Ode to Leo

This child. This child turned seven on New Year's Eve. 

This child said "Don't you just love life?" right before this picture was taken on the streets of Lisbon. 

This child knows how to come up with a good profound joke ( i.e., "What did the steak say to the cow? ...... Do you know you are me?")

This child is a good friend. He'll take you as you are and meet you where you're at and make you feel good and then make you laugh and ask what do you want to play next and then dress up in a collaborative ensemble, and then do a silly dance and then pretend to be a cowboy lion and make you laugh some more and then you want to hang out with him all the time. 

This child knows how to make the most out of a pair of enormous orange novelty glasses.

 

This child has a flair for the dramatic and I'm into it.   

 This child has an incredible and unique sense of style, but not in a vain way, in a "I'm French and my name is Pierre now" way or a "Obviously, I'm a Gryffindor" way or a "I'm just way into pineapples and blazers" way.

This child does this in his class picture with glee and determination.  

 This child loves nature and says things like "Oh my god, check out this beautiful view" and "Awwww, you guys have got to see this" about dogs, honeycombs, swans, toads, sunsets, hawks, cats, fish, bamboo, feathers, rocks, shells, trees and anything else that looks special to him. 

This child is a nudist. 

This child stops to write thank you notes to his teachers in full Ninja gear. 

This child is wild and also so tender. 

This child loves his older brother to the ends of the earth.  He will trade in anything to protect him and keep his feelings safe. This child takes his brother's hand to walk to the bakery by themselves and then orders the crossaints and baguettes in Spanish in a clear voice.  

This child is more into the look of the violin and transcendental meditation than actually doing it. 

This child is his father's doppelganger.

This child frequently says "Ugh! I just love you too much, Mom!" and then clambers up for a snuggle.

This child came fast and ferocious into our lives.  This child is our heart center. This child completes our family. 

This child is...... this child. The best child.