Home from Atlanta

Since we have been back from Atlanta, Hazel and I have worked on perfecting the skills we picked up there.

While we were visiting Bubbe and Papa, Hazel discovered that she has feet. The very day we got home, she figured out how to get them in her mouth. Ever since then she has been spending a lot of time gnawing on them.

Hazel is still very talkative and started spending a little time in my old Jumperoo. She is also rolling around a lot more, still only from her back to her tummy, not from her tummy to her back. Today she spent an hour at about 5 a.m., her favorite time of day, flipping herself over onto her tummy. She kept getting stuck on her belly and she let Mom know about it every time until Mom finally pulled Hazel into bed with her. If you ask me, that's a pretty smart way to get some extra snuggles.

As for me, I got a lot of practice turning doorknobs in Atlanta, a fun trick I have been testing out since we got home. I first opened a door at home months ago but they Mitch-proofed the main doorknobs we use and I forgot to try out the rest. Now, no door goes unnoticed. It is fun to keep Mom and Dad on their toes with this.

I have been making a funny little monkey noise (ooh-ooh, aah-aah) and have been having a good time playing with my nose. Also, Hazel and I have been playing with each other more. I tried sharing my drink with her earlier this week. I have also been pretending more with my stuffed animals and my little kitchen. Yesterday I wiped my nose, then wiped my monkey's nose. It made everybody laugh.

We also had a few new experiences this week. I also got to try peanut butter for the first time the other day. It was okay. Mom and Dad were expecting a stronger reaction (love or hate), but I'm pretty neutral on the stuff. Peepa sure seems to like it though.

Last week was Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. There's a neat tradition in Judaism on Rosh Hashanah called Tashlich that consists of symbolically casting away sins by flinging bread into a stream or river. Since we couldn't get to a stream or river, we used our little pool outside in our yard. Mom and Dad's plan was to dump the pool and let the bread flow away with the water, but Peepa had other plans. After we cast away the pieces of bread, Peepa jumped into the pool and ate them. I'm not sure what the symbolism of that was, but it sure was funny.

Hello from Atlanta

Mom, Dad, Hazel, and I came to Atlanta to help my great-grandmother Millie celebrate her 90th birthday. What a fun and busy week it has been.

We left Austin last week and it was my first time getting my own seat on the plane. I celebrated by not napping at all on any of the flights, and making sure the flight attendants knew what I thought of their "no standing on the seat while landing" policy. When we got on the plane, Hazel let everyone know we were aboard each time we got on a plane by screaming as loud as she could. Once we got settled in, she stopped though. Mom and Dad said this was not our best airplane experience, but it seemed fun to me.

When we landed in Atlanta, Bubbe and Papa were there to greet us. We are staying with Bubbe and Papa, who have a pool, and we've been taking advantage of the nice weather to play outside a lot. Not only is there a pool and a lot of toys, but Bubbe and Papa also have a hose sprayer that is a lot of fun. My favorite thing to do in their yard is run around the outside of the pool, scaring Dad.

While we've been in Atlanta this week, we've gone to parks, to the zoo, to visit Bubbe's work place, and to the Atlanta Children's museum. I went to the Varsity twice and ate an entire double cheeseburger myself. We've spent a lot of time with Aunt Laurie and Uncle Jonathan, my cousins Ellie, Emily, and their families, and many of our family friends. It has been quite a week.

Friday, my cousin Ellie came over to play. Ellie is a few months older than me and lives in Arizona. It took us a little bit to warm up to each other, but soon we were playing like old friends. We danced, jumped and ran around screaming together. She was really fun.

Saturday night was Great-Grandma Millie's big birthday party. All of Millie's kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids were there (31 total!). Hazel and I did a great job posing for pictures and sitting through dinner even though it was past our bed times. I even danced a little bit to the awesome piano player.

We head back to Austin tomorrow, but we've sure had fun this week. You can see pictures (lots of them) from our week here, as well as this fun video of me and cousin Ellie dancing with each other.