a month in review

First tooth.
First word, "cat." (sound familiar)
First 10-day antibiotics course for...
First ear infection.
First avocado.
First steps, cruising on furniture.
First Purim.
First time his mother contemplated shipping him off while up between 3:30 am and 5 am with him.
Copious drool. It is not uncommon to find puddles on the hardwood floor.


Micah takes it all in stride and is an incredible big brother but I have begun to wonder lately just how many words a 3 and a half year old must utter between waking and going to sleep. Is it wrong to think, "will you just shut up?" about your child?

lunchtime antics

Offensive sweet potato ruins the fun:

8 months old today!

...and getting into everything!

snow day

I took the boys up to the mountains above Ojai last Monday for Levi's first snow. It was funny watching him crawl off the blanket onto the cold stuff.

WARNING: Poop anecdote follows, read at own risk.

It was all fun until Micah had to go number two...I lost my enthusiasm for the snow experience when I found myself wiping his tush with snow. Brown snow is not nearly as funny as yellow snow. Yuck.

a game of cat and mouse?

More like a game of baby and cat...This is what has been keeping us too busy to blog:

Parents chasing a newly mobile Levi, chasing a cat, chasing some peace and quiet.

Levi's gimpy crawl is a riot. The only baby he has ever seen crawl is Jai over Christmas...and coincidentally Jai has also developed a very efficient one-legged crawl. Levi was studying Jai that day, I had no idea just how closely. We have begun some homespun physical therapy to try to get it going in the right way, but he is just getting faster and more adept at the gimp-crawl. I hope this doesn't ruin a future running career.

cousins: big and small

my other children

Some of my 500 students as they filter into our movie-theater/classroom:

diaper shipment arrived

You know what that means....

Baby-in-a-box!!! (bonus child included)

girl friends

Last weekend we had a playdate with Lauren and Natalie. Micah can go from dinosaurs and lava-bombs to princesses and fairies in five minutes:

make your own levi flip-book

..by printing out the photos below:

micah's dinosaur village

Micah built this dinosaur village all by himself today. When he showed it to me, he gave me very specific details about what the scene depicts. Here we try to recreate that by interrogating him as he shows it to Amy.

some levi

Levi quenches his thirst:



Levi makes progress towards crawling:

OY! Hannukah

Waaaay back in December 2009 (first) Hannukah happened, as did Christmas and New Years, but somehow only the former was actually recorded for posterity. Perhaps because we had eight days of opportunities to remember our cameras?

Big boys get to light their own hannukiot

A picture that says a thousand words... like "fedora" "palm trees" "tiki torch" "menorah" and "cherry picker"

"Fire Boy" dazzled and amazed

Sufganiyot (jelly doughnuts) at the menorah lighting on the pier

fuzzy menorahs are safer than fire

After eight days of latkes, presents, dreidel and chocolate gelt coming out of our ears...it was on to Christmas and more, more, more! My children are officially spoiled.

closing out 2009

This was all SO 2009:

Noah and Levi jam:

Micah on a brisk December afternoon at the V-town pier

Levi in the Chilean hat/ Guatemalan booties

First trip on the Steam Trains with GG

The "lactation room" in the VS Berkeley office:
And a visit to the T-rex at the Valley Life Sciences Building at UC Berkeley:

2010 and 7 months old

Here are two quick pictures of Levi at the start of the Rose Bowl today on his 7 month birthday:

As we begin 2010, (sadly) I predict Levi will be crawling before he hits 8 months...
In other news the babbling is reaching all new heights with delightful "B" and "D" consonant sounds emanating from his little face nearly nonstop. Thighs are still as soft and buttery as ever. I'm cataloging this all as I cannot believe his first year is more than half over!