Haircut #2; also, Snow Day!

I finally got another haircut last weekend, which is a good thing, because it was getting hard to see out from under my bangs. Here's the before picture, when my Oma came by to see me after work last week:
And here's the after picture, at breakfast Sunday morning (I was so soundly asleep when we got home Saturday that I slept all night in my clothes!):

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Today we're having a snow day. Daddy still had to report for jury duty, but Mommy can stay home all day because her classes were canceled to make room for the media vans swarming the Cleveland State campus today for the Democratic debate tonight. Here's what it looks like in my yard and up and down my street today:



I have learned that one of the snow day rules is that you get to stay in your footed pajamas all day if you want. So I am. This morning I rode on my car around the living room while I watched my beloved Bob the Builder DVD:


I wanted to play in the downstairs bathroom, but Mommy asked me to come out and play in the living room instead, so I brought one of my bathtub flutes out with me:

When I wear my sunglasses, I can see summer coming!

I didn't want to eat my lunch, but then I went back to the trashcan to dig out the mini veggie corn dogs and broccoli I had refused about ten minutes earlier.

Mmmmmmmmmmmm...trash can broccoli is so tasty!

After I sat down for lunch a second time, I was ready to read, so I chose "The Snowy Day." Coincidence? Or freakishly smart boy wonder? Who knows?

The After-Party

I know it's taken a while for me to post, but what can I say? My parents have selfishly put work and school before my blog. I do what I can, but they still have to push the buttons. One day, as soon as I learn to type, and to spell, and the alphabet, and all that, I will post my own material directly, and daily. Until then, I suppose parents will be parents.

So, last Sunday would have been birthday number 3 for my brother, Hans. Every year, we take a little trip. The first year, when I was about the size of a sardine and busy swimming in the maternal ocean, my parents went to New York and saw "Rent". Last year, we went to Troncones, Mexico, and I ate a couple of pounds of beach sand. This year, we went back to New York.

We stayed at the Grand Hyatt that's connected to Grand Central Terminal, and when it was raining I enjoyed running around the long halls and eating in the dining concourse, which had every kind of food I enjoy (quesadillas, naan, ice cream, bagels).

We finally met up with my buddy Adrian Milo and his parents, Amanda and Steve, for some shopping, brunch, and hot chocolate, which was really cool because we are nearly the same age and into the same things, like walking and banging on tabletops.

I played in all the good parks, and I helped my Mommy get a "3" candle for Hans's birthday cupcake. As we left the store, the security guard gave me the giant bunch of red, white, blue, and silver balloons that were flying at the store's entrance, which was more thrilling than I can even describe, but so many balloons were more than I could handle without bopping many fellow sidewalk walkers in the face, so Daddy cut a big, silver, mylar star off for me and Mommy tied it to my stroller, and it was perfect. They let the rest of the balloons float away; we watched them while they mozied down Broadway, then lost them when they turned right on 52nd. Later, I helped Daddy blow out the candle for Hans and then ate 2/3 of his giant chocolate cupcake, which was so good that I couldn't stop saying, "MMMMMMMMMM!!!"

We managed to eat a ton of great food all at restaurants we had never visited before this trip. I had an orange pancake at Jane, tofu skin wraps at Wild Ginger Kitchen, and veggie chicken tenders at ZenBurger, just to name a few culinary highlights. I would tell you more, but I need a nap, so for the rest of the details, watch this movie about my trip:

The Big 5-0

Last weekend, we went to New York so Daddy could get a new passport. As our plane was taking off, Daddy asked Mommy how many flights I've taken. She didn't know, but they got out a pen and paper and started counting, and they realized that flight was my fiftieth. I don't know what the big deal is, because flying is old hat to me, plus I have no idea what "fiftieth" means, but my parents thought it was really cool.
While Daddy was at the passport office, Mommy put me in the portacrib and went to take a shower. Wasn't she surprised when I leaned over the side of the tub and greeted her with a cheery "Hello!" I didn't let on how I got out, but my parents suspect I jumped over on to their bed, which was closer to me than the floor, to which I say, maybe yes, maybe no.

Since Mommy was all wet, she didn't get any pictures of me climbing out, but she did catch me in the bathroom later, experimenting with the extremely loose toilet paper holders.


























After Mommy and I got dressed, we went to Washington Square Park to wait for Daddy. I was promised a trip to the dog park, but much of the park is being remodeled or something, and Mommy felt it wasn't safe to take me through the construction zone to get to the temporary dog runs. We tried to at least see the dogs through the fence, but it was not working out, so we went to the construction-free end of the park and enjoyed a snack of peanut butter cracker sandwiches. Then I tried to share one of my sandwiches with a pigeon, but I didn't have enough for all the pigeons who wanted to hang out with me, so we moved on to the playground to avoid getting pecked to death. This slide was the perfect size for me to climb up and slide down by myself. I also discovered I could run down the slide, much to Mommy's dismay.

After Daddy met us, we had a yummy lunch at Red Bamboo, where I ate bamboo nuggets, basmati rice, broccoli, and chocolate fortune cookies! MMMMM, I love fortune cookies. Then we stopped in one of the nearby parks (I can't remember all their names), where I hugged this seal.

I'm getting tall enough to hold on to handrails and to take at least some stairs by myself. See?

We stopped at Jacques Torres to warm up with some cinnamon hot chocolate and some orange hot chocolate and, for me, chocolate milk. They had the biggest stuffed animals I have ever seen in my entire life in there!

After a whole day of playing and walking around, I was ready to unwind with some dinner and some funny face-making with Daddy.
The Holiday Inn Express on 29th has the best hotel breakfast ever, and on the first morning I sat at a table like a big boy and ate french toast and bananas, but the second morning we were all pooped, so Mommy brought our breakfast upstairs to us. The desk was too high for me to eat at - until we pulled out the lower desk drawer.
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I don't really remember Valentine's Day from last year, but I have learned it is a great day. I got all this mail, addressed to ME, like a card from my Oma and Ono, and another one from my Grandma T. My Nonna gave me this cool backpack with my very own sleeping bag inside. Part of it is green and covered in frogs, and part of it is purple, which is currently my favorite color. Or at least, it's the color I can best recognize and pronounce thus far.
My parents gave me some Valentine-y Little People, and my very own DVDs of Elmo and Bob the Builder. I love Elmo and all that, but I am completely mezmerized by Bob the Builder. He can fix it, yes he can!

Hugs and Valentine Kisses to all!

Rainy Days and Tuesdays

I have a little bit of the blues today, what with the rain and all, plus my upcoming 18-month-checkup shots coming later this week, so I'm looking back on fond memories from the last week to cheer myself up. You're welcome to cheer yourself up here, too.











It was good to finally be healthy and in town at the same time so I could catch up with Maggie and her dad Matt at Bela Dubby the other day. I was so happy to see Matt that I ran up to him and hugged him; he's always been a favorite of mine. Maggie has really grown up; I could tell because she was into the trains I shared with her. I expect she'll be hanging out with me at the train table in another month or so.























Boy, do I enjoy a good peanut butter-and-raspberry jam on crusty bread left over from the soup my parents got from the Souper Market and ate while I was asleep. It's lucky for them that I love bread and am not that into soup, and that they at least saved me some bread.

Finally, here I am relaxing in my monkey chair with a good book. Of late, I am obsessed with two categories of books: books about vehicles and books about potties.