party!

We spent a glorious afternoon at lake Temescal celebrating Micah's best buddy, Abraham's 1st birthday. Abby's cousins,Cas and Levi, were also celebrating their impending first and third birthdays, respectively.

There was so much to do. Scooters to ride:


Giant balls to play with:




Bubbles to "pick" in the grass:


The birthday boys to envy:



It was tiring:


Then Micah had just had enough:

TIA!!

We paid a quick visit to our friend Chrisy, visiting from Mexico, in Santa Cruz last week. Chrisy and I lived together in Mexico PMF (pre-Micah Forest).

A classic: oh-we're-saying-good-bye-in-the-parking-lot-and-I-forgot-to-take-photos-
all-day-shot:

Matisse-terpiece*

Our friend Moriah brought over her bundle of love, Matisse, to play yesterday. Born 11 days before our nephew, on October 1st, I especially love when I get to hold Matisse because it makes me feel like this must be a bit like holding my nephew all the way out in NYC. Naturally Matisse is no substitute, but boy is he cute!

Micah and Matisse play ball:






Matisse with the whip:



* "Matisse-terpiece" is a trademarked phrase of Emily Saer Cook (Zack is sorry he didn't think of it first).

whip it....

Whip it good.

So my latest fantasy is that Micah will become a chef and prepare gourmet meals for me at his stylish tapas bar in Barcelona and take on the likes of Bobby Flay and Mario Batali on Iron Chef America. This of course means he'll never become a chef...but one can dream.

he said it!!!!

"Mama" -- the sweetest sound to a mother's ears. Granted it was certainly just a sound--a sound he first uttered yesterday in the midst of a bunch of babble. I posted the news today, however, since I heard "mama" indiscriminately spoken at least 3 times today. We're still waiting for "dada" though (I promise I try to get him to say that too, I swear.)

infant labor

We want to thank our friend Becca for the fabulous board book series, "Baby be of use" by Lisa Brown. We had been reading Micah the bedtime classic, Baby mix me a drink, however it looks like he enjoyed being helpful so much (he makes a mean margarita) that he took up sweeping too. Never too young to start doing chores.



And lest you thought he couldn't get that broom all the way to the top of the stairs:

Happy Birthday Grandpa G! (and Mother Earth)

Micah proclaims his loyalty on the day of Grandpa G's ascension to senior-hood:

Breaking news story

We interrupt the usually mundane details of what some have dubbed, "The Bored Mommy Blog" for this breaking news story:

We just had a full nine seconds of standing! Nine whole seconds! And Micah didn't even fall down, just a controlled lowered plop back to the floor. Can you tell I'm excited? How about a few more exclamation marks for emphasis!!!!!!

Any-whooooo...in other news, Micah had a visit from the lovely Lucy O yesterday. Kittens...How cute are they? Sorry I had a Samantha Bee moment. I mean, babies...how cute are they?



Making his move...


We totally did not stage this. This was pure Micah:

perhaps a foodie yet...

Through trial and oh-so-many-errors we have discovered that Micah eats best when he is eating with us. Both during our dinner time, chiming in with his own two cents during the conversation and eating a cut-up, mini-portioned sized and appropriately cooled version of what we are eating. "Enough with the BABY food, for chrissakes!" Micah pleads, "I want what YOU'RE having!"

Case in point: Micah gobbled up curried carrot ginger soup at Easter dinner and tonight it was whole wheat pasta with pesto. I think we are finally onto something here.

The opportunity to "feed" himself is also key. Though as this photo attests: as one might imagine, solid food like pasta goes down a whole lot smoother than oh say, runny yogurt that apparently doesn't magically stick to the spoon when it is haphazardly shoveled into the mouth (nostril, ear...) upside down (and yes, that is a Cheerio stuck to his cheek).


Mother's note: Yes that is a "Stonyfield Farm Yobaby Yogurt" container you see. Trader Joe's was out of our staple: local and organic Strauss Family Creamery Plain Whole Milk yogurt so I tried out the baby-marketed Stonyfield Farms variety. SUGAR is the second ingredient. Lame.

10 months old today!!!

Double digits! Where has the time gone? Let's take inventory:

22ish pounds
6 teeth
still possesses all 10 fingers and toes (phew!)
plays ball (will pass it to you again and again and again and a....)
says ma-ba
clicks his tongue
claps hands together
blows spit bubbles
cruises on furniture
crawls up stairs
mastered pincer grasp (the better to pick up stray cat food pellets with)
looks for objects that he's dropped
purposely drops objects because he know's he's got your number and you'll pick it up for him (again and again and again)
dances (shakes his booty while standing and listening to music)
bangs objects together, on other objects, people, the cat, the floor, the window...
blows bubbles in the bath and pool
can sleep through the night (but doesn't always choose too)
understands "no" (as in he stops, pauses, smiles at you and does it anyway)
and a thousand other wonderful details that I can't recall at present

What's that you say?

So this past week Micah has gotten pretty mouthy. He came so close to saying, "Mama" that those of us who bore witness got so excited you would have thought he had just won the nobel prize. Instead of "mama" he said "ma-ba." So close. And I'm not making it up either. Just ask Richard, Victoria AND Becca. They all heard it and in a very sweet way got just as excited as me. Here's some footage of some good vocalization (and some interesting pained expressions).

what you got in your drawers?

Poop? No. not THOSE drawers. These drawers: good, kid-friendly stocked bottom-drawers are a must. Here we are at Nana's for Easter and Micah has discovered a treasure trove of egg beaters, wisks, and measuring spoons.



And in our own home, how do you spell fun? T-U-P-P-E-R-W-A-R-E!

at the playground

Micah and Jai:



Swinging Micah:

Cepillarse los dientes

With six whole teeth, dental hygiene has become of the utmost importance. (I know, Zack needs a haircut.) Particularly after meals with such yummy finger food as peas,dried mango, Joe's O's and tofu. Of course all Micah did was squish and smash...C'mon Micah, give peas a chance!

bath time!

splish splash I was taking a bath....





(don't worry, I was spotting him)

Micah's 1st Passover

Here are some photos from last night's second annual Grossman Family Rasta Seder.

Mmmm, Matzah ball soup (thanks for sharing Victoria and thanks to grandma and grandpa G for the bib):




The seder plate: