Goodbye Grandma and Grandpa

Last weekend, we had visitors from Pennsylvania -- Grandma and Grandpa. We had a great time with them. The first few days, Grandpa was here and we went everywhere! We hit the Children's Museum Friday morning, then hit Mom's favorite restaurant, Guero's, for lunch. I loved dipping chips in salsa and feeding them to Grandma and Mom. Grandma gave me tres leches and flan for the first time. I loved it! After we all followed that trip up with a long nap -- Mom took hers in the girls' birthday hammock -- Dad came home from work and we all headed to Grandma and Grandpa's hotel for a dip in the pool and a barbeque dinner outside. It was a quick dip though. It was pretty cold, so only my toes made it in.

Saturday was a good time. We started out with breakfast at another of Mom's favorite places, Mozarts. I showed Grandpa the boats. Then we headed to Zilker Park to ride a train called the Zilker Zephyr, to look at a salamander exhibit at Barton Springs, and to play on a huge playscape. I especially liked riding the train with Dad. We saw turtles, fish and a guy playing a guitar and harmonica at the same time. Grandma and Grandpa spent the afternoon at a festival downtown, then we met up again at a place I haven't visited since last summer, Terra Burger. I had a great time running around, eating yummy chicken nuggets and fries, and climbing on the playscape. I even went down a big slide by myself.

We were sad to say goodbye to Grandpa Saturday night, but Sunday morning Grandma moved in with us for a few days! We took it kind of easy -- we were very tired and Grandma hurt her ankle Saturday -- but we had a good time relaxing with her. She read lots of books to us, we took her to Gymboree and Taco Cabana Monday, and Hazel got to spend the morning with her Tuesday when I went to school and Mom went to work. She took Mom birthday shopping Tuesday afternoon, and Wednesday morning we went to a great park. We thought we'd just dig around in a big sandbox, but there was a great water area I played in. Grandma walked Peepa around and Mom pushed Hazel in a swing. When I went down for my nap, I had to say bye to Grandma because she had to go home to see Grandpa.

One thing that is funny about Grandma is that she likes sleeping on the floor. Specifically, she likes sleeping on my floor. When I went to bed at night when she was here, everything in my room was normal. But when I woke up in the morning, there she was, sleeping on an air mattress. It was fun waking her up with my snuggles (aka banging my toys around and whooping at the top of my lungs at 6:30 a.m.) and I decided to pay homage to her a couple of days after she left by sleeping on my floor in her spot with my blanket and pillow. I miss her a lot!

After our visitors left we had to come up with fun things to do on our own. Thursday Hazel and I went to school in the morning, then in the afternoon, it was too hot to go outside so we headed to Gymboree. We recently signed Hazel up and this was the first time she could play too. She loved it! She climbed on everything and especially liked a hollow barrel-shaped structure. She kept crawling back and forth in it, laughing the whole time. We can't wait to go again.

Friday we had nothing lined up so we put on our swimsuits and headed back to the park. We were better prepared this time, with shovels and buckets. We all wore our swimsuits and water shoes, even Hazel! Mom said Hazel's water shoes are the cutest things she's ever seen. We got them so Hazel can crawl around on the concrete and not hurt her toes.

When we got home, my speech therapist came over while we were eating lunch. She says I am talking so much now, we don't need her anymore. Dad and Mom say this is very welcome news and everyone is proud of me. Not only am I talking a lot, I am reading letters and numbers now too! I know all the letters, I can count to 10 and I can even spell "dog." I am really keeping Mom and Dad on their toes. Today I figured out how to open the kid locks on the kitchen cabinets. I celebrated by moving the rice cooker to the middle of the kitchen floor.

Today was Mother's Day so we gave Mom the gift of sleep. Instead of getting her up at the crack of dawn, Dad got up with us today so she could sleep in. We were going to all hang out at the pool after that but the weather didn't cooperate so she worked instead while we hung out with Dad in the morning. We went to dinner at a crazy Chinese restaurant and Hazel wrapped up the day by pooping in the tub, which really freaked me out. Happy Mother's Day!

Unfortunately, most of the pictures from the past week were on Grandma's camera, and we had some technical difficulties getting the pictures from them. Mom and Dad managed to take some, which are here.

New 'do

Before




After

Bye Bye Bubbe

We had a good time wrapping up Bubbe's trip last week. Monday we got to spend some quality time with Bubbe while Mom went to get some tires replaced, then we all went to Gymboree. After our naps, we went to celebrate Mom's birthday at a cool restaurant called Threadgills. Hazel gave everyone a laugh at dinner. We were feeding her tiny pieces of bread since she only has 2 teeth, but as soon as we turned our backs for a second, she grabbed a giant roll and started chomping away, as you can see in the picture.

Tuesday we had lunch with Dad at work, then took Bubbe to the airport. We were all sad to see her go.

As soon as Bubbe left town, nice weather rolled in so we spent lots of time outside last week. Sunday we celebrated our friend Clark's birthday with him. He had a party so great, a little horse even came to it. I didn't get a chance to ride it, but I was able to pet it. It was fun.

After that, we went to a big party at the Jewish Community Campus. We got there in time for the last five minutes, but made the most of it by climbing on their big playscape for a while. It was a beautiful day.

Today was not so fun because Hazel had to go to the doctor for her one-year well visit. They measured her and found that she now weighs 17.09.5 pounds (fifth percentile), is 28 1/2 inches long (25th percentile), and her head is 42.5 cm around.

Meanwhile, I have lots of new words. I've been saying Mitch and Hazel for a while, but now I can say my full first name, "Mickell." I've also been saying things like "Godzilla" and "noogle" (noodle). Mom taught me how to say Godzilla when Hazel knocks down towers I've been building with blocks she got for her birthday. That's a favorite.

Here are some pictures from Gymboree and other playtimes, and here is Hazel's latest growth chart.

Happy birthday Hazel!

Today was Hazel's birthday! She turned one today. To help celebrate, Bubbe came into town. We've had a really fun time. I've gotten really good at answering the questions "How old is Hazel today?" and "How old are you?"

Saturday, we went to Fuddrucker's for lunch, where I happily ate all of Mom and Dad's fries. I also sat in a booster chair, which is now my preferred method of seating at restaurants. Mom got me a pair of sunglasses, so I'll stop grabbing hers all of the time, and I have been wearing them everywhere. They were very popular at Fuddrucker's. Hazel has been doing a great job of drinking water out of cups and got to do that at lunch. Hazel and I also liked watching all of the other kids running around.

Bubbe noticed that Hazel's hair was getting long in the front, so she helped Mom give Hazel her first hair cut. It was only her bangs, but it looks really different. You can see her new look in the picture above.

I've been showing Bubbe how good I am at dressing myself. She's particularly impressed with my wearing multiple colored socks. Aside from my feet, I am quite creative with socks.

Monday is Mom's birthday, and as part of her birthday, she got a massage Saturday afternoon. While she was doing that, Bubbe and Dad took Hazel and me to Jungle Java. It's been rainy here, so I've been cooped up inside and had a ton of energy to burn off. I really had a good time at Jungle Java and impressed everyone by going down the big slide (on my belly). Saturday night, Bubbe stayed with us while Mom and Dad went out on a date. They seemed pretty excited.

Sunday morning, Dad and I went to soccer, where I am continually improving at kicking the ball. Then we all went out for Hazel's birthday lunch at Waterloo. We met my friends Clark and Benjamin, their parents, Clark's grandparents, and our friend Zhenya there. I had some delicious pancakes. Hazel had a great time and loved all the attention.

Sunday afternoon we took Bubbe and Dad to see the peacocks at Mayfield Park, which Mom, Hazel and I visited Wednesday afternoon during a nap strike. That day, I learned to make a cool peacock noise and saw them spread their feathers out. This time, Bubbe and Mom took a lot of pictures. We also took a short nature walk through a jungle.

Sunday evening we had another big birthday bash at home. Hazel got a cake (I helped blow out the candle), and a bunch of presents. She's enjoyed all of the new books and stuffed animals.

Next up: Mom's birthday tomorrow!

Here are pictures that Mom and Bubbe took this week.

Soccer

Dad and I have been trying something new on Sunday mornings. We've been going to soccer! It's a special soccer class for two-year-olds, on a giant indoor soccer field. There are about four other kids in my class. We do lots of fun things. My favorites are stretching (I can touch my toes!), red light green light, chasing shirt tails, and playing with cones (the orange ones, not my relatives). I'm still trying to figure out what to do with the soccer ball, although I am getting better at kicking it. You can see me kicking it through the hoop in the picture above. Mom didn't want Dad to have all of the fun, so she and Hazel came along for one class to take pictures.

Meanwhile, Mom and I have been up to our own special activities. We bought some plants from our local farmer Miguel and a small local nursery, and I helped Mom plant them. We have two different types of tomato plants, a bell pepper plant, some mint and some basil. I'm really excited about growing and eating our own vegetables.

I've been saying a bunch of new words lately, and putting together more phrases. I say things like "go home" when I want to go home, and "more beans please" when I want more of Mom's delicious homemade refried beans.

Hazel has been getting better at standing up, and she is eating more finger foods. Unfortunately, she still only has two bottom teeth, so it limits what she can eat. Mom and Dad have to watch me carefully to keep me from sharing food to her.

You can see pictures from soccer here. The link also includes pictures from an egg hunt, Hazel eating and playing peekaboo, and my new plants.

Spring Has Sprung

Spring is here! It has been gorgeous out lately, so we've been spending as much time as we can outside, before it's summer and it's too hot to leave our house.

We've been going to the park sometimes and playing in our backyard, usually more than once a day. I have been having tons of fun climbing on my playscape and slide, scooping sand in my sandbox, and shoveling stones into my dump truck. Meanwhile, Hazel's been enjoying my old swing.

When Aunt Lauren was here last month, Mom had the chance to clean up the yard after our dog Peepa. She has a special tool for this job called a pooper scooper, basically a little shovel and a rake. I thought it looked like fun, so I grabbed the bottom of my tee ball set and my toy rake and pretended to help. So that's another thing I spend time on every time we're outside.

When I am not busy working in our yard, we like to eat lunch and dinner out on our deck, which as you can see, Peepa especially enjoys. This week we had an extra special dinner out there -- our Passover seder. It was great. My friend Clark, his parents, and his grandparents all came over. Dad told us a story, we sang a song or two, and we had a huge meal.

My favorite part was when I was allowed to dip my finger in some grape juice and put it on my plate. Usually I get in trouble for doing things like that; I have whenever I've tried it since then, anyway. Clark and I had a great time playing with each other. At the end of the night, he found the afikomen, and I am glad we still have tons of leftover matzah.

Another exciting thing that happened this week is I started going to school regularly at Leaps n Bounds. I am going Tuesdays and Thursdays for three hours each morning. It's fun. When I get there, we go outside. When we go inside to our classroom, we play, do crafts, and have circle time, where we sing and hear stories. After I eat lunch, we rest and Mommy picks me up.

Today was a special day at school. When we came inside, I was surprised to see Mom. Then I was surprised again because she gave me a basket and we went back outside to look for Easter eggs! I did a great job finding them and I had a lot of fun. They were weird eggs though. They were not brown or white like the eggs we cook with. They were all different colors and when I cracked them, goldfish and marshmallow bunnies came out! It's a good thing I found lots of them, and lucky for me, I got to bring them home. I really like them. They are fun to play with in my kitchen and Mom gave me a real egg box to hold them in. I played with them all afternoon. Mom made me go outside, and I even insisted on taking them out there!

My teacher also gave me a basket to bring home, and in it was a bottle of bubbles that Mom blew for me. The whole experience inspired me to say two new words -- bubbles and egg.

Speaking of new words, I've been saying lots of new things lately, like king, bath, burger, work, home, and poop.

And speaking of poop, I have a funny new trick I play on Dad and Mom. There are diapers everywhere in our house because Hazel and I both wear them. When Aunt Lauren was here, she gave me a grill kit with little pieces of burger. So when no one is looking, I stick the burgers in a diaper and put it on the coffee table. When someone finds it, I say, "poop!" Mom thought I would just do it once, but anytime they put it away, I put it out again because it's fun hearing them laugh when they find it.

I've been pretending and imitating a lot lately. Yesterday I pretended to pick things up and throw them off the deck. (Mom said it's good I was only pretending to do that!) I've been changing duck's diaper, pretending to serve Mom and Dad food from my kitchen, and putting toy keys in my pocket.

Yesterday I got in my car and when Mom asked where I was going, I said, "Work!" Then I drove across the room, got out, and yelled, "Home!" It's pretty fun seeing Mom laugh that hard.

I have also been a real help around the house lately. I have been putting dirty clothes (mine and Hazel's!) in the laundry, putting my dirty dishes in the kitchen sink, throwing things that are on the floor away, bringing Mommy things she asks for, and giving toys to Hazel when she gets her diaper changed and when she cries.

I tried letting myself outside so Dad and Mom wouldn't have to take me out there, by learning how to unlock and open the back door, but evidently that wasn't the kind of help they wanted. One day last weekend I woke up from my nap and Dad had put a new Mitch-proof lock on the door.

Hazel is really coming along too. She is faster at crawling and pulls herself up constantly. She loves throwing all the Legos and trains off the train table in my room, and she once let go and stood up by herself when she was in her playpen. Mostly she still hangs on with one hand though.

Most fun of all though is she's really starting to imitate and interact with us. If we clap, play peek-a-boo, or raise our arms above our heads, she'll do it too. She also has a dance we call the Wiggle Dance, and if we ask her to do it, she will.

Even though she still only has two teeth, Hazel is enjoying more foods and eating tons more lately. She's been eating lots of orzo, peas, carrots, avocado, and macaroni and cheese. Today she had Cheerios for the first time. She loves them!

To check out some fun we had a month or so ago, including Hazel's moves, watch our video and look at our photos!

Photo from Gymboree

Our theme at Gymboree this week is safari. My teacher gave us these cool hats and I figured out a way to make a fun mosquito mask with the hat and the scarves we play with in our class. Mom and my teacher were very impressed with my creativity.

My friend Ethan is behind me. His mom took the photo. He goes to the daycare Hazel and I go to sometimes, Leaps n Bounds. It's not a coincidence; his mom is the one who told my mom about the place.