Role Play and Talk

Yesterday was the first time Léo put in place a role play. Sometimes he plays with two cars and has them say hi to each other, but that's about it. Yesterday we changed his crib into a day bed hoping that he would love it and stay there instead of hoping onto our bed in the middle of the night (fail, though he did fall asleep easily in his bed instead of ours). He had me lie in his bed and told me "mama night-night. Léo bye-bye. Mama boohoohoo." So there I was was, made to cry. So I borrowed Léo's way of talking and pretend cried "Mama no night-night. Yes Léo." He ran back into the bedroom and said "mama yeah night-night. No Léo." Of course he was laughing his butt off and loving it. We played that game for a good 15 minutes.

Aaah, living with a talking toddler is the best. He's not talking in full sentences of course and most of his words are only understandable if you know him really well but he's getting better everyday at repeating after us and talking to us. Sometimes you can tell his brain "freezes" and it takes him a few seconds of stuttering to get his words out!

And in other news, we've been watching "Cars" everyday. Oh my how motherhood has changed me. My son was NOT to watch TV. Yes but TV is sooo convenient in the morning while we get ready... So "Cars" it is for now. Of course he can tell us pieces of dialogues before they happen. I love that!

Europe

... in crappy IPhone pictures!

In the Seatac airport playground. Great way to use up a lot of energy before a flight. Our flight was at 2pm so he didn't nap until we got on the plane -but then he slept 3 hours straight!

He's a bit of a daredevil!

Happy pre-flight! 

The sucker helped him with the pressure of taking off -and was just a nice treat for him. I gave bags of goodies to the people around us with a note saying something like "I'm only 2 so be patient with me." I found the idea on some website. No one cared about the goodies. But then again Léo is a really good traveler, so I didn't have to worry too much. 

I found this on his hair when we landed. WHen he drinks his bottle (yeah yeah, he's 2 and still uses his "baba") he twists his hair. He created a dreadlock! Seriously. I had to cut that sucker. 

When we were landing I thought of all the steps I needed to take the get out of the airport. Pass through customs, pick up bags, pick up car seat... WAIT, I forgot the car seat!! So I had my dad drive me to a store and bought a crappy one for 40 euros. Good thing is, I left it in France so next time we go there, I don't have to carry ours with us. 

Léo was pretty jetlagged of course and woke up in the middle of the night for 2-3 hours. The second and third night, he woke up and screamed for Joe. We face timed and it didn't help. Oh poor little boy. I knew Joe would meet us in just a few days but explaining that to a 2-year old who misses his daddy was not helpful. 

We met up with really great friends of ours from Seattle! Their son, Desmond, is 2 weeks older than Léo and those two have known each other since birth. Dez's dad is French, too. It was so great being able to meet with them there. 

Family picture :)

Léo and his "mimi" -my grandma. 

Finally the day has arrived! On the train to Paris to pick up Joe! 

I didn't tell him about his arrival until 5 minutes before his train (from Amsterdam) arrived. Again, toddlers and time... Once he saw Joe, he didn't really say anything but hugged him for a good 5 minutes straight. It was so sweet!

We walked a lot in Paris and tried to find playgrounds for Léo. Here I think we're near the Champs Elysees.

Aaah, ze monuments...

Le Louvre.

La Seine.

And Léo after a bath!

This is a street in the Latin Quarter where all the restaurants are yummy and cheap.

We had this menu. 10 Euros. Good quality. You can't beat that!

Oh and did I mention I stuffed my face with pastries? 

We took the night train to Munich. Léo slept through the night. It was way better than a flight or a day train. That's Alex's backyard (Alex is my dad's wife. Though at the time of the picture they were not married yet!)

Happy Joe!

Thoughtful Léo.

Léo made fast friends on this trip, including this little girl, whom he tried to hug a lot -being German, hugs are not really the way to say hello and she didn't quite get why he had his arms outstretched all the time. Ha. But she was sweet to him and definitely took care of him -as did all his cousins!

I don't have pictures of the wedding but I have this picture of the happy couple! Congrats to my dad :)

We do, too!! 

Are you still reading?

Just wondering whether I should keep on writing on this blog or journal my thoughts instead!