Los Angeles, California: Our first full day of our Grandparent Duty, and all is well. Probably because Leo slept from 8 o'clock last night til nearly 7 o'clock this morning. Yeah, Baby Leo! Today, Leo has been cuddled, tickled, fed, read-to, chased, walked, napped, strolled, loved, sang-to, peek-a-booed, spoiled, photographed, danced-with, bathed and rocked to sleep... and probably a thousand other things I forgot to mention... like stinky nappies... and I suppose the entire routine will be repeated tomorrow.
And the day after.
And the day after.
Etc.
Our first day was quite calm, as we settled-in to his routine. At nearly 17 months, Leo cannot be left alone for more than 3 seconds. One or two seconds is okay, but within three he could possibly build some sort of catapult machine and launch himself out of the back yard. Seriously, baby boys are completely different animals than baby girls. Leo wants to do things hisownself and has that all-boy dare-devil danger-means-nothing side that we must carefully monitor... and every other moment Leo is smiling at us as we melt... or he just looks at us and says Hiiiiiiii, with his little head cocked to one side... or he wants a cuddle or a hug... or a kiss. Kissing is new to Leo and he doesn't quite have the technique down. It's like kissing an oxygen-starved carp. From France.
One more thing I need to mention: our Grand Dawg, Reese. Reese has always been a fussy eater. He actually would rarely even eat dog treats. Turned his nose-up at cheese. He only wanted to eat dry kibble. Lisa insisted any treat/food we gave Reese was of the best quality - organic, etc. Reese is a different dog these days. He can be upstairs in a coma-like sleep, until he hears the tray of Leo's high chair click into place. Suddenly the 9-year-old dog has super-sonic hearing. Two seconds later, Reese has flown down the stairs and is in full recon position under Leo's high chair - waiting for food to drop. Mr. Fussy now dines on dropped Cheerios, pasta and nearly anything else Leo abandons.
The dog eats watermelon and broccoli.
Report from Africa:
This looks like England or Holland to me
Lenny & Lisa are now at a rustic lodge on the edge of Tanzania's Ngorongoro Crater. They dined in a fabulous restaurant that is housed in an old coffee plantation mansion (above), and are heading down into the crater to look for wildlife.
We went to the grocery store.
This is my favorite photo of the day: Grandpa is playing with Leo's doodle pad toy and Leo is reading Grandpa's Track & Field News magazine. What's not to love about this situation?BTW: I text-messaged the above photo to Lisa's phone in the middle of freaking nowhere Tanzania and she received it 1.7 seconds later.
Entertaining Leo is easy this week. With Hanukkah and Christmas back-to-back, and so many relatives in town, the kid has been flooded with new toys and gets very excited to explore each new gift. Today he was all-about his new farm. Leo and Grandpa spent hours shouting animal sounds to each other.I may need to separate these two.
Leo chasing Bubba; Bubba chasing Leo
We have an exciting adventure planned for tomorrow - if the weather cooperates. Until my next update, I remain, your happy correspondent.