The kitchen? Full of trains, apart from a fire station whose engines seem to spend most of their time putting out train fires. The interior of the fridge has, through constant vigilance, remained train free, but its magnet-encrusted exterior has not escaped so lightly.

Today, for a change of pace, Leo went to chez Mamie et Papi, and worked on converting his tricycle to a tow truck. Here's Leo and Papi in serious discussions of how best to fabricate the hook:

(thanks Mamie for the photo!)

Helping Granddad

Heh-heh-heh, I will sneak up on Granddad, and "help" him!

I see you, you little scallywag!

The Leo and Granddad team!

Close Encounters of a Sheepish Kind

That thing is a lot bigger than me. But if I stay close to Daddy's legs maybe it will think I am as big as it.


All in all though I feel safer up here, looking at what is going on down there.


And what a lot is going on! Grabbing sheep, splashing in footbaths, climbing fences...

Flipping sheep!


And... selling them? What are those two up to?



Aunt Deirdre looks like she knows...

Seaweed: the Trailer

A windy day in Tramore.
Small boy [running gaily]: Eeeeeehhhhhhh! I have a long trailer!


The trailer, like a superhero cape, gives the boy superpowers. He can leap small puddles in several bounds!


He also has the power to give people craaaaazy hair. Full of hearts.

Seaweed: the Movie, coming soon to a theater near you.

Totally Transported

Giddy up, Granny Ann!

Cruising in a chair-car with Aoife.

Little tractor...

BIG tractor!

Fire engine/knight's steed.

My turn to be the transport. Pulling a seaweed trailer in Tramore.

Moissonneuses Batteuses! Combine Harvesters!

Uncle Declan gave me a ride in his combine harvester!


Can you see me? I'm sitting on my cousin Aine, wearing blue boots and red pants, a few meters from hundreds of sharp spinning blades. My dad was a bit nervous about this, but that apparently didn't stop him taking pictures.


When I got back to Granny Ann's, I re-enacted the whole thing (with fewer blades). I like Ireland!

Person at the Window

Dali style...



...and Leo style.

Leo Meets the San Lorenzo Lions

Miarowr. Sad. So sad. Ever so sad. And what's this? Ahrgh. To make things worse, here is this boy, this obnoxiously happy boy. I'll ignore him. Perhaps he'll go away.



He's not going away. I'll ignore him harder.



*^%$%#@!%^!

La Dolce Vita

Keeping cool in Piazza de Ferrari, Genova, Italy.

L++0L{cat}-!EE1{cat}{cat}{cat}

Leo's first attempt to spell his name! He knows there are L's involved, and O's. And sometimes E's, and maybe some other stuff. Possibly cats? This is definitely how "Leo" SHOULD be spelled.



And, on the front of the fridge, we believe this must be his surname. It is very long and there are Z's and P's. This is a better spelling than many we've received in the mail! We especially like the panther tail.

Yes, he's our son

Thanks to Mamie for these great photos of Leo studiously studying a dictionary. For the curious, he was mostly concerned with absorbing every detail of some pictures of diggers.

(Sorry it took over a month to post!)

My Nyummy Valentine

Mother and I made a cake for Valentine's day:



I had an idea: how about we eat it?



Mmm, do I detect a subtle hint of je ne sais quoi, oh, I know, HUGE AMOUNTS OF CHOCOLATE? Must be from the secret ingredient I added, a HUGE BAR OF CHOCOLATE.



It has been pretty snowy around us recently.



I've had my work cut out for me, clearing all this snow.



There's really a lot of it in our park (and you can see which way the wind was blowing).



It is a lot of work to clear, and there's nowhere to sit and rest.





I decided to be less ambitious and just clear our own yard, with Mum's help.



But it was still fairly daunting.



Mother didn't last very long.



I didn't get to playschool much this week, but when I did I got to go on a double-decker train rather than the regular one-floor train!



I'm a big train fan. Luckily my dog is an excellent engineer and helps with the care and maintenance of my train fleet at home.



But it isn't all fun and trains at home...

Réparer!

Leo is moving too fast these days, this blog can't keep up. Here's a snapshot caught by his Mamie of Leo and Papi fixing a train carriage:





Leo is very fond of fixing things. Just as I'm trying to make this post, he has wandered over and is now fixing my leg. I'm afraid I'll have to keep this short, as anyone who has ever tried to write while a small child is fixing them will hopefully understand...