Some Photos

Poor Stella! Zev loves her so much! She's a very patient pooch. (reload the page if pictures aren't centered) ---update 2/6/09 We recently found out that Stella has hip dysplasia, so Zev can no longer sit on her. He's been cooperative and rarely even tries. I think he understands that Stella has "boo boo hips."

Breaking the Language Barrier

Zev is repeating so many words these days. Pretty soon he's going to be a non-stop chatterbox, I can tell already. Here are some of his latest favs:

Bed: When Zev wakes up from his nap he walks around his crib, pats his bedding and says "beh, beh." He loves his crib so much that I have to either say "Want to play with Stella?" or "Go see dada?" before he'll let me pick him up. This is from a baby who wanted nothing to do with his crib for the first year! I'm glad he loves his space so much.

Pop: Referring to bubbles and Grandpa Joe. He recently started calling Grandpa Joe 'pop pop' on his own!

Body parts: Zev can say neck, nose (sounds like oooooooh), ears (eah, eah), eye, hand (something like hah), belly (beh), hair, head (heh), arm (ahrh)

Tickle: This is the best. It started with Zev circling his finger saying "rah, rah" imitating us saying "round and round and tickle, tickle!" Then he puts both hands at the top of his tummy, tickles himself and says "tick, tick, tick!" smiling and giggling. He tickles mommy and daddy too.

Tick tock: When he sees a clock he says "tick, tick, tick" which he learned in the book Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?

Animal noises: he's added monkey, elephant, duck, cat, and improved on the others (cow says "moo" now, not "muhh" anymore. Working on chicken.

Colors: Says "red" (reh) all the time. Think I've been hearing him say blue. He also does the sign for red.

He's saying and repeating so much I can't list it all, but those are a few. Sometimes it sounds like he's saying "I do it" but we're not quite sure. He has his own language that he uses to tell stories and talk on the phone.

For the past few weeks, Zev has been eating his yogurt and blueberries with a spoon on his own. He gets about 2/3rds of it into his mouth. I'll post photos soon.

He brushes his teeth, holding the toothbrush himself as we guide his hand, every night after bath.

He loves to hold hands when we're walking.


We're enjoying this time in Zev's life immensely. I feel ecstatic watching this little wonder before my eyes. He's such a sweet, smart and loving little boy. We're very fortunate. Every night before we go to sleep Jeff and I recount some of the amazing and adorable things Zev's done throughout the day to each other, no matter how tired we are. It's not planned, it just happens naturally. I can't remember the last time one of us didn't have to tell the other about something new or funny Zev did.

I'm really incredibly tired now so forgive me if this post isn't well written! It's 8:41 and I'm off to bed. Goodnight, Happy Chanukah and Merry Christmas!

Harmonica Baby

As you can see, Zev is already on his way to playing harmonica at Carnegie Hall.

Some More Photos

These are from the playground at Brandi Fenton Park following our friend Sarah's birthday party and the Tucson Jewish Food Festival. We had so much fun and learned that Zev LOVES hummus!

13 Months and Loving Life

Today Zev figured out how to bang the balls down a maze with a plastic hammer on the cool toy Shawn and Joss gave him for his 1st birthday.


Here's a slide show of photos taken recently with Grandma Lynette and Omi, also with Daddy and Eva at Zev's friend Isabelle's 3rd birthday party at Pump It Up.

If the slideshow appears too far off center, reload the page and it should correct itself.

New Skills, More Thrills

As the title suggests, Zev has become quite the thrill seeker. His spirited belly flops off of the ottoman and somersaults off the top of the couch have sent me flying to catch him more than once. Perhaps I've encouraged this free-spirited fearlessness by clapping every time he fell a few months ago when he began walking. I clapped to avoid running to him and showing my anxiety at every tumble. Now running and falling down is in vogue, and Zev rarely cries over a spill.
Our little neanderthal is rapidly becoming homo sapian. In recent weeks his vocabulary, understanding, and sense of abstraction has grown immensely. Here is a list of words Zev says often, pronounciation following:
Mama
Dada
Stella (sella)
Please (peeeeaaas) and does the sign for it
Bye-bye
Hot (hah, hah) says when he sees steam while we're cooking or if we blow on his food
More (mo)
Milk (mih, mih)
Water (wahwah)
Cheese (jzzeeeez)
Banana (bah or bahna)
Ball (bawh)
All done (Ah-duhhhn) only said this a few times, haven't heard it in awhile
Down (Dow, dooowwww!!!!) says it when Stella tries to take food off of the table
Out (Owwww!!!! Ah-oowwww!!!) says it when Stella tries to take his food or gets to close to the table while he's eating, unless it's something he's trying to get rid of!

Animal noises:
Lion (rawr)
Bear (Rrrrr)
Dog (uhh, uhh)
Horse (mm-nnnay)
Sheep (bah)
Pig (he snorts)
Cow (Mmmmmuh)

Body parts he easily identifies on himself, mama and dada:
Nose
Eyes
Ears
Hair
Head
Tongue
Mouth
Teeth
Chin
Belly
Hands
Fingers
Toes
Feet
(learning arms & legs)

Favorite Activities:
Climbing, walking, pretending to get water from his play kitchen (and all things play kitchen), playing with his toys (the farm is very popular right now), riding on his 'truck', playing recorder, harmonica & kazoo, flipping through books and being read to, hugging mama, dada, Stella and all stuffed animals, chasing Stella to give her hugs, giving Stella treats, dancing, throwing the ball (more like dropping it), sweeping the grass with his broom, picking flowers from our backyard, climbing onto and sitting in the lawn chair, feeding himself with a spoon or spork (not much gets into the mouth), throwing trash into the garbage can, waving, socializing with other toddlers, sharing his toys with mama, dada and Stella.

More harmonica playing, this time with goggles

Zev is leaning toward harmonica as his favorite instrument. He's experimenting more with breathe and pitch. He's been wearing the goggles a lot lately.