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.

[Caption]

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 :-)