Status Report on Dante

Dante's growing like a weed - it's amazing how tall he is next to other toddlers his age. He's close to three feet tall already and towers over some 2.5 and 3 year old boys. And his feet and HUGE! But oh, he's so adorable and alert and active and fun!

He's really aware of people now and is no longer attached to mom and dad at the hip. We took him to a kids arts and craft center and he was smiling, flirting and even snuggling up to other mothers. He welcomes sitting on other people's laps and letting them read him stories. He used to only let mom and dad hold or touch him. Somewhere around my birthday that eased up and he's getting more social week by week.

Dante is also more comfortable being in his own space. He used to follow us around the house like a little shadow. Now he can quietly play all by himself, even if I leave the room. He can entertain himself for more than an hour with his playhouse, or cars & buses, or stacking and nesting blocks or walking around talking on the remote/phone or chasing the cat around the house with strings and balls. He does love Orion!

His new fascination is with helicopters, planes and street buses. Teresa takes him to the helipad on the west side highway and he delights in watching them take off and land. Must be the noise, the wind the spinning propeller and overall grandness of the helicopters. Now when we're on the street and he hears a plane over head, Dante will stop, look up and point to the plane in the sky. He does the same with street buses, which is a challenge because buses pass by every few minutes. Dante wants to stand still on the street corner and stare at them until they are out of side. Inevitably, another one is close behind. Then I have to pluck him up and carry him off :-)

Dante loves to wave, blow kisses and say bye bye over and over again. He's now saying Hi, Thank you, Caaa caaa caaa whenever an animal is near. Sty town has turned into a forest with all the landscaping

Mother's Day & Brother's Visit

TBA

Impromptu Photo on The Bus

I took this picture of Dante on the bus this morning while riding to the office. Usually I take the metro but today there were five 14D buses lined up in a row with a few people on each. It was a drizzly but calm morning and Dante was in a playful mood. So I scooped him up and let him stand on the seat next to me and feel the breeze on his face while we rolled across 14th street to 8th avenue where daddy was waiting with open arms.

Dante at the MOMA

I took the following day off from work to chill in the city. I took Dante and met Naomi at the MOMA and saw the Olafur Eliasson exhibit. It was a fantastic manipulation of various light sources. With one in particular, he used a yellow light that caused all colors to turn either black or white. It was trippy.


With another one, he set up four intense white film lights and positioned them so that they created a smoke box, or smoke and mirrors. It was a great way to spend the day - hanging out with my d and checking out local art :-)

May 1st: Christine's Birthday

I had a party at the apt to celebrate my May First birthday. Dante and Orion stole the limelight as everyone wanted to hold and play with them. Despite the downpour, fifteen people came and we listed to music, chatted and devoured the homemade carrot cake Rahav made me (hold the nuts please). I thought Dante was not going to make an appearance. When I got home from work at 6pm, I tried to put him down for a nap while I got the house ready. Instead, Dante screamed his head off for an hour and then passed out red-faced and exhausted. I knew half the reason people were coming was to see Dante, whom many had not seen since last Summer. Well, thankfully, he awoke about 9pm and entertained mommy's friends until 10ish when he just couldn't keep his adorable eyes open any longer.

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

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.

A big week for the D

This week has seemed to bring one breakthrough after another in terms of Dante's capabilities and understanding. I guess all these things are at a place in his development where a certain critical mass of connected neurons suddenly opens all of them up like a key in a lock.
More or less in chronological order since Monday.
- D signed 'food' to me twice while I was getting a bottle ready. He distinctly put his hand up to his mouth and moved them in an eating motion. When I said do you want to eat to him in Hebrew he smiled and signed food again.
- He's understood how to open a door if its not latched when he's on the wrong side of it. He knows to pull towards him if needed rather than just trying to push it.
- I brought a Jack in the box that he hadn't seen for a few weeks over to the chelsea apartment. He used the button on it immediately and also made the connection between pushing Jack down and being able to launch him with the button again. A couple of months ago he had never done this.
-He's been openning drawers for a while and tonite opened a very big one that he'd never managed before.
-He wanted to get out of the bathroom after his bath tonite and I shut the door so I could finish drying him. Instead of trying to pry it open he immediately reached for the handle once the door was shut.
-His vocalising has been amazing all week and today in particular, lots of almost words and repetitions of phrases and word sounds being repeated to himself and back to others, including tonation and emphasis.
- This one made Christine cry. When he got out of the bath he went over to his door toy and proceeded to place every single plastic peg from the toy into it's correspondingly shaped hole.

Dante begins to learn to feed himself

This is the first time D used a utensil to bring food into his mouth when I was feeding him.

New Year's in Hawaii

Click HERE to view the Hawaii Photo Album

To ring in 2008 we set off for a ten day adventure on the big island of Hawaii. We spent the first half on the Hilo side and stayed with my family, Jeff and Eileen, in Pahoa. They are the perfect hosts and have a lovely home with ocean views. We watched the sunrise from the balcony each morning - it was paradise! We spent our days picking exotic fruit off trees (guava, papaya, coconut, dragon fruit), swimming in the warm ponds, hiking, driving through the rainforest and indulging on delicious papaya salads.

We went to sunny Kona for the second half of the trip and explored all the snorkeling spots. Rahav did a night snorkel with the manta rays and was lucky enough to see whales and dolphins on the boat ride. Dante was a gem and really loved the water! He took naps in the car, explored the lava rocks, chased yellow butterflies and took up playing the ukulele!

Christmas in Texas

Click HERE for Xmas Photo Album

We spent a week in Texas visiting my family for the Christmas holiday. My folks house is always bustling with laughter and cheer this time of the year. At any given time there was ten + children running around playing and Dante delighted in the activity and new playmates. Dante has no fear and immediately took to launching himself into the middle of the action even if it meant getting hurt. He wanted to run, climb stairs and play with the big kids. My goal was to keep him from seriously harming himself. Thankfully we left Texas with Dante's body intact - although he did manage to get two black eyes and several bruises and scratches.

Swimming in the Grotto in Hawaii. First time underwater

D and I have been going to the pool since he was less than a month old and he's taken to the water just beautifully. Up till now I've put him underwater just a little bit and even though he likes the water he would come up looking a bit scared so I didn't do it too much. Yesterday though he really got it. Jeff, Christine's uncle took us to a warm water grotto that was like a bath and was very small, probably room for only 10-15 people. We put the D in the water and I decided to give the submersion a try again after we'd been in the water for a few minutes. This time Dante absolutely loved it! We were passing him back and forth between the three of us and Dante impressed everybody there with his skills. He would put his head in the water or launch himself at someone and FULLY submerge before we brought him up. He came up smiling from ear to ear, clapping and laughing and squirming for more. We played with him like this for about half and hour and he couldn't get enough. December 30th - Dante's official first time holding his breath under water.

Dante in the Mirror

I caught Dante playing and cooing at himself in the mirror. It shows off a lot of his budding personality. He likes to bounce and laugh and stare at himself in the mirror. I'm not quite sure if he knows it him in the mirror because I takes a peek around the frame to see who's behind it playing with him.

Video Highlight of Dante in Paris

I created a four minute video highlighting many of the places we took Dante in Paris. we entered St. Augustine chapel and Dante loved the echo his voice made regardless of the frenchies praying nearby :-) Next is us at Trocadero followed by Rahav and Dante on the Carousel at the foot of the Eiffel Tower. Then it's back to Dante talking away at lunch with Rahav's friend and a laughing - yelling match afterwards. Music provided by Edith Piaf and Charles Trenet. Enjoy!