Baby Walrus!!

Mon., Feb. 18: Today mom and dad both had the day off from work, and so the NYC Shanoffs headed to the NYC Aquarium, which is on the water in Coney Island, Brooklyn. It was our first time there, and it was a total hit! The big draw was the new baby walrus, which turns out to be one of the first born in captivity in a really long time. We found a nice warm place to stand and watch the baby play with the mommy walrus through some glass, and Gabe totally loved it. He also loved seeing all the fish, the penguins (who he saw eating their lunch!), and the sharks (who have really big teeth when you get close up). All in all a great day!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Feb. 16: Today is Daddy's birthday and we've had a really nice quiet day. This afternoon we headed out to the Promenade in Brooklyn Heights to get some fresh air, but boy was it cold! It didn't take long for us to head home and just lounge some more on our new couch!

New Couch

Feb. 15: After a really really good run with our old comfy maroon couch, we decided to try something new. Those of you who loved the old fluffy one will have to get used to this new firmer model, but so far so good. Gabe sure likes it (and so does "Mr. Head").

Happy Valentine's Day!

Feb. 14: Today is Valentine's Day, and Gabe got lots of great treats. One of his favorites is his bath crayons from Grammy. He also loves his new alligator place mat from Suzki and Pops! Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

On the Bus

Feb 9: Today we decided to brave the cold and rain and take a little adventure in Brooklyn. Gabe is into all things on wheels, and so we figured what could be better than a ride on the bus? Well, the waiting was tough, but once we got on it was great. We went to Park Slope to a great restaurant called Perch. We had never been there but now we're sure to go back! Plus we ran into our cousin Marisa there, which was a total treat.

Sports A to Z

Feb. 5: OK, this post easily could have been called "shameless Gabe-promotion," which we haven't done in (sort of) a while. This is a video (which we also haven't done in a while) of Gabe reading his current favorite book. His friend Dave gave it to him, and at the time Gabe didn't really seem all that into it, but boy have times changed. He LOVES this book, and we read it a lot. Really. A LOT. The upside of that, though, is that now Gabe can *read* it! OK, we know that he's not really reading, but we think this is pretty cute. Enjoy!

Block Tower

Feb. 2: One of Gabe's favorite things to do these days is to build a tower out of these blocks . . . and then knock it down. See that look on his face? He's wondering how long he should wait before knocking them over so that he'll "surprise" us!

Happy Blue Means Happy Gabe

Jan. 27: Today Gabe got a big treat in the mail from his Suzki -- HAPPY BLUE! Gabe calls Cookie Monster "happy blue" (long story... happy to tell you in person if you really want to hear it) and really loves happy blue, but it turns out he's awfully hard to find! They have pretty much pulled all his segments from Sesame Street (except a very brief letter of the day situation with Prairie Dawn), and it's almost impossible to find a stuffed Cookie Monster toy that doesn't shake or talk anywhere in NYC (OK, we decided to avoid the Toys R Us in Times Square - totally reasonable). The only explanation we've been given for this is a concern about childhood obesity; Cookie Monster has some impulse control problems! We think this is ridiculous, and are awfully glad the good people stocking the shelves at the Target in Gainesville agree. YAY Suzki! We love cookies happy blue!

Happy Birthday GG!

Jan. 23: This weekend we hopped in the car and headed to Maryland for GG's 89th birthday celebration. We weren't about to miss this par-tay. Gabe loved seeing his GG, Grammy, Aunt Annie, and his cousins (especially Julia and "baby Willa").



Plus, he LOVED his chocolate ice cream. DUH.








After the party we had lots of time to hang out with GG and spend some quality time together. Plus Gabe had to do a few more rounds of Ring Around the Rosie with Grammy.

To Fold or Not To Fold...

Jan 19: With all the excitement this weekend, Gabe thought it would be a great idea to show his visitors his clothes. ALL of his clothes. Once they were all out though, he realized it's not as much fun to but them away as it is to pull them out. Ahhh. Life lessons.

and Grandpa!

Jan. 19: Our other visitor was Grandpa! We had a great time with him too, with lots of reading and even a horsey ride!

Aunt Emily!

Sat., Jan. 19: This weekend we had lots of visitors, and first to arrive was AUNT EMILY! It was so fun to see her. We had a great time playing at our house in the morning, and then later we went out and met her and her friend Jenny at a bar (just like the old days when Gabe was a little baby!!) on Smith Street. It was great. As always, a great visit!

Book Break

January 16: The only thing Gabe likes more than his shoes are his books. He was more than thrilled to take a book break before putting his shoes on to go to school today.

Stack 'Em Up

January 12: We also did a little stacking today. Well, Gabe did it. HIMSELF. We think he did a pretty good job, but there were definitely some frustrating moments!

Back to the Playground

January 12: We haven't been to the playground in a while because it's been cold, but today we headed over. We can't get over how much bigger Gabe looks in the swings than he did the last time we were there.



Plus, he's really into sliding by himself now. Luckily he only likes the small slides!

New Table

January 8: This weekend we went on an adventure to Ikea! Everyone had a great time, especially Gabe, who LOVED all the airplanes we got to see from the car. Mom was pretty excited too, since she loves Ikea! One of our amazing finds was a new play table for Gabe, where he can color and do his puzzles. It's a perfect Gabe size, and he loves to sit at it, especially now that Dad got him some cool new crayons. Depending on the day, he even lets us sit in the second chair, though you can imagine that it's not a great fit for us.

Scoop UP

Dec. 20-27, 2007: NYC was getting a little cold for us, so we headed down to Florida for a fun visit with Suzki and Pops. We spent the whole time in St. Augustine, and boy was it fun. Gabe loved paying on the beach with his sand toys (he now knows it's important to scoop UP when you are trying to shovel the sand into a bucket, and he reminds of this often), eating strawberries and playing play-doh, and looking to see the moon!

We also got to see Gabe's cousin Charlie, which was great! We think they are going to have a lot of fun playing together as they get older.

Big Shoes to Fill

One of Gabe's favorite new things to do is to wear other people's shoes. In particular, he loves to tell you whose shoes he is wearing, and then put them on and walk around. Needless to say, this does not always work out very well. But dada's shoes are his favorite.

New Camera

We know you were all worried that we weren't getting enough good pictures of Gabe, so we decided to get a new camera. Here's one of the first pictures we took with it. It's pretty fancy, and we still have a lot to learn (luckily Uncle Seth is usually around to help out... when he's not jetting off across the world!), but we really love it!

Hard at Work

Dec. 7, 2007: Today was a HUGE kids party at mom's work. Gabe seemed most interested in getting a little work done before the festivities stared, though he also loved the chipwich (but really... who doesn't?).

Plus, what a treat to have Grammy here with us all weekend! We had a great time!