New Years Eve Snow

It snowed again this morning. Time to go sledding...

Happy New Year Everyone!

Trains Trains and More Trains

After two doses of antibiotics and a couple of rounds of the nebulizer, I'm starting to feel better. I have a bit more energy and I've started to regain my appetite. Since I was feeling better, Daddy said that he would take me, Keira and Coufou on a choo-choo ride to the New York Transit Museum. You see, yesterday, Keira, Coufou and Couma went to see the Grand Central Holiday Train Show at the Transit Museum Annex so I was anxious to show her the full museum. We got all bundled up and waited on the platform for the F choo-choo.

You see, Keira is a train fanatic too. She was super excited to see all the different types of subway cars and buses. We had fun running around and through the subway cars...

and hiding from Daddy and Coufou. I don't think that they can see us in here.

Here we are!!

We took turns driving the bus. Keira wanted to turn left and I wanted to turn right.

After all that running around, we stopped for a quick snack.

Then it was off again. This time for arts and crafts. We each got to build and decorate a subway car. I made a N choo-choo and Keira made a K choo-choo. We colored it, cut out shapes and stuck stickers and wallpaper on our trains.

Then we took our choo-choos and tested them out on the model Manhattan Bridge.

After lunch and our respective short naps, it was back to action. This time, we played with the huge train table in our neighbor's house (where Keira is staying this week). We tried to play together and share but it was touch and go.

Then it was music time. Mommy led us in singing and shaking and banging to the ABCs, Wheels on the Bus, and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

All the while, Everett was cuddling upstairs with Couma. You see, Everett is starting to get a little sick again. I guess it wasn't such a good idea to cough all over him. Oopsy.

Geez, these female cousins of mine sure are full of energy. It's non-stop activity all day. I'm tired now. Good night.

Uh-Oh...

Uh-oh...Jasper's sick! He hasn't been feeling 100% the last couple of days but then on Monday, he started feeling pretty bad. He didn't sleep all night because he has a bad cough that hurts and wakes him up. So Mommy took him to the doctor. He doesn't look too happy.

The doctor said he has bronchitis!!! So, when he came home, he had to start his breathing treatment again. He's not terribly sad because that means that he gets to watch TV 4 times a day.

But wait a second...Two years ago, Daddy had a bad case of bronchitis. Last year, Mommy had bronchitis twice! And now Jasper!!! Does that mean that I'm next??

Another Cousin

Just as Juno left on Sunday, another cousin has come to take her place for the week - Keira! I haven't seen Keira since May and we both have grown up so much since then. We are both talking a lot more and share many of the same interests like choo-choo trains and my scooter. I let Keira borrow my scooter and helmet at the playground yesterday so that she could try it out.

And, of course, our favorite Mandarin TV show - Chao Hu (I'm not sure if that's how you spell it). After we had dinner, we sat down on the couch to watch an episode. We're both pretty entranced by the show.

Once it's over, we all say "Bye Bye!" to the TV. Then it's time for baths and bed. Night Night!

Really? More Presents?

Wow. This Christmas thing goes on forever. I thought that we had already opened all of our presents but this morning, Coufou, Couma and Keira came over and we opened even more presents. Jasper and Keira got to work right away and were curious about each others' presents.

We got Keira a Brooklyn hoodie, Hello Kitty wallet and a sushi set. She was so thankful that she came over and gave Daddy and I a great big hug.

Once she felt how cuddly I was, she wanted to hold me all by herself. I think that I'm almost as big as her!

Since Yee-Ma and Juno are leaving today, it's the only chance for us four cousins to spend some time together. We goofed around and then all the big people said that we had to get on the couch and take a picture.

I'm sad that my week with Yee-Ma and Juno has now come to a close but at least I won't be lonely since Keira's here for the week! Bye Bye Yee-Ma! Bye Bye Juno! See in February!

Happy Birthday Keira!

Okay, so Keira's birthday was actually on December 24th but she had her birthday party today here in Brooklyn! She arrived this afternoon with Coufou and Couma and are staying the whole week to play with me. We all gathered at Villa Rustica for some pizza, baked ziti, eggplant parm and spaghetti to celebrate. It was the first time that all of us cousins have been together in one place!

Everett also got a chance to hang out with family like his K-Yeh (Arthur Biu Coufou)

6 Yee Pau...

Tiffy Biu Yee...

and Josephine Pau Pau. He's not really sad - he just woke up and was hungry but Mommy insisted that he say hello to everyone first before he could eat.

I was so excited to see Keira and to sing Happy Birthday to her. I've been practicing all week and ran right up to serenade her.

Then it was time for the real thing. All of us cousins plus Keira's two cousins on her Mom's side - Kristina and Kristopher - gathered around to wish Keira a happy birthday.

Happy 2nd Birthday Keira! Welcome to the club!

My First Christmas!

Merry Christmas Everyone!! It's hard to believe but Christmas Day is finally here! I've been patiently waiting and anticipating this day as Jasper and I have been counting down on the Advent calendar and crossing off days on the calendar hanging on the refrigerator. Yesterday, Christmas Eve, we packed up the car and drove down to Babcia and Dziadek's house in New Jersey. The house was all decorated in the holiday spirit and everyone was excited to see us. I got to spend some quality time with Babcia after I woke up from my nap.

One of the Polish Christmas traditions is that you get to open a gift on Christmas Eve. While I decided to forgo opening my present that evening, Jasper got to open up a really big present that Santa brought for him. He asked Santa for one thing for Christmas...

A really big choo-choo set! And he got it! A 160-piece wooden railway set complete with lots of bridges and tracks and trains and a roundhouse and a crane and trees and traffic signs and everything else that you could possibly imagine. He was really excited.

He and Daddy set to work right away putting together the track. They finally settled on a track design out of the several you could choose from. They set out the instructions and went to work.

Dziadek and I decided to watch from the couch. It looked complicated. They even had to pull out the measuring tape to make sure they were using the right track pieces!

Here's the finished product. Pretty cool, huh?

As we were eating our dinner, we heard sirens in the neighborhood. In Babcia and Dziadek's town, every Christmas Eve, Santa rides around greeting everyone on a decorated fire engine! I guess his sleigh is in the shop.

Jasper and I woke up the next morning giddy with excitement. Christmas was here and we could finally dig into the rest of the presents! Ciocia Olga and Chris arrived too to help us celebrate.

Jasper got to work right away while Mommy helped me open my gifts, since I'm not really coordinated enough to use my hands yet.

Jasper got lots of cool presents - an Elmo Christmas DVD, reels for this Discovery Channel viewfinder, lots of books and more Magnatiles! Boy, he sure did work up a sweat ripping open all his presents.

We even managed to get a nice family picture.

Then, it was time to pack up and head home to Brooklyn and to meet up with Yee-Ma and Juno to finish celebrating Christmas.

We had a couple more gifts to open like this cool tunnel that Jasper got from Ah-Boo.

And I got to open all of my presents from K-Ma. Look at all the stuff that I got! (K-Ma - I think that the Everett stool is from you?)

And remember how Jasper has his own ornament on the Christmas tree? Well guess what?! Santa Claus brought me MY very own ornament too! It is a Merry Christmas indeed.