Winter is truly upon us here in New Jersey and this morning we had more snow than any other day this year. Ada and mama went to the roof deck to explore the snow, and Ada quickly learned that dining on snow is almost as enjoyable as eating ice chips, and easier to help oneself.

We returned a week ago from a great trip to Virginia to visit mama’s family and celebrate Thanksgiving and Chanukah. Our days these weeks have been filled with indoor art projects, play dates and holiday and travel preparations. In just a week and a couple days we embark on our next big adventure – to LA and the Southern Hemisphere! (See ya, snowballs!)

This year Ada is spending Halloween fighting a contagious respiratory infection (boo, indeed!) so we won’t be trick or treating. In the spirit of offering treats, however, here are a few snaps from our week’s visit with Titi and Nini!

“That way!” Ada adventuring at the park.

Sleepy bear. Oh, these eyes slay me.

Checking out a sticker book at Titi and Nini’s rented apartment in Jersey City. Nice digs, grand’rents!

More art class. This week we decorated a Halloween cityscape made of painted milk and shoe boxes.

Ada took Titi and Nini on the ferry across the river to Rockefeller park where we feed ducks and play on the swings.

We fed not just the ducks but the pushy pigeons as well. Ada thought it was highly entertaining when Mama shoo-ed the too-close pigeons away.

Zoom! It’s been a good, erm, 5 weeks since we returned from Budapest and Italy. Since then I have told myself that Ada’s blog is chronological, and the photos from Europe need to go up before anything new. It preserves the integrity of our linear scroll, or something like that. However, the best photos haven’t migrated from Daddy’s camera to any useable format, so we’re going to hop forward with a promise that the best pics from Europe are beautiful. And coming. Someday.

In the meantime, the month back after our incredible, challenging, and never-long-enough trip to a number of beautiful places has found Ada growing in leaps and bounds. We noticed her language and development really blooming while we were away, and knew that in part she was gaining skills and words being around so many family members and doing new and interesting things all the time. She also turned 19 months while we were away, and that window of 18-21 months, as I’ve been reading, is one of a LOT of big changes. It’s also a window of “disequilibrium,” to put it modestly. The little ones can have a hard time getting their arms and minds around all the changes happening in quick succession, and the adjustments can be rough on everyone. It was a relief to come home and read up on toddler development, and to see that the frustrations we’d been having in terms of sleep, big emotions, and tantrums are all… normal.

In any case, the upshot of all this growth is a little girl who is very clear about what she wants (and doesn’t want) and more and more able to communicate it all the time. More often than not, when you speak a full sentence to her, she’ll repeat the very last word back to you, and within a few days, that word will have worked its way into her vocabulary. Just today she came up with “buddha” in reference to a little sculpture we have in a window, and “Brian,” one of our daddy friends. Her favorite phrases of the moment are “Ready, set, go!” and “I do it.” (ahem.)

Since the weather has been autumn-beautiful, we’ve been spending our days at parks, walking to and along the waterfront, and at various art and music classes. We’ve even started bringing home works of art in watercolor with her name in the bottom right corner. You know, like a big kid!

So with no particular method to the madness, here are a bunch of my favorite photos from the last month or so…

(Editor’s note for grandmothers who like to save and/or print photos: since the gallery images are small, be sure to click through and then click AGAIN to get the full size images. We’re happy to help if needed. ;))

(Not quite focused, but ah well. And do you see the fashion model photo bomb? What’s with that?)

This kid.

After breakfast this morning she plopped herself on the couch, looked at us with a sad face and asked for Nemo. Having watched Nemo at least once a day for the past week, we weren’t eager to start again so early.

So she then picked up the DVD remote, changed the TV input to BluRay and started the DVD. Most fully-competent, wage-earning adults couldn’t figure out our remote system.

In other news, we are in so much trouble.

🙂

Yesterday Ada and mama made our way to a local aquarium to meet the fish! Ada’s latest favorite movie is Finding Nemo, and there was also an exhibit with birds and butterflies, which Ada loves. It was a no-brainer!

We saw lots of fish, penguins, huge spider crabs, sea lions and even a few sharks. Ada was unsure about the sharks but loved the coral reef with hundreds of bright fish. She kept saying, “whoa! Wow! Whoa!” straight-up baby Keanu Reeves style. 🙂

I wish I’d gotten more photos but I’d forgotten the stroller so Ada was on my hip the whole time and eager not to be eaten by sharks, so photography was tricky. (Ada also didn’t quite trust that the plexiglass windows kept us separate from the fish, so she was happy to be perched away safely on mama’s hip.)

After a bit we made our way into the bird exhibit. Again, a little room with a few dozen parrots and parakeets free to roam, and some bird playground equipment. And the birds had grown to associate visitors with the little cups of bird food they sold for $1 each. So they weren’t shy about making themselves at home on visitors arms, shoulders… and heads. (What is it with animals and mama’s head today?)

Cute, yes, and also a bit unnerving to have little bird feet and beaks burrowing in your hair. So we stayed for a bit and then said goodbye to our new friends. All in all, a fun day!