Happy New Year!

mommy and i stayed home while daddy worked. we had a really nice time just making each other laugh. the way i see it, that's the best way to bring in my first new year. i've lived in two years now, but i'm not even one year old. huh. whoa, that was too much brain activity for someone my age.

enjoy the video and have a wonderful new year full of learning, developing, growing, eating sugar... (only 6 more months till my first birthday cake--just sayin'!)

mama says...

mommy says i suffer from the same affliction as she--lots of tops (shirts), but not lots of bottoms (pants). so mommy felt that she just had to order me (all on sale) some leggings (black) and jeans (with ruffle bell bottoms) just to make sure that i get to wear all of my tops.

i mean, the thing is, i do have a lot of bottoms, but they're either part of a set & used as such (see photo in which i'm doing my signature pose), or they're part of a set to which i never had the top (and i just can't match with any one of my random tops/bodysuits). the troubles of a child, right? and i'm a child on public assistance healthcare (did i say that right?). anyway, "i was [basically] born poor black child..." and i'm not ashamed to admit it. these are tough times, and both my parents work really hard, but neither one gets health insurance, so they do what they have to do in order to take excellent care of me.

i mean, the funny thing is, mommy & daddy haven't spent any money on clothes for me. true story. ok, well, mommy bought me a sesame street t'shirt for ChanuMas that will fit me in the summer, but otherwise, everything has been a gift or a generous hand-me-down from a super cool family at mommy's school. i actually have far too many clothes, also an affliction of my mom.

i'm a really lucky girl. that fact is not lost on me...

gotta get some grub...enjoy these various photos of me in cute outfits.

UPDATE: mommy wanted me to make sure everyone knows that i was wearing that flapper-headband for the photo only. i don't wear bows on my head--it looks ridiculous on me. it may be cute on some babies, but there's really no need to accentuate what mommy and daddy call my "big ass bald head."

my first chanukah!!!!

i wouldn't have had such a wonderful chanukah had it not been for my bubbie & zayde and nonna & grandpa. it was because of their many many gifts that i was able to celebrate as though the maccabees' oil had lasted SIXTEEN days! seriously, the UPS guy became my best friend, and i went through withdrawal when he stopped visiting every day. (i miss you, dan, dan, my UPS man!)

the fun began a few days before chanukah with a delivery of a big box from ohio filled with gifts of all shapes, sizes, and sounds, each wrapped up to keep me excited. mom and dad displayed the gifts all around the menorahs for several days leading up to and during chanukah. this was a great exercise in patience...if not for me, then definitely for my mom, but we were both good. i found that i really like surprises--they're always worth the wait. at least that's my experience so far.

then, around day 5 or six, dan started coming every day...for, like, 6 days in a row! i don't think nonna and grandpa meant for this to happen--it's just turns out that each thing they selected from my target wish-list was sent separately from the original manufacturer. we never knew when it would stop--how fun!! (it did stop, by the way, hence the above referencing to missing UPS dan.)

here are just a few select photos of my first chanukah, but not in any sort of good order or placement--sorry. as for chanukah, i LOVED the candles, and the singing. it was very, very nice. i ate potatoes for the first time during chanukah! mommy says that next chanukah, i'll be able to eat latkes. and something called "soof-gah-nee-oat." mmmm, donuts.

mama says...

...that i need lots of extra snuggling today because i got my 6 month shots. she said she doesn't mind giving me the extra snuggling, but she wishes i wasn't in pain. even with the pain, and the fever that's sure to come, i'm still in pretty good spirits. mommy says that most babies are, on a regular basis, ten times more kvetchy as i am today.

to make me feel better mommy has tried getting me to take naps at times that i usually don't. it worked for a bit, but i can't really sleep... still, i'm being a trooper. that's what i keep hearing, anyway. here's some proof.

a jewish girl's first christmas...

....i'm going to get back to this post some day to tell the real story about how my brother's mother pretty much *&^%$# up my first Christmas (an occasion which means a WHOLE lot to several people who mean a WHOLE lot to me), but my mom encourages me to look at life as though my bottle has more milk in it than it actually does...or something like that. now i'm confused...

well, in the meantime, i've decided to share some very personal family photos that prove that, although she may have the power to steal precious time, no *&^%-faced-@#$%^ can stop me from making the best of the moments i finally get to spend with my brother and our family.

here's some proof for posterity:

holla!

mommy posted the top photo to her facebook page, and it got lots of attention, i'm not so sure why. i really like rolling around and ending up under things in this case the couch. luckily, i haven't knocked my head into anything yet...but i'm sure it's just a matter of time. i think i may have learned my love for being under things from watching my guinea pigs--they like to be huddled tight under stuff, too.