Happy Hanukkah!

This kid LOVES opening presents!



We have been enjoying nightly Hanukkah celebrations here in Colorado with all our family and friends. My parents brought their menorah that was a wedding gift from my Dad's grandmother, given to them nearly 35 years ago. Tonight was a particularly special candle lighting as we toasted Steven and Julie to celebrate their engagement! Mazel Tov!!!



CLICK HERE for a few more Hanukkah pictures!

Luca's first day on Skis

CLICK HERE to see a few pictures of Luca's first day on skis.



After a session of kicking and screaming in the house as we dressed him in all his snow clothes, he calmed down and got excited to get out there. Once outside in the snow he forgot all his worries. We were actually surprised how willingly he clicked into his ski boots and skis - not at all traumatic like the ski pants he hates putting on. Luca loved getting on the "people mover" that brought us up the bunny slope. I thought for sure he would be a little nervous about that, but he was totally calm and commented "Its just like at the airport!" Once we started down the mountain he wanted to go FAST!!! and kept begging me to go faster, "SPEED, MOM!!! SPEEEEED!!!!" We did about 10 runs then went into the club for some hot chocolate and lunch. He was exhausted - and so was I!!!

Playing the Colorado Snow

It already snowed 18" since we arrived here and we expect 10-20" more by Xmas day! Luca didnt want to get his gear on yesterday, but after we were outside he immediately forgot his worries! Finally the sun is out today and we are taking Luca skiing for the first time. Hopefully it will be a success and we can post those pics tonight...

Luca the Pool Shark

Luca playing pool from Ellen Fleisher on Vimeo.

Thanksgiving in Florida

THANKSGIVING NIGHT - THIS TIE STAYED ON FOR 30 SECONDS




PLAYING WITH PRETEND SUSHI WITH ZIO JASONE


SWIMMING AT MIMI & PA'S


COOKING STUFFING FOR T-DAY DINNER


PLAYING CARS WITH GREAT-GRAMPY


POSING WITH MOMMY AT PARTY FOR BABY ETHAN PERLYN


What an AMAZING trip we had to Florida for Thanksgiving! We were so lucky to have two whole weeks with Zia Micol and Alex who came all the way from London, Nonno and Nonna who came from Milan, several days with Zio Jasone and Aunt Allison - as well as all our "usuals" - Uncle Steven, Julie, Great-Grampy Zoom, Mimi & PA, MJR clan, Omi and Big Al, the Cohens and all people related to the Cohens, who did I forget? My dear friend Emma and her beautiful 3 kids too! So sorry to have missed out on catching up with friends (Adriana! Michelle! Barb!) but we were running constantly with family and trying hard to make up for lost time with Gioel's family from overseas who we dont get to see often.

CLICK HERE to see all the pics from Thanksgiving.

Video at the park

P1000278
Originally uploaded by ronni912

Here is Luca climbing on the playground out front of our apartment. It was a nice autumn day before the weather got too cold.

Luca eats his first truffle

As a belated anniversary celebration Gioel bought white truffles for us. We also thought it would be a good opportunity to test Luca's adventurous palette. He is quite daring and willing to try new things - earlier this week we took him out to lunch and ordered him a kiddie burger and fries. He didnt want to eat his food - instead he wanted to try my mussels in saffron broth. We ended up trading dishes. I ate his meal and he ate mine in its entirety.

Tonight we had handmade tagliatelle with butter, parmeggiano and the shaved truffles. Here is a video of Luca tasting his first truffle...


Truffles from ronni Molinari on Vimeo.

Daddy and Luca discussing cars

Italian Conversation with Luca from Ellen Fleisher on Vimeo.

Halloween 2008

Luca was a race car driver for Halloween. An obvious choice for his costume since he is pretty much obsessed with cars, motors, wheels, racing and speed...



He went to a Halloween party in the park for lunch. The weather was beautiful. We trick or treated in our building later in the day. One of the pictures here shows him trick or treating with Grandma and meeting some other characters. He was a little stunned by their strange costumes!





Playing in Daddy's helmet

Trick or Treat practice with Grandma

Trick or Treat Test Run from ronni Molinari on Vimeo.

Chicago Trip

We're FINALLY uploading the pictures from the past couple months - its been so busy with our recent move and delayed internet hook-up in the apartment I got too sidetracked and forgot to post a few different events on the blog.

Mid-October we went to Chicago for Mat & Tara's wedding. They were married at the beautiful Arboretum.



Of course we couldn't visit Chicago without quality time with our favorite Chi-towners, the Bonecks. Maddy and Luca had a blast playing together at home and during a trip to the Zoo.



CLICK HERE to see the rest of our pictures...

Luca reading letters

Luca was reading the side of a box tonight and I actually had the camera right next to me so I quickly taped the tail end of his session. He loves the Letter Factory games and DVDs - that is where he learned the "B says Buhh, O says ohhh, etc". (Thanks again Barbara for that refrigerator LF puzzle - he has been playing with that a lot over the past year and it definitely helped him learn his letters!)



CLICK HERE if the video doesn't show up in your email...

Colorado visit with Grandparents

CLICK HERE to see a few of our pictures from a week in Colorado visiting Grandma and Grandpa.

Thanks to Grandma for this little video of Luca getting creative with some plastic cups and water:


Luca Pouring Water from Ellen Fleisher on Vimeo.

Playdate with Pierce

Today we drove Luca down to Philadelphia to visit his best buddy Pierce. We enjoyed some Philly cheesesteaks for lunch, then headed to the pool for the remainder of the afternoon. What a great day - the boys are so adorable together!

CLICK HERE to see the rest of the great pictures.

Visit to Brooklyn Botanical Gardens

CLICK HERE to see a few more pictures.

4th of July in Vermont

CLICK HERE to see our vermont pictures...

We had a great long weekend in Vermont with all of Gioel's family. Luca can't stop talking about catching frogs and throwing them back in the pond and riding the "golf cart rhino".

He didn't love the fireworks, cowering silently and doing his routine covering of the eyes (despite it being a loud noise that scares him).

He also ate his first sushi this weekend - salmon over rice. Loved that. While we are discussing our foodie's likes and dislikes, we discovered recently that he loves anchovies on his pizza - and since no blog post would be complete without some feature on Luca enjoying pizza, we thought we would add that note in here too. He still doesn't like cheese. Unless on a pizza.

Boo-Boo

Today Luca stood up too fast in the sandbox where he was standing under some metal shelf and he smashed his face. We just got home from the doctor where he got 2 stitches on his nose. He looks pretty beat up - two black eyes, swollen nose and bruises on his right eyebrow and forehead. Next Monday we go back for a follow up when the stitches come out and they xray to see if its broken. The pediatrician thinks there is no break since he didnt have a bloody nose - but the surgeon who did the stitches just wants to make sure next week once the swelling goes down. Sadly, he won't be able to swim this weekend in Vermont since he can't get the stitches wet.

Luca is happy, singing and trying to jump on my bed - so he can't be in too much pain!

Here are pictures of the damage:

Before stitches


Home resting

Sofia Amay Wilder naming ceremony

Yesterday we drove up to Katonah for the beautiful baby naming ceremony in honor of Sofia Amay - our friends' Nikki & Andrew's daughter. The party was so elegant - Nikki thought of everything and there were so many special details that made this event so personal and memorable.

CLICK HERE to see the pictures from the party...

Father's Day

2yr Check-Up

Today we visited Dr Lee for Luca's check-up. He is 36" tall and weighs 30 lbs. He has grown 2 inches and gained 2 lbs since his last visit exactly 3 months ago - whoa!

Luca turns 2

Luca at the Zoo:








Click here to view the rest of our pictures from the beach and Pepe's Pizza...

Luca's birthday celebration began over the weekend with a visit from his buddy Pierce (that post with pictures will come later) on Saturday. Sunday we went to the Bronx Zoo with Uncle Steven and Julie. It rained earlier during the day so many of the animals were hidden away, but Luca was so excited to splash in every puddle he didn't even notice.

Yesterday Luca woke up to the apartment filled with helium balloons (I rented a tank and we spent an hour filling and tying the balloons Monday night, Gioel was a trooper) and we made special banana/chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast. Daddy got Luca a new toy car and Mommy got him a ball for the park - where we spent the rest of the morning in the water fountains, sandbox and out on the grass running and collecting leaves.

After Luca's nap he got a cupcake with a giant "#2" candle on top. We conference called on skype with Nonna, Grandma&Grandpa, Uncle Michael, Tante Judi, Andrew and Justin. Thanks to everyone who called to wish Luca a happy birthday. He definitely enjoyed all the attention!

Later in the afternoon we attempted to drive out to Bethany, CT for the Laticrete party, but the traffic was so horrendous that after 2 hours and only reaching Westport, we had to abort our mission. We decided to hit the beautiful beach in Westport for an hour so Luca could run around and play in sand. He enjoyed this immensely and what could have been a disaster of an afternoon ended up being incredibly fun and intimate. Gioel took some beautiful pictures of Luca in the late day sun. We managed to make it to Pepe's in Fairfield for some pizza for dinner.

Today the birthday celebration stretched out just a little bit more as Grampy came over for lunch! Great to see you Bampy!

Liz and Pierce Visit

For those of you who remember the "Pierce, where are you?" video, you might enjoy seeing how much the two babies have grown since that was taken last October.

Liz drove up from Philadelphia yesterday and we had a blast at the park and lounging around the apartment.

Cute picture with our new camera

taken last night before bed in low light with no flash!

Luca, say "Cheese!"

Here is a silly video when Grandpa asks Luca to "say cheese" to the camera and gets a surprise answer:

Early Summer in Colorado

Luca and I just got back from a week in Colorado visiting Grandma and Grandpa. Grampy came with us too. There was no escaping the spotlight for Luca - and he was loving it!

Click here to see our pictures.

Luca folds a napkin

Now we know how to keep him preoccupied while we wait for the food to arrive! This kept his attention 10x as long as crayons.


Luca folding napkin from Gioel Molinari on Vimeo.

Giant Artichokes!

Today I found these amazing artichokes at the market and Luca and I enjoyed them for dinner (well, actually we only managed to eat one between the two of us!). He has a pretty good understanding of how to eat the leaves and finds great pleasure in stacking his leaves in a neat discard pile once eaten.

Spring Weather

Ahhh! Fantastic weather has us in the park quite often these days. Here are a few pictures of Luca from the past couple weeks.









downward dog!