Avi Does the Farm Show

This year Avi continued a Yablon family tradition of going to the Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg. He enjoyed looking at the cows, horses, sheep, chickens, and rabbits, and called all of them "Kitty." A good time was had by all!

Avi Dancing, 10 Months Old

A short but sweet video of Avi enjoying his newest love, the singing drum set (thank you, Erik and Morivan Wasson). Ah, to be so easily entertained!

December 08 and January 09

It's been quite a while since I updated the blog. Things have been pretty hectic for the "little Wylens", as we recently moved out of our Montclair, NJ apartment, and are on our way to the great northwest. That's right, Jeremy has already moved into our new home in Seattle, and Avi and I (and Aunt Daya and Bernard the cat as well!) will be following in a few weeks.

For now, Avi, Bernard and I are living with Saba and Savta Wylen, Doda Elisheva and her dog, Chai. It's a full house--grown ups, cats, dogs, and babies. We are all getting along, and even sharing our germs so that we have all had the same cold for about a week now. Avi loves all the attention he is getting from everyone, and has started talking. Although he's been "verbal" for ages, and has probably been trying to communicate with words for months, his first real word that we are sure means what it sounds like is "Kitty," which he uttered for the first time on New Year's Day 2009. He also says "Don't", and wags his finger when he says it, and "Ball." So far, he hasn't bothered with "Ema" or "Abba." What can you do?

Avi has also grown into a very picky eater as a 10-month-old. He HATES vegetables, eggs and chicken, and is able to pick them out of any "creative" combination I try. He will eat cheerios, fruit, rice cakes and yogurt at any time of day, and whole wheat toast is a big hit, as long as you give him the whole piece and let him take his own bites. But don't try to give him veggies unless he is totally distracted by a toy or a fun spoon, and then you can sneak in a few bites before he realizes what's happening. He's such a little character, and loves to dance, bang stuff, climb the steps and speed-crawl around the house.

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!