Christmas Day Laughter....and Napping

My First Hanukkah Party

Last night, our neighbor, Dawn, invited us to her Hanukkah party. We lit the menorah and sang and danced. Those Israelis really know how to have a good time. Dawn made delicious salmon. I didn't have much because it was already close to my bedtime. I rallied until 8:15 and then we went home and I was asleep in a minute.

Happy Hanukkah!

My New Train Set....

My train set from Mema and Pepa arrived today and Mommy furiously put it together so I could play with it. We didn't have much time because we had another party to go to!! (my party outfit is courtesy of Mary, my neighbor - thank you!)

Here I am trying to call Mema and Pepa...

Happy Birthday LeeAnn

This afternoon, we walked to LeeAnn's friend's house for a birthday party for LEEANN! LeeAnn used to live here in Los Angeles, but she turned 4-0 and came back to visit her Los Angeles friends to celebrate. We walked over and spent a few hours there. It was really great to meet LeeAnn and to celebrate with her!

Oh, and play with Cherry's puppy!

Pictures from my new home...

Here I am taking a bath in Mommy and Daddy's new bathtub. I am the first one!

Mommy and Daddy borrowed our neighbor's learning tower while they are away and I love it! We are going to hopefully borrow one from another friend who isn't using it or if not, get one! I can bake cakes and make breakfast for Mommy and Daddy with my new pots and pans.

Pictures from Daddy's Camera

Our family at Thanksgiving...

Sometimes there are BIG feet going across the sand at the beach...

Hanging out with one of my several boyfriends

New Words -- Over 50 now!

Over the last few weeks, I have added these words to my repertoire:

Dance
Nyla
Bay (Bagel)
Open
Horse (pronounced "orse")
Purse (love Mommy's purse)
Ears
Grace
Outside
Bread

And, this week, both Mommy and Nanny G noticed that when I listen to my Gabrielle CD (Grandma and Grandpa got it for me in May), I say "Duck" and "Apple" before the CD says it. The words go something like "I walk and I waddle and I say Quack, Quack....can you guess what I am?" And, before they say "That's right, Gabrielle, I am a duck", I say "DUCK!" And, the same with a story about an apple. Mommy was amazed.....I am actually paying attention :) and not just passively listening.

We moved in!! and Happy Hanukkah

But, unfortunately, I have no pictures to show you our new home....Our camera seems to be missing, so I also don't have any pictures from my last week. I really love our new home. So much more room and my bedroom is great. I helped Mommy and Daddy with the move by keeping myself occupied....taking bath products in and out of the cabinet, a little Elmo and reading books. Daddy made my crib into a toddler bed which is a perfect reading spot. More news over the long weekend and hopefully, we will have pictures by then :)

Last night was the first night of Hanukkah. I still don't really know what this holiday is, but I have a very cool menorah (from Grandma and Grandpa) that we "lit" last night. We didn't actually light it because the flame is wooden and already there. When we were shopping for a shower curtain at Target, Mommy bought me a tricycle. It is awesome. I wouldn't get off it in the store, but we haven't taken mine out of the box yet. Mary brought me over a beautiful new outfit for Hanukkah....I can't wait to wear it and show you all. Last week, I received some great new books from Aunt Donna and Uncle Tommy in the mail. Mommy says that I have a few more gifts coming in the mail. She is hoping they arrive soon so that I will be occupied for some additional unpacking over the next week or so.

The Venice Paparazzi took my picture with Daddy...

http://venicepaparazzi.smugmug.com/gallery/6753157_eXBqu#431718999_JeoJB

Part of my week in pictures

Monday night while Mommy was at a business dinner...Daddy took me over to Zoe's

Tuesday morning trying to put my purse in the mailbox...

Wednesday night, a visit from Vicki!

Thursday playing with Nyla....who needs a doll stroller? I can push Nyla.

And, Nyla pushing me

And, this morning, sunset at the beach...

And, then today, we went to the park with Zoe in the morning and we went bed shopping which was SO much fun ... they had toys for me and I loved lying and jumping on a bunch of beds. We also had Himalayan cuisine at Tara's on Venice Blvd....yummy and fun!

Mommy and Daddy are sick...

But, there are new pictures on the Nanny Times, so go check them out.

Saturday night with friends...

Tonight, we went for a wonderful celebration for the lighting of the Sherman Canal bridge on the Venice Canals. A woman who owns the home adjacent to the bridge opened her home for everyone to come and have some holiday cheer and dessert. There was also a great band playing beautiful music. Aunt Julie and Uncle Steven joined us (see their picture above!). We then listened to the Executive Director of an affordable housing organization speak and here I am clapping many times during his speech (Mommy thought it was funny because it was as though I knew that he was doing so many good things for people).

Here's the bridge just after it was lit...

And, me walking over the bridge.

After the party, Julie and Steven took us all out to dinner at a wonderful Indian restaurant to celebrate Mommy's birthday. I was asleep by the time we got there (6:30! -- I was up until 9 last night), but everyone else enjoyed their meal and had a great time.

Holiday Bazaar at New School West

Today was the New School West holiday bazaar (Mommy and Daddy really like the school and hope I can go there in 2010). I had fun playing in the dirt. Not sure if you can see my "dirt" eyeshadow on my left eye in the below photo.

First Fridays on Abbott Kinney

On Friday night, we walked over to Abbott Kinney for the First Friday festivities. On my way, I was admiring a black balloon and someone cut it off and gave it to me...

At Tales and Toys, a toy store on Abbott Kinney, they had a story teller who also sang some music. Here I am holding one of the store's babies and listening to the story... I met another little girl, Quinn and her Mommy. Quinn was born on August 30th!

I LOVED strolling the baby in the stroller. A stroller is now on my wish list. I almost wouldn't leave the store without it!

And, here are Lisa, Zoe and Michael, our neighbors, who joined us for the festivities! We went to Three Square Bakery for dinner and I had so much fun playing with Zoe.

Happy Birthday to Mommy (2 days late)

My Twin was in Target

Hangin' with My Pepa (from earlier this week)

Shopping at Target...

Watching Elmo...

Eating Pasta Fagioli with a BIG spoon

I refused the teaspoon or the baby spoon, only wanting to eat my soup with the SOUP spoon. Isn't that what I am supposed to do?

In the end, I couldn't really get much of the soup in my mouth with the soup spoon. My hands were a great fall back.

And, then, well, playing with my food is always fun.

Some Thanksgiving Videos

First, a video from the Fountains in Orlando. Every time the fountains came on, I went running to Mama saying "Mama, Mama".

Then, I was showing how much I like blueberries, not willing to share even ONE with Grandpa

Swimming with Mama!

Videos from Playing with Nyla

Here are some recent videos of me playing with Nyla. The first two show that I know how to call Nyla by her name:

Then, we show our teamwork in emptying the medicine cabinet, pushing the stroller and stacking the circles:

I like shoe shopping

Today, we went shoe shopping and I noticed a really cute girl in the mirror when I was trying on my shoes. Soon, my name will be Imelda (Mommy tells me).

FORTY-ONE!

No, Mama isn't 41 today (she is a little older than that), BUT, I have now said FORTY-ONE words. In the last week or so, I have added the following 14 words to my repertoire....


Brush
No
Hat
Anana (Banana)
Bird
Meow Meow (Cat)
Moo (Cow)
Boo (Peek-a-boo, with hands over my mouth)
Bert (from Sesame Street)
Night night
Eyes
Big Bird
Fish
Head

Beach ... again!

Riding The Carousel

On Saturday, we went to ride the carousel!! We also went sliding...

And played the chimes...

But, as much fun as I had on the carousel, when we went to Barnes and Noble on Saturday night, I had just as much fun riding up and down the escalators! If you haven't tried it, you should....and they are free!