A trip to Mohonk

Omi2 was here for a visit this week, and she, Mum, and Sorin headed off to Mohonk Mountain House. Believe it or not, at 14.5 months, this is the first time Sorin has stayed in a hotel. This was certainly a good one to start with! From the amount of luggage we had you would have thought we were going for a week, but alas we just stayed overnight. Mohonk is beautiful, and Sorin was enthralled. We visited with the fish in the pond, walked around the lake in a funky jogging stroller the hotel had on hand, swam in the pool and lake, played at the beach (Mum and Omi2 even swam across the lake!), ate in the dining room, and had a BBQ. Oh, and the highlight of it all was pushing the beepy buttons on the safe in our room.

A dinner date

To cap off a very busy Saturday (a first trip to the MoMA, the playground, and an im promptu play date with friends from the Purple Room), we went out to a last minute dinner with our friends Kevin, Annick, and Giselle. After a pretty cranky day (but I want to touch the art, not look at it Mum!), Sorin was a perfect gentleman at the restaurant. Well, at least behavior-wise. As Annick pointed out, he may want to learn to make a little less of a mess before dating:). Unfortunately I forgot a bib and sippy cup, but Sorin is a pro at drinking from a straw so we made do. And at the end of the meal we just stripped off his clothes and carried him home in his diaper. Giselle thought that was definitely the way to go and also wanted to undress. Here the kids are sharing a kiss, which they thought was hilarious. We're going to miss our friends SO much when they move back to Montreal in just over a month.

Cool cat on a hot day

It was HOT, HOT, HOT in New York for a few days, but Sorin kept cool. He loves to play in the water, be it a sprinkler, a water table, or just a faucet. Here he is, having nabbed Mum's glasses from her "hat" (aka head). What a cool dude!

I think what's most amazing to me at this age is the level of cognition. Sorin knew, even though the glasses were on top of my head, that they go on your face. (He also knew that he wasn't really supposed to grab them, but that's another story!) When we say, "Let's go out," he brings me my shoes, Thadeous his shoes, and then brings us his to put on. When we walk onto campus through the main gate he starts to make the sign for duck, because that's usually the route we take to visit the duck pond. He knows which books he wants to read, which cars he likes to play with, and definitely what to do with a telephone (although the beepy buttons are still alluring). Sorin is becoming more and more like a little person (full of likes and dislikes:) every day!

The blogging begins!

It seems Sorin is growing up so fast! Even with webcams and visits, we thought this would be a nice way to keep up with regular goings-on. So enjoy!

Tonight we had our end-of-year potluck in the Purple Room (Matthias' family is leaving in a few weeks, which is why it was a bit early). I can't believe how much Sorin has changed over the year. This picture was taken in October, just after he started sitting up by himself. I LOVE the facial expression. Now of course he's almost running and doesn't have much time to sit still. But he's still very expressive, and I often find myself wishing I could capture a look.