Fun in Florida with Grandma and Grandpa

Dominic and I spent February 17th through 23rd in Florida with my parents for a little getaway while I'm not working. We had a blast, even despite a trip to urgent care for Mommy and some cooler temperatures. By the end, it actually warmed up pretty nicely. Dominic made himself comfortable right away. Of course, it was easy with all of the little touches Grandma and Grandpa did to help. Dominic loved flirting with all of the ladies of High Point "ooohing" and "aaahing" over him. He also learned to say "Papa" for Grandpa and was ever so proud of himself in doing so. Here are some pictures from around the house and next I will post pictures of our different adventures each day. We can't wait to go back and next time, we'll bring Daddy with us for sure!

School House Children's Museum in Boynton Beach

On Thursday afternoon, Grandma and I took Dominic to the children's museum that was right in Boynton Beach. There was tons of stuff to do inside, as well as, a great playground outside. Dominic got to do a lot of his favorites like play with the train table and in the kitchen. There was also a doctor's office, a grocery store, both a minature and a life sized cow, a mini-tractor, a big boat and an indoor jungle gym, among other things. As you can see, he had a great time exploring all afternoon.

Palm Beach Zoo

On Friday afternoon, we went to the Palm Beach Zoo. It was the perfect size in that we were able to go through the entire place in just a few hours and finished right in time for closing. Dominic was so good staying in his stroller for the afternoon, but of course, loved it when Grandpa would pick him up to get a closer look at some of the animals. We saw some lesser known animals like the tapir and the water pig, but of course, also got to see some of the usuals like tigers, bears, monkeys, flamingos, peacocks, ant eaters, and parrots. The most fun part was how close you could really get to a lot of them. Many of the birds were even wandering around uncaged. This made it much more enjoyable for Dominic and we could really see his reaction of each of the animals. We were near the tiger cages around feeding time and so he and Grandpa got to stand around 3 or so feet away from two 300 pound tigers. They even got into a little scuffle and while Mommy, who was standing about 10 feet away, jumped at the sound of their roars, Dominic just kept intently watching all of the action.

At the beach

We spent Sunday afternoon at the beach. It was a little windy, but when the sun was out it was nice and warm. The last time that Dominic was at the beach, he was 9 months old and crawling. What a difference this time. He no longer tried to eat the sand, but instead shoveled it into his bucket while making sand castles with Grandpa. This time, he got to run around visiting all the people, saying hello and flashing a smile as we tried to avoid trambling their blankets. The water was a bit chilly, so Dominic didn't really want to splash around in it, but he certainly liked having Grandma or Grandpa hold him so he could watch the waves and boats and listen the great noises of the ocean.

Gumbo Limbo

Gumbo Limbo is a nature preserve in Boca Raton where there is a turtle hospital along with all other sorts of aquatic life and a really nice walking trail that is just off of the intercoastal. It is named for a type of tree that grows in the area which has the most interesting peeling red bark. We had a great afternoon there and of course, Dominic loved seeing all of the fish, turtles, eels, lobsters and more right up close. We were there at feeding time, so we got to learn a lot about the fish they had in the aquariums. The most exciting part was to see them all gobble up their food.

More Snow!

We got some more snow Friday night into yesterday morning. Unlike our last storm a couple of weeks ago, this was nice, light snow with no ice. In fact, a lot of the snow had already melted, by the time we got to go outside. Never the less, I still had to let Dominic see what it was like. You'll see that just after his first couple of steps, he toppled and got to see what the snow feels like. Since we don't get very much snow here in NC, I was not prepared with a sled, but I did still have his pool float blown up and was able to fashion a make shift sled to pull him around in. It was fun, but I think it took longer to get him dressed in all of his layers of clothing than it did for us to play!
Here are some pictures and a link to a video that Aunt Maria took. http://sharing.theflip.com/session/829dbd272a9515829b795a86939bb84f/video/10613019

I'm leaving on a jet plane....

Dominic and I are taking a trip to Florida next week to visit Grandma and Grandpa Stio at their vacation house. This morning, I took out some of the suitcases to figure out how I was going to pack everything and Dominic decided to have some fun of his own. He's obviously ready to get out of this cold!

New Playground

Our house is the 3rd to last on the block before a very large gap in the houses. We had always figured that this spot would just remain empty. Much to our surprise a couple of weeks ago, trucks starting bringing in playground equipment and shortly after a brand new playground was constructed. Our last snow storm and a lot of rain slowed down the progress a bit, but it is finally completed! We are so excited to have this so close to our house and it's got plenty of things to keep Dominic and all of his playmates busy for years to come. They are also in the process of putting up a pergola with some picnic tables underneath. I foresee many picnic lunches with playtime afterwards in our future! Take a look at his first test drive yesterday afternoon.

Snowed In!

After several threatening but false predictions, we finally got a snow storm this winter.
It came on Friday night and we got about 4 or so inches total. When Dominic woke up on Saturday morning and we came down stairs to open up the curtains, he was amazed at what had happened outside. Although, Dominic has technically been in snow twice, once in NY and once last winter here in NC, this was the first time he was old enough to know that something had happened. His reaction was priceless and also helped him to learn a new word - SNOW. He hasn't mastered saying it, but can certainly point it out without hesistation now.

15 months

Dominic turned 15 months on Sunday. He went for his check up at the doctor today. He is still a little pipsqueak at 18lbs 9.6oz (3rd percentile), is 30 inches tall (20th percentile) and his head is 46 cm (25th percentile). Dominic has accomplished a lot over the past month or two. To name a few, he has perfected his waving skills for hello and good-bye (think more beauty queen in a parade instead of awkward finger motions), blows kisses, can identify several body parts including his ears, nose, hair, feet, and belly. Not only has he started doing the "ch" for cheese, but also does the "sh" for shoes, which the doctor told me today does technically count as two words at this stage. He can tell you that the cow says "Moo" and according to him, a sheep says "aaahhh." Dominic does peek-a-boo himself instead of just having Mommy do it to him. And, although it is Mommy's least favorite new trick, he can now climb up the stairs standing up (holding on of course) instead of just crawling up.

Artwork by Dominic Novello

Dominic attends school every Monday morning at Lincoln Heights Elementary School. It is a program for kids who are 1 year old. We sing, dance and play and there are always arts and crafts projects to do. Up until this point, Dominic is usually completely ignoring the project, watching Mommy do it or trying to eat the supplies. Today, when I showed him the letter stamp - "M is for Mitten" - and the dot maker, he was actually interested and wanted to it all by himself. So, I can finally say that Dominic did his very own art project in school today!

Planet Child

I'm a little late in getting these pictures up, but about 2 weeks ago, Vinny, Maria, Vinny and I took Dominic and Vincent to a place called Planet Child. Basically, it's one big play room for the kids to run around in. Here's a few shots from the afternoon...

Vincent and Dominic trying out the oversized dominos.


Daddy and Dominic playing with the trains.

Whipping up a snack for everyone in the pint-sized kitchen

"Ch, Ch, Cheeeeze"

Vinny and I have been anxiously awaiting Dominic's first "real" word. While he says "Mom" and "Mamma" and "Daaddeee" all of the time and uses them not only to call us (interchangeably) but everything else in the world, we haven't gotten much past that besides a boat load of babbling, giggling and well just plain old screaming. All of that is fine and good and honestly provides hours of entertainment, however, we're ready to bring it to the next level! So, as usual, at dinner the other night, I am repeating everything that Dominic is eating as he eats it over and over again and naming all of the objects that Dominic points to and he actually starting to make the "ch" sound for cheese. Technically, I think we can say that he did say the whole word "cheese" twice, although not very well, Dominic really prefers to just say the "ch" part. So, we're not quite there yet and it's going to take some more practice, but we are certainly on our way!

I should definitely also point out how appropriate this particular word is as cheese is hands down Dominic's favorite food - no question about it!

Christmas Day

On Christmas day we had the pleasure of visiting with our friends, Rick, Jennifer & Alexandra, along with Jennifer's family. As you can see, we had a great time! There were even MORE presents, lots of Alexandra making the cutest face ever out of excitement for all of her new toys, Rick and Dominic chillin' together and two happy Mommies who had great holidays made even better by their little angels!

Christmas Morning

It was so hard to choose which pictures to put up of Christmas morning. I know that a lot of these look very similar and I have a ton more just like them, but Dominic was too cute running around the living room that morning. When he first came downstairs, he was simply amazed at the pile of presents that was under the tree since it has been empty the night before. He was so much more reactive than Vinny and I thought he would be. He just loved opening all of the presents. Thank you to all of our family who sent gifts. It was hard not being with you this year, but hopefully these pictures help you see a little bit of how wonderful Dominic made our Christmas.