On the name Leo

The name Leo, shared by many popes and Byzantine emperors, really suits him. He is definitely the absolute monarch of my apartment.

Author Dalia Sofer, on the subject of her orange tabby Leo. We couldn't agree more!

Tractor time

Finn loves being pushed by cousin Leo

Check-up

 
Leo passed his hearing test with flying colors, so now we know that he is just ignoring us when we talk to him. He also told the doctor that he ate nothing for breakfast, that his favorite vegetable is "moonsquirters", and he wouldn't tell her the names of his teachers at school until he was convinced that she didn't already know the answer. Ah, four!

Topsfield Fair, Here We Come

 
 
Here's Leo harvesting his first pumpkin. I left out the photo of him nearly dropping it.

Don't touch my baby

 
My suggestion that we put "Baby" away and get out the new one was met with this look indicating, "No Way!"

(Little) Men at Work

 
 
 

Why am I dressing our child like Bing Crosby?

You can imagine how this ended --

-- in tears!

Sunflower House 2007

I read about someone growing up in Nebraska and not having a real playhouse, but every year growing a sunflower house instead. I don't know if Leo's Great-Grandma Marjorie ever had one (she lived in Nebraska as a child), but I thought I try it. It was planted in May, along with morning glories, and everything did well. We'll do it again next year!

First Car, First Day of Preschool

Leo's first recognizable drawing of a thing. The artist calls this "Rainbow Car".



Leo's first day of preschool knocked him out and he fell asleep on the way home (it didn't help that he was so excited he was up at 4:30 a.m.).

Happiness is a big stick

It's almost legal for Nicky to be on the beach again. We cheated by a few days. Leo still likes to pretend to dig like Nicky -- some things never change.

Leo turns 4!

The day started with a Tinkertoy elevator and only got better.

A Fun Race Through NYC

To celebrate Katie Nammacher's birthday, Steph & I teamed up to do a race a lot like those seen on "Amazing Race". Here is Steph before the race, showing some anxiety, posing with the birthday girl, and the temporary 9/11 memorial. We started down near Battery Park and over the course of 7 hours, visited Wagner Park, Rockefeller Park, Civic Center, Union Square, Dag Hammerskjold Plaza, Columbus Circle, the Central Park Resevoir, the Lake, and finally, Pier 1 at West 70th.

To see Steph in action, click here.

More of Katie's Spectacular Race

A few things we had to do: pose with Ulysses, pose with an orange-shirted person, pose with someone named "Kate"; Steph signing in at the in front of the NYC Courthouse.


We had to take 20 photos of 20 people giving us the thumbs up. Who says New Yorkers aren't friendly? It took us only 2 minutes.


At lunch, Steph & I were in 5th place. We ended the race tied for fifth (out of nine teams). You can see some of the tasks we completed -- frisbee toss and rowing in the Lake in Central Park.

The hardest leg was our search for "Tom" at the Central Park Resevoir. The video can be seen here.


-Steph in the subway after the Resevoir
-on the Lake
-cleaned up (but sore) survivors of the race
-in a taxi with Carla on our way to the finish line