7 Months, Scooting and Santa

Mia is now 7 months old. Just two days ago, she crawled around a tiny little bit all by herself. Luckily, both Papa and Mommy were around to witness her milestone! Here are Papa and Mia celebrating this huge achievement.


You can watch it too...


Today we had brunch with Leela and her parents Uncle Dani and Auntie Sumi in Brooklyn. Mia was very excited to visit another borough. Here are Papa and Mia and Uncle Dani and Leela.
Leela is two months older than Mia and she is quite a talker and almost a walker! She was so sweet to share her toys with Mia for the afternoon, especially her new red wagon!
As you can see, Mia also likes to eat other people's books.

On Friday, Papa took Mia and Mommy to the children's holiday party at his office.
Mia enjoyed the giant gingerbread house and toy soldiers but was suspicious of Santa's big old fake beard. You can't get anything past her!

Disco Baby

We just went to Baby Loves Disco this afternoon, where we shook our tailfeathers and had a great time! Papa was skeptical, but when we got there he had the most fun of all dancing with his little Mia. (Mommy really enjoyed carrying the diaper bag. ) Aunt Noga was also there with Big D and his Auntie Anita. It seems like everyone except Big D had a hard time keeping their eyes open during the camera flashes!

Here are Mia and Papa dancing to Abba. Their moves were so fly!


Here are Auntie Anita with Big D and Papa with Mia. Mia loves those egg shakers. She loves to eat them.


And here are Mia and Mommy and some big red balloons.

Yummy Solids

Mia has started eating solids! She only eats a tiny bit at a time, though, and we are slowly working up to two whole tablespoons of food in one sitting. Mostly she enjoys chewing the spoon.

So far, she likes carrots and peas and she really really REALLY digs apples and acorn squash. She does not enjoy rice cereal. Soon, we are going to try: butternut squash, pears, banana, chicken and oatmeal.

Thanksgiving... so late

Just wanted to post a fun movie we made over Thanksgiving. Here is Mia eating her carrots. She eats solids now!



We had a lovely holiday in Mathews, Virginia. We even met cousin Liam for the first time. Here are the kids meeting and playing - there was only a tiny bit of hairpulling!


Thank you Butler and Diana and Joseph for hosting Thanksgiving this year!

Half a Year; Half a House

Mia is now half years old, or, as most people would say, six months old. She has grown so much these past few months! She sits by herself, she reaches out to be picked up, she flips over both ways (but prefers to flip from tummy to back) and she even has thought about maybe trying to attempt to crawl. She can get up on all fours and budge around a little. When she tries to go forward she usually ends up going backwards. (I guess she is learning life's little lessons early!) She talks up a storm and loves to use her loud voice, which is ironic considering her parents are very quiet and reserved and so well mannered. (At least her Papa is.)

In other news, we drove up to our house in Chatham today to gather our winter clothes and also to check on the progress of our construction project. Benjamin made a few little movies which show the outside and inside of the house. It looks like a tornado hit the house but actually quite a lot of progress has been made. Here is part one which shows the exterior.


Here is part two which shows the interior.

The Windy City

Mia, Papa and Mommy went for a short trip to Chicago this past weekend. We arrived Friday night and went out to dinner. Here are Papa and Mia (asleep) at Kiki's Bistro on North Franklin. The food was so yummy!

Later on, we met up with Uncle Larry for dessert at our hotel. Uncle Larry is playing a fun game with Mia. It is called "How Many Fingers Can I Stick in My Mouth at One Time?" Uncle Larry was very good at it, but Mia was better (smaller fingers). Mommy thought this was hilarious.


On Saturday, Mia, Papa and Mommy met up with Aunt Holly and Uncle Faruk and went to the Lincoln Park Zoo. Here are Papa and Mia on our walk to the zoo. Mia is bundled up because the morning started out a little chilly. But the weather turned out beautiful!


We saw lots of animals - zebras, gorillas, wildebeests... Uncle Faruk made lots of funny animal noises.

Here we are all together outside the Conservatory.
This visit was so much fun! The big lesson that Mommy and Papa learned, though, is that Mia ALWAYS needs her naps to stay fresh and happy, like this:

Boo!

Mia, Papa and Mommy went trick-or-treating in the neighborhood last night. Mia and Mommy both dressed up. Mia was a bumblebee and Mommy certainly makes a very scary witch. Who knew witches liked to wear polarfleece vests?

In New York City, and particularly in our neighborhood, trick-or-treating often means raiding all the local merchants for candy. Here is the scene on Duane Street last night - crazy!Lots of merchants really get into the spirit (ha!) of things. Duane Street Bakery had some great carved pumpkins. Inside, Captain Jack Sparrow (or a reasonable facsimile thereof) was giving out freshly baked oatmeal cookies.



Here is Papa emerging triumphant after braving the madhouse of Bouley Bakery, where he scored some coffee and a slice of poundcake. The coffee he had to pay for, but the poundcake he won by elbowing a clown, a ballerina and a chicken out of the way and bumrushing the poor, besieged pastry chef. Sometimes, a papa's got to do what a papa's got to do. (Kidding, just kidding!)



Unfortunately, our little bee didn't last very long - she fell asleep in the middle of it all. We are looking forward to next Halloween already!

Mia and Big D

Daniel and his mommy Noga came over to visit yesterday afternoon. Big D is 7 months old now! I remember when he was still in his mommy's belly. We had lots of fun playing - the two little ones even had a shouting contest! (The mommies didn't have a shouting contest - they just ate pizza, but we didn't get a video of that.)

The Tiger and the Bee

We met up with our bestest friend Leo with his parents Aunt Nancy and Uncle Jarom at the Halloween Fest. Here are Papa and Aunt Nancy with the animals.

Buzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

On Saturday, we had a dress rehearsal for Halloween. Mia is our little bumblebee! She loves to buzz and fly around!


That afternoon, Mia, Papa and Mommy went to the Kids' Halloween Festival at the World Financial Center. They had music and games and pumpkin carving and most of the stores were giving out candy! We tricked-or-treated with 5-month-old Mia, which is not as weird as it sounds, especially since Mommy had a camera and took about 500 pictures. (Without the camera, it's just a grown man asking for candy - silly and kinda creepy but mostly just lame.) Here are Papa and Mia getting some candy from the nice lady at Sunglasses Hut!


We can't wait for real Halloween on Wednesday...

Sitting pretty

Mia is getting so good at sitting up! She is pretty steady but still tends to fall backwards suddenly. She thinks it is a fun game though, and reaches out to be helped up again.

We had our 5-month doctor's visit on Wednesday. Mia is doing fine and is breaking all size records for babies her age! She weighs 18.5 lbs and is 27.5 inches tall. Is it possible to be in the 105th percentile for height?!?!?!?

Mia is 5 months old

Mia turned 5 months old yesterday. She has been having loud voice days and soft voice days. She even sits up by herself, but then promptly falls over and does a face-plant into her blankie. Here is a recent photo from the park.

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Hello everyone... the Burtons are now online. And fierce. Check back soon for more posts and photos.