Feliz Cumpleanos: daycare party!

It was a relatively small group at daycare this afternoon, just Belen and one assistant, plus Belen's daughter Belencita and four of the "big boys" plus the little baby Noah (as opposed to the "big baby" Avery). The kids were SO excited about balloons and cupcakes and goody bags!





Belencita kept sneaking more cupcakes and Matthew (in the red shirt) asked his dad who came to pick him up during the party if he could have "mas cupcake?" When we left, Belencita said "Adios Avery! I'll miss you!" We thought that was adorable! She's almost 3 but the same height as Avery (he definitely weighs more than her though). All of the kids love Avery. It's very cute to see him interact with the older kids.



Belen and Avery together:





Each child has a photo, and when they come to daycare, the parent is supposed to move their photo over to the school picture, and then back to the "home" picture when they leave. There is also a schedule of all the birthdays in the group.

First Birthday, First haircut!

Above, Avery's certificate stating that he has "bravely and patiently" received his first haircut. We went to "Clara's Cuts" in Scarsdale. Something about Clara reminded me of (an Eastern European) Carrie Fisher in Star Wars. She was very nice and Avery was SO good! She said he was "one in a million" since he was so good while she cut his hair. Maybe she says that to all the kids, but it was still nice to hear.

Before:





After:



We went to the Scholastic Store next to the salon where Avery got to ride Clifford and play with some toys:




We can't believe he is one year old today! There will be more pictures coming. He is taking a nap now, but later this afternoon we are going to his daycare armed with cupcakes, goody bags, and a camera for his birthday party there. When I dropped him off there yesterday, the kids were making birthday-themed art projects for Avery's party (cute!!!!) and we are excited to see him celebrate with his friends at daycare.

Catching some rays and waves

Last week we got a membership to the Westchester Parks and got to check out another pool today. This place is great: there's a water slide, a wave pool, and a great kiddie area! We had so much fun! We remembered this swimsuit that we had gotten for Avery and it's only a 24 months size, but it still fits! We just think it is such a cute, old fashioned style swimsuit for a baby boy. Of course, he has a lot of regular swim trunks too! But he seemed to enjoy wearing this suit today.



Is there anything greater than a wave pool?!?!

Where's Avery?

Hmmm, where did Avery go?


Peek-a-boo! I see you!


Avery is also often in the bathrooms lately. We are trying to remember to keep the bathroom doors closed, but when we forget, he is instantly there! He has a fascination with the toilet (ew), the toilet plunger (double ew), and today he took a jar of hair pomade, opened it, and smeared it all over the floor. This kid is going to love finger paints!


He LOVES his garage sale bike!


Look at that mischievous smile!


He walks pretty well when he has something to hold onto. He can push this across the room by himself!


Trucks are cool.


Avery has his 1-year pediatrician appointment tomorrow. He'll be 1 a week from today! We can't believe we are parents to a one year old! He is becoming more mobile, more independent, and so it's a little more exhausting running after him. But he is also so fun too! We took him "swimming" at a huge outdoor pool in a park nearby last weekend, and he LOVED it. He loved moving around in the water, he loved all the attention he got from other people (as always), he loved going under the waterfall-type fountains and having the cold water splash him on the head. Then he cried when we took him out of the pool, but as soon as we had him wrapped up in a nice warm, dry towel, he stopped crying.

Michigan Visit

Avery visited Opa and Bubbe's house for the first time. He did really well during the long car rides, and we had a really nice time. He LOVED climbing up the stairs (and he figured out how to crawl up the stairs on his first try! He's so smart!) and playing with their dog Missy and all their cats.

Avery and cousin Katya (age 6):


Avery playing with a brand-new toy from Holly:


Opa and Avery:

Vroom! fast new toys . . .

Avery on the go; he can crawl so fast now!



fun new garage sale toys purchased in Michigan! Avery loves his car and his big boy bike!

Now and Then

Sammy (4 1/2 months old) and Olivia (20 months old) came over to play with Avery (11 months old) and to let their parents have a nice brunch together. Oops, no pictures of the three babies together, but here are pictures of Avery wanting to be a baby again and get into his old bouncy chair which we brought out for Sammy to use. He used to LOVE sitting in this chair and bat at the animals, especially the pink pig. But of course, he is way too big for it now. But when he saw the chair, he got very excited and crawled over to it. So we put him in it for a little while, but he got antsy pretty quickly and needed to get out so he could return to his crawling and cruising activities . . . but Sammy did enjoy sitting in it.

big boy:



little guy (around 1 month old):