Parades and early tricks and treats!

Leo dressed up as Harry Potter for Halloween this year.

They had a parade at school. Claudia was a witch.

Leo and Sami at the Mock Realty Halloween party down the street:

Our spider pumpkin

Dr. Seuss fans

Paul finished reading Leo a bedtime story and coaxed him to the bathroom:
"And now its time to brush your teeth
the ones on top and the ones beneath"

Leo followed with:
"Between our teeth, we find roast beef
Brush it out. Say, "What a relief!"

Leo and Claudia

Leo's best friend is a girl in his kindergarten class named Claudia. They like to giggle, laugh, fight (yes, physically push each other around) and be really silly. Here they are, having painted their faces and pretending to be monsters:

We went to Dinosaur Ridge to see the fossilized dinosaur tracks. Here they are sitting among the tracks, having a snack:

Leo, Claudia's sister Sloan, Claudia:

Claudia at the dinosaur exhibit:

Recent pictures

Finally downloaded my camera. Some recent pictures:

Paul had a birthday! We celebrated at the Taj with the usual suspects plus Ann and Mike:

Ann and Mike had come out last week for a waltz workshop:

Leo on an alpine hike showing off his ability to swallow oranges:

Paul and Leo in their black and white:

Leo and his friend Chloe:

Erik and Xander's visit

Erik and Xander came to visit last weekend. The boys had a blast being boys: that means slingshots, tarantulas, etc. A cold Leo tries his hand at a slingshot:

Xander's extra-strength bow and arrow:

Leo in the web at the Butterfly Pavilion

Xander and Rosie, the Chilean tarantula

Leo, hanging out:

California!

We had a great time visiting friends and family in CA last month. Real quick trip, packed full of fun. Leo and Hugo had a great time riding trains in Tilden:

Jean and her boys:

The gang waiting for the train:

Leo showing Mateo and Hugo the wonders of modern electronic gaming (Sorry, Jean!):

Hiking in Tilden with RootRoot, Erik and Xander:

Leo and Aunt Ruth:

Leo and Mateo in Sausalito:

And waiting for the ferry:

Can I do some chores? Puhleeeeeeze?

Leo's new addiction is ZombieFarm, yet another iPhone game. The zombies eat brains and because I didn't know how to play he was under the impression that the only way to get brains was to buy them at $1 (real money) a pop. He started begging for the $1 and I explained that I didn't like games that required a constant flow of money to play them. He begged and begged and finally I told him that if he had his own money, he could do whatever he wanted with it, like buying brains.

I explained that he was old enough to get an allowance and to do chores. And extra chores meant extra money. He immediately cleaned the entire living room, and received a quarter. He folded the laundry, and got another quarter. I quickly ran out of chores that I thought he was capable of, since he can't reach the cabinets to empty the dishwasher and can't really wash floors yet or vacuum. So he started begging me, "can I do some more chores? Puhleeeeze?". I guess I need to make maximum use of this newfound enthusiasm for chores while I can!

Video - Leo biking

Bike!

Leo learned how to ride a bike today! Paul took him to the track and started him on the push bike which is his old bike sans pedals and cranks. He had to persevere through Leo's unwillingness to do something that challenging but finally convinced Leo to try the real bike. Leo managed to bike the whole track. I'm going to have to take him to the park tomorrow to see if we can keep the momentum going!