Thanksgiving

Avi turned nine months old on Thanksgiving Day, so he was able to celebrate his big accomplishment (he's now been on the "outside" longer than he was on the "inside") with a big turkey dinner at Nana and PopPop's house, along with Saba, Safta, Aunts Daya and Goldie, cousin Micky and the Bells--Lynda, Jill and Matt. Avi showed off all his tricks, including making funny sounds with his tongue, pointing at everything, climbing and speed crawling. A good time was had by all!

Avi Eats Cheerios: The Video

Avi loves his Cheerios (and banana puffs from Gerber which, as it turns out, is all Abba was feeding him during the whole video). Check out the little man in action. Can you ever remember getting so excited about cereal?

Cheerio Mania

Apparently, nothing is as exciting or as satisfying as a fist full of Cheerios. Avi gets so excited when he sees the cereal box coming that he literally shakes in anticipation (with frenetically closed fists, white knuckles and all) of the goodness he is about to experience. Who knew a bland toasted oat circle could lead to so much happiness, and such cute smiles! We are grateful that Avi seems to have outgrown his allergy to oats, since Cheerios make everything better and solve every major problem in an 8-month-old baby's life.

October 2008

October has been a fun month month with Avi so far. He has a little cold, but is the trooper he always is (with the exception of getting really annoyed with me when I wipe his nose). He laughs so much, bables constantly, waves bye-bye, is ticklish all over, and likes to "hide" by putting his face in cushions and craking up. He is crawling like a maniac, and climbing whatever he finds. We spent the first day of sukkot with Saba and Savta, where Avi discovered STEPS, which we do not have in our apartment. Within two seconds of reaching the step, he figured out how to climb all the way up to the top, and then speed-crawl into the kitchen to find Savta. He loved eating in the sukkah (especially since he got to have his first "people food" when he got a mashed up sweet potato and carrot from Savta's yontif tzimmis). The general consensus is that Avi is starting to look more and more like his Abba, after many months of looking mostly like his Ema. Whoever he looks like, he is the most delicious baby we know!

New Teeth, New Tricks, New Haircut

Avi is now 7 months old. He has two teeth, he crawls clear across the apartment (or anywhere we put him down), and pulls up on any solid (and not-so-solid) surface he can find. He also convinced us to cut his hair much sooner than we had intended to by constantly pulling at his long wispy baby hair and smearing cool things like sweet potatoes and green beans in it. Now he is officially a "big boy" with short blonde hair (that sometimes spontaneously forms into a mohawk similar to his newborn mohawk hairdo), and he looks like a mini man in his jeans and sporty shirts and hoodies. We can't believe Avi's first year is already more than half way over!

Nana's Birthday and Avi goes to the Dentist

This weekend, Avi went to Steelton to celebrate Nana's birthday. He showed off his new skills--including pulling up on our hands and "walking" across a room--and had fun getting spoiled by Nana, Pop Pop, and Aunt Daya. The next day, he went to Philadelphia to have lunch with Saba Raba, Savta Raba Evelyn, and Great Aunt Susan (he tried to take the check, but Saba Raba insisted!), and to visit Great Uncle Ron's dental office. Although he has two tiny teeth now, it was Abba who had the real check up, while Avi and I played in the waiting room. After Abba's appointment, we went to cousin Rebecca's for a play date with Daniel and dinner with the cousins. The boys are getting closer to being able to play together, and even began their cousin-rivalry by reaching for the same toys at the same time, and racing to Aunt Susan's lap. A fun day was had by all!

Avi Goes West

Avi took his first trip to the west coast this month, flying to Seattle on his 6 month birthday. He was great on the plane, although he was too excited about the new experience to sleep much. This made for a long 6 hour stretch for Ema and Abba, but was great fun for the little guy. In just 2 weeks, Avi met and got to know his Grandpa Arthur and Grandma Terri, Great Aunt Char and Great Uncle Kim, Aunts Cecily and Lyndsay, and lots and lots of Dunn/McGinnis/Gabriel cousins. There are too many good pictures to post, but here are a good selection of our favorite moments from the trip--Avi trying to drink beer, picking peaches with Ema at the Chelan orchard, getting to know new family members, and hanging out on the ferry boat to Bainbridge Island. If you'd like to see more pictures, let me know and I will send you the link to our Snapfish album!

Avi's First Photo Shoot

In honor of his upcoming 6 month birthday (which we will spend flying to Seattle!), we had Avi's portraits taken. We were thrilled with the results of our little smiley guy's pictures. He was a real trooper at the shoot, especially because the photographer was running behind schedule and we ran into nap time, so Avi was really very sleepy and even a little cranky. As soon as we were done, he fell asleep in his stroller so that Abba, Ema and Savta could grab a bite to eat. Enjoy!

Avi Learns to Sit and Crawl

At 5 1/2 months, Avi is now sitting on his own for good lengths of time (sometimes with one hand on the floor to support himself, sometimes with "no hands"), and crawling a few mini-steps to reach his favorite toys. The first time he actually took two crawl-steps, Jeremy was the one to see it, as I was in the other room having a meeting with a client. He was trying to get to his favorite jumbo-sized edition of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. We're so proud! We even had to lower his mattress in the crib, because we found him peeking over the top of the rail and pulling himself up on the bumpers! Our little baby is becoming a big boy so quickly...

Avi Goes Down the Shore

This weekend Avi made his first trip to the Atlantic Ocean, where he hung out at his Great Aunt Susan and Great Uncle Ron's beach house in Ventnor, NJ (near Atlantic City). He loved hanging out with all his cousins (Rebecca, Steve, Debra, and potential cousin Jason), Doda Elisheva, and Saba Raba and Evelyn, and he approved of the family's favorite candy and chocolate shop--Jagielkys. Luckily, he seemed to love the beach, and smiled when I dipped his feet into the water. He can't wait till he gets to see the Pacific Ocean in a few weeks!

Fun with Family

This weekend Avi hung out with Nana Cheryl and Aunt Daya, and then made his second trip to Philadelphia, where he visited with cousin Daniel (and lots of other cousins, aunts and uncles), and got to take a "Four Generations of Wylen Men" photo with Saba Raba Joe, Saba Stephen, and Abba Jeremy. Avi is beginning to wonder just how many relatives he has after all--he's lost count!

Avi Hangs Out in NYC

This weekend our Avi made his first trip to New York City, where we hung out with our friends Bat Ami, Jay and Caleb Moses, and Moishe and Hannah Steigmann in the Union Square area. Avi absolutely loved the hustle and bustle of the city (he takes after his Ema!), and had a great time despite the oppressive heat. Next time, when it's a little cooler, we'll head to the Central Park Zoo!

Open Wide! Avi's First Food

At Avi's 4 month check up, we learned that he has gone from the 80th percentile for weight at 2 months, to the 25th percentile at 4 months. Our former chunker is now long and lean--good for later in life, but not ideal for such a young baby. Our doctor suggested we start solids a bit early, even though I was hoping to breastfeed exclusively for the first 6 months. However, Avi has definitely been showing an interest in our food, and when we gave him his first spoonful of rice cereal mixed with formula this morning, he gobbled it up like a pro, grabbing the spoon (and my hand), and pulling it into his mouth. Sure, a good bunch of it ended up on his cheeks and his bib, but he swallowed the majority of the few spoonfuls we offered him, and we can't wait to see how this little experiment continues!

Fun Times in the Summer

Avi's first summer is off to a great start. He is blossoming--giggling, rolling around, eating his toes, and making our hearts melt with his gummy smile. This weekend Aunt Daya came for a long visit, and Avi had his first picnic in the "park" near the Walnut Street train station in Montclair. He's getting bigger all the time, and is wearing 6-9 month outfits, even though he is just 4 months old! Can we say football player??

15 Weeks: Tossing and Turning

At 13 weeks, Avi started rolling over. At first it was just in one directions--from back to tummy, usually on the left side. Then he started doing it on both sides. Then the rolling got faster and faster. Then he learned how to flip back from his tummy onto his back. At 15 weeks, Avi has decided that playing on his mat is only fun when he is lying on his back, and when in the crib, he only wants to roll onto his tummy, and back and forth and back again, then staying on his tummy and pushing up onto his knees, scooting up and up and up until his head hits the top (and sometimes the corner) of the crib. We had rough time with this for a few days, until Avi learned how to go in reverse. Now he loves to sleep on his tummy with his tushy in the air. So cute!

Avi Goes to Philadelphia

Last week Avi made his first (of many!) trips to Philadelphia to finally meet his cousin Hannah, and to hang out again with Saba Raba Joe, cousin Daniel, and the whole Goldenberg clan. We had a great day including a long walk in downtown Philly to visit cousin Debra at her office, plenty of fun play time with Daniel's toys, and good naps in Aunt Susan and Uncle Ron's bedroom! We were very happy that Avi managed to eat, sleep, and poop as if he were at home, and Ema and Abba enjoyed showing off his big smiles and cool collared shirt to the family. We know this will be the first of many family visits to come.

Mommy and Me: Home Alone

This weekend, Avi and his Ema were home alone for the first time EVER, since Abba was away in D.C. on a business trip. Believe it or not, we are surviving, though Ema is very tired. We've played lots of games, sung lots of songs, and taken a bath every day (well, at least Avi has!). Avi's been very compliant with going to bed around 6:30-7pm, but he still wakes up every four hours or so and wants to eat. On Friday night, I was so zonked from a whole day home alone with baby in the rain that I fell asleep in my bathrobe after a much needed shower, and only woke up at 11pm when Avi started to cry in his room. So much for shabbat dinner! Last night Avi was up so often that I probably only slept for about 3 hours all night, and then it was time to get up and play at 6am. So when we got home from our walk this morning, and Avi kept sleeping in his carseat, Bernard and I joined him, even though there was clean laundry to put away (on the bed!), and plenty of other things to do. Wish us luck. Just 24 more hours till Jeremy comes home! Yay!

The Fourth Trimester is Almost Over

Baby experts say that the first three months of a baby's life are really an extension of pregnancy, the fourth trimester. Avi is 11 weeks old today, and he is growing by leaps and bounds. At 8 weeks he weighed 13 pounds, 7 ounces, and measured 24.5 inches long. He is quite the chubby little fellow. With every week, a new challenge surfaces. First it was baby acne, then cradle cap, and now we are dealing with the results of having a little guy in the 80th percentile for weight--folds of fat that irritate his sensitive skin and create red patches under his chin, elbows and knees. Hopefully he will start holding his head up 100% soon, to help out the situation. He's getting there! He rolls from his back to his side, and picks up his head when he's on his tummy to look from side to side. He's also doing that adorable pre-laugh laugh--something like a sharp intake of air combined with a gurgle--and babbling up a storm. We are excited to see what Avi has in store for us as he turns the corner from his newborn stage to "real" baby! We also hope that when he gets to the 3 month mark, he will be closer to sleeping through the night, and that he will go back to taking long naps in the afternoon (which he no longer likes to do--instead, he prefers to be up ALL day long, with reluctant 30 minute naps twice a day, usually while we go for a walk or a drive in the car)!