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):

Give Peas (and Turkey Meat Balls) a Chance

Avery loves being able to stand up in his crib; putting him to bed has gotten annoying. He thinks it's hilarious to stand up and "yell" (or cry if he is overly tired) until we come in, lay him back down, and then as soon as we leave the room, he's pulled himself up into a standing position again. Tonight he was VERY good; he went right to sleep as soon as I lay him down at 8:30, no fuss, no standing.






Dinner tonight: turkey meatballs in tomato sauce and carrots. Avery is doing great with most foods. He loves oatmeal, veggie burgers, pasta, peas, waffles, sweet potatoes, split pea soup, rice and beans . . . fruits are a bit more problematic. We think it's the (cold and slimy) texture of most fruits. A plain slice of mango (seen here rejected on his plate) is not appealing to him. But if we cut it up into small pieces and mix it in with yogurt or cottage cheese, he'll eat it. Same thing with berries. On the other hand, apple sauce and bananas are fine with him.



Sleep Yoga:

Playing in a Diaper

We had a good weekend on our church retreat in Connecticut. We hiked, read, played games, got to know some cool people better, and Avery got tons of attention from everyone. The older kids all LOVE him! During the talent night, a woman held him in her lap and pretended that he was the one playing Chopin (it's an electronic piano that can play songs) and everyone got a kick out of it. He crawled around so much on the rough carpet in the lodge that he has some small blisters on his hand! When Carolyn picked him up from daycare today, Belen asked her "What happened to his hands?!" because she was concerned that he got hurt. The blisters don't seem to bother him though.

Better Zoo Trip

Our second trip to the Bronx zoo was way more fun than the first time I tried taking Avery. The first time, I took him first thing in the morning, thinking we'd avoid the crowds. So he didn't take a much-needed morning nap and was cranky the whole time. This time, we went with Sally and Oliver on Monday afternoon, after the boys had taken naps. There were no crowds, no crankiness, and the kids even each took an afternoon nap in their strollers. Plus Sally hooked us up with her fancy membership so we didn't have to pay for anything, not even the fancy things like the monorail which cost extra. Avery loved riding the monorail and looking at all the animals, especially the wild boars. Oliver was afraid of the apes, but he loved the ducks -- he even make "quack quack" noises back at the ducks. I was very impressed with Oliver's quacking ability and also his pointing ability (he was pointing his finger at things), and Sally was impressed by Avery's "dancing" when we sang "ABCs" to them.

Aloha Avery