Remember me, your son?

Dear Mommy and Daddy,

I guess you are having fun since I haven't heard from you. I thought you would like to know what I have been up to. Today was a fun day. I woke up and had a nice cup of coffee. That didn't do it so I had to have another cup. Then I felt good and ready to go! I got to play with Ciocia and then a surprise...dziadek came to visit! He let me play with the door thinga-magig and I thought that was funny. Now we're going to play with my toys. I'm having a lot of fun. I hope you didn't forget about me. Will you bring me back a present? I love you mommy and daddy and I miss you. Do you miss me?

Love,
Jasper

From Jasper

Dear Mommy and Daddy,

Today was a fun day. Ciocia Ola and Babcia played with me. We played with all my toys and made a big mess on the floor. I rolled around a lot but my favorite activity is standing up. I can almost do it by myself. Lunch was okay but I really liked my turkey dinner. Bath time was fun too. Ciocia lets me splash around a lot. However, as much fun as I've been having, I miss you both a lot. I tried calling you earlier to see when you're coming home (see picture). I hope you are relaxing and having a lot of fun. Bring back some sunny weather because it's very cold here. I can't wait to see you when you get back! Don't worry, I'm in good hands.

Love, Jasper

Bye Bye Mommy and Daddy

I had to say bye bye to Mommy and Daddy this morning. They are going to Miami for 4 days to warm themselves in the sun. I can't believe that they are leaving me all alone for 4 days! I'm not even 11 months old yet and they are leaving me alone! Good thing Babcia came to visit. She's going to take care of me. I mean really, did Mommy and Daddy expect me to change my diapers all by myself? While I'm going to miss them while they are gone, I know that they deserve a little R&R. I can be a handful sometimes. Have fun Mommy and Daddy!

My friend Enzo

Today my friend Enzo came over to play. We were like two little peas in a pod - or two little lazy lugs. Enzo doesn't crawl, pull up or move around much either! We had a great time sitting and lying on the floor together. We threw my toys around and chatted up a storm. He's the kind of guy I can see hanging out with - no pressure to perform and no anxiety about being developmentally behind. We just had a good old time being ourselves. But I think that he has better hair than I do.

Sunday Adventures

Usually, I get a little blue on Sundays since it's the end of the weekend and all the fun and games. But this Sunday was the best. I had so much fun that I didn't have time to be sad. First, Mommy, Daddy and I went out for brunch at 2nd Street Cafe. We had french toast, eggs and vegetable turkey dinner (the last one was my meal choice). Daddy kept trying to get me to drink my bottle but I was much more interested in his drink - a Vodka Sunrise. Yummy.

After brunch we went straight to the pool for family free swim. This time, I wasn't going to be intimidated by all those older kids in the pool. They can splash all they want around me but now I can splash back. Here I am staring down my competition on the pool deck, ready to take them all on. I have a pretty good game face, huh?

Finally, we ended the day by watching the NFC Football Championships on TV - Giants vs. Packers. It was a very exciting game all around and the Giants won! The Giants are going to the Super Bowl! I knew Eli could do it. Here I am celebrating the victory. Take that Cheeseheads!

Visit from Auntie Carey

Today I got to visit with Auntie Carey who came from Boston to New York City for the long weekend. After an afternoon of shopping, we met up with her at City Bakery to warm up with some hot chocolate. Everyone at City Bakery was charmed by my cuteness, especially Auntie Carey's Mom and Aunt (I think it's the cheeks!). I told Auntie Carey stories about all my adventures and she told me a little something too. She and Uncle Ted are expecting a baby in the summer! I can't wait to have another friend to play with although their baby will no doubt be a Red Sox fan and I don't know if I can mingle with the likes of them folks. We'll have to see... It was so nice to visit with you Auntie Carey! I'm going to go talk to Mom and Dad about taking a trip up to Boston sometime soon.

New girlfriend

So after the busy week and weekend that I told you about last time, Mommy took me on a play date to Amira's house. We had lots of fun playing together.


And I think that the more we played, the more Amira got to know me and like me... all of a sudden it was as if she just couldn't keep her hands off me!

I have to admit, I was a little startled by how quickly she made her move -


All I can say is, watch out Beatrice... a new woman just entered the picture, and she seems to get what she wants...

Busy man

I know that I have not posted any updates in a few days, and some of you may be wondering why not. Well, the truth is that I'm a busy man. A very busy man. In addition to various classes and appointments, I of course keep a very active social calendar. I'll give you some examples from the past few days, which were pretty typical...

Let's start with my visit to the allergist - I had to go get checked out after the "banana incident"... while Mommy does not allow Daddy to take out his camera at doctor's offices any more, she couldn't stop him from snapping this shot on the subway on the way to the doctor in Manhattan - note that I now get to sit in my own seat on the train - it's as if I'm all grown up already!

The allergist recommended that I get tested for additional food allergies, so our next appointment was to get blood drawn. That wasn't very much fun, but the nurse complimented me on how well I behaved - practically no fussing at all - and how much blood I allowed her to draw - four full vials! Daddy said I handled everything like a real man. Of course, once again, despite Daddy's best efforts, no pictures of the blood-drawing were allowed, but here is one showing off my band aid (though I know it's a little hard to see in my folds...)

Later in the week, Daddy had to travel to California for work for a few days, and Mommy had an appointment one evening, so 5 Yee Pau came over to take care of me. As always, we had lots of fun:

Then came the weekend, and since the weather was kinda' nice (for January in New York, anyway), Mommy and Daddy took me to the park. I liked watching the ducks there...


I spent a good chunk of the rest of the weekend playing with my new box:




But the fun didn't end with the weekend - in fact, it was just beginning... On Monday's I have my music class, and this week's was particularly fun - me and my friends were all making music together:

Of course most of my friends try to play the instruments the "proper way" but I consider myself an avant garde artist and so invent new ways of playing...


But the best part of this busy period came later on Monday afternoon, when I had a play date at Amira's house... and, it just may be possible that I have a new girlfriend... stay tuned...

Progress!

Listen up everyone! There's been a bit of a breakthrough. I'm crawling!! Well, sort of. I've started to make forward progress with a modified crawling form - kind of like yoga where you can do modified poses based on your ability. Since I'm still a beginner, I get a modified crawl - still rough and uncoordinated around the edges but you get the basic idea. Plus, Mommy says that it looks like I'm trying to do the Knees-Chest-Chin pose.


I don't know what motivated me to try to crawl. Motivate is the operative word since Mommy and Daddy try to avoid saying that I'm lazy; I'm just unmotivated sometimes. But I think that it was something that the Easy Button said to me that got me off my belly: "That was easy." Plus, Mommy's shoes make a delicious target.



It sure it tiring and takes a lot of energy to try to pull myself forward but I'm getting there.

Learning New Tricks

Guess who came to visit me today? Ciocia Olga! I was so excited to see her. I haven't seen her since Christmas Day. We rarely get to spend some good quality time together but today, we got to spend pretty much the whole day together. She built me lots of tall towers with my blocks so that I could knock down and humored me while I kept dropping my toys and struggled to pick them up again. Since it was such a nice day outside (60 degrees in January! Can you believe it??), we went to play in the playground and go on the swings. But the best was that she taught me some new tricks.

First, she showed me all the goodies on the TOP shelf in the living room. Why hadn't I noticed all these goodies before? There are so many DVDs and videotapes and I had fun pulling all of them off the shelf.

Next, she taught me how to use the DVD player. Now that I know where the DVDs are and how to put them in the machine, I can watch Baby Einstein anytime that I want! Yipee! Thanks Ciocia Olga for coming to visit today!

10 Months Old

I'm 10 months old today! Wow, only 2 more months to go until the big number 1! ohmygoodness... Today was an unseasonably warm day so Mommy and I decided to take a trip to Chinatown to visit the Yee-Paus. Of course, Mommy forgot her camera so I have no pictures of me at the travel agency with them. But we had a good old time looking at the fish in the aquarium, reading through some travel brochures and laughing up a storm. That 5 Yee-Pau is a silly one.

I also have a new trick! I'm learning how to clap my hands especially when I'm happy or excited about something. Mommy thinks that it's a sign that there's something going on inside of my head. I'm not so sure about that one. See?

Sometimes I miss my hands when I try to clap but I still get a kick out of it.

Sunday night blues...

Don't you just hate that feeling you get on Sunday night, knowing that the weekend is just about over? Especially after a fun weekend like this one...

It of course started on Friday when all my baby friends came over to our house to play. Then on Saturday, Babcia came to visit me - she spent the whole day with me, playing and feeding me while Mommy and Daddy went to the movies and dinner. I had lots of fun with Babcia!

And on Sunday, Mommy and Daddy took me to one of our favorite places in Brooklyn - the Red Hook waterfront:

I got to practice standing (my new favorite activity) - with a view of the Statue Of Liberty!

But, alas, I knew that the weekend was coming to a close, and I would soon have to return to the drudgery of 9-5 life - regimented naps and feedings, music classes, pediatrician appointments, etc. I guess it's like Daddy says, "a man's gotta' do what a man's gotta' do..."

Daddy's wisdom always puts me in a pensive mood...

Lukie Boy

Back in December, I finally had a chance to meet my friend Lucas (aka Lukie Boy). He lives in New Jersey and is the son of one of Yee-Ma's best friends from high school. We've been meaning to get together for a while now but schedules haven't quite permitted. You know how busy two little boys can be!

We had lots of fun playing together. Lukie is about 2 months older than me so definitely someone that I think I can look up to and admire. He showed me all these new tricks like crawling, pulling up to a stand and cruising around on the furniture and walls. He's a fast little guy - he did laps around me as I sat on the floor and played with his toys.

I also got to play with Lukie's older sister Nazla. We had a good time watching Ratatouille together. She and Lucas can get into some pretty tight situations. How did they get back there behind the couch?

Thanks for having us over Auntie Alyssa and Uncle David. I hope that I can play with Lukie again soon! An early Happy 1st Birthday to Lukie!

Playdate

It's Friday and you guessed it - it's Mommies and Babies lunch. Today, Mommy and I invited everyone over to our house to eat and play. It has been a long time since I've seen my little friends so it was great to catch up, see how everyone's holidays were and see what everyone is up to. Boy are we a busy bunch - crawling, scooting, pulling up, cruising. Well, really I should say they are a busy bunch. Darn - everyone turned away just as Mommy was taking this picture!

I also got to meet Daddy's co-worker Ramona. She was nice enough to tickle my belly. I hear that her husband is a pretty rocking musician. Maybe he'll come play at my birthday party!