Cherry Blossom Festival 2010

Every year we somehow miss the cherry blossoms at the Botanic Gardens, even though they are right down the street. This year, we made sure we would catch them, and catch them we did. The Gardens were exploding with color and blossoms, and swarming with families. Jacob ate blossoms and crawled around looking for people who were sitting still enough for him to pull himself up on. What a beautiful day! We really feel lucky to be surrounded by so many wonderful things in this city of ours.

At the park

Bagel equal happy

Jacob is loving bagels recently. They feel good for chewing when a person's gums/teeth are bothering them. I try to get him whole wheat bagels so they are a little more nutritious - he can happily chew on one all morning long!

Birthday's a-comin'!

Jacob's first birthday is just around the corner: May 17th! I made a wish list for curious aunties, which is posted here and on the sidebar, but PLEASE don't feel like you need to get him something just because I made a list!

Bonding

About a month and a half ago, Jacob slowly started to self-wean from nursing. He just had too much energy during the day to slow down and nurse! It's been a slow, somewhat sad transition, but that boy loves his bottle now, and the good side is that Daddy now gets to join in on the meal-time bonding. He still nurses once or twice a day, but soon even that will be over! Our little baby is turning into a little boy.

Dancing with the Music

He has re-discovered this toy, and my heart just melts every time he looks up at me with delight and starts dancing when he realizes he made the music!

Daddy!

Jacob gets a little goofy at dinnertime, which is close to bedtime. And when Daddy is home, well, there is no shortage of tomfoolery.

Observe the completely blank look that washes over his face when Daddy disappears behind the corner. And the subsequent delight when he reappears! YAY FOR DADDY!

Shorter trips, maybe?

We went to the Whitney Biennial last week. Turns out it is much easier to tote a 6 month old around a museum than a 11 month old. He just wanted to play! I think we need a lighter stroller so he doesn't have to be stuck in the carrier for too many hours. He liked the video installations (although Mama thought there were too many of them), and enjoyed waving to everyone who walked by. He was less impressed with the paintings, but the photography exhibits were well-recieved.

Home, Sweet Zoo

Warm weather is here, and we got a membership to the Prospect Park Zoo! Many, many, many more pictures to come as summer kicks in. Mama is not going to be working over the summer, so there will be a lot of zoo days in our future!

First Tooth

Jacob's first tooth finally arrived at 10.5 months old, with very little fanfare. It just kind of showed up one day...The second is bringing a lot more trauma with it, so don't worry, we're not getting off too easy.

The tooth is barely visible, but VERY feelable. I tried to get a picture the other day, and I think that the "outtakes" make better picture-viewing than the tooth itself. This photo journey goes from laughter, to anger, to tears, and back to laughter.

Early Birthday Present

Jacob's birthday is (gasp!) only 6 weeks away, but there was one gift that we needed to get early because he is just at the perfect stage. Behold:

From little red wagon

This one is actually a video - click on the image to watch.

Baby Model

In January, Jacob got a gig as a baby model for a fancy-schmancy baby boutique label, mostly due to his "small stature". Even babies have model sizes, it seems. He went in to a chi-chi Chelsea studio for a couple hours, and completely rocked the fall line. Sadly, his pictures won't be up on their website (egg-baby.com) until the fall, but I FINALLY got the proofs, and a couple outfits, in the mail. Amazing.

Going for a ride

I just can't even handle how much he looks like a kid on this little truck. Where did my baby go?!

Happy Easter!

On Easter, we celebrated with a basket full of fun and treats, a walk through the park, and a drive out to New Jersey to have a feast at Great Grandma and Great Grandpa's! Jacob is embracing his Polish heritage and devoured the golabki (stuffed cabbage) and babka (sweet bread). DELICIOUS! We are so lucky to have family near by to celebrate with, even though we are far away from our immediate family. We greatly missed everyone in Washington and Oregon, but had a wonderful day regardless. Jacob was an absolute doll, as usual. He slept the whole drive there, and the whole drive back, and barely fussed at all while we were in NJ, even though we really screwed up his nap schedule and made him stay awake and play with his cousins for a very long time.

It couldn't have been a more beautiful day!

He can't be stopped!

Photos are blurry because of baby-speed. Now, these are pretty low steps, but the ease with which he knocked them out makes me think that real stairs would be no problem at all! Maybe I need to take him out in the hall and practice on the staircase in the lobby. A little dirty, sure, but it's all in the name of progress!

Water Baby

Photos on the go - Mommy's Iphone

Here are a whole bunch of pics of my little man from my phone (and a couple of cats, daddy, and other sights around the city). You can see that they tend to be getting blurrier and less-framed now that he's 1) moving so quickly, and 2) always trying to EAT the phone.

Springtime at the MoMA

Tara and Eliza are members at the MoMA, and they invited us to join them for a day of art this week. We had a wonderful time at the exhibits, especially the retrospective and current installation of Marina Abramovic, which featured a lot of staring, boobies, and bones. Not sure what Jacob made of all of it, but I'm pretty sure he's going to be pretty impressed when he gets older and goes through his avant garde phase.

Other highlights:

• Picnic in the courtyard
• Monet's Water Lilies
• Jacob saw a Gauguin and a Van Gogh that are in one of his favorite board books, and he really stared them down. I think he recognized them!
• A lovely day with two lovely ladies

The trip wrecked havoc on our naps, but it was totally worth it. The child is such a delight. I had a blast hanging out with him in the city all day, and I'm so excited for the summer when we'll have lots of time and the good weather to go all over the city!

Sleeping boy?

Jacob is learning new things every day, and he likes to practice them over and over again. Even naptime will not interfere with this diligent discipline of practice. Standing, chatting, opening and closing curtains, lifting up clothes hampers' lids, all of these things must be practiced as much as possible, whether he is in his crib or not.

He's still sleeping solidly through the night, and most days he naps pretty well, too, but usually for about 20 minutes at the beginning and end of each nap we can hear him in the room, standing up and chatting to his "friends" and moving around any furniture/objects/curtains in his reach. Most days he does, finally, fall asleep, but today he was in there for an hour and twenty minutes before I finally gave up and went in to get him.

This video shows the first time I went in and caught him standing up in his crib. I knew to walk in with the camera rolling because I heard a strange sound that I now know was the hamper lid being repeatedly lifted and dropped.

What a little scientist.

Sick Day

What do you do when a boy doesn't feel so good? You cuddle, you bounce, you give him a binkie, you might even resort to cartoons. These things seem to help.

Little Bean had a cold the last several weeks that kept dragging on and on. It moved from a constantly drippy nose to a hacking cough that sometimes scared him, and finally manifested in a bumpy red rash all over his legs and arms and face. We finally went to the doctor, and sure enough he had a red, irritated throat, but thankfully no ear or throat infection. He seems to be on the mend now, which makes everyone very very happy.

Even a sick Jacob, though, is a sweet Jacob. He still was sleeping fine and generally good tempered. Sometimes I don't even realize when he's feeling badly, because he doesn't complain a lot. How did I luck out with this kid?

Reading, Eating, and Cuddling

Jacob's favorite things to do...

Bathtime: Before, During, and After

Toys, toys, toys.

Best Buds

Adam came over to play last week. He turned one, and the boys celebrated by sharing some Mum-Mums.

It's hard to believe that just over a year ago, Victoria and I were sitting in prenatal yoga, wondering if she would EVER go into labor. And now look at these boys!