Dante's Seventeen Months!

Wow. crazy to think that Dante is over a year and a half old. It's difficult to keep up with the new things he learns on a daily basis before our eyes. What's best is that he's developing his own quirks and likes, dislike and his personality is rapidly budding. Shaking his head "NO" with a huge grin on his face is his favorite action. But he understands a lot of what we say and parrots the rest in his own adorable jabberwocky style. And he uses us as a step latter, compass or other vessel to get what he wants.

Lately we've noticed what a BOY he is and how his interests have naturally gravitated towards cars, trucks and remote controls. Today I noticed him meticulously lining up three remote controls and circling the coffee table to make sure they were evenly aligned.

Dante's other unique trait is his "Napoleon Walk" as Rahav puts it. He turns his feet out, folds his arms behind his hunched back, sticks his head out and paces like he's plotting to invade Russia. We have no clue where he picked this up but it's endearing to watch.

We are also starting to look at nursery schools for when Dante is TWO and in NYC we're applying late. it's insane to be thinking six months in advanced when enjoying him is a daily experience that we're holding onto. There are two we are looking at; Tudor Time and Buckle My Shoe

Imagining him growing up is difficult, especially when he still naps four hours a day and begs, pleads and wails when we leave the room. Oh yeah, and the separation anxiety - it's getting worse!

First Snow in NYC: Feb 25th

I came back from a biz trip in San Francisco to six inches of snow on the ground in NYC. The weekend proved to be lazy and fun with Dante as we did absolutely nothing but lounge around the house and feed each other popcorn, watch cheezy reality shows like Rock of Love, Project Runway and dance around the living room to Feist's "One Evening".

I put Dante in his cozy snowsuit and took him to Stuyvesant Oval where kids were building a snowman in the quiet powder snow. We took cheerios and he fed the squirrels and laughed when they would approach and scurry off with a mouth full of Dante's treats. He delighted in hearing his boots crack on the ice and gazed at the footprint he left in the snow. I showed him that you could eat the snow, roll it in a ball and throw it against a tree and watch it splatter all over the ground. Dante loved this and we had a mini snowball fight.

Where's your Poopick?

Dante was playing with his bellybutton this morning so I told him the word for it in Hebrew ; Poopick. Efo ha Poopick shelcha? I asked him after a bit and he immediately lifted his shirt and pointed at his bellybutton. He's totally learned the word just from it being pointed out. I can ask him to show me his nose and he'll come over and touch mine and now Poopick clearly means something specific to him as well.