Happy Saint Patrick's day!

To celebrate the day that's in it, Leo made a flag:



Here he is, assembling the final block:



Confession: this construction sequence is played in reverse :-). For the nostalgic: Saint Patrick's day 2008.

Léo in Boots

Léo got a bunch of lovely books when Leslie came to visit. One of them is Puss in Boots (Le Chat Botté). It has only encouraged him in his pursuit of wearing and walking around in our big, big winter boots.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Leo has been learning to blow kisses and kiss cheeks, just in time for Valentine's day!



He enjoys kissing his dog more than anyone else. But, to be fair, his dog is the softest of them all.

First Word: Papa

Serves me right for leaving to go to a conference for a few days...



He knows who he means, all right. Doesn't have a word for camera yet, though.

Feed the World

Leo has mastered the art of feeding himself, whether he is using chopsticks for the first time (the trick is to use your spoon):


or refining his pasta-eating technique to encompass more spaghetti (use the fork only to fend off alarmed adults):


So now he is moving on to feeding the rest of the world. We already knew he liked to feed us. But he's discovered he's surrounded by hungry mouths. It began with feeding a bit of bread to a teddy bear, then a hungry fridge magnet (a gazelle head, visible in the photo behind my shoulder on the stove). Then the frogs on the soles of Leo's shoes were feeling left out. They were quite difficult to reach, so Leo developed two methods of delivering the goods: plopping down and lifting his feet to the food, or putting the food on the floor and waving his foot over it.

Don't worry, the rabbit got fed too. As did a caterpillar, a whale, his dog, the Bear in the Big Blue House book, his sippy cup (it has a nose, so it must have a mouth), and so on. All accompanied by "niam, niam, niam, niam" sound effects. We'll try to get it on video.

Space Cousins from Beyond the Moon

During my trip in outer space I took the opportunity to establish or reaffirm diplomatic relations with my many Space Cousins.

Ellen and Louise welcomed me to Planet Paris. Highlights of our tete-a-tete are available as "Meeting cousin Leo" on the official record of their realm, the MissFitz blog.

Cousin Sean is an advanced, powerful being, whose complex activities and concerns are for the most part beyond my understanding. Luckily, one of his many powers is an ability to grasp my more primitive Weltanschauung, and adapt accordingly. Here he is using his highly-developed manipulation skills to create towering edifices for me to destroy with a simple poking movement.



With such powers at his disposal, Cousin Sean could face a terrible temptation to declare himself supreme ruler of the universe. Luckily, he is not without rival to act as counterbalance. Cousin Aine the Awesome takes no nonsense from him, creating a tenuous balance of power that prevents any one force from predominating.



With his Sword of Freedom and Bandana of Justice, Cousin Lowijs is ready to defend tranquility and peace as loudly and enthusiastically as is needed.



Cousin Gerrit showed me how to move Moons. Truly the powers of the Aged Ones are incredible.



I conferenced with Cousin Patrick and Cousin Anthony in their watery world. Our conclusion: water is fun!



I met Honorary Cousin Bob (a builder by trade) by telepresence.



Cousin Tom was occasionally exasperated at my lack of understanding of property rights in Space (it turns out to be very simple: everything belongs to him). But he bore no grudges and as I mentioned in a previous post he was very helpful in showing me how to establish a rapport with the Sheep People.



Cousins Clara and Grace let me sit in on a session of the intergalactic council.



And cousin Aoife showed me how to drive a Space Chair. It doesn't go very far or very fast but it sure is fun!

Space Cows

We are back from a long trip to ... actually I'm a bit vague on where we went to, but I think it was Outer Space.

In Outer Space, there are cows. I thought they were just a myth, but I was wrong. Sorry for doubting you Daddy, but you must admit they are somewhat implausible creatures.



There are also chickens and cats. We have plenty of cats back on Planet New Jersey, so that wasn't a surprise. But chickens, chickens just raise far more questions than they answer.



Space Animals are a lot like us. They need feeding, for example. They seem to like a kind of thin, heavily-seasoned spaghetti.



Turns out sheep are real too! My cousin Tom showed me how to feed them. They like something that is called "nuts" but is not. In Space words sometimes have different meanings.



Speaking of cousins, it turns out that I have a lot more of them than I thought. Who would have thought that Space is teeming with cousins!

Have Dog, Will Travel

I've been on holidays!



I brought my dog.

Sleepy boy is sleepy

A la mode de chez nous

Leo was impressed by his cousin Sean's mad piano-playing skills. So he decided to give it a try himself.

Is this how you do it?

How about this?