Our Little Pumpkin

This morning we headed up to Wilkens Farms to go apple picking with the Fishbacks. The weather was beautiful and we had a great time, despite the fact that there were no apples on the trees.

After enjoying some some hot apple cider donuts, Miller and Grace inspected a few pumpkins while Birche snapped some amazing pictures. BTW, can you spy Grace in the pic above? Ha - isn't that hat funny? This afternoon Gracie, Daddy and Miraj watched the Bills before I took Grace to the park to swing, listen to music and play. Tonight our new neighbors - Bara and Alex - came over and brought dinner.

Hanging with Daddy

Today Grace went to brunch with her friends Penelope and Hudson and had a great time. Then she spent the afternoon with Daddy. Gracie loves Daddy! He's so funny, and he's a good listener. She enjoys talking to him and is making lots of new sounds - tuh, kuh, puh, buh and more. A couple new things to report: i) Grace has a top tooth/fang on the right side and ii) she now crawls over to her high chair when she wants to eat. Week 46 Album.

West Side Date Night

This afternoon Grace and I took the bus to the west side to meet up with Miller & Alexa and Sam, Henry and Abby. The kids doubled up on the swings, and Grace loved it. I think she particularly enjoyed snuggling up to Mills; the babies were trying to reach around to hold hands and touch each other. So cute.

Afterwards, Grace went back to Sam & Henry's to play and eat dinner with them. They enjoyed a romantic meal over a gorgeous sunset (I'm not kidding! It was beautiful.) Then she took the bus home and went to bed.

Chatty Gracie

Grace didn't want to sleep this morning so we played dress up with her winter coat (it's huge), ate an early lunch and went to Gymboree to play. Fortunately that exhausted her enough for a nice afternoon nap! When she woke up, we played and then went to Music with Brett. Today Elmo visited class, and the kids showered him with hugs and kisses. Tonight Grace totally amazed and cracked me up. She imitates what we do with the phone now - from pushing buttons, understand the timing of "hello", switching ears and more. You'll see what I mean in these videos. She is also interested in imitating sounds and loves to read her alphabooks. Tonight she tried to say cat, K and T. You'll see...

Roof Roof

Grace and I went to Gymboree this afternoon and then headed to the Met. We finally made it up to the Roof Garden, and the view and Koons exhibit were totally worth it.

Gracie enjoyed the three scuptures, especially Balloon Dog, which is more then ten feet of bright, shiny surface in the shape of a balloon dog. Pretty cool.

The view of the Park was so tempting, we took a quick swing and stroll there before heading home. Tonight Noah and Andrew came over for a dinner play date. Grace really enjoyed snuggling with the boys.

Tuesday with Gracie

Today Grace went to Free to Be Under 3. Afterwards, we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to visit some paintings and to check out the Jeff Koons exhibit on the roofdeck, which closes this Sunday. Unfortunately the exhibit was temporarily closed, but we still had a good time checking out some Picasso, Renoir and more. Then we went to the doctor so Grace could get a flu shot. On our way back home, we stopped to visit Aunt Enid and Cousin Greer. Gracie had fun playing with Greer, Maggie and Greer's baby dolls.

Baby Pole Dance

Grace went Diller-Quaile in the morning and had a lot of fun. After her nap, she went to the park and the bookstore with Carolina. Then Aunt Katie stopped by, which was a lot of fun. In the late afternoon, we had Monday playgroup here with Ethan, Caroline, Andrew and Olivia. Grace entertained the crowd with a little [lamp] pole dance and some kisses before sneaking away to make a dirty diaper. For the past few weeks, she has been crawling off to find private places to go to the bathroom, which I hear is a good sign for future potty training. We'll see!

After dinner, she and I took a quick evening stroll and visited the pet store before calling it a day. In other news, she is continuing to say the word off [as in light off, not clothes off] a lot. She is also picking up the phone and putting it up to her head. Last but not least, her love for Elmo continues to grow more with each day!

Fun Sunday

Today we met Todd & Erica for brunch and then went to Central Park for Ezra's 1st Bday. In the afternoon we hung out with the Gleser crew (Gracie was especially thrilled to see Aunt Katie!) and then went to dinner at Al Forno. With the exception of breakfast, Gracie dined out for all her meals this weekend. She's so much more patient now and can last about 40 minutes in a chair with the appropriate amount of finger food and distraction.

Social Saturday

Today Gracie put on her cute, new outfit from Mom-mom. She and I took the subway to Gramercy to meet Aunt Dina, Uncle Zachary and Uncle Teddy for lunch. Here are some pictures of her checking out the wine list, hanging with her Aunt and Uncles and sizing up the pumpkin outside Barbounia. Afterwards, Gracie went to meet Sunny & Matcha, Aunt Dina & Uncle Teddy's kitties. She loved them and chased them around, but they were fraidy cats. Afterwards, we came back uptown and Grace took a nice nap. In the afternoon, we headed back downtown to Union Square to Dave & Conchetta's for a Pumpkin Party. We took the bus back uptown, and Grace enjoyed the ride and "The Wheels On the Bus" - you can see she's doing the round and round motions now. It's really funny. Also posted is some video at bathtime. Week 45 Album.

1, 2, 3!

Grace loves numbers. How do we know? She loves number books, number toys and all kinds of counting. She especially loves when we finger count. In fact, she's seen us do it so many times that she puts up one finger when we say one and slowly opens up her hand as we count higher. These days Grace loves to imitate everything - eating, peekabooing, holding up the cell phone to her ear and more. But I guess the real question is: is she copying us or just trying to be an independent woman? Watch this video and decide for yourself. This afternoon we went to Rockin with Andy. Here she is with her buddy Max; aren't they cute in their his and hers Patagonia fleeces?

Sun, Lunch & Fun

Grace and I enjoyed lunch outside with Max and Chrissie at Vynl, and then the kids played together afterwards. Grace was very interested in following Max around his apartment and even said a few new words: "off" as in light off and "ma" as in Max. This afternoon we rocked with Brett. For dinner Gracie enjoyed Jennifer Mahl's Turkey Meatballs. Yum, yum.

What a Wednesday

Grace enjoyed lunch al fresco in the park and then went to Gymboree for class. In the late afternoon she and I went to the park to swing, slide and play. Grace is having a blast exploring, standing and moving; she's getting stronger and stonger.

Learning To Stand

Grace donned her new outfit from Mom-mom today. She didn't take her morning nap, and so we went out and enjoyed the weather, ran errands, stopped by the toy store, came home for lunch and then went to Free to Be Under 3. This afternoon she took an awesome nap and went to Central Park. Above right is a shot of Grace contemplating her sexy look. Gracie's friend Ez came to meet us and play, and the babies had fun and even smooched goodbye.

Grace is continuing to express herself more every day - she's crawling to her high chair when she wants to eat, pointing at the food she'd like, asking to come out of her crib and more. She really understands a lot now, too - as you'll see in the videos. She's also cruising a bit. Grace likes to use my pants, her stroller and her toys to pull herself up. As soon as she has good footing, she lets go, stands on her own for a few seconds, grabs back on and looks to me for applause.

Celebrity Playdate

Gracie didn't take one nap today! She was awake from 7am-7:30pm, despite multiple attempts to put her to sleep. In the afternoon, we went to the park and ran into Chrissie & Max, Charlie and Jamie & Sydney. Salma Hayek and her daughter, Valentina, strolled in while we were there, too! Valentina was adorable and came over to try to kiss Max, point at Grace and say "Nena" and wait her turn to swing. Salma was friendly and asked about our strollers. She was pretty funny and told us that she has two bugaboos and doesn't know how to put them together. Just another mom on the playground. (No, I didn't take any pics. That would have been tacky.) Tonight Gracie and I hung out with Rachelle, who kindly treated us to JG Melon and let Grace play with her necklace.