The Economy and the recession.

I know I'm young and all, but I'm starting to catch on to things that are happening in the world. First, every morning when I watch the today show, all i hear are these big words "E-Con-O-Me and "Re-Sesh-On." I don't know what they mean, but they must be bad or part of a hokie-pokie dance because people keep saying that we need to "turn it around"

I'm starting to think my parents might be affected these things. The biggest sign thus far was that my toys were starting to change from cool 'light up' planes to ... tin can tops and boxes. Now! - don't get me wrong, these toys can be great. Boxes taste good, you can climb in them, on them, and around them. Can tops are shiny and reflect light! Mommy and I have figured out a way to keep entertained!

The Plane, The Plane!

For my first Hannukkah, Mom and Dad got me this cool riding plane. It makes noise, lights up, ... basically does everything a toy should do to keep me entertained for at least a few minutes!

Dad tried to teach me how to ride, but instead taught me a much more important lesson - How to crash! See the video:

(No babies were injured in the making of this film)

The White Stuff

A few weeks back, I got so excited when looking out the window. I saw this white stuff coming down from the sky. I looked over to Mom and gave her that wonder-full look where she telepathically knew what I wanted to know, "What is that?"

While we got dressed to go outside, Mommy told me about this white stuff. It's called snow. Mommy said it snows when it gets cold outside. Daddy supplemented Mommy's definition with some specifics about H2O, a German physicist named Daniel Fahrenheit, and water's freezing point, but it was sort of confusing, so I'm going to go with Mommy's definition for now.

I could hardly wait to touch this stuff when I got outside, but boy was I in for a surprise. I grabbed a handful, fully expecting this stuff to feel like the inside stuffing from my teddy bear. Wrong! It was crunchy!

I needed a better feel, so I took a glove off (much to my Mother's dismay!), and woah ... this snow is cold! I didn't know quite what to think. Just then, Daddy called out my name, I looked up, and he caught my disappointment that this stuff wasn't like as fun to play with as I first thought:

It was super cold, so Mommy picked me up, and we got ready to go back in...but not before another photo op:

Happy Holidays Everyone!

My First Hannukkah

My first night of Hannukkah was last night. We said the blessings, lit the candles, and then I got put to bed! What's up with that??? (In my parent's defense, I guess sundown was around the same time as bedtime)

IT was all good though because Daddy promised me how to play "Dreidel" the next day. He said the key to winning was to make sure the dreidel landed on Gimmel when you spun it. For those of you that don't know the hebrew letter gimmel, it looks like this:

Here's me playing dreidel:

Anyway, what Daddy forgot to tell me was you can't touch the dreidel once you spin it because that is cheating ... (I'd like to think that Daddy just let me win though! :)

Peek-a-boo!

Today was a good day. I got Mom to play my favorite game Peek-a-boo! This stuff just cracks me up! Here's a short clip of the hilarity:

My 2nd Favorite Thing

When I can't watch Texas Football, I must admit that my love affair with music runs deep. Mommy and Daddy have been discovering this piece by piece and have tried to foster an atmosphere of music around the house.

Here's me with flute-a-phone / recorder:
Here's me with the trumpet:

And here's me tickling those beautiful ivories:

Dad and I did a duet for the retirement home:

Of course, we all know that my solo was what got everyone's attention. Here's a video clip of my first symphony:

Trip to Dallas

For my 9th state, why not visit the great state of Texas.

We started off early in the morning at Midway airport. Who would have thought that Nuts on Clark would be popping popcorn at 8 AM? Regardless, my obsession with popcorn began:

Mom and Dad had to tear me away just to get me on the plane, but once I was there, I was a happy camper. Here's me and Daddy 0n the plane:

(Yes, Dad made me throw this picture on the blog because he was jealous of Mommy's plane picture that I put on the blog 2 months earlier)

Daddy says there are lots of reasons to go to Texas.

Reason #1: My Daddy's is from there, and he says that in order to truly understand him, you have to see where his family is from. (yeah right, like I'll ever truly understand Dad!)

Reason #2: My Aunts! My Uncle G was getting married. I was getting a new Aunt!!!

Here's the happy couple here above. I gave Aunt Carlie the honor of giving me my first bottle in the state of Texas. To celebrate this occasion, Mom brought out my trusty Longhorn Bib.

Reason #2b: Speaking of Aunts, I hadn't met my Aunt Shir. She's married to Uncle Louis and is from Israel.

Trust me folks. You'll never feel safer than in the arms of a former Israeli Tank Commander! Also, I hadn't met my older cousin Itay. I can tell we are going to be good buddies:

Reason #3: I still had one other Great-Grandmother to meet! Bebe's Mother. This is my Dad's Mom's Mom (for those of you in Sweden: Far Mor Mor).

Four generations of the family right here!

Reason #4: Fried chicken and Mexican food! I'll have to take Daddy's word for it since right now, I'm living on cereal, mashed veggies, and milk.

However, I did get to meet the family daschund, Murphy. She turned 14 years old while we were there. I'm still not sure if she is bigger than me or not, but regardless, I think we were both curious about eachother.

Some other highlights from the trip. Grandma came in town (Mom's mom), and we got to hang...

Also, here's me and Zayde:

Me and Uncle Louis:

and here is the 'Zayde' pic. It's Zayde (Gary Solomon) with his grandson Asher as well as me with my Zayde.

There were so many other pictures of me with family that I couldn't put them all up, but stay tuned to a link of all pictures from Thanksgiving!