(Almost) walking into the holidays...

All sorts of new stuff is on the horizon. I've just turned 9 months, and yet I'm thiiiiiis close to walking. Not bad, huh?

Watch this...


Coming through, suckas.

Furthermore, I've already conquered stairs (although it helped that a camera was at the top of them)--
I think I can...

I think I can...

I think I can...

Of course I did...


I've also mastered the piano:

I take requests. I think that's either the Beatles or Bohemian Rhapsody up there.

It's been hard to find time to practice all of these new skills, what with the incessant parade of holidays I've been subjected to. First came Halloween:

Dad says he's going as a young Albus Dumbledore. As you can see in the picture, I'm still trying to figure that one out.

Next was the holiday where PaKi and Grandma Mitzi visit:

PaKi and I had a staredown until he admitted that I had more hair than him.

Then we showed then around town. Daddy is in this picture-- I've put a red circle around him.

He's in one of those windows, I'm pretty sure... you just need to squint.

Next came Thanksgiving, wherein I did some girl bonding with the other female of my generation.



We need to stick together against all of these half-Jewish/half-Catholic men.

The non-Jewish side has won out here, clearly:


Here I am apparently filming a commercial of some sort with Grandma Lisa and Grandpa Paul:

In case you were wondering, the seat I'm in is the one that got recalled by the manufacturer because babies were wiggling out of it and falling off tables. Let's just say the recall is somewhat justified. Those things suck eggs.

Now that my first Christmas is just around the corner, it's finally getting cold up here in PA.

As a result, mommy and I got sick:


But on the bright side, global warming has been solved! Whoo hoo!

Thank god the world is safe for my generation.

Goin' mobile

I know, I know. You're feeling ignored out there. But think back to when you were figuring out that you didn't have to just stay in the same place. I bet you were pretty busy, huh?

It all started one day when I was lying around looking cute:

I said, hey, enough of this lying around. First things first, I revved up a bit by flapping my arms.

Then I got up on the knees. There was no turning back now:

Mommy tried to give me a hand. I told her to step off.


I got stuck on my knees for a while.


Eventually, I figured out the push-up position.


After that, it was only a matter of time before I was crawling. Now, I can even stand up:

Eli, please... show some decency. Any chance I can get out of here, daddy?

With great mobility comes great responsibility. I can now pretty much bathe myself in my sweet new bath:


Almost as exciting as the moving is the chewing. I grew a brand new pair of chompers the other week:


Which meant I could take in something other than the white stuff. I've made the most of this new opportunity:


And just how did I get so messy? Let's just say I haven't quite figured out the spoon thing yet:

Does it go in like this?

Or like this?

Liquified fruits, veggies and meats are all well and good... OK, they're mostly nasty. But there's nothing quite like a good slime biscuit:


Apples are tasty as well:

Mmmghf. Ahm uff nght.

I've also found the time to learn a few words. It's sort of a trial and error thing. You just sit around making random sounds, and as soon as you make one that makes your folks go crazy with glee, you just repeat that sound all day. That's how I arrived at mamamamamamama and dadadadadadadada. Not sure what they mean, but I'm obviously getting my point across.

With all of this activity, I sometime forget that it's OK to just sit around looking adorable:

It's the hat, right?


I did this for an entire day, and my face didn't even get stuck.

Sadly, the latest news is not so good. I came down with a bad case of the ol' "barfing more than usuals" the other day, along with a nose stuffed full of boogers. The whole ordeal was quite traumatic, which naturally led me to need mommy at 2 hour intervals during the night. Luckily, I've been able to pass that sucker along to mommy. So I'm starting to feel much better, thanks for asking. Although I've apparently been downgraded from "easiest baby in the world" to "normal." Alas.

milestones

A lot of firsts have been happening in the last few weeks. Here are just a few...

First upside-down Monty kiss (at least as hot as the one between Tobey McGuire and Kirsten Dunst in Spider Man, eh?)...


First hair grab (Daddy says I may not be able to do this for long)...


First switched-head mix-up with my big brother...


First reading session with my big bro (although frankly, what's the point of patting a fake cat in a book when I have the real thing?)...


And, crucially, my first baseball game. The boys in the family gave me some pointers, since I'm definitely an unseasoned rookie:

"The guy throws the ball and the other guy tries to hit it." Thanks for the primer, doofus. I need to know the nuances here. Explain the infield fly rule, or at least the proper position the third baseman needs to be in when he anticipates a suicide squeeze play.

It was a hot day at the ol' ballpark, but I had ways of keeping cool:

Yes indeed, this is good on the gums. And what do you say this treat is called?

Not sure what happens after the first twenty minutes of a baseball game:


By next week, I may be able to report my first knee scuff marks, as forward motion is imminent. Look out, parts-of-the-world-that-are-less-than-a-foot-high!

I've also been doing some serious growing, notwithstanding the serious puking I've been doing on Mommy & Daddy (see here and here for the general idea). My legs are now long enough that I can deliver a swift kick in just the right place if Daddy goes too fast when we're walking Monty:

Seriously, I can really nail him. This picture is not staged.

Today was Daddy's last day as my full-time paternal figure before he is taken away from us by the demands of big firm life. We celebrated by taking a boat ride on the river with Char the Great. She's pretty goofy:


Talk to y'all when I start to crawl!

THIS is my family???

As my brother noted in his usual inelegant style, a whole buncha family came to Philly last weekend. I'm not sure what the occasion was, but I'm pretty sure it primarily involved admiring me:

Yes, yes, thank you thank you. It was nothing. C'etait rien.

There was also some sort of auxiliary party where Char the Great got pretty wacky...

Whoooo!!! Octogenarians gone wild!!!! Whooooo!!!!

Of course, it's all fun and games until someone's hairdo gets messed up by silly string:


At least I had two grandmothers to console me:


Dad seemed to enjoy showing me off, which was OK up to a point:

Yes, I do like the cuddling...


Whoa! Serious hors d'oeuvres breath! Back off, bub!

a change of scenery

As per my instructions, mommy and daddy painted my penthouse suite this week. This was their first try, which I really liked but mommy hated with a fiery passion:

It's just like going back to the womb!

This is what they went with, which is pretty fetching too:

Check out the king-sized, deluxe waterbed that I'm going to be moving into soon. Whoo!

My big brother is sort of a wuss...

http://elikaplowitz.blogspot.com/2007/08/its-been-bit-of-traumatic-day.html

I mean, come on. I barely felt a thing!

What a summer!!!

Man, I have a ton of stuff to catch people up on. Plus, I have to do it better than my stinkin' big brother, who somehow beat me to press. First things first, the trip out to Minnesota. Basically, Mom, Eli and I bailed out of Philly in order to give Daddy some "alone time." It was nice to have some girl bonding with Sydney, the only other female in my generation on mom's side (so far):

Mostly, we just accessorized. And complained about boys.

When I wasn't flexing my girl power, I did some serious tanning with the Grandma:

No healthy glow yet. Damn you, SPF 95!!!

At least I didn't have to worry about tan lines:

Watch your back, J-Lo. Literally. Watch it.

It was also a good time to engage in some serious negotiations with Grandpa Don about buying his shoe store:

As you can tell by his expression, I drive a hard bargain. Another beer, Grandpa D?

Then it was up to the Twin Cities for some PaKi time:

I think I just passed him in the hair follicle department...

And then the inevitable Evelyn vs. Evelyn showdown:

That's right, I'm your namesake. What are you going to do about it, huh?

I missed Daddy desperately, but as soon as we got back to Philly, BOTH Mommy AND Daddy bailed on us and jetted off to Hawaii. Without even asking whether I might like to come! Luckily, I got to bond with Grandma Lisa and Grandpa Paul, who apparently had a bit of a throwback week... a throwback to 1983, that is. I tried to make life easy for them by sitting around looking cute and gnawing on various body parts until my parents returned.

Mommy and Daddy weren't back long before they schlepped all of us again, this time to the Jersey Shore to visit Uncle Wren. both parents wasted no time introducing me to the ocean:


Both experiences can only be described the following way: wet. I also figured out how much seawater a standard diaper can absorb. The answer: a whole lot.

Better to just sit by the side of the pool gnawing on one of my blankies:

My oh my. Ah must trah to stay out of the sun...

While we were there, Uncle Wren got a little taste of parenthood:

I'm a damn cute accessory, if I do say so.

Enough of my travels. The big news is that I've expanded my gustational horizons beyond the bottle. Each step has been a revelation:

First, mush. As you can see, a little disappointing.


Popsicles... getting warmer...


Oh sweet baby Jesus...


I'm sorry... you waited HOW LONG to give me this stuff???


Any left in here?


Ummmm.... ummmmm...

As much fun as it is to take food in, sometimes it can be just as enjoyable giving it up again. Notice my completely nonplused expressions in the following pictures:

Maybe I'll finally get that part in the straight-to-DVD release Baby Phantom of the Opera.


What? Is there a problem here?

In case you doubt my adorableness, I leave you with the following pictures:



(I fully realize this picture could start a new trend in exercise headbands)

I'm not sure how I got the right genes, but they certainly didn't come from my daddy's side. He recently came across the following picture of himself with Char the Great. Let's just be charitable and say daddy looks like he has a great personality:


Peace out,
Ev