Singing in the morning

Our daughter is now 22 months old, and loves to babble and sing. Her vocabulary grows on a daily basis, and she comes home with snippets of songs picked up from daycare:

Blast-Off in the Pool!

Board Games

Gabe and I went to a board game café on Sunday while his sister napped. Admission was $5 for me, half price for Gabe. Over drinks (coffee for Daddy, milkshake for Gabe) and the span of two hours, we played four different board games from a selection of hundreds:

Gabe chose the games based on what he could see on the sides of the boxes. Naturally, our first game was Batman Returns 3-D, one that neither of us had played before. The 3-D aspect of it was a novelty for us, but the gameplay involved no strategy, just dice rolling:

We then moved on to Hungry Hungry Hippos:

We tried Jolly Octopus for a bit, but we both thought it was pretty dumb (and creepy too).

Our final game was one that the resident game guru suggested to us, Loopin' Louie:

We had a blast at Snakes & Lattes, and hope to visit it many more times in the future!

A Conversation about Personal Safety with Gabriel

Gabriel and I were talking about safety, and the things he is allowed to do by himself. We discussed taking the subway, walking to school, going outside, etc. The other morning, we saw a raccoon lumbering around on our back porch. All of these things were rattling around inside his head when we had this conversation:

Daddy: So, that's why you can't go places by yourself. Like, what if you saw a raccoon outside?

Gabriel: I wouldn't be scared.

Daddy: What if it bit you? Would you know what to do?

Gabriel: Call 911 with my other hand.

Gabrielisms for August

At a relative's house, with a dog under the kitchen table:

He's eating the corn bone!

At the farmer's market:

This is like a grocery store that's outdoors!

Slow motion pool fun

We spent some time at Uncle Paul's pool during the hot day yesterday. Gabe wanted to be launched in the water, and I caught these great slow-motion videos:

Gemma, Gabey, Daddy Days: Week 1 (May 3-9)

As Dr. S goes back to work after her maternity leave for Gemma, and we plan Gabe's summer, we've decided to change things up a bit. Instead of leaving Gabe in daycare, we're going to have him hang out with me for a few months, then go to a day camp, and then hire a nanny for the rest of the summer. I'm taking two months off work (unpaid) to spend time with the kids.

I don't really have any concrete plans for what I'm going to do with Gemma and Gabe. We'd like to go visit my parents every week, do things outdoors, and also work around Gemma's mid-day nap.

Here are the highlights from the first week:

Swinging at the park

Science Experiment: Bubbles

Marble Run

Climbing Stairs