Halloween

Today is Halloween! We've been looking forward to this for quite some time, and it's finally here! Last year, Elias was a little monkey, and we planned to visit our friends at their various apartments in Chicago. It stormed, one of the worst and craziest weather patterns we had experienced - screaming winds and waves crashing over lake shore drive. It wasn't a perfect Halloween, but it was certainly memorable!

This Halloween, we thought we could make it a really great experience - beautiful weather, fun activities, and finally a neighborhood for trick or treating! This year, Elias is going as an astronaut.

In the morning, we went to the Bronx Zoo for "Boo at the Zoo" - Elias wore his costume, we wandered around looking at various animals, and we interacted with dressed up zoo personnel. Elias loved the opportunity to walk around a new place. He saw a red panda, lions playing, giraffes and ostriches, baboons, gazelles, and bears!

Our little astronaut  

Astronaut Elias on the moon

Coming back from his first house trick or treating! 

We went to three houses before Elias was done. Here's his Halloween haul: 

MishiDance at the Park

September 1 - 

Mishi's company mishidance had a performance at a park in Queens, and we went by to see it. It was part of a larger project organized with other companies, including Insight, which Mishi dances for. We got to see some great dancing and listen to wonderful music, and Elias had a great time in a new park.

Legos and Basketball

This morning we brought out the new rotation of toys - including his Legos. He loves pulling them apart and sometimes even putting them back together. But interestingly, he's started playing harmonica on the longer blocks. We're not sure where he got this.  

This afternoon it cooled down just enough to go to the little park near us, where there was plenty of shade. Elias got sidetracked from playing on the slide to watch a basketball game - and the guys playing the game got sidetracked to watch Elias being adorable! 

A little breather

Today we're waiting on the refrigerator repairman so we can't leave the house. Elias was forced to hang out with me and his toys, but he managed.  

Open-mouthed, he plays.  

He has started pulling the pillows off the couches and sitting on them, playing on them.  

He's a runny kid

We took Elias on a long walk by the Bronx River yesterday, with a stop off at the Parkway Oval park. 

Afterward, we gave him a granola bar, with the end result that he looked like the boy from Mathilda who was punished by eating a whole chocolate cake:  

Moroccan Beef

One of Elias's four words (besides his sign language) is "yummy!" He pronounces this "Ummy" and loves to tell us when he's particularly happy with something he's eating. Before tonight, the most exuberant "ummy" we got from him was after a peanut butter sandwich - tonight, we fed him what Clayton says was my best moroccan beef dish so far, and he loved it! He also ate the Israeli couscous (with lemon, garlic, and butter). Here's a little snippet of our happy evening.

Peek a boo

The Nurtury BBQ

We're so excited for Elias to start at the Nurtury and get to know other kids and the wonderful teachers. Today the school had a BBQ party before the start of the year and Elias got to play and meet all sorts of new people - including other kids! 

Some big steps

Elias is always growing and changing - constantly getting older in development as he gets older in time. And I find that he's able to do things I never even realized, just because I haven't expected him to do them.  

The past few days have been fun and full of these sorts of changes. He's memorized several of the sounds and pages on books we read, and he's just taught himself to ride his little train on his own. He just started doing it and having a blast, without looking to us for affirmation because he didn't realize it was a big deal.  

Of course, once we noticed he wanted to see what we were taking pictures of... 

He also tried to feed himself - he's been reluctant to eat his yogurt lately, but this "game"  seems to have enticed him into a few more bites.

We go running

Elias runs. All the time.  Up and down the park.

Happy Kid

Elias is almost always in a good mood. He's definitely hitting the terrible twos and has been known to throw a tantrum, but he's just usually a joy to be around. I'm going to miss hanging out with him when he starts school. 

New park in tuckahoe

We found a new park with wide open fields, near the Bronx river path, and with a lovely little playground. Elias isn't much into the playground, but he loves to climb the hills and run around the basketball court.  

All the colors of the rainbow

One of the fun things about the play place is how colorful it is. Makes for some great pictures (brought to you by Victoria).  

At the park

Victoria took Elias to the park and he got hungry. What resulted was an adorable photo.  

Possibly also some sneaky looks 😀 

On the porch

Elias loves to walk around outside, perhaps more than anything else. Out on the porch he walks around and up and down the stairs. The cat watches him from inside. 

First Haircut

We decided to take Elias to get a haircut. To be honest, this was more from Clayton's insistence than my own, but I'll admit he does look a little cleaner now that he's had some of the wildness cut off. He was not a fan of the process, and I don't think he thanked us for putting him through such a horrific event, but we did get a cute little certificate with a lock of his hair. And he looks very handsome (despite the fact that we weren't able to finish the cut!). 

Before  

A close up of the curls

It went downhill from here. This is the calm before the storm. 

after picture! So happy it's over! 

A new park

The great thing about our new place is that there are tons of parks nearby; within walking and driving distance we are sure to stumble upon a new place. Yesterday Elias and I did just that as we went on a walk. He loved he swings and watching the older kids swing on their own and play games. 

Horsey

Elias likes playing horsey 😀. That's basically all for today's update haha.  

A day of fish

Elias and the babysitter went to the play place today and played for two hours! He had a great time and loved watching the fish. Maybe we'll have to get him his own tank soon. 

Library visit

Victoria, the babysitter, took Elias to the library, where he loves playing and engaging with other children. He became very focused on this train. 

After a long day's hard work, we must rest!