Progress

This is a big step up from the Teddy Puffs post from July.

Club Kid

Leo loves to listen to reggae and now he loves dancing to reggae.

OBX 2009

We rented a house on the beach in Nags Head, NC for a week in August. It was supposed to be with the Gray/Kourelis, Falk/Kennedy and Lewis/Schultz clans but Kat and Stacy went to Ethiopia to pick up their new twins. It was a chance for Popi and Leo to spend a lot of quality time together. Here they are both watching the sun rise over the ocean from the living room window.

Leo and Popi playing on the beach in their sporty swim suits. The surf was a little rough to swim so they had to make due with some splashing in a bucket on the beach.

Susie, York and Pippa spent the afternoon on a pirate adventure so the rest of us walked around Manteo and watched the fun as land lubbers.

Susie teaching Leo and Popi some words of wisdom. Not sure what it was but Leo looks scared straight.

Here is the obligatory group shot as we all get ready to go our separate ways. Kat and Stacy take their honorary place.

Yearly visit

Spent the weekend with Kevin, Liz, Farley, Casey, Tegan and Sue for a fun, sunny visit in Ocean City. They all met Leo for the first time. Unfortunately, Liz (taking her own pictures), Farley (playing in the sand) and Tegan (napping) were all missing from this shot.

Maine '09

Maine '09 was a command performance for all children and grandchildren as it was my parents 45 Anniversary! We didn't mind because we love to see my mother, father, brothers, wives, nieces and nephews from Mirman South and Mirman West in Maine. This day, my father decides to entertain Cole, Jay and Alex by watching the laundry in the wash cycle. For 20 minutes, they watched the whole cycle with a flashlight-they loved it! Leo came over to see what all the excitement was about.

Leo in his first adirondack chair like a big boy. He has some room to grow

Leo's not in this one but couldn't resist Alex, Zach and Cole checking our our lobster dinner.

Leo, Alex and Cole sharing one toy, in one chair-how well they got along.

Again, Leo's not in this one but how cute are his cousins.

Leo gets to sit at the bar for breakfast with all of his big cousins. This shot I stole from Aunt Caset's blog my3bestbuddies.blogspot.com.

Hull, MA

We spent the weekend cheering on Cousin Blythe, Judy and Dick in a 1 mile swim to support Cancer in Hull, MA. And then spent the rest of the day at the beach with family-it was Leo's first beach visit. If you can tell by the feet, Leo loved the ocean but the rest of us loved watching him.

Leo slathered in SPF 30.
Grandma Mirman is next to us looking out for our swimmers with her binoculars.

Teddy Puffs

When you haven't quite mastered the pincher grip, this works almost as well.

Serenade

Leo likes his dad to play everything from Led Zeppelin, Paul Simon, Bob Marley, Bob Dylan and Billy Bragg.

4th of July

Doesn't Leo look a little like the 6 Flags Great Adventure old guy?


Nana's grandchildren in Danvers for 4th of July weekend. He had a ball with his cousins.

Boondoggle

Tom comes to NYC for a conference and Leo meets him in Bryant Park to show off his new moves.

Playdate

Celina does double duty before bedtime. Do those babies look ready for bed? No but Celina and I were.


What are you looking at? And who ARE you?


Standoff with a spin.

Chicklets

Leo has two teeth on the bottom center surrounded by lots of gums. They hurt not only him when they came in but also Paul and me, especially when he got a finger-ouch!

Baby Tricks

Uncle Bill tried to teach Leo this trick during our visit at Easter. All of the Tupper girls were able to perform on cue as babies but it wasn't the case for Leo. But 3 months later and he performs perfectly on cue!

Strange stuff

Nothing like nature to stimulate the senses. Leo is still fascinated by grass (the lawn kind), feels weird to sit in it, strange to touch it and icky to taste it.

Please sir, may have some more?

Leo now enjoys solids for three meals a day. In the same spirit as his cousin Jay, he definitely let's you know when he wants more. His now eats carrots, sweet potato, zucchini, yellow squash, peas, string beans, banana, avocado, apples, pear, peaches, apricots and nectarine. Next on the list, plums...yummm!

The Pleans!

Leo, Steve and Liz meet for the first time in Hoboken. Steve and Leo share the same birthday. It was way too short a visit.

Stage Mom

Leo and I went to visit some friends, Carolyn and Georgia for lunch at one of their photo shoots in SoHo. Mark Abrahms, a famous fashion photographer, who shoots the likes of Kate Hudson, Natalie Portman and Christie Turlington was shooting that day and offered to take a few shots of Leo. He stayed on mark while the crew kept saying, "he's a gap baby!" and Mark got the shot in just a few captures. If Paul and I have our way, The Gap will be calling us soon and we will be able to retire early while Leo brings home the bacon.

Stats

Since we are behind in our posts lets review some milestones for Leo at six months. He is 20.2 lbs (80%), 26.25 inches (55%), and head circumference of 45 cm (75%). Wow, now that's a big noggin! At five months his head was only 50%. He can now sit up for a good amount of time on his own but still needs to be watched as he is still a bit top heavy. Amazing but he is actually drooling more than ever but we can feel his first tooth poking through! Cuteness level is off the charts.

Mother's Day

For my first Mother's Day, my boys took me out to a wonderful brunch. We went to 10th and Willow and it was packed. The meal was very good but they were behind in service so we were there for 2 hours. Quite a lot to ask of little Leo but he did splendidly. Despite his patience, I'm not sure he is ready for the French Laundry.

Friends from the old hood

Laura, Matt and Ray visit for Spring Break but no one goes wild.

Easter at the Tuppers

Cousin Molly gives Leo some style tips.

Leo spends some quality time with Nana.

Becoming Fast Friends

Leo and Day-z dog are becoming fast friends. Whenever Day-z is on the move, Leo loves to watch her every move and Day-z is forever his loyal protector.

Post-Baptism date

3rd meeting and Popi isn't sure that Leo is the one.

Leo wears many hats

Cousin Sarah

Cousin Sarah makes a special trip to Hoboken to visit with Leo and Day-z - oh yeah, Uncle Paul and Aunt Alison too.

Sarah learns that her cousin is no light weight. In fact, as a baby, she wasn't Leo's weight until she was 18 months old.

Solids

Leo's pediatrician gives the thumbs up to start solid food! Rice cereal is on the menu but Leo couldn't quite get the concept that it needs to go IN the mouth. Overall not very successful but we shall try again in a few days.

St. Patrick's Day

Hoboken has it's St. Patrick's Day parade two weeks before March 17th so that it doesn't conflict with the bigger NY parade. Usually it's a day where the town starts drinking by 10:00 AM and by noon everyone under the age of 25 is drunk. We normally try to avoid this day since the first year we lived in Hoboken a drunken youth mistook our black Saab for a taxi cab and proceeded to climb into the back of our car slurring his desired destination. The second year, we decided to be shut-ins and refused to leave our condo but the unit behind us had a raucous party so we weren't able to aviod the revelry. So this year, we debated whether to git the heck out of dodge but it turned out to be a beautiful, warm sunny day (after a long cold winter) and so a walk to the park and some lunch was in order.


A few firsts for Leo: first Hoboken St. Patrick's day, first swing and first outing with shoes. The swinging lasted about 5 seconds but the shoes lasted the whole day.

Discovery

At five months, 18.8 lbs and 25" long, Leo has finally discovered his very own feet. They have become some of his favorite toys providing tons of enjoyment whether on his back or sitting.

Pop pop babysits...solo

It had been a few weeks since they have seen each other and they both had a ball. Except for the fact that after a 2 day poop strike, Leo decided to give his Pop pop a nice big diaper full of wedding cake. Pop pop's reply, "that's what babies do." Thanks, Pop pop.

Leo has begun to follow Day-z dog around the room with his eyes but for now his favorite dog is still his stuffed one.

Gangsta Lean

Digg'n the scene with the gansta lean

Standing room only

Leo has amazing leg strength and a lot of the time he likes to stand rather than sit. With a little help from his mom, we get a glimpse of what is to come.

Hello, it's been a while.

Leo makes the same face as the dog on his overalls.

Baby Inspection

Leo got the approval from west coast Aunties Kat and Susie. Susie made sure to only hold Leo when he was happy so that he would have good memories of her.

Both Leo and Popi pass inspection. The next time we will all be together is this Summer on the beach in on of those Carolina's.

In honor of the Aunties visit, Kostis made an amazing carrot cake that we refer to as "pure evil" but none of us could resist it's power and deliciousness.

For more great pictures of the weekend visit Popi's blog and Kat's blog.

At Last

Popi and Leo doing what Kat calls "the moth dance."

Leo's first New Year - Somers

Meeting Cousin Zach and Cousin Alexandra from Callifornia for the first time.

Alexandra wanted to go for a walk with Leo and Day-z. Oh and Uncle Paul was allowed to come too.

Alexandra pushing Leo in the pram and doing a great job.

Leo watches as snow falls in Somers.

Leo's favorite gift is the hat knitted for him by Aunt Chris. She is officially his holiday hat maker.