The school escape artist

If we can't catch him, we can't take him to dagis. 

And some shopping help yesterday: 

A day at Hornstull

Today was a beautiful autumn day, so we decided to head into Stockholm and run around our old neighborhood. We had such a lovely, laid-back day.

In this picture, he's telling me stop taking his picture. "It makes me angry."

May I present to you...

...Leif, the walker! (Email subscribers, click here to watch Leif totter about!)



Leif LOVES walking. He is so happy and proud to be bipedal. He has also become quite the cheeky bugger, too; I can't say quite what it is, but ever since he's been walking, he's seemed a bit more mischievous to me. There's a new glimmer in his eye, and that glimmer means trouble.

Guys, remember this and this? I can't believe August was ever so little! Listen to those screeches, look at that little toodle-toddle (I just made that up). Where does the time go? {Tear in my eye.}

Big baby Leif

The big, big news around here is that Leif is walking! A couple weeks ago he took a few steps, and he went on for a couple weeks with just a step or two here and there. And then, a few days ago, he just started walking as much as he could. Two days ago was the first day that he walked more than he crawled. I don't have a good video of it yet, I'll try tomorrow. But in the meantime...

I don't have many days of this left, do I? This cute little squiggle crawling up to my knees, then climbing up onto my legs and wrapping his arms around my neck -- soon he'll just be crashing into me, arms outstretched.

(I know they aren't in focus - he was moving too fast - but the series was too cute not to post.)

When I walked away with the camera that he'd crawled all that way to get:

Getting ready to eat!

He remains a serious eater. We have to feed him far more than we feed August! He's getting better with a fork and has the idea of a spoon, but he usually holds it upside-down.

Leif the little reader

Weekend with Ah Mah and Auntie Tina

Ah Mah and Auntie Tina (James's aunt) came to visit us last weekend. The boys had a fun time, and it was lovely to watch them all spend time together. (More pics to come in a separate post).

This was funny - Tina grabbed Leif's hands and started to walk with him, as you see here, and they were moving around just fine. I grabbed my camera and ran in front of them to take a picture - and Leif must have realized that it wasn't ME he was holding onto, because as soon as we saw me he burst out crying!

Leif at 11 months

Here are a couple almost-successful photos of Leif at 11 months (which happened about a week ago, on the 29th of August). The big developments of this month are, in fact, big: he's walking and talking! Leif consistently says three words in an appropriate context: "baba", "uh-oh" (usually when he drops something), and "hej hej" ("hello" in Swedish). About a week ago, he took his first major steps - seven assisted steps in the kitchen to me! He took a break from walking, and then in the last two days he's started walking more and more, a few unassisted steps here and there. He's quite confident on his feet, so I expect he'll get better quickly.

Ah mah and Auntie Tina are here visiting for a few days - will share pictures soon.

11-month outtakes

Trying to get our 11-month blocks picture...

11 months - Sleeping beauty

Did you know that Augie will turn one on Thursday? That's just three days away! I've been getting all nostalgic lately in preparation.

Sleep around our house is still a fleeting endeavor. Augie was doing so well for both nighttime and naps until a few days ago, when it all kinda went to s*&t again. We still see a general upward trend, and hope this little lapse takes care of itself soon enough. But with travel and cousins in our very near future, I'm not holding my breath.

Even with the difficulties we've had, we've had some major achievements and improvements and we continue to stand by our decision to not use any cry-it-out techniques. We let him cry sometimes, but we certainly don't abandon him to cry until he exhausts himself. The world is going to kick him in the balls enough, he doesn't need mom and dad to start it for him.

Luckily for all of us, he's still an angel when he sleeps.

11 months - Just readin'

This is Augie's old infant seat. We stopped using it months ago, well before we went to Sweden as he surpassed the weight limit. We brought it into the living room because we didn't have anywhere else to put it, and Augie's been climbing all over it ever since. Which, of course, is totally safe.

11 months - Wee boy