18-Months: Springtime, Passover and the Raptor

Last week Spring arrived in New York. Stuyvesant Town is blooming alongside the city as plants, flowers and trees are being planted all over the grounds. When we left for my biz trip in Vegas it was still the frigid winter. Fast forward one week and it's sixty-five and all you hear are the sounds of children's laughter and birds chirping in the budding cherry blossom trees.

I love this time of year and it brings a new plethora of daily outdoor experiences for Dante to enjoy; running around the fountain, chasing squirrels, swinging and sliding in the playground, petting the myriad of NY dogs in Thompson Square Park and licking an ice cream cone. Plus you gotta love the outfit I put him in to enjoy the warm day, it's straight from Narnia :-)

Rahav took Dante to his second passover at Aliza's mom's apt in Forrest Hills, Queens. He entertained everyone and came home with a ghastly awful sounding monkey that screams when you bang it against the wall. Oh boy! two minutes of laughter followed my months of cringing - I can see it now. Speaking of new blood curdling sounds, D's got his new scream, whine, that we call the raptor screech for it similarity to a Jurassic Park high pitch squeal only an angry or hungry raptor could produce. It's quite endearing actually because it's his OWN unique sound and had nothing to do with his parents :-)

Orion our Pet Cat

Two months ago, I decided it was time to add yet another pet to the family, a beautiful ruddy three year old Abyssinian cat named Orion. I thought about getting a kitten and then decided against it. An adult cat would have more of a sense to deal with Dante than a fearless and innocent kitten. Orion has quickly become one of the family and a playmate Dante is eager to see every day. He calls all animals CATS: squirrels, birds, dolphins, fish - they are all cats just like his kitty at home.

A bit about Orion. I got him from a breeder in Plattekill, New York called Unkamen. He was their "male stud" and had recently been retired and neutered. Apparently, the life of a breeding male cat is lonely and very solitary as he can not be around other cats for obvious reasons (aggression, spray, mating). So for three years, Orion was well loved and cared for but resided in a small room with few playmates or room to run around and explore.


It took him two weeks to warm up to the sounds and smells of our apartment, and I let him be and gave him room to explore at his own pace and find comfort under my bed and away from Dante's curious excitement at this new creature lurking about. He even gets along with Rahav's dog Lulu, and has even gotten comfortable enough to leap off of the table and attack her puffy tail, which is Lulu's worst nightmare; she get's no break in this world from torture!


Today, Orion let's Dante pet him and will even sit on Dante's lap for a bit. Dante gets too excited after a few minutes of petting his paws, and pulling his ears and then gets excited and squeels, which sends Orion under the couch for a breather. But they are friends and Orion is my evening companion. It's nice to have someone waiting for us when we get home at night :-)

Connecting the Dots

We got back from Vegas tonite and had another lovely flight. Dante played for most of it and fell asleep for a few hours before we landed. No fussing, no crying. The only time he got a little testy was right before he fell asleep when he was exhausted and had some trouble figuring out a comfy position to fall asleep in. That ended up being on top of me. The woman who shared our aisle was great. She had her daughter with her who'd been competing in a cheerleading comp. in Vegas and an 8 year old.

What I wanted to write down were the new things he's put together just in the last week. We were taking a bath and he has figured out how to pour water on my head and direct the container towards me instead of just spilling it on himself. Last week he would try and pour it on me but up end it in his direction every time. Tonite he knew how to pour in the direction he wanted it to go in. He had an apple in the bath with him and there were bubbles. He tried taking a bite and didn't like it and then I noticed that he was rinsing the apple off and getting the soap bubbles off it and then taking a bite.

New words this week. Od is becoming a real word to him, Toda started in earnest a couple of weeks ago, Caca, Cat, Bamba (popcorn). He knows where his poopick and Af are. He said hi and hello this last week when we were in the playground and he was imitating a talkative parrot that someone had brought to the place.

He blew his first kiss at Teresa this last week, I think it was on Wednesday. She was leaving and we went to the door together and I was saying Bye Bye and waving and Teresa looked back at us at the elevator and blew him a kiss. He made a puckering, smacking sound back at her. Then yesterday in Vegas Christine was at her desk and blew a kiss at him and he blew one right back hand sweep and all.

Pimped Out

While visiting friends and family in Los Angeles, I found these adorable pimp jackets at flea market and couldn't resist buying them. Here Dante is modeling them both and looking snazzy as can be.

I know there will be a day in the near future when I can no longer get away with dressing him in campy clothes - so I'm milking it now! That Zebra striped one screams BABY BURNER!!!! the rabbit fur lined vest will be donned at the May Baby Loves Disco party.

Dancing