11/12/07

Youngest Runner Ever!


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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.
Nov. 4, 2007: On Marathon Day here in NYC we headed up to our friends the Connellys' house to watch the runners. Before anyone hit the course, though, Gabe took a turn. We think he's got promise! Of course, it helps when there is some sort of cool truck that he can run towards. This was a street sweeper. Nice.

Blue Hat Green Hat


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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.
This is one of Gabe's favorite books, and he especially loves when his dad reads it to him. It's a silly story about a turkey who can't figure out how to dress correctly (think pants on his head, socks on his hands... you get the picture) and Dad usually ends the story with "and this is why we eat Turkeys for Thanksgiving." We think Gabe knows he's kidding, but I guess we'll see when it's actually time for turkey!

11/2/07

Monkey See


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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.
Happy Halloween! This year Gabe had an action-packed Halloween.

On Sunday we went to the Brooklyn Heights Parade, where we saw lots of Gabe's friends. Some of our favorites were Harper the Park Ranger, Sadie the Baby Duck, and Ruby the Chicken! Then we headed over to Henry's house to celebrate his birthday. Gabe loved singing and dancing, and he also loved his cupcake!

On Halloween, we headed to the Cobble Hill Parade, where Gabe loved watching Dan Zanes lead lots of costumed kids around the neighborhood. Then, on to Garden Place! Gabe really got the hang of trick or treating quickly, and his awesome Pumpkin bag from his Cousin Bird was perfect for collecting lots of candy! He also loved seeing all the other kids dressed up, and the decorations were really great, especially the huge blow-up spiders.

Then it was home with the candy. Gabe tried a Kit Kat first, and then a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. YUM!

For all the Halloween pictures from this year, check out Gabe's Flickr page. There are just too many to post them all here!

10/28/07

Excessive Celebration.


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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.
Oct. 17, 2007: Gabe has developed his own celebration dance for when Florida gets a touchdown (or pretty much any time he feels like it during a game). As you can tell, this is from somewhat early in the game. Also, you can't see the whole dance, but it very closely resembles Pierre-Louis's touchdown in the first half of the game. Yup, though not pictured here, there is a flip involved. Unfortunately, still film only captures the beginning and the end!

Who is that Monkey?



Oct. 26, 2007: Today we decided to do a practice fun with Gabe's Halloween Costume, just in case he really did grow another few inches in the past few weeks. Turns out it was perfect! Bring on the Ghosts and Goblins!



Longhorn Luc


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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.
Oct. 20: After Gabe's haircut we headed into Manhattan for a chance to see our friends from Austin. This is Luc and he turned 2 today! It was so nice to see all of them, and what fun to try out a new playground. All in all, a very busy and fun day!

Haircut


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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.
Oct. 20: Haircut #3 was today. As you can see, this woman is a pro. If there is a lollypop in each hand and Elmo's on the DVD player, all is well in the world!

Steps


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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.
Oct. 20: Another one of Gabe's favorite things to do is to walk up and down steps. Pretty much any step will do, and sometimes he will agree to hold a hand on his way down, though he usually prefers to do it himself.

Choo Choo


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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.
Oct. 19, 2007: Today Gabe went to Great Neck to meet his Great Great Aunt Maxine, who was visiting from England, though as a bonus we got to see Nechama, Jaquie, Suzki, and Great Great Aunt Marilyn. Gabe was really glad to play with some of his cousin Marc's toys. Plus he got to go to the Whitney! But there's no doubt that his favorite part of the day was the time on the train (OK, it was just the LIRR, but we figure that counts!). Luckily it wasn't too crowded, and the other passengers didn't mind the sound effects. CHOO CHOO.

Jibbitz


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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.
Oct. 19, 2007: Check out Gabe's Crocs! He got these awesome decorations for them from his Uncle Benj (and Aunt Rachel, of course!). There is a "G" and an "S" and also two Gators and a Goofy. He loves them, though we have to say they make getting from point A to point B a little more time-consuming, what with all the stopping and bending down to discuss them!

Favorite Things


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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.
Oct. 14: We thought we'd share with you a few of Gabe's new favorite things. First, the headband has been a huge hit. Usually Gabe wears it, but occasionally he puts it on other people. It was mom's lucky day today. And this is one of the great new books he has received lately (this one is from his Great Great Aunt Esther). It's about a helicopter named Hector, and boy does Gabe love it. We read it an average of 6-10 times each day! At least all that repetition means that now Gabe can help with a lot of the words!

San Francisco!


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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.
Oct. 5-7: While we don't usually feature pictures or posts regarding other people, we figured you might be wondering why we weren't living it up in the Hamptons with Gabe and his entourage. Well, we got to spend a wonderful weekend AWAY, celebrating the wedding of our friends Deb and Frans. It was a totally great weekend, and we loved San Francisco (which is featured in the background of this picture)!

Little Pumpkin





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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.
Oct. 5, 2007: This weekend Gabe went to the Hamptons with Suzki. He also got to see lots of family! He especially loved going to the pumpkin patch and playing with his cousin Marc and his Uncle Benjamin and Aunt Rachel (just to name a few!).

Atlantic Antic


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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.
Sun., Sept. 30, 2007: Today was one of Brooklyn's most fun events: The Atlantic Antic. It's a great street fair that runs right near our apartment, and this year Gabe was able to enjoy it a bit more than last year. It was another beautiful day here in NYC, and we saw so many of Gabe's neighborhood friends. It was quite a treat!

Still Summer


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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.
Sept. 29, 2007: Since it still feels an awful lot like summer here, we decided to hit the Promenade for a little walk... though there is no question that "flying" is more fun than walking.

Shoe Shopping.


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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.
Now that Gabe is really walking (and running), it was time to get some new shoes! Turns out he has really wide feet, so it was off to the New Balance store to get some of their special extra-wides.

Lots More Florida Fun





The rest of our time in Florida was so fun. Gabe had his first taste of raisin challah with honey, his first shofar blowing, a chance to dance with Pops at Pops' birthday party, and, of course, his first time meeting his cousin Charlie! It was a wonderful week. There are too many great photos to post here, but check them out at our flickr site.

10/13/07

Gainesville!

Sept. 12: Today we explored some of our favorite places in Gainesville. High on the list was The Swamp! Gabe loved the steps, so he did some stadiums, and then did the Gator Walk. By then he had really worked up an appetite, so we went to Leonardo's for a slice. Yum.



Happy Birthday POPS!


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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.
Sept. 11: There were lots of reasons we came to Gainesville for this vacation, but the biggest one was that it was Pops' birthday! Tonight we had a really nice dinner at 706, a restaurant we really love in Gainesville. And Pops shared a little bit of his birthday cake with Gabe, which made everyone happy.

Reunited and it Feels So Good!


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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.
Sept. 11: Mom and Dad came back to town, and we were pretty relieved that Gabe was so happy to see us!

In the (Waffle) House


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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.
Sept. 9: this morning Gabe went with Mom, Dad and Pops to the Waffle House. It's one of our favorites, and we figured Gabe should get to share the love, but we also thought it would distract him as Mom and Dad headed off to St. Augustine after breakfast and Gabe stayed with Suzki and Pops. We're pretty sure the distraction was mostly helpful to Mom, but we sometimes pretend about this stuff to make her feel better! Regardless, everyone had a great few days apart (and together).

Splish Splash


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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.
Gabe learned A LOT on this vacation, but one of the first things was how to say "splish splash." He said it about his awesome water table, but also whenever he went swimming with Suzki or Pops, which was pretty much every day! There's no doubt that it's an awfully nice way to live!

Vacation!


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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.
Sept. 6: Gabe and Mom headed to Florida today. Gabe was pretty excited to go on the airplane, which he now says! Plus, when we got to Suzki & Pops' house in Gainesville, there was this fabulous Sesame Street "truck" waiting there. It's awesome. Gabe loves it, and we think it epitomizes the saying on Gabe's shirt: "my grandparents don't spoil me; they're just very accommodating."

9/22/07

What a view!


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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.
Sept 3: This is a picture of all of us on the Pool Lady Barge! It's quite a view, hunh?

The Floating Pool Lady


Sept. 2-3: This year Brooklyn was lucky enough to have had a visit from the Floating Pool Lady Barge. It's the coolest thing: a fabulous clean public free pool on a big barge in the East River. It was only around during the summer, so we didn't go as often as we'd have liked, so we really took advantage of these last couple of days! Gabe loved the water, even though it was a bit (ok, a LOT) cold, but he loved the water sprinklers even more. His very favorite part by far, though, was getting to see all the helicopters flying overhead!







Shoes


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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.
Sept. 2: Gabe has developed a bit of an obsession with shoes. Yeah, you heard right, SHOES! He just loves them. If he's not wearing them he will bring them to put on. Sometimes he likes to wear two pair at a time! We can only hope this won't turn into his father's sneaker obsession in 30 years!

Urban? Are you there?


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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.
Sept 1: Gabe and dad are busy talking to Urban about some concerns they have with the Gators. We sure hope he's listening.

Game Day!


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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.
Yes, it's finally here: College Football Season 2007! Gabe is ready to go with his Championship shirt and hammer. We might need the hammer this year, but we hope not!

Grammy in the house!


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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.
Aug 29-30: Grammy came to town this week to hang with Gabe! It was so fun for everyone to have her here, and Gabe especially loved walking around Brooklyn with her, taking her to the playground, and getting to play with his cool new play stroller! We all can't wait for Grammy to come visit again soon!

Mom's Last Day TOO!


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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.
Aug. 28: Well, it wasn't mom's last day quite yet, but we had a very fun lunch party with the Judge mom has worked for this past year. We all had a great time, and Gabe even said "Judge"! That was a pretty big hit.

Graduation Day


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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.
Aug. 28: today was Gabe's last day of "school" at FedKids. He had such a great year there and we were all very sad to go, but we think the next school will be great too!

9/1/07

Just Cute.


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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.
Aug. 24: This picture was taken to send to Gabe's Grandpa for his birthday. Awfully cute, hunh?

Azzurri Gabe!


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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.
Aug. 19: This picture is very very overdue. When Gabe was born, our friend Michael gave him this awesome shirt to celebrate Italy's victory in the World Cup. It was especially great because Gabe actually watched the final game. Of course, he was rooting for Italia, despite some evidence in his early days to the contrary (it's a picture involving a Brazil jersey)! His Italia shirt is still a little big, but it's awesome. Thanks Michael!

"Coffee" to cool down.


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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.
Aug. 18: after lots of running and playing at the park, Gabe thought he'd cool down with a little "coffee." It's his current specialty, though he's pretty good at making "pancakes" too.

Getting ready.


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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.
Aug. 18: Today we headed to our local park to get ready for football season. Gabe is better at throwing than catching. For now.

What's on?


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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.
Aug. 15: Tonight Gabe gets the remote. With that smile we just didn't have the heart to take it back.

Doing Dishes


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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.
Aug. 15: Today Gabe got his hair cut. Again. These curls seem to be growing at a very rapid rate. To celebrate his newly short hair, he thought he'd do some dishwashing in his own kitchen. No, there's no running water attached.