Tumbling Class, Choo-Choos and Ah-Boo!!!

I woke up this morning to a great surprise - Ah-Boo!!! She arrived late last night and has come to visit me for the weekend. I was so excited. She brought me this cool new hoodie from 2 Yee Pau who just returned from visiting Jasper, Canada.

Ah-Boo came to tumbling class with me. I couldn't wait to show off my skills. After we sang and stretched, we started on the obstacle course to get those big muscle groups working.

As we work our way around the obstacle course, we start to do rolls - first log rolls and then front rolls. I can do them all by myself now! Coach Mason and Coach Michelle are so proud of all the progress I've made!

Then, it's on to the elective portion of the class. Every 4 weeks or so, we do a new activity like parachute or the ball pit. For this section of class, we have moved on to the trampoline! I LOVE the trampoline. It's helping me figure out how to jump although I'm not quite there yet.

At the end of class, we have bubble time and then we all get stamps to show how hard we all worked in class. I'm very proud of my stamps. I get them on both hands and feet. Today, since I did an extra good job, Mason even gave me a stamp on my belly!

Then, in the afternoon, I tricked Mommy and Ah-Boo into taking me on a choo-choo ride. They tried to take me on the F choo-choo but I said "No!" I wanted to ride the R choo-choo.

So off we went to the Pacific Street station so that I could stand on the platform and watch all the choo-choos come and go. And then on to the D choo-choo and a ride over the Manhattan Bridge.

Whoosh! They move so fast!! What a great day!

Have Passport, Will Travel

About 5 weeks ago, I went with Mommy and Daddy to the County Clerks Office in Downtown Brooklyn to apply for my first passport. It finally arrived in the mail!! I'm official now.

These new passports are pretty cool. It has an electronic chip embedded inside and lots of other fancy features. Here's my close-up:

Hmmm, now that I have my passport, where should I go? Not Mexico because of the whole swine flu outbreak but maybe somewhere else nice and warm? Stay tuned because Mommy and Daddy say that they have my first international trip already planned for me!

And the Heat Goes On...

It was another hot summer-like day today in New York City. It almost hit 90 degrees!! To celebrate the nice weather, Mommy and Daddy bought me a present - a mini scooter!! I've been eying all the other neighborhood kids' scooters for some time now and am so excited to have my very own. I think that Mommy and Daddy are trying to find new ways to wear me out by the end of the day.

But I didn't care. I couldn't wait to take my new ride for a spin. Whoooa! A little wobbly!

Maybe I should get to know the scooter a little better first. Maybe we should take a little walk around the house.

Then, in the afternoon, we went back to the beach at Coney Island! This time I managed to drag Mommy and Dziadek along with me and Daddy. Mommy took me on the choo-choo ride at the amusement park.

And, of course, we spent time in the sand. Even though it was quite windy, I didn't notice a thing. I was in my zone.

I wonder how long this summer weather will last?

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

It felt like summer today! It was sunny and hot and in the 80's - a beautiful day to be outside. First thing in the morning, Mommy, Daddy and I went for a romp in the playground and a walk around the farmers market. Then, after my nap, Daddy and I went for a bike ride around Prospect Park to feed the duckies. When we got home, we found all the kids in the building outside playing in the sprinklers and having a grand old time. I just had to join in.

While I was at it, I figured that I might as well water the plants.

And then I learned a neat trick from the older kids - sidewalk chalk turns into a paste-like paint when it gets wet!! Pretty cool.

Where's Jasper?

My favorite new game...

Where's Jasper?

There's Jasper!

Watercolors

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! So, as you know, I like creating art and one of my favorite things is painting. Every time we go to Barnes & Noble, I ask Mommy if she will buy me a Thomas watercoloring book. I ask nicely (well, sometimes I whine) but she always says no. So what do I do instead? I ask the two people who can't resist me to buy it for me - Ah-Boo and Babcia! And they BOTH bought me the watercolor set on two separate occasions. HAHAHAHAHAHA! I fooled them. I'm working so hard on my painting that I worked up a sweat!!

What do you think? A Picasso in training?

Summer-like weekend

It was a beautiful, summer-like weekend in New York, with temperatures peaking in the mid-70's! It was down right hot at times, and I wasn't about to waste weather this good, so I gave Daddy some hints about what I'd like to do (choo-choo... choo-choo... CHOO-CHOO!!!)

As you may know by now, I have a bit of an obsession with choo-choos - Thomas The Tank Engine choo-choos, Transit Museum choo-choos, any choo-choos I can get on, near or just see, really. But my very favorite is the New York City subway, so two or three times a weak I ask and plead and yes, sometimes even whine a little, until Daddy takes me on a ride.

My favorites are the R choo-choo and the F choo-choo, both of which stop near our house. Sometimes we take one of them to a different neighborhood in Brooklyn, then walk or take the bus home, and sometimes we just ride around on the subway and get off at stations where multiple lines meet so I can watch choo-choos come and go constantly. We've done this for hours at a time before.

But I digress. Since the weather was so nice, Daddy decided that we would not waste time inside subway stations, and instead would take an extra long choo-choo ride. How exciting! There was lots to look at out the window on the trip...

...And of course I wouldn't let Daddy get completely away without spending at least a little time at the station watching the trains come and go.

So what was our final destination you ask? I'll give you a hint - it's one of the most famous beaches in the world. No, not Copacabana... not the Cote d'Azur... not Poipu Beach... no, this was much better - Coney Island!

After giving some thought to entering the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest (I decided it wouldn't be fair to the other contestants to have a sausage eating pro like me enter...), we headed toward the beach. But before we made it there, we got sidetracked by the amusement parks along the boardwalk, where there were more... wait for it... wait for it... yep, you guessed it: more choo-choo's!

In this case, it was a miniature train ride, made for little kids just like me. Daddy got me a ticket, and I got to go round and round on the track at the amusement park. Next time, I'm getting on the giant Wonder Wheel you see in the background!

Finally, we made it to the beach, and of course it was wonderful. How could it not be - sand everywhere. And you know how I feel about sand - next to choo-choos, it is my all time favorite.

Since it was so warm out, I even decided to test the water...

Brrrrr.... chilly. I think I'll wait 'til the summer, when it's warmed up a little.

I can't wait for my next trip to Coney Island! Do you want to come with me next time?

Evening Ritual

I have a new evening ritual. Every night, after eating dinner and brushing my teeth, I get to watch two episodes of Thomas the Tank Engine. It's my favorite part of the day. Usually, I like to watch the same episodes over and over again. Here I am pointing to the episode that I want to watch.

And fully engrossed in the drama that Thomas has created for himself.

But the best part is getting to snuggle up with Daddy to watch TV.

Resolution #8 - Done!

Yay! I can jump! I've completed my New Year's Resolution #8!



And for those of you who were inquiring about why there is a pacifier in my mouth in yesterday's post, well, let's just say Mommy and Daddy haven't had the heart to take it away from me yet. I'm just hoping that they forget about it.

Going for a ride

This morning when I woke up, I felt like going for a ride - so I did (and brought bunny along!)

Giddyup!

Happy Easter!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend! I sure did. I got to visit Babcia, Dziadek, Prababcia and Ciocia Olga again! And of course my favorite furry friends - Saba and Daisy (and sometime Nunia). I got an Easter basket full of plastic eggs (since I can't have the real thing) and a purple bunny. I also got some special Easter presents from Babcia's friend Theresa - more choo-choos!!

But the best part was receiving an Easter card from Biu Mui Juno that was filled with pictures!! I was so excited and wanted to display the pictures right away.

Latest Art Work

I realized that I haven't been sharing my latest art work with you. I've been quite prolific at daycare and in art class at the YMCA. Here are some of my recent pieces. Mainly I like to use paint and mixed media.

I think that the next one is supposed to be a grocery basket/bag filled with healthy food choices.

And for my more sculptural work - This one is a kite. It had a tail but I ripped it off because I wasn't satisfied with it.

This is a special paper bag.

Here's a paper chain.

This is a kazoo! It makes funny noises when Mommy blows into it.