Dante recites "Out Out Brief Candle" in Shakespeare's MacBeth

Ok Ok - One magical delight about kids is their natural ability to make people laugh! I caught Dante on film talking to himself with such dramatic flair it reminded me of Shakespeare. Here is the debut of our budding thespian. (it's two minutes of smiles and giggles)

New stuff - Pointing and smacking things -new word ; Duck

Yesterday the D looked at something I pointed at for the first time. We were rolling a round piece of wood around on the floor and Dante lost track of where it was. I pointed at it and he turned his head and looked and then went and got it.

Also I've been doing what my dad used to do when I got hurt. He'd beat the object involved, which always made me feel better somehow. Deciding to maintain the tradition I've been doing the same thing and smacking the floor, dvr player, table, floor again, couch and various other objects when Dante and they have come into painful proximity. Yesterday for the first time I noticed that the D was doing the same thing and smacking the couch.

Duck's definitely been added to the vocabulary. In the bathtub a couple of nights ago and since then a bunch of times. Today C and I were in the studio and I said duck and he said it right back.

Dante's first steps

Right during the week of his first birthday Dante took his first steps. All this past week we've been practicing together and I can't think of anything that makes my heart more joyful or makes me feel more happy than when D stands up against the sofa and and I call him. " Bo Hena Hamood Katan!!" (Come here little hamood -in Hebrew) I say. He turns to me with the sweetest smile because he knows what this game is and gets ready and then a moment later both his hands go up in the air and he is walking to me! He can take two or three steps right now and by then he'll reach me and fall into my arms and I hug and kiss him because I'm bursting with so much happiness and pleasure. And usually laughing from my belly. He looks like a little penguin waddling towards us when he does this. Christine and I are both awed and humbled by the incredible trust his actions show. He believes and trusts that we'll catch him and goes for even though if we didn't he'd fall on the floor hard.

October 6th: Dante's First Birthday

Wow! Has it been ONE YEAR since our little diamond popped into this world. Crazy how fast and how slow it's passed. I get dizzy trying to hold onto all the baby steps he's taken and how much he's learned and what a wonderfully FUN toddler he's blossomed into. He makes his parents smile hundreds of times each day.

Dante celebrated his first year in style with a lavish birthday party in the Stuyvesant Oval Park with his "best" friend Newton and fifty guests. We hired a music teacher to entertain the babies and parents and followed it up with hat making and a delicious double layer red velvet cake that he devoured and smeared all over his face.

Here's a link to the birthday photos

Drinking Sippy Cup and Spitting: Sept 12th

Dante and mommy were sitting on the kitchen floor - Dante was learning how to drink out of his sippy cup and discovered he could spit and make noises with the water in his mouth :-)