Dayton's First Passover

Happy Passover! Passover has always been my FAVORITE holiday. It is a time to get together with loved ones, reconnect, have a traditional and delicious (thanks, Aunt Sandi) dinner, read the story of Passover and drink (at least 4 cups of wine otherwise we would not be fulfilling our Passover duty)! This year was even more special as it was Dayton's first Passover.

We arrived in NJ on Friday and stayed with my parents. Dayton was AMAZING on the flight up...not one complaint from him the entire trip. We had a wonderful day in NYC on Saturday. Dayton had a blast in NYC as we walked along Madison Avenue and ultimately into Central Park. He even got to pose sitting on the famous Alice in Wonderland statue. Mike, of course, was more excited about the 'soulful' Central Park rocks which we posed with. Dayton was full of smiles.

Speaking of smiles, Dayton has discovered that when he opens his mouth VERY wide and squints his eyes, it causes people to laugh. He has begun to do this continuously though out the day to family, friends and complete strangers. He tries to make eye contact and then the show begins. He is quite the ham. Several of the pictures below show this wonderful and laughter-causing smile. We've also captured the moment on video and I highly recommend you watch it if you are in need of a smile. On the plane ride home, Dayton played peekaboo with another baby in the seat in front of him. He would hide behind the seat, then stick his head into the aisle, give the now famous smile, and then peek back behind the seat. This continued for about 10 minutes to the pleasure of the other passengers.

Thank you to Aunt Sandi for hosting a wonderful Passover at her house. It was wonderful to see cousin Annabel, Aunt Tara, Uncle Alex, Cousins Jenna and Joey, Cousin Steve (and meet Vivian) and of course Namie and Bebop. It was wonderful to be with family around the Seder table.

Thank you to Aunt Phyllis who made her way from upstate NY to NJ on her birthday to meet up with us at 9 PM on Sunday for a very short visit. We hope it was worth it! It was wonderful to see you and Dayton enjoyed reconnecting with you (as you can see from the smile on his face).

Thank you to Namie and Bebop for taking care of us for our entire stay.

Mike's Return and Meeting Old Friends

Mike has been in the Middle East for the past 2 weeks but returned on Thursday. I've already mentioned, Dayton had changed so much in the time Mike had been gone. I was so excited to see Father and Son reunite. Last time Mike was gone, Dayton took about 10 minutes to warm up and realize this was his Dad. This time, he immediately began smiling and squealing. I love the pictures of him admiringly looking up at his Dad. The fun has only continued with newly discovered shoulder rides and climbing stairs-escapades. It is so wonderful to be together as a family again.

The other pictures are from a get together with Lanpin, Stamatina and JC. Lanpin and Stamatina were literally my first friends when I moved to Houston in 1998. While we may not see one another often, they are like family. Dayton had a GREAT time with this part of our Houston-family. I was particularly taken aback by his immediate bond he had with JC. As soon as JC walked in the door and picked up Dayton for the first time, Dayton laid his head down on JC's shoulder as if it was someone he has known for years. We were sad to leave but it was well past Dayton's nap time....he fell asleep 3 minutes into the car ride home.

Dayton has a new smile that he saves for things that are very exciting. See the third picture down in the set below. He continues to LOVE going in his bjorn carrier. When I put it on in preparation to take the dogs for a walk, he crawls to me with just as much excitment as the dogs and stands up between my legs looking up with anticipation.

8 Month Pics - - - Finally!

Well, it may not have been the day of his 8 month birthday but we got these in during his 8th month. Just a week or so late.

Dayton's 2 top teeth are now pushing through. You can see all four of his teeth in some of these pictures. In the past two weeks, Dayton's mobility has skyrocketed. It's gone from not standing at all to standing up on everything, climbing stairs (he went from the 2nd to 3rd floor all on his own yesterday with Mike spotting him) and walking while holding onto fingers or other stable objects. We would not be surprised if he started walking on his own in the next month or so. No rush! His crawling and climbing keeps us busy enough.

His happy personality only keeps getting better. He is constantly 'talking' gibberish or 'gooberese' as we call it. People continue to comment how happy he is and how welcoming he is to new people. Dayton does not hesitate to make new friends. He crawls all over our two dogs but particularly Mikki. Mikki is incredibly patient with him. Her only defense mechanism is kissing him which tends to make him change his direction of approach.

We are so lucky.

And Up the Stairs He Goes.....!

For the past week, Dayton's favorite toy is Tiger's cat toy that we keep on the first step of our stairs from the first to second floor. He stands at the base of the stairs and boing boing boing plays with the soft ball at the end of a spring. I've noticed he raises a leg to put his knee on the first step from time to time.

Last night, the innocent raise of a knee turned into the quick conquering of two stairs. I'm sure he would have ended up at the very top if I had not stopped him. See a few of the pictures I captured before reinforcing 'no' to Dayton. So proud...and scared.

The other pictures are from the first Jewish Family Networking Group event held this past Sunday. I had reached out to a local on-line forum to find out if there was interest in starting such a group. As a result, about 10 families and around 30 adults/kids showed up for our first event. I was very excited about the turn out which also included a couple that went to Union College the same years I did! We are going to continue to have monthly play dates, celebrate Jewish holidays together and share information with one another on what's going on around town in the Jewish community.

For those of you that have commented Dayton is always so happy....here's proof that he does shed a tear from time to time. There is no doubt we are SUPER lucky with Dayton's happy demeanor but every baby has a right to cry on a daily basis. Dayton is no different. In this case, he wanted his hat off. Vince, do not take it personally, I don't think it was due to a personal dislike of the Miami Dolphins.

In other news, Dayton's two top front teeth have arrived!

Dayton Hits the News!

Dayton and I are 'featured' in this recent Houston Chronicle video about the changes in our neighborhood. Check out the video half way down the page on the left.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ent/6887343.html

The news story should have also reported that Dayton officially 'skimmed/walked' on his own this morning. He was standing at the bottom of our steps and took steps while holding on to go from one end of our stairs to the other.

Dayton is Standing Up

At 8 months and 1 week old (yesterday), Dayton began repeatedly pulling himself up to a standing position. He will also hold onto my fingers and take steps. These new exciting capabilities come with liabilities as more than once I find him with lumps on his face from falling...but always smiling.

Here are two new vidoes to make you smile.

Dayton is Waving Hello!

Mike noticed last week that Dayton was waving. He mentioned it in passing but I really did not give it much thought, at the time. Last weekend, we noticed Dayton was waving at my parents when we webcamed with them...but once again, we all chopped it up to coincidence and did not give it much thought. Earlier this week, when I picked Dayton up at daycare, he obviously held up his hand and waved to the daycare worker. Apparently, saying 'goodbye' to her. There is no denying it now. The kid is officially waving hello/goodbye. I caught it on video last night.