Christmas 2008

My pix from the Hanukah and Christmas 2008 season and at The Allen's in Texas

New word round-up

This may be a little premature as I'm posting on 12/30 and there's still a full day of new words to come. Dante's been making awesome progress with his language skills, following is this months list of new words and phrases. The end of the month has brought the use of adjectives like big and little and combinations of words and numbers like two yellow cups and big tiger. It's exciting and exhilarating to hear Dante progressing so well and to be able to communicate with his so much better.
12/10 9am "Kelev" (dog in Hebrew)
6pm Bird
6:15 Heart
all at my house on my Wednesday
12/13 "Up" in the elevator at Citibank to go to the train show.
12/17 Butter (in his hi chair after lesson with jessica). Nut for pistachio also after lesson. Truck (during lesson)
12/20 'Tut' Strawberry in Hebrew looking at his picture book
12/21 - Down (to get down from his hichair at Christine's) - Yay! We were working on this one for a while
"I love you" Unbelievable but true before his nap that afternoon. Christine was saying it to him a bunch of times and suddenly out it came. It wasn't very clear but it was definitely the same pronunciation and and sylables.

12/25 "Open" (to get a cookies box open).

12/27 "Eat" (this morning when we got up to go have breakfast)

12/28 "Cereal"

12/29 "two yellow cups"
12/30 "big tiger, little tiger, animals (for a group of critters), nite nite dada"

Dante Sings Old MacDonald

Here's a glimpse into Dante's personality. He and I were singing Old MacDonald together and he put his own little song & dance and threw in a variety of unlikely farm animals (tiger, cheetah, zebra and others) into the mix.

Dante graduates Soccer Tikes!

12 sessions of soccer and its fun to see what progress Dante's made in how he well he understands the coach and the different games that we do in class compared with the way he related to everything at the beginning of the class. Here he is getting his certificate and medal from coach Eddie!

About a month ago I started reading "Goodnight Moon"to Dante before bed each night. It was a new book for me as well but one that seems to be on every child's shelf. It's fun to experience Dante's favorites: favorite stuffed animal (his white tiger), favorite color (yellow), favorite foods (Edamame, apple, banana, cheese and ice cream), favorite shape (circle), favorite songs (itsy bitsy spider and Old MacDonald) and the list goes on. Well, now it's his favorite book. He's learning tons of words, colors and showing interest in numbers from reading that book just before bed and letting the vibrant pictures soak into his tender mind.

End of Fall

Once again the seasons are changing in NYC. Fall is becoming Winter and the leaves are rapidly disappearing along with the hours of daylight. Despite the cold and chill, we are enjoying every last ounce of the season with soccer in Stuyvesant Town. Dante delights in kicking the ball through the cracking leaves. Of course, the beauty of rolling, throwing, tumbling and buying one another in the leaves, is that it's an activity only enjoyed a brief moment each year. And boy, there's nothing in this world more beautiful than a New England autumn.

Sorting Block Shapes

Dante's showing a keen interest in shapes, number and sizes. I got this clock of blocks with various shapes, like a rhombus, octagon, hexagon, diamonds, etc. He can put each on in the proper slot all by himself.

new words today - Kelev (dog , walking on the street), police (during his lesson), owl and bird (at BB's),

Kelev (dog , walking on the street), police (during his lesson), owl and bird (at BB's), Orange which he's been signing for a while (during his lesson looking at an orange car)

New words today - Straw, Bunnyrabbit, Papaya

He was calling a picture of a Papaya on a shampoo bottle a mango so we told him it was a Papaya and a minute later out it came.

A big leap forward in D's vocabulary today.

Today was what I'd have to call a banner day in terms of Dante's speech development. He used over 10 new words today that I'd never heard him say before. They were coming so often I had to write them down so I wouldn't forget them.
We went to see my father and where there for over two hours with my sister Gala. By the end of the visit Shlomo gave Dante a big hug and Dante - who'd been hearing the word all morning - called him Saba (grandfather in Hebrew). At Gala's the day before he had said 'fire' when we were sitting in front of the furnace and said it multiple times today. He said 'Shoes', 'Wheel' for his stroller and his cars. 'Dog' which he'd been trying to say up till now but kept coming out as god. 'Chicken' (!) at Yehudit and Noa's as well as 'Yellow' for the first time (he's been signing that word for months), 'Sea' 'Ma-im' (water in Hebrew) when I gave him his bath and maybe coolest of all, besides Saba, he said 'Par par' (butterfly in Hebrew) which up till now had just been Bee, for any kind of bug. They were coming out of him so fast at Yehudit's that they were almost one on top of each other. I'm smiling writing this.

Our trip to Israel

Dante and I have been here since last Thursday and we have been having an awesome time! Before I get into the trip just wanted to mention that so far today his new words are ; Zebra and Help (which we started working on with him last week with Julian). Anyway we stayed on Friday night at Rona and Alon's house with their kids. I went to see my dad on Saturday morning and that was pretty hard. I'm looking forward to seeing him again. We left on Saturday afternoon with Rona and the children to go the Clil where my sister Gala lives with her husband Edo. Clil is just gorgeous. It's in the mountains near Naharia and they live on a hill that overlooks the coast. You can see Haifa in the distance and the ocean on clear days and the sunsets are spectacular. It rained the night we got there and you could see amazing lightning strikes out in the distance. Clil is just the most laid back place. It's like the woodstock of Israel in my mind. Super laid back, bohemian, artisinal and beautiful (maybe that's not such a good description of Woodstock). Edo and Gala have Grapefruit, Pomegranate, orange, lemon and Olive trees right on their property, besides huge bushes of Lemongrass, Rosemary, Thyme, Sage, Goldenseal and tons more I'm not even aware of. Within a few minutes of arriving Dante was running around having a blast playing with the other kids like he'd been there forever and the two cats and little kitten. We went to a chicken coop that had a goat running around and the next day we went into Akko and explored the old city and market before heading back to pick up Gala from work. The pix here are a few of the shots I took and a video. The rest are here; and you tube.

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More Pix from Halloween

Here's more pix of Dante and Lulu at Thompkins Square Park. Even though Dante refused to wear his dinosaur costume, his flapping wings and dragging tail put smiles on everyones face

New words

Yesterday D and I were reading a book and I asked in Hebrew what a cow says. "Moo" than this morning what a cat says in Hebrew again " Meow"

Dante's Halloween costume with Lulu

This was a super hit. At one point on Saturday when we were walking around in Tompkins square park with Dante and Lulu - 6 - yes - 6 - different people with cameras were taking pix of the two of them at the same time.

October 6th: Dante Turns TWO

Our little munchie had his second birthday! Crazy how fast and slow it passes. Some days I think he'll never grow up and others I think "wow" where did the time go. I suppose this flip flop feeling will never change. It's been such a wonderful experience, I wouldn't trade it for anything. We're totally in love with him!

We spent Dante's birthday weekend with close friends on Fire Island. My dear friend Christina hosted us at her lovely Seaview home where we cooked, played, laughed, bonded and celebrated Dante's birthday. I put together this photo montage of the weekend. In addition, there are photos from the weekend.

The Red Balloon

I rented the movie "The Red Balloon" this weekend. D and I snuggled in the glider and enjoyed it together. I recently read parents talking about what a powerful story it tells about friendship and loss within a simple context of a boy and his bright red balloon. It was a perfect movie for Dante because there's almost no dialogue, mostly music and it's visually simple and beautiful to watch. Dante enjoyed all 30 minutes of it and wanted me to put it on again. He pointed and said "Baoo" lots and when the mean street boys stole little Pascal's balloon Dante would say "Oh No" like he knew they were out to taunt the boy.

On another note, Rahav hung out with Debra and Newton earlier today and sent me this picture of the boys feating on Pizza in Soho!

Soccer Time

Dante started soccer lessons at Chelsea Piers a few weeks back. It's his favorite thing to do now! Night and day he kicks a ball around and is quite good at it.

He's the youngest in his class of mostly 2 and 3 year olds. But, of course, he towers over most of them. We've noticed that Dante is favoring sports right now, when he's not ewwing and aahing at animals or cars, his other two loves. Plus, he's got amazing hand-eye coordination and super baby strength at kicking and throwing balls in general.

From day one at soccer, he took to it like a duck to water and started following coach Ron around like an alert duckling. He's learning how to dribble, pass, drop kick, score goals and of course run like a jack rabbit.

The Quest for a Nanny

Well, Daycare was short lived as we realized two weeks into it that none of us were ready to deal with the pain of separation. Dante likes his people and only his people and couldn't care less about anyone else. I guess we should enjoy it while it lasts because it will change as he grows up.

So, we pulled him out of Tutor Time and are in the process of finding his next Nanny. We've found some great temporary babysitters for the time being. Sabine is a Graphic Artist from Munich, Germany who has been watching Dante for the past two months. She went back last week and this is the farewell photo.

End of Summer

Summer if finally drawing to a close. The weather is tossing between warm and chill and the leaves will soon be changing color and falling to the ground. Stuyvesant Town has undergone a complete landscape renovation that Dante has thoroughly explored.

On our walk home from the 1st Avenue L train stop, his ritual is to swing and slide at the playground for an hour and then meander home, waving at the basketball players en route to the water fountain at the oval.

Once at the oval, Dante plays in the garden, picks leaves, flowers, hides in the bushes and chases after the many birds and squirrels. Pretty soon snow will be covering the oval and it will be too cold to enjoy the Stuy Town flora and fauna. This picture will hold me through until next Spring.

His name and PeePee

First time we heard him say those - 9/20/08

I found him hiding in the trunk at the foot of my bed with his beloved pet Tiger that grandma gave him at Christmas time. Perhaps I won't need to buy him a toddler bed when he outgrows his crib :-)

New words

Liron and I were giving D lunch today and suddenly he was talking. I asked him if I could have a piece of his toast and he said "Lo Rotze" (I don't want to) then I asked if he liked his bread and he said "Ken" (yes). Liron and I were staring at each other because we were both hearing all this. Then I asked if it was correct that he liked toast with butter and he said "Nachon" (correct). I asked if he wanted this piece or that piece and he pointed at the one he wanted and said "Ze" (this).

Dante sits on the Potty for the first time. 9/5/08

Today was the day. A couple of days after this he wouldn't let me put his diaper and got a tremendous kick out of peeing all over my bed but it was so funny I didn't care.

Dante on the Swing

I love shooting the D on the swing, one of his favorite things. Unfortunately it's been a while since he's gotten to be on one since I'm writing this in December, but these pix from the last year I love.
http://pa.photoshelter.com/gallery-show/G0000h6d5xnCKoYQ

Stacking Blocks

Dante was so proud of himself in this photo. He's been working on stacking blocks for weeks. Little by little one, then two and suddenly he stacked NINE of them all by himself, grinned with delight, clapped his hands and confidently stood by the blocks while his adoring mom snapped away.

Discovering Pull Toys

Dante has discovered pull toys and likes to drag anything he can delicately behind him. At first it was his coveted white blankey that went everywhere with him. Well, we found a substitute - anything he can drag behind him. It started out with a cat tail until Rahav took a piece of rope and tied it to a car.
The other pix was taken in an east village doorway on Avenue A and 9th street. Dante and I were on a walk and he decided to rest (with his bus) in the doorway and wave at people passing by. Oh, and his new thing is to say HI and BYE and wave to everyone around. He makes lots of people smile!

PS1: Summer in NYC

Summer has been wonderful this year - not too hot or humid and lots of sunshine! We haven't been to the beach much this year since Dante's dislike of Fire Island and the Ocean. So we've been exploring NYC to the fullest. Lots of bike riding, days at the water park and afternoons at the museum. Here's some pictures from PS1 This year's theme was the public garden. Rahav had Dante on his shoulders in one of the pix. The other was taken without flash while a mirror was rotating overhead.

First Week of Daycare: 22 Months

Dante is 22 months today and officially started daycare this week. His nanny Teresa decided to focus on photography, so I felt it best to start him now instead of waiting for his 2nd birthday. It's hard on all of us but our hopes are that he'll love it soon enough. We chose Tutor Time for it's proximity to Rahav's house. The staff is warm and friendly and his sixteen classmates are his age and quite ethnically diverse. I took this photo while the toddlers had their morning play activity of feeling and discovering the wonders of play-doh. We are easing Dante in with a MWF schedule from 10am - 3pm. Tuesdays and Thursdays he'll still be hanging with dad and his new nanny Sabine who he's already charming and will soon have her wrapped around his finger the same way Teresa was.

DJ One Sock D our Piano Prodigy

The day Dante was born I said he was going to be a DJ. Well, D's taking to music like a fish to water. I'm sure no one is surprised. I wrote about electronic music, Rahav shoots music and all the Allen kids play piano. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Dante signs "Yellow" for the first time

Breakfast. Signing colors....
Strawberries - red
Cream of Wheat - white
Pineapple and Bananas - yellow
Yogurt - Bl.......HELLO!!! Who just signed yellow at me for the first time? Dante!!

Texas Visit: First Time on a Horse

Green Acres is the place for me and D (la la la) YeeHaw!! Yep y'all Dante and I flew the NYC coop and sizzled down south with my folks to celebrate my dad's 65th birthday and hang out with my 90 year old grandpa. Click Here for Photo Album. Dante's days were filled with so much laughter and activities that he was out cold by 7pm most nights.
My brother and sister in law have horses and each morning Dante got to chase and pet goats, cats, dogs, chickens, play in sun-dried manure, chase barn cats and feed and RIDE HORSES. What an adorable, independent and adventuresome boy we have. No fear at all and he immediately felt comfortable and didn't even want me to spot his back. Such confidence, Our little Dante is growing up.

Fire Island: (Dante and Newton's FI Reunion)

Newton and Dante met each other on the Fire Island ferry last Summer. Newton's mother Debra and I quickly became friends. I love that we've kept in touch and one year later, here we are - all back again on the Island sharing a glorious weekend of warm weather, stunning sunsets, delicious BBQ and good laughs and conversation. My friend Christina and her father hosted us all at their cozy Seaview home. The weekend was 'almost' perfect. Almost because Dante wasn't having the water or sand AT ALL. Fickle children. He preferred to be wrapped up in Mom or Dad's arms sheltered from the Summer elements.

4th of July: First Bike Ride

We took Dante on his first bike ride the weekend of the 4th of July. At first he moaned, groaned and protested every step of the way. He whined when we put him in the seat. Major gripes for the helmut (he HATES hats). All pouts quickly dissolved when we took off and Dante could feel the wind in his face. Smiles and laughter shortly followed and now we LOVES the bike and looks forward to our weekend rides.

For the 4th we rode over the Brooklyn Bridge, around Brooklyn Heights and down to Fulton Street Park in DUMBO. Along the way we stopped for photos and to enjoy the Olafur Eliasson waterfalls, which can be seen from the Brooklyn Bridge.

I invented the baby bike sleeper en route when Dante fell asleep in the bike seat. I got a roll of toilet paper and looped a bungee cord through it and attached it to the seat. It was like a fluffy pillow!

Summer in NYC

Dante has exchanged his love of swings for the slide. He's figured out how to navigate the playground maze to wherever the slide may be, climb the ladder, scoot his bum to the edge, grin very wide and wheee push his way down to open arms below. He does this endlessly now. Summer for Dante is all about play. He loves running his hands through the sand and splashing in water (especially puddles). Teresa takes him to this lovely playground on the pier near W12th street where he can point at helicopters and airplanes passing overhead, and splash his feet in the water river that meanders through the playground. Actually, the Pier 51 playground was voted the "Runner Up" as the "Best Playground Worth Traveling to" by Time-Out New York. It's really wonderful to be a kid in NYC

Father's Day in Sedona Arizona

Everyone who knows me knows how much I love Sedona, Arizona. It's such a peaceful, beautiful and special place for me and I've wanted to share with my loved ones for quite sometime now. While on a two week biz trip to San Francisco, Rahav, Dante and I bridged the weeks with a quick Father's Day trip to Sedona. Check out the PHOTO ALBUM

We all came away refreshed and longing for more of the serene, dramatic beauty of the wild west. We stayed in a cozy hotel off Highway 179 called Kings Ransom Hotel, which had views of the red rocks and a refreshing deep, cool swimming pool and over-sized jacuzzi that we enjoyed every day. Dante was fearless and would jump off the side of the pool into our arms and duck his head in the water and cruise back and forth between are arms, all the while flirting with the twelve year old girls ogling over how cute he is.

Having Dante didn't stop us from hiking 1.5 miles up Cathedral Rock (we slung him over our back in the ergo) where we rested and had lunch in the saddle of the red rocks and enjoyed the 360 degree view of the Verde Valley, 1600 feet below. At times it was more climbing than hiking as you can see in the pix. Another highlight is the natural limestone water slide underneath the Midgley Bridge off of Highway 89A. The slide is tucked away and only the locals seem to know about it. Thankfully, tourists head to Slide Rock State Park. This one is much better and the slide takes over a minute to complete and is quite rough in some areas. I got quite banged up! Dante's way too young right now to enjoy it but give him a few years and he'll be going down it head first :-)

Last but not least is the sunset from the Sedona airport - ahhhh - there's one of the famous vortex circles and words can't even describe the beauty of the setting sun on the red rocks. We were speechless. Sedona is such a spiritual place that it's hard to speak above a whisper and impossible not to feel at complete peace with yourself and your surroundings.

Bend it like Dante

I've read in various places that Pele learned to play soccer as a boy in the streets of Brazil by kicking a coffee can around, because they didn't have the money for a real ball. Luckily with the advance of technology and funding Dante can learn the beautiful game with a Snapple bottle. This was yesterday and it was the first time we tried kicking something around and Dante took to it immediately. Today we actually did it with a ball, but the bottle makes better noises.

Bend it Like Dante

New words and signing

This last week Dante signed bottle/milk at me for the first time and has gotten very clear with that one, and up and down movement of the arm with fist clenched. He also started signing back 'change' when his diaper was being switched out. This is both hands held together and flipped back and forth over each other in a circle. This morning I asked for some help putting his books back on the shelf and he came over and helped me put all of them back. Never mind that an hour later the whole shelving unit including the shelves had been completely dissasembled and was lying on the floor. (photo taken in Sedona, AZ)

Dante and Lulu play tag in Stuyvestant town.

The D and the L get into a game of chase last week June 14th.

Is that an Olive?

Well, the D was walkin' around getting some naked time and handed me an oval thing. I looked at it and rolled it around between my fingers. It looked alot like an olive, except it was kind of mushy, and brown, and warm.... Then I realized my sweet little son had pushed out a tiny turd and handed it to me. I must have laughed about it for half an hour.

Bakbuuk and Dante learns to walk the dog.

We went to have some Yogelato and I got some water for Dante in a cup. He wanted it in his bottle so I was saying Bakbuuk, bakbuuk, and whatya' know? He said Babbuuk back as he reached for it.
Over the weekend we went for a walk by the water and D loves to walk and pull his alligator behind him. This time I handed him Lulu's leash and he realized for the first time that he would pull her along just like his gator and was totally thrilled with the concept.

Boogie Down To Bassnectar

Throughout my pregnancy I endlessly played Bassnectar and like minded artists that really pound the bass and experiment with melodic and ambient sounds.

Dante LOVES this stuff. The minute I put on Bassnectar, he stops whatever he's doing and starts booty shaking and spinning. This went on for 5 minutes and I was so fortunately to catch it on film.

Dante says Hello!

Besides his intense love and fascination for all things swing related Dante really loves animals and there isn't a dog on the street that he doesn't come up to and pet as soon as he's been spotted. This extends to other creatures and there's a man who brings a big green parrot into the playground. The parrot talks and I was saying Hello! to it a bunch and suddenly Dante was saying Hallhoo, hallhoo as well. Then we went back to the swing.

Memorial Day Weekend

The weather was beautiful over Memorial Day weekend so we spent most of the day outside in parks at the beach and at BBQs. Dante wants to run around and explore everything, so I let him run in the park, swing until he's dizzy and push the stroller on the sidewalk - guiding his way so he doesn't smash into people and poles.

Patti was in town and we spent the day strolling in Prospect Park and posing with flowers in the botanical gardens with my friend Scott. We headed off to a rooftop BBQ at an enormous, funky artist loft in Bed-Sty. Rahav brought Dante and we enjoyed the warm sunset, feasted on fresh corn and bacon wrapped mushrooms oh and keeping Dante from torturing chihuahuas. Yes, he's totally into playing with any animal who will let him approach. Of course, all animals are Caaaaa. Aaaaaaa. Caaaaaa.

Memorial Day proper, we hit Long Beach and spent the day sheltering ourselves from the heavy wind. We finally gave up after a few hours and met up with Darcy and Kate in Sty oval for a late afternoon picnic. That was a much better idea!