Eleven Months (and one day)

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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.

April 17: as much as we've been trying to take a family photo on each of Gabe's one-month birthday, we haven't always been successful. So, here's a picture of Gabe all by himself. Admit it, though: that's what you're really on here for, right? So he's eleven months and one day old today. WOW! That means he's almost a year old. We can't believe it. He's crawling like crazy, eating all kinds of new things (see post below), and is generally a ton of fun to be around. He loves to play ball, to pull himself up on ANYTHING he can get his hands on, and he absolutely loves his books. Right now his favorite book seems to be The Three Bears, though Blue Hat, Green Hat and Time For Bed are also pretty popular. And while he certainly likes it best when we read the books to him, he's also pretty happy to just eat the pages or throw the books around the room so he can crawl over and get them. We can't wait to see what the next month, and the next year will bring!

MMMMMcDonalds!

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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.

August 15: Because of the terrible weather in the NE, our flight home from Pittsburgh got canceled. But fear not. Dad got us safely home, and Gabe got his first road trip! We were lucky enough to have Marisa with us to keep us company and especially to help keep Gabe happy! She also got to share Gabe's first trip to McDonald's with us.

Hey - judge us if you will, but no road trip is really complete without some junk food deliciousness. Gabe especially loved the fries (shocker), but he also tried a Filet-O-Fish and a burger. Oh, and don't forget the Dairy Queen Blizzard for dessert. That's right. A Blizzard!

Slumber Party.

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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.

Gabe got to spend the night with Suzki and Pops while in Pittsburgh. He had a great time. Look at how well rested he looks! For them he slept until 7 am. Would sure be nice if he did that for his parents!

To PIttsburgh!

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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.

April 14: This morning Gabe and his parents headed to Pittsburgh to celebrate Margery's cousin Lauren's wedding. As you can see, Gabe was very excited to get on the plane and get to the party!

Look at Gabe's New Chair!

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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.

Thursday, April 12: This morning Gabe got his second birthday present, and this one's green too! Our very good friends Kristin, TJ and Brendan gave Gabe this awesome chair, which is just like one Brendan has at his house. You can't see it, but it even has his name on it so Mom and Dad don't get confused about who should sit in it. He already loves climbing in and out of it all the time. We are all awfully lucky to have such great friends!

Picture Day

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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.

April 11: Today was picture day at Gabe's daycare ("school") and he got all dressed up for the occasion. Doesn't he look great? His teachers told us that he wasn't really into smiling for his picture; he was really going for the strong serious look. We'll have to see how that went. We think he looks awfully cute even when he's in a more serious mood. Besides, who knows what kind of important thoughts he's thinking... he could be curing cancer in that head of his!

Sip this!

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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.

As most of you know, Gabe is getting very close to turning one year old. We absolutely can't believe what a big boy he's turning into, and this is just one indication: the sippy cup is in the house. Gabe actually likes the straw cup more than the sippy, but it's really a distinction without a difference to anyone except him (and his mom, who has spent entirely too much money on variations on this exact cup, but is very very relieved we finally have one that he likes!). Anyhow, we're so proud, and he seems to be too!

Feet UP!

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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.

Now that we have these nice new ottomans, isn't it nice that Gabe and Dad can both put their feet up and relax?

mmmm. french fries!

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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.

April 8: This morning Gabe, Mom and Dad finally went out after a pretty miserable weekend with the stomach flu. Nothing gets your appetite back up like a french fry. And now that Gabe can hold them himself, there's nothing stopping him! It didn't hurt that we ran into his friend Ruby and her parents, and Ruby not only loaned Gabe her special seat, but she gave him her balloon when she left! Lucky kid.

This is it?

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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.

Gabe had his first matzo (and potato kugel and matzo ball) tonight. He likes the matzo balls best (shocker, right?). Though he seems to like the matzo a lot better when we put some Temp-tee on in. Who doesn't though?

Gabe's first Seder

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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.

It's become somewhat of a tradition for us to host a seder each year with our friends (and family). This year was an especially wonderful event because we had two new additions to the group: Sadie and Gabe. Though the kids went to bed early, they still got to play with all the special Passover toys. And the adult portion of the evening was pretty great as well. We feel so lucky to have such good friends and family nearby. See you again next year!

New Seat!

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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.

Gabe got a special new high chair today. He loves it. Look at how happy he is! Thanks Suzki!

Pre-Passover fun

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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.

We were lucky enough to have our pre-Passover pizza with the Liss-Levinsons and Sussmans this year! What fun. Unfortunately we don't have any pictures with Marc (we're hoping his mom and dad took some good ones!) but Gabe had a great time visiting with his cousin and the whole Great Neck crew (and the added bonus of his Aunt Marilyn!).

Hmmm.

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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.

And rounding out the March visits, was a great weekend with Grandpa. Gabe had a great time, though that beard sure confused him!

New Kicks

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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.

Aunt Emily and Dave got Gabe these awesome new shoes (and the shirt)!! Aren't they cool!?! All the other kids are jealous.

More Playground Fun

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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.

Now that we know how much Gabe likes the slide, dad decided to take him on the "big" one at the playground. He loves it! Sorry for the blur here, but they were just moving so fast!

OOPS!

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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.

We also had a visit from Grammy and Aunt Annie. Grammy read Gabe some of his favorite books before he went to bed. He loved it. He especially loves Blue Hat, Green Hat, pictured here. It's a real page-turner, in which a very silly turkey has trouble getting dressed. Oops!

Time to Slide

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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.

Pops came to visit us on March 27, just after Florida won their Regional Finals game to make it to the Final Four. To celebrate, Gabe wanted to go on the slide! What a treat.

Go Gators

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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.

This seems to be a repetitive post for us - but with all the basketball going on, it's hard to resist. Here is Gabe in all his Florida basketball uniform glory. He's pretty excited about the team, and also about learning to stand up on his own. He's still working on it, but he's close!

Leggo my Eggo

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Originally uploaded by Gabe Shanoff.

We know it's been way too long since Gabe has updated his blog. Sorry. He's just been keeping everyone so busy! He's almost 11 months old now, and has all kinds of new tricks. This is one of our favorites - he is starting to be able to feed himself! Here is is with a mini-eggo. What a great invention!