Holiday Picture Outtakes

Now that Thanksgiving is over, it's officially the holiday season. That means it's time to buy a Christmas tree, start putting up the decorations, buy holiday gifts and mail holiday cards! Each year, Mommy and Daddy send out a holiday card with my picture in it. This year, since Everett's around, I guess that the picture has to include him too. So, we set out to capture the perfect picture of the two of us. I have to admit, it was a little trickier than I expected. You try wrangling a 3 month old who doesn't have complete neck control, get him to sit still, pose and smile. Here are some outtakes from our photo shoot.

Since Everett did such a good job, I decided that he could have Bunny for the rest of the day...or at least until nap time.

P.S. All done NaBloPoMo!!!!!!

Does This Make Me Look Fat?

I think that I've outgrown my fleece snowsuit.

So much to do, so little time

Today was our last day in New Jersey and Dziadek and Babcia's house. We decided that we would drive home to Brooklyn right after Everett and I took our 12pm naps to beat the holiday traffic, so that just left me a few short hours in the morning to get in as much play time with Babcia and Dziadek as I could.

Since Mommy and Daddy always wonder what exactly it is that I do when I go off with Babcia and Dziadek, and why I always come home so exhausted, I decided to put together a little photo montage of my morning today - here is all the fun we managed to have in roughly the same time it took Mommy and Daddy to take their showers, and to get themselves and Everett dressed...









Luckily, Mommy and Daddy did manage to get Everett cleaned up and dressed by the time we got back home, so that Babcia could spend a little QT with him as well.



I can't wait until Everett is big enough to hit the playgrounds, arcades and malls with us - and I'll bet he can't either!

Happy Early Birthday Daddy!

Since we were all together for Thanksgiving, we decided to celebrate Daddy's birthday a couple of days early. Ciocia Olga and her friend Chris came up from Delaware to join the festivities. Plus, they wanted to see our little butterball - Everett!

We got Daddy a nice ice cream cake from Carvel. When the cake came out, I had a birthday surprise for him - I learned to sing Happy Birthday in Polish from Babcia and Ciocia Olga! Daddy was very impressed with my singing talent and Polish pronunciation.

After we sang, I helped Daddy blow out the candles on his cake. There were only two candles on the cake but I think that Daddy is older than two years old, no?

Look at all the presents he got! Now it's cake time! Special cupcake for me, of course.

But the party didn't really start until I donned Babcia's collection of beaded necklaces. Partay time!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! I hope that you all are having a wonderful time with your families and friends. This morning, we packed up the car and headed down to New Jersey to Babcia and Dziadek's house. We left first thing in the morning. While I promptly fell asleep once the the car started moving, I woke up after about 45 minutes...with 45 minutes to go. I wasn't happy and tried to tell everyone in the car about it. To keep Jasper occupied and to block out my screams, Mommy gave him her iPod which she loaded with a few TV shows. He was very happy as you can see.

This is my first visit to their house. I've heard so much about it from Jasper and I couldn't wait. Aside from meeting Saba, Niunia and Daisy, I also got to meet Prababcia - my great grandmother! I told her all about my life over the past 3.5 months and gave her a few smiles too.

Prababcia and Babcia were working on a big Thanksgiving feast. See all the yummy food? There's turkey with apple and apricot stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, grilled squash, green beans and roasted potatoes and carrots. Jasper can't decide what he wants to eat first.

He and Bunny filled up their plates and enjoyed a big meal.

I only got to watch all the action. When do I get to try some turkey?

After dinner, Jasper and Dziadek settled in to watch some TV. I think that someone was a little tired after their big meal...

Thank you for the wonderful meal Prababcia and Babcia! I have so much to be thankful for - so many people love me and my brother Jasper. We both feel very very lucky to have all of you in our lives. Happy Thanksgiving!

New Jersey - The Lost Pictures

Remember when Mommy, Daddy and Everett went to London while I was shipped off to Babcia and Dziadek's house in New Jersey? Well, some pictures from that weekend just surfaced. I think that they speak for themselves. This is what I did all weekend. Literally ALL weekend.

And after all that jumping around on the trampoline...

Then some housework with Prababcia.

And a walk around the block with Niunia.

A full weekend indeed.

Future Rock Climber?

Since we're talking about my athletic endeavors, let's discuss my newest interest - rock climbing! You see, Daddy took me to this playground in Red Hook today while Mommy went grocery shopping. The playground really is supposed to be for older kids but that didn't intimidate me. I ran straight for the mini rock climbing walls and started climbing. Daddy was impressed with my natural skill and ability. What do you think?

Because Mommy is feeling generous today...

Happy Monday.

Photo editing credit goes to Dee Biu Coufou, the genius behind the Gandhi photomontage.

My First Playdate

Today, I had my first real playdate. Not just a tag-along playdate that I usually have with Jasper and his friends and their siblings. This was an infant playdate - just for me and some new friends.

Here we are chillaxing and enjoying a little circle time.

Not only was this my own first playdate, but it was actually organized by our Daddies, not Mommies, like 99.9% of playdates in this universe seem to be. You see, Daddy hooked up with a group of other stay-at-home / work-at-home dads in our neighborhood, and they've all started getting together with their kids during the day. So while Daddy was making friends and chatting with the guys, I was busy making new friends of my own.

Here I am with my newest friend, Mia. We have a lot in common - we were born just two weeks apart in August, and like me, Mia is half-white and half-Chinese. Or more accurately, half-Taiwanese, and I guess Taiwan is techincally not part of China. Yet.

Meanwhile, Jasper had his own playdate with a surprise visitor - Dziadek! This is Jasper's best "cheese" photo face - I wonder if one day he'll learn how to say cheese and open his eyes at the same time?

Bright and early this morning, Mommy and Daddy packed me and Everett up in the car and we headed north. Over the Brooklyn Bridge and up the West Side Highway. Where were we going you ask? Well, you see, I've been clamoring to go swimming all week long. We walk by the YMCA near home and I turn to Mommy and say, "Swimming?" We drive by the pool in Red Hook and I turn to Daddy and say, "Swimming?" So, since I've been extra good this week and a very good big brother, they decided to take me to a new pool at Riverbank State Park. Not only is there an Olympic size pool there, but there's a full track, gym, tennis courts, playground and much much more! Mommy and Daddy used to go swimming here all the time and they wanted to share the park with me. I couldn't wait to jump into the pool.

After swimming, I was starving. We drove back downtown toward South Street Seaport to scope out yummy treats at the New Amsterdam Market. It's held outside the old Fulton Fish Market and focuses on local and regional purveyors and producers of food - butchers, bakers, cheese makers, chocolate makers, wine producers, fishmongers, grocers - and seeks to revive and reinvent the public market. It celebrates the roots of New York City’s culinary and historical traditions of open food markets. Since it was such a beautiful Fall day, the market was packed. But we were able to meet up with Auntie Alison and take a spin around the market.

Auntie Alison was nice enough to buy me a cup of sorbet. Cranberry-apple-pear sorbet from the bent spoon based in Princeton, NJ. I got to enjoy my treat with a view of the Brooklyn Bridge.

It was delicious. Good to the last drop. Thank you Auntie Alison! By the way, with Thanksgiving coming up, we've been discussing the holiday at school and sharing with the class what we are thankful for. When it was my turn, I told the class that I was thankful for ice cream, Mommy and Daddy...and Everett. In that order.

Fall Days

The weather here in New York City has been near perfect the last couple of days - cool and brisk in the morning and then warming up by mid-day with bright sunshine. Kind of makes you forget that winter is just around the corner. You see, I'm learning all about the seasons at school. I'm learning about Fall and all the cool things that happen during Fall like the leaves changing colors and falling down to the ground.

I've been a little obsessed with leaves lately. I like examining all the different shapes and colors. I usually like to carry at least one leaf and one acorn with me wherever I go.

This afternoon, I had a playdate with my friend Odin. You remember Odin - he's my friend from daycare. We have a lot more experimenting to do with leaves. We piled them all up in the middle of the field...

And then I jumped and rolled around in them. Crunch Crunch Crunch.

Then Odin tried to bury me with leaves. I think that he has to go get some more leaves!

Alas, Fall is quickly passing us by so I have to savor these moments. You should go jump in a pile of leaves too!