Our Little Pierrot

I Love the outfit that Dante is wearing in this pix - it reminds me of a french pierrot print. Plus he has the cutest smile. Alas, it's probably the last time he'll ever wear it. It's 80 degrees outside and quite a tight fit around his chubby legs.

These kids playmats are quickly making me dislike Mozart all the twanging music over and over gives me a headache. Dante has discovered how to turn on the playmat lights and music - it's cute to watch him get excited about doing a task all by himself.

Dante's Chart

A friend of Christine's put this together.

First Mother's Day: May 13th 2007

Springtime is finally in NYC which brings everyone to the park in droves. I got to celebrate my first Mother's Day with Dante, Rahav and his mum. We BBQ'd chez Rahav and fed Dante lots of new foods.. Yogurt, Avocado and Mango Mango Mango, his favorite. Funny that Mango is the ONE food I craved throughout my entire pregnancy and now Dante can't get enough.. which came first.. the chicken or the egg :-)

Here's pix of our relaxing day in Thompson Square Park on Saturday, May 12th.

Dante on my shoulders makes me Happy

Photobooth rocks.

Dante Eating in the Bouncy Seat May 10

Dante digs banana baby food and has figured out that if he stops bouncing we'll feed him. My mom did this with him and he downed 4 oz. yesterday no problem and did it again today. The preparations for eating are hysterical though.

Dante falls asleep in the Bouncy seat

A big day it's true. I think he may have started teething as he was on a bit of a tear this morning in the office. Even the bouncy seat, his favorite thing, wasn't calming him down. So he was bouncing up and down like a jumping bean and crying at the same time which was kind of strange. As one of those activities usually precludes the other. Nonetheless after a while he quieted down and I looked over and realized he'd fallen asleep in the thing! Lulu stood guard.

D to the L

This week was the first time D started to become aware of Lulu more than he has been. He was watching her a bit over the last couple of days and this morning was reaching for her and grabbing her like she was the last Binky on earth! Jest a matter of time before the two of them are going to be playing around constantly.

First Passover Seder

Rahav took Dante to his first Passover Seder...

Ma Nishtana Ha Lila Ha Ze? (Why is this night different from all other nights?). Well besides the usual answers it was the D's first Seder at Aliza's Mom's house in Forest Hills. We sang, we hid the Afikomen, we let Eliyahu in to the house and went thru the entire HaGada. Dante slepted thru a good part of it but was a huge hit nonetheless.
Matzohl-Tov!

Holding His Own Bottle

Dante had his six month pediatrician visit (and shots) this week. Of course, he's happy, healthy and behaving like a normal six month old. Weighed in at almost 19 lbs (doubled his birth weight) and 27.5 inches long and in the 75%.

He's starting to get quite independent and opinionated. He starting to scoot around and can get up on all fours but hasn't yet figured out how to get his legs to move forward.. yet.

His newfound skill is holding his own bottle. His parents love that he can now feed himself. He delights in grabbing the bottle and shoving it in his mouth. Then he pulls it out, stares at the nipple and puts it back in his mouth. He totally knows that he's mastered this.

My Parents Still Party

Last month both Rahav and I took separate vacations without Dante. It was the first time for both of us. I went to the Winter Music Conference in South Beach and Rahav went to Japan. We both have online albums of our trips.

To commemmorate the monumental step, my friend Naomi got Dante this adorable shirt that sums it up :-)

Photos of WMC 2007
Photos of Japan

Dante is 6 months old today. Lovin' the Bouncy seat

I "borrowed" the bouncy seat for my office the other day. Now that I've hooked it up and have Dante using it there's no way it's being returned. Really sorry about that!!

Rahav took super cute videos of Dante laughing in the bouncy seat..

Laughing in Bouncy Seat: Part 1
Laughing in Bouncy Seat: Part 2

Now that Spring is *finally* here, Layla has been taking Dante to the local park every day. He loves the swing because his legs dangle in the air without touching anything. He doesn't like his legs covered or inhibited in any way.

Dante sits up for the first time.

After many attempts it happened today and the little man had complete command of the situation. A report from the proud pappa from the front.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbQR2wU8ftE

Last Sunday, Dante had his first meal in his highchair with the grown ups (See video section). Of course, the food is nothing tasty, rice cereal mixed with formula. But we fed him with a spoon for the first time. He still can't swallow so I'm not sure how much of it got down. He'll get it. But he was excited to be at the table eating with grown ups.

Our Little Baby Fish

Now that he can grab toys and will his hands to splash, Dante loves bath time. He especially likes his blue and yellow turtle which he hold in his mouth for several minutes. He enjoys the freedom of kicking his legs and pushing himself in the bathtub like a water missile.


Dante's been a regular at the YMCA pool for daddy and son swim time. He's the youngest kid at the pool and will be swimming before he can walk.

Dante plays Peek-a-boo and waves for the first time this week.

Well it's been a busy week in the life of the D. On Monday night at Christine's he started to consistently wave at me when I waved at him and also seemed to realize how pleased Christine and I were with his prowess. No doubt this had something to do with the squeals of glee coming from both of us each time he raised his hand and waved it around in response to my doing so. Needless to say he seemed very pleased himself, smiling and slamming his fist stuffed mouth and whole face into Christine's bosom each time we acknowledged his skills with a huge grin and an irrisistable expression on his face.
The next day in the studio while he was in his walker he got a real kick out of playing Peek-a-boo with me. I'd hide behind one of the stuffed toys ringing the walker and pop out from behind it saying Peek-A-Boo!! Here I am and he smiled and laughed quite alot. There's a clip of that in the video section.

Tasting his first pickle

Last Sunday, we took Dante to brunch. He's fascinated with objects now. This is new as thus far it's only been faces he's enjoyed. He was eying a pickle on my plate. I let his have it and in his mouth. We enjoyed watching his facial expression to this foreign object he kept putting in and pulling out of this mouth.

Five Months Old: March 06th

I've been keeping a weekly written journal of Dante's adorable life thus far. But since I work at Google, I really should wake up to the trends of the 21st century and start keeping a blog. It would be too daunting to try and retrace in words Dante's life to date.

But I'll quickly re-cap the highlights in his short but active five months on earth and all the countries he's already seen. From now on I'll (try and) update the blog on a weekly basis.

Daddy had a photo shoot of Dante draped in a boa. (Click here for more photos). Now that he's with Dante most of the day, Rahav has taken over the daily photo duties that I enjoyed for his first four months.

Four Months Old: February 06th

Last month Dante got cute. This month he's starting to act like a little boy and develop a personality. He smiles, laughs, splashes in his bath (which he loves), mimics our voices and enjoys talking to himself. He loves to roll over, kick everything with his legs and play in his bouncy seat.

I returned to work this month and handed daily d rearing over to Rahav and Layla. Rahav babied up his studio with kid friendly furniture and toys. It looks more like a daycare now than a photo studio :-) He and Layla split up Dante duty and I get a few precious hours in the morning and at night. My highlight of the day is giving d his bath.

At his four month check up, Dante weighed almost 16 lbs and was 26" long. He's in the 75% of babies his age. We're excited to start him on solids soon.

New Years 2007 in Israel and Jordan

Online Photo Album

Dante and I were in NY for less than 24 hours before hopping on yet another plane to Israel for the New Year. I'm thoroughly enjoying maternity leave and can get used to non-stop traveling.

Rahav is from Israel and his father's side of the family still lives there. Rahav hasn't visited in four years and wanted to see his family and introduce Dante to his rich culture which will certainly be a part of Dante's future.

We rented a flat in the Neve Zedek district of Tel Aviv and used that as our home base to explore Israel. We never fully acclamated to the time change and began most of our day trips at 3-4:00 in the morning. It was breathtaking to reach Masada as the sun rose over the dead sea.

Highlights were snorkeling in the Red Sea at Eilat, climbing the snake trail at Masada, walking the salt flats on the Dead Sea, driving through the dramatic landscape of Mitzpeh Ramon in the Negev Desert (and feeding Ibex) and the Siq at Petra.. too breathtaking for words to describe.

Petra, Jordan was our favorite site of the trip. After crossing the border on foot we hired a taxi to take us to Petra and checked into the Movenpick hotel at the foot of the entrance. With Dante strapped in the bjorn we rode every form of desert animal from horses, to donkeys to camels. We met, lunched and haggled with local bedoins and exlored every nook and cranny of the spectacular city built into the vibrant red sandstone. It was emotional to leave Petra. We both sensed what a special place it is and would've liked to stay a few more days.