Oyster Bay festival

We went to the Oyster Bay oyster festival that had
rides, food, crafts and petting zoo.
Luca tried tater tots and LOVED them.

Running to look at boats!

Exotic animal petting zoo. They had LEMURS!

Kissing his reflection.

Trying on daddy's boxing gloves.

Hats! Love them on other people, just not on myself.

Nakie boy, sitting in his chair with blankie.

Life on the playground

14 MONTHS OLD

Luca turned 14 months old today.
Time is flying. We haven't blogged in a while
because mommy is working a lot and hasn't had
time. We will just have to catch-up.

Kidfest at the Westbury Gardens

Hot Peas 'N Butter
Luca's first kid band experience. He was right up at the stage
with all the other dancing kiddies until one of the musicians
jumped forward to stomp his feet during a song. Luca retreated a
little further from the stage and held onto mommy.

Already interested in gardening??

Annual Camping Trip

Luca got the well-deserved "CAMPER OF THE YEAR" award.
The reason Jonathan gave for his win this year—he didn't cry!

Jonathan and Luca in the morning: buddies.

Andrew, entertaining Luca. He's very good at it.

Luca playing in the tent. We set up his pack and play at the foot
of our blow-up bed and in the morning he'd wake-up,
make some noise to get us up, and start waving and smiling at us.
I think he loves camping!

1 Year—STATS

Height: 35" tall
Weight: 29 lbs.

Things I am doing: I'm walking now; Trying to say words after my mom and dad say them, like tree, truck, that, no no no, choo choo, and bye bye (with a wave); I can point out some objects in a book when quizzed; I can make some animal sounds when I see the animal, like a cow, dog, and elephant; I know where my eye, nose, hair, toes, and belly button are; I can kiss but I still keep my mouth open, and I blow kisses very well; I still use sign language and I made up my own sign for phone, but I also just learned gorilla and doggy; I really want to feed myself so my mommy gives me a spoon to practice with while she feeds me and I STILL love throwing my food on the ground to see where it lands; I am a very happy boy and love to socialize and watch other children and people.

I'm a TODDLER

This is Luca WALKING, walking while playing the kazoo,
and showing off his first real walking shoes.

No No No...Luca's favorite new word

Luca might have heard the word NO a few times lately
and he's very pleased with himself for being able to say it back to me.
I ask him "What does mommy say?" when he's doing something
like throwing food on the ground, and Luca says "No, No, No" while
pointing his finger and waging it at me. The second part of this video is
Luca trying to feed himself with a fork. ENJOY!

100 Degrees Today

Today, Luca and I went to the NORTH shore of
Long Island to go to the beach.
Luca is a little scared of the waves and the ocean,
but he was fine with the calm north shore.
We swam and Luca tasted sand again.
He found things to try to eat (rocks, bottle caps, cigarette butts, etc.)

One of Luca's FOUND objects, a spoon. He tried to dig with this spoon making me think I should actually invest in some beach toys now!

Summertime

We had a few days that felt like Fall last week.
Here's his cute new stripped shirt for Fall. Such great colors on him.

Luca and I went to the Brooklyn zoo yesterday. It was the last zoo in the area for us to visit. He's seen every possible sea lion and monkey in the tri-state area!!!
This is a carousel ride next to the zoo. Luca's trying to imitate the horse.

Daddy and Luca out on the balcony with all of our flowers.

I'M ONE

Here I am holding up one finger when mommy asks me how old I am!
I also got my car seat turned around so I can see where we are going in the car now.

My family. We're eating at an Indian restaurant for my birthday.
I didn't eat much, but the mango ice cream was great.

Mango ice cream with TWO spoons.

Birthday dinner and song, with mango ice cream!

Granzie's visit

Luca loves story time with Granzie.

Trucks from Bumpa and Granzie.
Lots of buttons and noise, just what Luca likes now.

Our first trip to the Museum of Natural History.

Lots of bones and stuffed animals to see.

Luca was asleep from the upper west side, thru central park,

on the subway downtown, and woke up right as we
arrived at the restaurant for dinner.

Granzie, Luca and Rob on the beach at Long Beach.

A stroll after a good Italian meal.

Granzie's headband on Luca.

Birthday Song

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday dear LUCA
Happy Birthday to you

Luca's FIRST Birthday Party

Luca had such a great time at his FIRST BIRTHDAY PARTY.
Here he is...surrounded by presents!

The cupcakes suffered in the 90 degree heat--a little melted, but delicious.

The kids ate them and licked them, despite their appearance.

Michael, Luca (with stickers on his face) and Oliver.

Robbie and Luca.

Michael, Mary and Jeremy.

Kalyani and Jeremy on the rock climbing wall, chillin'.

Granzie with Luca.

Grandma and Luca.

Emma, delivering her prize to Luca.

Jen, Renee, Dorian and Jenny.

Eli, a champion rock climber.

The kids playing on the human teeter-totter.

New Jersey SHORE weekend

Luca's friend, Max, invited us to spend a weekend at their home on the beach. Luca is 2 weeks older than Max.



Luca trying to find a shady spot.



Max and Luca just chillin' on the beach.



Charlie, Max's older brother.

Trying to say his first word, TRUCK

Luca's trying to say TRUCK, and he can show you where his hair is if you can't find it!