Welcome Hazel!

This is the most exciting thing I've gotten to write about in my blog since I was born. My parents got me a little sister! Hazel Isabelle was born on April 18, 2009 at 3:59am. She was 7 lbs 8 oz, 20.1 inches, with a 33cm head size; so much, much bigger than I was at birth. Mom and Dad said she came out hungry and he has been a voracious little eater so far.

Hazel was born the day before Mom's birthday - what a great birthday present. Mom and Dad worked really hard to get out of the hospital on the 19th so we could all spend Mom's birthday together at home. Aunt Lauren, my friend Janie, and my friend Zhenya all helped watch me while Mom and Dad were in the hospital. They did a great job, and I had a lot of fun with them.

Since Hazel's been home, we've gotten to spend a lot of time together. She seems to really look up to me. Although I was a little skeptical Sunday night, after a good night's sleep, today I decided I am definitely interested in watching her too. At dinner tonight, I just kept watching her and laughing. I especially like her feet, which are fun to touch. I am excited to have a little sister. Mom and Dad have their hands full right now with both of us. Dad is taking off work this week, and then Grandma comes into town for a while.

Hazel is not very talkative yet, so she has asked me to do the talking for us. So, we'll be giving updates on both of us through this blog. We are adding a new feature though - the Hazel growth chart on the right side of the blog.

Here are all of the pictures we've taken since Hazel was born.

The boy who saved Passover

Mom and Dad have their hands full right now, anticipating my new sister, so they didn't make big plans for Passover. Luckily, I had it under control. I made a seder plate and afikomen bag in school, and we were able to use them in a mini-seder for the first night of Passover. I liked hearing Daddy read the Passover story and eating lots of brisket, broccoli and matzah. Aunt Lauren joined us, so that made it extra special.

Speaking of Aunt Lauren, she came to our house Tuesday night when I was asleep. It was a fun surprise to wake up to her Wednesday morning. To celebrate her arrival, we went to South Austin yesterday. I had a chicken sandwich from my favorite burger place and Mom and Aunt Lauren had cake shakes from Holy Cacao, a new place that sells chocolate treats out of a trailer. The weather was perfect and we sat with Peepa at a picnic table in the shade. It was nice to have lunch outside, to get out of the house, and to enjoy a nice afternoon with Aunt Lauren and Peepa.

Another fun thing we've been enjoying lately is the new cat we've adopted - sort of. Maybe she's adopted us instead. A few weeks ago, Mom took care of our neighbors' cats while they were out of town, and now one of them comes over to visit us almost every day. Matty's not here to bark at her, so I think she's not scared of us anymore. Yesterday Mom and I spotted her through the window so we went out to say hi. We picked a long weed that she liked playing with and pet her. She meowed at us, let us pet her and rubbed her head on our legs. I thought it was so funny, I laughed and jumped up and down, which scared her away. Peepa also likes her and would like to play with her, but she scares the kitty away too. Maybe soon the kitty will understand Peepa and I are just excited to see her.

Today Mom woke up with some ideas of how to help me become a more civilized human being. First she raised my booster seat and served my breakfast at the table instead of on my tray, as usual. I enjoyed my banana, milk and pancake over a place mat with some fun animals on it. Then when I threw the place mat on the floor, she gave me some cantaloupe in a bowl. It was nice to eat at the same place as Mom, but not much different from eating at a restaurant. The really fun part was coloring at the table after I finished eating.

Next, Mom and Aunt Lauren took me outside for something really new - my first haircut!!! Mom was very sad, but she said I was starting to look a little too wild, even for her taste. I had a couple of dreadlocks and she says, while it's fun, I'm too young for that scene. They put me in my booster seat, we went out on the deck, and after wetting and trying to comb my hair, Mom cut it while Aunt Lauren took pictures, advised Mom, held my face and hands and said nice, soothing things to me. I can't say I loved the experience, but I didn't totally freak out, as Mom was expecting. After they were done, Aunt Lauren took me to the mirror so I could check out my new look. I can't say I noticed a difference, but Mom said I look like a big boy, not a baby anymore, and she thinks it's still pretty curly. She's kind of sad, but said I look nice and will be cooler in the heat this way.

Here are a few pictures from Aunt Lauren's first day here, breakfast at the table and my haircut.

Shoes for my fast little feet

About two weeks ago, our friend Francois visited with us from California during SXSW, a big film/music/multimedia conference and event here in Austin. He was nice enough to make time in his busy schedule to have breakfast with me and Mom and to take this picture of us. It was fun seeing him and we hope he comes back soon!

Today Dad had to fix the ceiling fan in my room so Mom and I split the scene. We went to some nearby shopping outlets so I could find some new shoes for summer. I went up a size and a half - a 6 and a half wide! - since we last got shoes, which really wasn't that long ago. Mom was shocked. She doesn't always believe how fast I am growing. Anyway, now I have some nice new sandals that will be cool in the hot weather and big enough for my giant feet.

Mom and Dad are getting ready to have my new sister, and tonight they went out for a last hurrah. Our nice neighbor, Candace, stayed with me. It was great. She and her son Jared gave me delicious watermelon and we had a great time playing. I showed her my toys, books and how fast I can run. She told Mom and Dad it was good they warned her to keep the gates by the stairs closed at all times because I am so speedy, I got away from her once.

My teachers at school also keep telling Mom I've been very sneaky lately. Every time I'm there we spend some time playing outside, where they have an area for kids my age as well as another area and playscape for bigger kids. I really want to play on the big playscape and I keep trying to slip over there when they aren't looking. Maybe one day they'll realize how fun it'd be and let me play there.

Learning about the world

I learned about a lot of new things this week. Wednesday, Mom was on the phone with Grandma and I was eating a nice snack when we started hearing a strange noise. Mom thought it was Peepa wreaking havoc in the living room, but it kept getting louder and faster and Peepa was just taking a nap, and finally she realized it was a crazy hail storm. Golf ball sized hail was pummeling our house and yard. In case you don't believe me, I posted a picture of it. It lasted about 10 minutes. After it was over, we went outside and I held one of them. I didn't like how cold it felt, so I threw it at our house.

In addition to learning about weird types of weather, I am learning all about a new color - pink. Our house is now full of it. The other night I came out of the bathroom, and this laundry basket was in our hallway. I've never seen so many clothes all the same color in my life. Mom and Dad say I will learn what this is all about in a week or two. All I know is Mom's tummy is getting really big and she's too tired to be much fun. I wonder if the two are connected somehow.

One of our doggies, Matty, has been sick for a long, long time, and Thursday he passed away. Mom and Dad are really sad. Our house sounds really weird without his barking, but I am keeping his spirit alive because he taught me my first word, "arf," which I make any time I see or think about a dog. We all really miss him a lot.

Today was a really nice day out, so Dad, Mom, Peepa and I went to the park. We hoped to get pictures with bluebonnets like last year, but they weren't there. We had a great day anyway. We ran around the park, looked at some ducks, Daddy played with me on a playscape and took me down a big slide, and we went to the sand pit. It was great. We all were exhausted by the end of the day.

Another thing that was interesting is I got to try out a new contraption - my monkey leash. I don't walk anymore. Instead I just run everywhere. Mom and Dad can't keep up with me and are afraid I'll run into traffic or something, so they got this monkey backpack for me so if I get away, they can quickly reel me in by grabbing the monkey's tail. Mom thinks it is a little weird, but Dad and I like it. Mom said if it keeps me from getting hit or lost, then it's worth it.

This week I proved I'm my dad's kid because I found that I love watching sports. First, we saw a guy playing basketball in his driveway the other day and I was so mesmerized Dad and Mom drug me away after staring at him for a while. Then when we were at the park today, I saw a group of people playing volleyball and was just as fascinated. Dad says I have perfect timing - I learned about basketball just in time for March Madness. He's pretty excited. Both my grandpas, who are also basketball fans, will probably be happy about it too.

Here are pictures of the hail storm, our trip to the park, and all our pink clothes.

A natural artist

I did great at school again today. I no longer care at all when Mom leaves. When we got there, I just ran away from her and started playing.

Today was a very fun day. Finally it's Purim, which we've been anticipating for weeks, and to celebrate we dressed up in costumes and had a parade. I wore my shark suit from Halloween and we marched in the hallways all around the school. We got to see all the kids, who were also in costumes, from the other classrooms and teachers who were also dressed up and singing fun songs.

My teachers told Mom they can't believe how much I like art projects, especially at my age. Yesterday while I was fingerpainting at home with Mom, she thought the same thing. I did it for a really long time and was very interested and focused on it. Today at school I painted for 15 minutes - I made a castle picture and a crown - the two projects everyone did - and then went on to do an extra painting! My teacher gave it to Mom and said, "Look at this, it's a really nice piece of artwork!" Mom and Dad are happy to have their own little Picasso.

Bubbe's visit

This week we had a special visitor. Bubbe came to visit from Atlanta. She and I had a really fun week. I got to spend a lot of quality time with her this week while Mom and Dad worked.

On Wednesday, she took me outside to play in the sandbox she gave me. It was the first time we've gotten to play there together, and I was happy to show Bubbe how to play in the sandbox. I also showed her how I can hit a ball off a tee with my bat and how fun it is to throw gravel and sand.

Wednesday night, Mom and Dad joined us for dinner at Hut's. I had a delicious grilled cheese sandwich. It was 2 for 1 burger night at Hut's so everyone else got burgers and we had extra for lunch the next day.

Thursday morning, Mom and Bubbe dropped me off at school. The teacher said what a wonderful kid I was in class. Bubbe was pretty impressed. On the way out, I showed her how good I am at working the water fountain, and how mad I get when I can't spend the rest of the day with it. In the afternoon, we went to the park and Bubbe chased me around the playground. She also gave me some new toys - a cell phone of my very own (so I'll stop stealing Dad's) and a firetruck that makes real siren noises. Bubbe said it kept making the siren noise on her plane ride down to Austin. She also gave me a doll that is supposed to get me ready for Peanut, but I found it pretty scary. Anytime someone brings it to me, I find someplace to hide. And she brought me some really fun new books! But my favorite new toy is a beach ball - I love throwing it around and chasing it at full speed, even though its almost as big as me. Bubbe also brought a present for Dad - some yummy Krystal's.

Friday, Bubbe and my parents and I all went to the parenting center for playing and Shabbat songs. It was really fun. They had a ball bath for the kids to play in, although I prefer to just pick up the balls and throw them. I really liked the songs - I even got up and started dancing and clapping to one of them. Mom had never seen me do that before. Friday afternoon, Mom, Bubbe and I went to Costco to pick up some groceries. They had some samples of macaroni and cheese that I LOVED. I ate so much that the woman passing out the samples eventually closed the sample booth to keep me from eating her entire stock, but by then I convinced Mom to get some to bring home with us. Friday night we had Rudy's for dinner - I love BBQ!

Saturday morning, Dad, Bubbe, and I took my wagon and went to visit Miguel. Miguel said I am getting very big. After my nap, Mom joined us and we all went to the Austin Botanical Garden. Mom and Dad had never been to the botanical garden before, so it was a treat for all of us. I liked all the space I had to run around, and I liked looking at the colorful flowers. They also had a cool waterfall and a dinosaur! Dad was nice enough to wear a hat for me to play with as well.

Saturday night, Mom and Dad went out on a date while Bubbe and I played with my new toys. Bubbe also showed me some new clothes that she got me. They included some very cute shirts and a few pairs of pajamas. She also brought me a cute shirt from Aunt Laurie. Just in time, because I'm really starting to grow out of my clothes.

Sunday, Bubbe had to go back to Atlanta. I really had a great time with her. Mom and Dad really appreciated having her around too. They got a well deserved break. In fact, Friday night they realized that they hadn't changed my diaper even once - Bubbe had handled all of my diaper changes for the entire day! It was sad that Bubbe had to leave, but she said she would be back in a couple of months, after Peanut is born. I can't wait!

Here are some pictures from our fun week.

Making Mom and Dad proud

Learn more about this project

Today was a great day at school. Usually when Mom drops me off, she hands me to a teacher and I cry until she leaves, but today I didn't cry at all. When we got there, Mom put me down and I ran off to play with a puzzle. Without the crying, it took Mom a minute to realize she was supposed to leave.

At the end when Mom picked me up, I dropped what I was doing and ran to hug her, as usual. Then my teacher raved about me. She said not only am I good and an easy kid, I am really fun because I laugh and run around the whole time I'm there. She pointed out that I sit in my chair and listen really well, and said she tells parents if they're going to have another kid, to order a Mitch! The whole drive home, Mom told me how proud I make her.

We've been getting ready for the holiday Purim in my class. Last week I made a Purim shaker and today we made masks. My teacher was very impressed with my painting, which she said I did all by myself.

Every day, Dad leaves us to go to work as a software engineer. Here is an example of what he does all day. To start the game, push the "s" key. The goal is to help me avoid Matty and Peepa. To avoid Peepa, click the down arrow. To avoid Matty, hit the space bar. To start a new game, click on the green flag in the upper right corner, and then push the "s" key. Don't forget to comment on this blog to tell us what you think of it. Dad says he's open to suggestions. Good luck!