4 month old tricks!

Even though he's already 5 months old! I thought I'd post some of Gabe's recent 4 month old tricks...

his first swing!

happy tummy time :)

loving his new Bumbo chair

rice cereal... yum!

this kid is growing up too fast... sigh.

Coney Island!

A trip to Coney Island has been one of those things that we've wanted to do since we moved here almost 8 years ago... and we finally got around to it last Saturday! I think it's kind of funny that we've become more adventurous now that we have 2 kids -- Noah is much easier to tote around these days (especially since naps are a thing of the past), and Gabe is such a chill little guy that he could care less! So, we headed out early last Saturday morning and took the D train straight down to Brooklyn. It was a great day and we couldn't have had better weather. Noah headed for the beach immediately and just wanted to play in the sand (the very dirty sand) and splash around in the water. I was definitely expecting the beach to be dirty and crowded, but it was totally tolerable and the fact that we only paid $9 to get there and back was pretty awesome. Gabe and I sat on the beach while Noah and Jon splashed around in the water. Then Noah took a ride on the "Wonder Wheel" and 2 other kiddie rides that he chose and we got pizza, chocolate ice cream and called it a day!

the subway ride was kinda nice -- fun to look out the windows once we got to Brooklyn

(Gabe slept the whole way there -- good little baby!)

"Coney Island rules!"

hitting the beach!

gotta love beach playgrounds!

(he could've stayed here all day)

Gabe doing what he does best -- chillin'

riding the fire truck ride... by himself.

he found a topless ferry to ride the boats with him

daddy to the rescue with chocolate ice cream cones!

family pic

headed home...

Noah conked out -- too much excitement for one day.

brotherly love...

When I found out I was having another boy, I really was excited about the 2 of them becoming really close and being best friends. The transition to becoming a big brother has been kind of rough on Noah, but I think things are finally starting to get better. I know that deep down he really loves his baby brother, but sometimes the attention that gets taken away from him is too much to handle! We have had a few really nice moments with these little guys and I can see how much Gabriel is watching Noah. In fact this week, Noah has been away in the mornings to preschool camp and I can tell that Gabriel is looking around for him and wondering where he is. It's funny because he's actually a lot fussier when Noah's not around (actually, it's not funny at all -- it's kind of driving me crazy, because I was supposed to be getting a break!).

In any case, it's been so fun to see playful sibling interaction and how it has changed the dynamics of our family. I can't wait until Gabriel starts laughing at his silly big brother and they can really start to play together. Noah loves to call Gabriel "baby Mister Gabey" and run up to him and say "Hi! Mister, Mister Gabriel!" He also loves to sing "Twinkle, Twinkle" to him and sometimes asks him the funniest questions. The other day Gabriel was cooing and he turned to him and said, "Gabey -- are you speaking English?"

here are some recent pics of the boys together:

3 months!

I seriously can't believe how fast this little guys is growing! Gabriel is now 3 months old and is getting so big! I dressed him up in Noah's old "3 month" t-shirt to compare the 2 boys and it's crazy how much bigger he is than Noah was. I see little glimpses of Noah in him all the time, but from these pics you can see that they definitley have their own little looks to them. It's so fun to compare, though.

Gabriel

Noah

Gabriel update... he's doing great. He's such a smiley little guy with a great temperment. He loves his big brother even though he beats up on him all the time... he just smiles. He gets toted around everywhere we go and has yet to complain too much. We're usually out and about every morning with Noah and he always takes a great nap while we're out. And if I'm lucky I can get both boys to nap at the same time in the afternoon -- which means that mommy usually gets a nap too! He's even sleeping great at night... only waking up once to eat and going to bed right after Noah, which is a nice break for mom and dad in the evening. He's completely outgrown all of his 0-3 month clothes, which is so sad because all of Noah's old 3-6 month clothes are for Fall. I thought we would be set with clothes because they were born in the same season, but Gabriel is just so much bigger than Noah was at this age that it's not working out. Oh well... guess I'll just have to go shopping for more baby clothes -- darn! :) I can tell that Gabriel (or "baby Gaby" as Noah refers to him) is going to be the peacemaker -- his smiles always bring such a great feeling into our home and he's a great little cuddler!

Here are some recent pics:

Noah graduates!

We had another great school year (shul year) at the YM & YWHA this year! Noah was attending a preschool prep program 2 mornings a week there since September. He had 2 fabulous teachers and a great group of friends. He loved going there and has really learned a lot of great new things that his extremely creative teachers taught him. Every once in awhile I'm surprised to hear that he knows about something that I never taught him. (i.e. how to recycle, appropriate sports terminology like -- "heads up" and "I'm open", and lots of other random things!). They also did a great job of introducing lots of healthy foods and snacks. I had no idea he even knew what watermelon was (or would even like it for that matter) until we were at the store and he pointed it out. So, I bought some and he devoured 3 pieces in one sitting. His teachers were always very supportive especially through his "big brother" transition -- which his friends at school took the brunt of, apparently! -- and they never seemed to judge or criticize. I'm so glad that his first "teacher - student" relationship was successful and can only hope for more years of great experiences like this! We all received a CD with tons of great pictures from the year at graduation. It was such a nice gesture!

Here are some Noah highlights:

I also shot some footage of graduation day... very exciting! He loved getting his diploma and asks me to read it to him all the time. I'm still not sure why Noah chose not to sing his FAVORITE song ever with the class or why he had a hard time with his turn on the drum, but it was still fun to watch. Our little graduate!

Noah turns 3!

Noah's birthday was a lot of fun this year. It landed on a Saturday so it was a perfect day for a party! We decided to invite some of his buddies to the playground for some playtime and cupcakes and it turned out to be a great time. The forecast said it was just supposed to be cloudy that morning so we thought it would be fine to have the party outside still, but of course the minute we were ready to walk out the door, there was a major downpour of rain. Luckily it only lasted about 10 minutes and didn't rain for the rest of the morning, but I was sweating it for a second there (space is limited in our tiny NYC apartments, hence the "playground party", and I had no idea what I'd do with 10 toddlers in my apartment all morning!). The rain actually worked to our advantage because it kept all the neighborhood kids away and we had the whole playground to ourselves.

Here are a few pics from the festivities:

waiting for guests to arrive

taking Graham's scooter for a test spin

nothing like wet sand! perfect for sand castles, right?

looking very serious before blowing out his candle...

(he specifically requested chocolate cupcakes with sprinkles... easy enough!)

birthday balloons!

cupcake face

it's almost like we rented the place out!

gathering loot!

The kids went on a little scavenger hunt through the playground to find Noah's "missing cupcakes!" for the party activity. They were so cute. They did a great job figuring out the clues and following directions. They were all really into it and it was really fun to watch (cupcakes = motivation for 3-year-olds).

Here's a little clip from the end of "The Great Cupcake Hunt":

playground fun

Noah and his BFF, "Eddie K." have been hitting the playground pretty hard these past few weeks. They play really well together, so it's nice to get them together. Recently, they've been coming up with different words or phrases that they think are funny and they'll just repeat them over and over again. It all started when we were on the bus coming back from preschool... Eddie turned to Noah and said, "Chicken pox!" Noah thought that sounded hilarious so he repeated it and they've been saying that back and forth to each other for over a month now every time they see each other! They've recently added "peanut butter", "what the heck is this?", and "activated!" We haven't been able to figure out why certain words catch on and are funny but they are hilarious when they get going.

Here's some video footage that Eddie's dad caught on a typical playground day:

"Chicken Pox"

"Monkeys"