boxes, pigeons, and carseats

I think my days of hiding in the cabinets are over. All of these boxes arrived at our house a week ago...and now the cabinets seem to be full of all kinds of things, and there is no more room for me. Sad. But along with the cabinets being stuffed with more things, my toy box also seems to be a bit fuller than it was, and this is a good thing! And, I keep eyeing the box on the porch that looks like it has a basketball hoop in it that is just my size. I just can't figure out why that wasn't the FIRST box that was unpacked...I mean, what could be more important?

I spent a lot of time in the car seat the last couple of days. Last Thursday we drove and drove and drove. No Thanksgiving turkey for me...not unless you count the herds of them we saw out the car window. (do lots of turkeys all together count as a herd? a gaggle?) But I did get to have all kinds of good Montenegren and Croatian food on our little family vacation. And the scenery was beautiful...at least what I saw of it when I wasn't screaming or sleeping.

I have lots of pictures to post, but tonight I'll just leave you with a few.







And, lest you think that all I did was get carried around, I'll have you know that I also fed kitties, ran around and yelled in a monastary/museum (that sign that said 'silencium' was just for other people), and chased pigeons in a dubrovnik city square while my mommies ate tasty bread and sipped cappucinos.

Hiding....

Most of our stuff from home is somwhere on a boat between Baltimore and Tirana. In the meantime, the cabinets are empty! This is great for me, because check out what I can do...! And don't forget to notice my wild hair--it's all the rage in Albania.

Grandpa Ron

I've always liked the idea of being able to follow in Grandpa Ron's footsteps. And, so I love playing with the toy he gave me--it has brightly colored balls (which I love!) and a hammer to pound them with. What more could I want?

me, soup, and a balloon

So, my mommies made chicken soup from scratch tonight. Just a whole chicken (no, they didn't have to pluck the feathers), some vegetables, a little seasoning, and voila, a couple of hours later, soup! Yum!

And, as usual, I've been playing with my balloon. Here's a little video of me (finally, during the daytime!) so you can see just how much fun I have!

All about ME!!

Some things that I can do:

• Walk (okay, toddle) across a room
• Throw balls across the room really well
• Open drawers and hide things inside
• Whine. A lot. I'm really, really good at this.
  
• Dance when music is playing
• Babble
• Climb up onto the couch if I really want to. Climb down from the couch
  
• Crawl up the stairs
• Push chairs all over the room
• Bring my mommies the shoes I want to wear after they put on my socks
• Reach up to the top of just about anything (somehow this does NOT seem to make my mommies happy)
• Close doors. Endlessly turn on and off light switches.
• Ride my 'corn popper' all over the house
• Hide inside of boxes

Some things I can say (usually repeating them after someone else):

• Ball (I say this all the time)
• Button
• Brella (for umbrella)
• Cheese
• Shoes
• Butter (for butterfly)
• Bathtub
• Hi
• Bye-Bye
• and all kinds of other things that my mommies are just too old to understand
  

Some things I love:

• Balls
• Balloons
• Teething biscuits
• Any kind of food...but especially bananas, peas, cheese, apples, and anything on my mommies' plates
• Riding on my mommmies' backs
• Music
• Swings
• Going outside
  
• Preschool
• People....anywhere...the more, the better

Big Leagues, Here I Come...

Uncle Mitch...I think I'm ready for those baseball lessons now. But is it okay if I always practice with both hands?

Happy Halloween!!

So Halloween is not an Albanian holiday...but since we are working for the American Embassy, there was an Embassy Halloween party. And, my preschool had a Halloween party too! So, I had plenty of opportunities to be cute in my outfit. I might have been the tiniest bit mad when I had to put it on, but all the smiles that everyone gave me while I was wearing it were definitely worth it!

Robin and Te's Wedding

So this post is a little late, but I didn't want to leave it out. Just before we left DC we got to go to Robin and Te's very beautiful and very fun wedding. I know, I know, they were the center of attention. But, there was enough attention to go 'round (amazing given that both Auntie Heather and I were there!), and I enjoyed myself immensely. So here are just a few of the pictures of me. There are many, many more pictures from the wedding...my mommies went a little crazy with the new camera. Maybe at some point I'll convince them to get all of the other good pictures online.

Look at me go...!

The lighting is not the best...but, look what I can do!



And, yes, that is teething biscuit all over me (yum!) and yes I do plan to toss everything in the drawers on the floor, again.

Who's Sillier?

Mirëdita! (Good Day!)

So, here I am in Tirana, Albania. So far I'm thinking it's pretty cool. First of all, people LOVE me here. Not just people I meet. People I don't even know will stop while they are walking down the street and kiss me or smile at me. Little kids, women, men, all kinds of people! I thought that I used to get attention...but now I really know what attention is!! And, even better, when I go into stores (read 'tiny corner market' or 'tiny pastry shop') they give me sweets...sadly, my mommies often take them away from me before I get to eat them.

So, I don't have a lot of pictures of me in Tirana yet. But I thought you might want to see some photos of the endlessly fascinating place that I'm living. There are so many things to see and look at...

A view of the main street that Mommy Mindy takes me down on my stroller all the time. There's so much to look at! And it's like being on a roller coaster ride with all the ups and downs and curbs that we bumpily go over. Who knew that my stroller could do all that? And why didn't I get to do it in DC?


Another view...here you can see some of the construction cranes, the doors and windows for sale on the street, and the Roma sitting on the curb selling things that I never get to have (like pinwheels). Mommy Mindy only has gotten boring things like sponges and batteries.


Looking down our street.


Part of "The Block" area. During communist rule only party officials were allowed in this area.


Another view off the main street. Tirana is a city of contrasts.


The little Italian supermarket where the people who work there smile at me and pinch my cheeks!


Some of the fun painted buildings of Tirana...the mayor, Edi Rama, was an artist before he was mayor and he made the communist buildings much prettier.


The little green awning store on our street. We get bananas, tomatoes, pasta, and lots of other things here...I think Mommy Mindy goes at least once or twice every day! And they LOVE me and give me candy.


ME!!

Walking!!

So, I've been taking a few steps here and there, but I've finally decided that I should just get up and go with the whole walking thing. I may not be running a marathon any time soon...I may not even be walking across entire rooms without stopping at a chair for a rest break, but I'm definitely moving forward on my own two feet!



PS...I am safely in Albania, and will post more about this whole new cool adventure soon!

Last Night in DC!!

So, tonight's my last night in town. Tomorrow my mommies and I head off to Albania. They seem a little stressed out about the plane flight. And I think I even heard them joking about some plan to sit up in business class together and leave me in coach...can you imagine!?! Nope, nope, nope...I get to be in business class and mommy Mindy and mama Melissa have to switch off between coach and business. Hee, hee, hee.... (I don't really understand why we can't all sit together, but I think I heard the big people saying something about how the federal government doesn't recognize mommy Mindy. Seems silly to me--mommy Mindy is definitely part of the family, even when she makes me take horrible naps!)

So, I have lots and lots of pictures that I haven't put up yet. That's 'cuz I got to see lots of people in the last couple of weeks.

Uncle Bryan came to visit and I'm so glad that he came to play with me!


I went to the zoo with Kathi and mommy Mindy and saw panda bears, lions, giraffes, elephants and more! But what I really loved were all the statues of animals.




Mimi and Tia TJ spent lots of time with me, taking me to the zoo, playing at the playground, and chasing me around the house!


I went down to South Carolina to visit my Granny and Grandpappy.


And I got to spend a fun evening with my Uncle Julian and Aunt Sandra.

I have more to post about, like Robin and Te's very fun wedding today. They may have been the center of attention...but just for a couple hours! The rest of the time it's me, all me! Mazel Tov to them, and pictures will be up soon. In the meantime, the next post will be coming to you direct from my new home, Tirana, Albania.

Going Away Bash...

So, lots and lots of people came over this weekend. My favorite--big crowds and lots of attention. And no one even tried to put me down for a horrible afternoon nap. Hee, hee, hee....

The pictures are all on shutterfly...with lots of really cute pictures of ME!

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaMmTdk5aM2LlI

I LOVE Nisha Masi!

So my Nisha Masi came to town to see me. I guess she wanted to get a little quality time (with me, of course!) before we head off for to Albania for a while--and I was really, really happy to see her. She spent lots of time playing with me...and she also spent lots of time feeding me--which is the only thing I like better than playing.
And we also got to do one of my favorite things--swinging at the park! Yippee! I had a great time, except at the very end, when I was really tired because I wouldn't take a nap all day long.



Now that she's gone, I miss her a lot. I wish that she was coming back to play before we left, but I guess I'll just have to wait until she comes to visit me in Albania.

The month of August...

Okay, so I'm horribly behind on my blogging...I'm sure it has nothing to do with all of the hard work that I'm doing supervising my mommies on all of the move preparation. I'm not sure how they would do it without me...

But, in addition to the move preparation, I had a very busy month of August, with lots of visitors and lots of activities. Oh, and of course, lots of people paying attention to me! So, I'm going to do a quick rundown to try and get all caught up!

August started with Zadie David and Grammy Suzanne coming for a visit. And I got to go to something really fun, called a Bar Mitzvah, for my cousin Zaydek. Zadie David and Grammy Suzanne are really fun to play with, so we had a great time!


This is me on Mommy's shoulders at the bar mitzvah -- don't you love my outfit!



Then I went to the Mall play with some of the kids in my mommies' pregnancy group. Here's me with Parker and Conor.


We also went on the Carousel. WHEE!!!


Then my Tia TJ and my Mimi Marina took me out for food and fun. They are so cool.
r=




Then my Bubby came to town and I had a birthday party with lots of balloons. For those of you who don't know, I LOVE BALLOONS MORE THAN ANYTHING!