Ginny's pictures

Our pictures from Ginny are here!!!

(And here's Ginny's site too, in case you need to get your photo taken.)

New, New, New

As usual, there's lots of new stuff every day here. I am saying more things, like "baa" when I pretend I'm a sheep, "sss" for snake, "rahhh" for bears and lions, and I am nodding my head "yes." I made up a funny elephant noise, too!

I am also communicating in other ways. Today when Mom asked if I wanted to go upstairs, I smiled sweetly, shook my head no, said, "Bye," and drove away in the car Bubbe and Papa gave me for my birthday. I've started saying no to Mom once in a while too. She may be the only Mom in the world that likes hearing her son say that word.

Another fun thing is lately I've started learning to recognize some letters. My favorites are M, O, and S, but I can also point out the letters that spell the name of my favorite magazine, Babybug, which was a great present from Uncle Daniel.

Hazel is also full of new tricks. Sunday she grew a tooth!!! Just in time for pie o'clock, Dad says. In the meantime, Hazel is eating lots of other yummy things - bananas, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, applesauce, oatmeal and rice cereal. She can't wait to see what's next on the menu. She is a very enthusiastic eater. She grabs the spoon and screams when Mom doesn't feed her fast enough.

And for those of you who were worried about it, we are in the process of getting our deck fixed! I hope you like this picture (above) of me having fun midair, jumping on it.

Happy Halloween!

We had a fun Halloween week. We got ready for the holiday by going to an art class at Gymboree, where I made a pumpkin out of different colored construction paper, glue and - best of all - glitter. A few days later, I woke up and there was a real pumpkin carved suspiciously like the one I made in my art class. Dad said he liked mine so much he used it as the model for a nice jack o' lantern.

Our Halloween festivities started Thursday, when we dressed up for a party at Dad's office. For my third Halloween, I dressed up as a lion. Hazel celebrated her first Halloween by dressing up as a pumpkin. The party was a great chance to play some fun games, color some spooky pictures, and I got a cool spider tattoo on my hand.

Halloween night, we decorated the front of our house with our jack o' lantern, my pumpkin from art class and another pumpkin picture I made at home. Then I put on my lion costume and Mom put on some bat wings and we went trick or treating while Dad stayed home with sleeping Hazel and passed out candy to other trick-or-treaters. This was my first time trick or treating, so we took it easy. We just went to a couple houses on our street, mostly people we know. I liked ringing the doorbells, putting candy in my ghost bag, and trying to run into the houses. I can't wait til next year. In the meantime, I will try to figure out where all my candy went. Mom says it's a Halloween disappearing act.

Aside from Halloween, Hazel and I have made some exciting progress. Hazel has been eating oatmeal with zeal, and tonight she tried sweet potatoes for the first time. She seemed to like it but was tired because of daylight savings time and kept trying to roll over and go to sleep in her high chair. All her eating is paying off - she has moved up to the next clothes size. While we're glad she is growing so well, we're sad to pack her cute old clothes away.

Thursday Hazel figured out that rolling is a good way to get around. Mom was playing with her while I was taking a nap, and she rolled halfway across the room. We are all excited about Hazel's new mode of transportation.

I am making great strides in communicating. I am using loads of signs and am really excited to be able to tell everyone what I want. I am also saying a few new words!!! At lunchtime Friday, I said, "All done." Mom couldn't believe her ears, so I said it again, two more times. Then I said, "Yeah" a couple of times, then "Oh no." My favorite saying by far is "Oh no," and I've been saying it lots since then, especially when we read Blue Hat, Green Hat, a funny book Grandma and Grandpa gave me before I was even born, which features a confused turkey.

Today I found a new hiding place in the kitchen. When Mom was making my breakfast this morning, I realized I can fit in the kitchen cabinet. It's a great place to take a break and hide from everyone.

Friday we all had our photos taken by our favorite photographer, Ginny B. We had a fun time in her new studio and can't wait to share our photos with all of you.

Another exciting thing is this week, a new babysitter started coming to our house. Her name is Dahlia, she's very fun, and we will see her for a few hours most Wednesday afternoons. We are all happy to have her help.

Here are links to pictures from this week, and a video of Mitch and Hazel playing.

Dad's home!

Dad was gone part of this week, so we tried to stay busy.

Monday we went to open gym at Gymboree. It's time they set aside when people who take their classes can come and just play on all the equipment. I loved it! When we signed up for my Gymboree class, they gave us two free art classes, so Tuesday we went to one of those. I didn't like it as much as my regular class, which is more physical, so I kept trying to run out of the art room to climb on the stuff in the area we're usually in. Now we know I signed up for the right class! Thursday we went to that class again and I had a great time.

Wednesday we went to the Austin Children's Museum. We hadn't gone in a while because last time we were there I wanted to press the elevator buttons the whole time, which was frustrating for Mom. This time though, I really engaged with everything they had there. I found a cool toy barn with little animals, a train exhibit I really enjoyed, an exhibit where I put balls in little holes and then when I turned a crank it played music, a toy kitchen, a place where I put milk bottles in a crate and sent them down a line, a fish that I put balls in, and a setup where I put different shaped nuts and bolts in holes that were those same shapes. It was great and we were sad to have to go home for lunch and a nap at the end.

Friday Dad took me to the Parenting Center at the J. It was nice to spend some time with him after he got back from his trip.

Friday night our friend Zhenya came over. Instead of hanging around with her, Mom and Dad left - they went to our friend Prabhakar's wedding. Hazel and I stayed behind to keep Zhenya company. I had a great time reading my books and eating a nice dinner while Zhenya tried to manage Hazel, who is teething and has been extra screamy the past few days. When Mom and Dad came home from their very fun night out, Zhenya and Hazel were worn out. They were both asleep on the bed in Hazel's room! We are all very glad Zhenya was able to come hang out with us.

We also went to the playground at the school up the street a lot in the afternoons this week. The weather is amazing here right now, so we are trying to take advantage of it. I am starting to enjoy slides more and have been testing out my balancing skills by walking on a concrete retaining wall an inch or two off the ground.

Yesterday we went to a fundraiser called "Mac and Cheese Smackdown" at Central Market. The best part was we ran into my friend Benjamin and his mom and dad. His dad saved the day by sharing some of their hard-to-come-by macaroni with us. It was nice seeing them.

Mom and I had a chance to go out with my bike trailer today. We went down a couple of hills and had a great time.

Hazel is getting really fast at walking around in her toy and is still enjoying rice cereal. She grunts and gets really mad if Mom isn't quick enough with the next bite. Because of her sore gums, she is having a hard time sleeping so both she and Mom are tired! We all hope Hazel feels back to normal soon.

Growing up so fast

Hazel and I are both growing up so fast, Mom and Dad say.

Today Hazel went to the doctor for her six-month well visit. Dr. Jones was very impressed with Hazel's strength. She thinks Hazel will be able to crawl around by the time she goes back for her nine-month visit!

They also measured Hazel at the doctor's office. She is doing a great job growing. She is now 25.5 inches (50th percentile) tall, weighs 14 lbs., 4 ounces (20th percentile), and her head is 40.6 cm (7th percentile) around. She will probably keep up the good work - she is continuing to enjoy eating solid food. To see Hazel's growth chart, click here or on the right side of the blog.

I have also had a couple of big moments the past few days. Yesterday Mom invented a new game that we call "Ready, Set, Go!" The way it works is I get in my car, then Mom or Dad says, "Ready! Set!" while I pick my feet up off the floor. Then when I am ready, I say, "Go!" and whoever is pushing me zooms me around the room, fishtailing around corners. I think it is very exciting to go so fast, and Mom and Dad are very excited that I am saying my first word (aside from Mama and Dada, of course)!!!

Today I lost my duck that I sleep with. After I showed Mom the sign for it, she helped me look for it, and called out to duck over and over. After I while I helped call duck once too! After that, we found it. It's fun being able to talk, and in the meantime I am really excited to be able to communicate with signs. I learned "milk," "grapes," and "bread" this week. It's fun being able to tell people what I want, especially when I am thirsty, want something different to eat, or am looking for my duck.

I am learning to like peanut butter more. Today Dad surprised us by coming home for lunch, and he shared his peanut butter and jelly sandwich with me. It is really growing on me. I liked the sandwich a lot and kept asking him for more. It was fun, and I hope Dad comes home for lunch more often so he can share his yummy treats with me.

I also shared a big milestone with Dad tonight. Before my bath, I sat on my frog potty, which I do almost every day, but this time I went to the bathroom in it!!! No one is going to rush me with potty training, but it is very exciting to start getting my head around going potty someplace other than my diapers and the bathtub.

In less exciting, but still fun, news, yesterday turned out to be a beautiful day. After a fun morning at Gymboree, I didn't want to take a nap, so we went to the park near our house. I am really starting to like going down slides, so I did that a lot. Plus, we found an abandoned basketball on the playground, so we played with it while we were there and I figured out a new fun game. I carry the basketball up the playscape stairs (which is tougher than it sounds) and then shoot it down the slide before I go. It is loads of fun. While we were there, a cold front was blowing in, so it was cool and so windy it made us spin around in circles. I had a good time chasing Mommy and she had a great time chasing me (I am faster than she is). Also, I found a concrete wall that I like to walk on like a balance beam. What a great time.

Hazel is eating!

Tonight at dinner something very strange happened. It all started out normally enough. Mom made me a delicious grilled cheese sandwich, a pear, and some milk. I was happily eating, when suddenly, Hazel sat down at the table with us. And then (you won't believe it, but it's true), she started eating real food! Well, I'm not sure I'd call it food, but it was milk and rice cereal and she ate it from a spoon. Mom and Dad said I ate that stuff when I was her age, but I'm not sure I believe them. In any case, I have to admit that Hazel did a pretty good job eating for the first time. You can watch the video by clicking the image above, clicking on the Hazel's First Food link under videos, or just click here. If you want to compare, here's my first time eating.

Lots going on

We have had a lot going on here lately. Last week we met up with my friend Megan and her mom at a place called Jungle Java. We'd been there once before, a while ago, but I wasn't super interested in it the first time. This time though, Mom made me climb up in the big structure and I really played. It was fun and I hope to go back again soon.

Also last week, we had an exciting visitor. A police officer came to our house. No, he wasn't there to arrest me! There have been a lot of house break-ins in our neighborhood lately so we had the police come and do a free survey of our house to help make it harder to break into. The exciting part was at the end, Mom took me outside to show me his cool car. He was really nice. He showed us his computer and turned the lights on for me. Mom said that better be the last time I ride in a police car.

The very next day, more people showed up. I was taking a nap when all this banging started over my head. I woke up very confused, so Mom took me to the window to check out all the racket. There were tons of people outside with lots of trucks and ladders, and were VERY noisy. A few months ago we had a crazy hail storm and it damaged our roof, so the men came to give us a new one. I had a really good time watching all the activity out our window.

Today we continued our quest for excitement by going to a place called Gymboree Play & Music. Since I'm not in school, Dad and Mom decided I need to get out and do something, so this morning we set out to find a fun class. Hazel did a good job riding in her baby carrier (a ride I have also been enjoying lately) and I did GREAT and really enjoyed it.

I paid attention more than Mom expected and I liked climbing and playing on and with all the stuff. I really liked a red see-through scarf the teacher gave me - I kept running around with it over my head. It made everything look red!

I also ran and jumped around a lot and walked across a little balance beam they have, which is about an inch or two off the ground. All the kids in the class were boys, which was a new experience for us (everywhere we go, I am in the minority because most of the other kids are girls), and there was a dad there. It was good, so we signed up. I was so worn out when we got home, I ate a huge lunch and then practically climbed in his crib myself for my nap! I am excited to go back again Thursday!