Word of the day

This was our conversation with Stanley tonight while putting him to sleep.

Steve: Happy
Stanley: Haaa ppy, happy, happy, happy.
Pause
Julia: Happy
Stanley: Happy, happy, happy

I guess Stanley was happy.

First Words

Stanley really knows what he wants lately, but just today and yesterday he has started to try to speak 'words'. We officially think his first word is 'apple'. He loves to chew on long slices of apple and when Steve offered him an apple slice tonight he took it and said "aapl". Close.

And, just this morning, Halima told us that he says "CooCoo" which is the way the Russian birds sing. In addition, Halima is very curious where he picked up the Russian word for 'love'. She thinks Stanley must have heard her saying it to her kids on the phone, but apparently Stanley now says любить. I definitely wouldn't have picked this out of just babble, but our little boys appears to be bilingual: one word in English, two words in Russian.

Getting into the Christmas spirit

We adventures to union square this past weekend to see the tree. Stanley was running around like crazy enjoying the sights and sounds. It was hard to hold him for a picture because he was endlessly trying to pry himself out of my arms to run around some more.

Union square

We went to union square this last weekend to do some shopping and see the Christmas decorations. We had a great time in the beautiful weather. Stanley got to see the giant tree and run around in the square some. It was nice to enjoy the sun before the rain comes later this week.

You might be able to see in the pictures that we were barely able to keep Stanley contained. He really has a lot of energy lately!

More Dancing

When we were in Denver for Thanksgiving Stanley got to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade with Lele.  Lele was very glad that she had another enthusiastic viewer for the parade, since most of the family usually is only interested for the football games to come on.  Stanley even got into the act a little bit, dancing to some of the acts as they performed in the parade.  Have a look.

Slides

Stanley used to be terrified of slides at the parks near our house.  The other kids would run laps around the slides, going up and down, giggling all the while.  Stanley would have none of it.  We put him at the top a few times, hoping he would figure it out, but no dice. 

About a month or two ago, we showed him how to go down the slide on his belly, feet first, and he decided it was really fun.  Now he loves the slides and makes a beeline to them whenever we get to a playground.  Yesterday at the playground near Lele and grandpa Tom's house he was having a great time going down the small "little-kid" slides, and then started eyeing the longer, twisting "big-kid" slides.  We helped him get up to the top and then, after deciding if he REALLY wanted to go down this big slide, he went down.  He LOVED it and went right back up for more, and more, and more.  He was pretty angry when we had to leave, but we'll go back soon. 

Piles

Stanley is taking after his mother again. He started taking all the videos and DVDs off the shelves and putting them into separate piles. Two on the couch and two on the floor. Reminds me of the kitchen counter sometimes.

Like mother like son

I had the difficult duty of waking both Julia and Stanley from their naps this evening. They both fell asleep around 4:30pm just as it was getting dark out. I thought this might be a problem, but they both seemed tired so I let it slide.

My suspicions were confirmed when I woke them up at 6:30pm. Julia had no idea it was still nighttime and I'm pretty sure Stanley was thinking the same thing. They were a cranky mess for a while until they both woke up all the way. No more naps that end when it is dark outside.

Potty

There is no picture of this because I don't want to horrify my son in 10 years, but this morning Stanley went pee in his little potty. We were all very happy about it. Steve and I were happy because he used the toilet correctly. Stanley seemed happy because Steve and I we're dancing around afterwords.

Friends

Peter and Stanley keep Halima busy

Dancing

Over the last month, Stanley learned to dance. He takes after his grandfather Doug and loves dancing. Stanley picks up his feet and turns around a bit. And, if there is no music on the radio, it doesn't matter since he even sings his own music.

I have had a very hard time catching him dancing because he stops as soon as the camera comes out. But, tonight, I finally captured a bit of it by hiding behind the door frame.

 



If he hears music, his dancing feet come out quickly, even if it is just for the music interludes between news on our NPR station.

Working

I'm not feeling well, apparently Stanley wants to help me get my work done. This is what I saw when I came out of my room this morning.

Cambridge

thanks for the photos Betsy

Stanley it's OK you don't like Harvard, just keep in mind Brown
when applying to schools.

Stanley happy at Burdick's

Leaves

Wow Mom look, these things fall off the trees here in New England.

Boston with Mommy

Stanley and I have had a great long weekend in Boston to see friends. It was kind of an impromptu trip and we left Steve to fend for himself after his trip to Florida. Steve is going to be happy to see little Stanley when we get home tomorrow--it has been more than a week!!

I was getting a bit nervous about the trip with Hurricane Sandy and Stanley screaming throughout many of the nights this past week. But, the trip has gone smoothly. We even got a spare seat next to us on the way out! And, the screaming has stopped as Stanley's front top right tooth cruised out today and the left one is just behind.

Here are a few pictures from our adventure with Betsy and Andrew.

Big shoes to fill Stanley

Hmm! Not who we were expecting in the crib

Alphabet soup

Stanley made some alphabet soup with Meera this morning. He also chose wisely to learn spelling from Meera rather than mama.

Stirring alphabet soup

 

Learning to spell