Walkathon (12/07)

When Hannah (or any child for that matter) started walking, it was both a blessing and a curse. The blessing was that it was yet another amazing step in her development, and with her ability to walk, we had some new found freedom to go out and do things that were previously challenging. The curse, however, is that Hannah always wanted to walk. She didn't want to be carried, and she certainly didn't want to be in her stroller. She wanted to explore her new world on foot. She didn't completely stop letting us carry her, but the only way we could appease her was to put her on my shoulders. And I'm sure you can imagine the challenge of letting your toddler walk around the mall or other busy place. Regardless of these challenges, we were very proud of Hannah when she started walking. She was now a full-fledged toddler.

Walk this Way (11/07)

Early this month, Hannah starting walking. Enough said.

Halloween #2 (10/07)

While it was her second Halloween, it was the first one where we dressed Hannah in a costume and took her out. Out for her meant stopping by her grandparents house, and visiting Joel, Michelle, and Vivian for a few minutes. Hannah was going to bed at 6/630 around this time, so we didn't have too much to work with.

Halloween is a fun holiday, but I always feel bad for the kids who get put in these awfully uncomfortable costumes by their parents. Hannah liked being a Bumble Bee, and in contrast to some other things we've tried to dress her in in the past, she kept her outfit on the whole time and liked the attention. She even got a little candy.

Yom Holedet Sameach (9/07)

September 2007, the month of Hannah's first birthday, came much quicker than we could've possibly imagined. It really is amazing how fast children go up. It felt like yesterday that Hannah was just a little itsy bitsy baby, easily held in one hand/arm. In some ways, looking at her, she will always be that little baby. But in reality, she quickly became a full fledged toddler, with an ever-expressive personality, a curiousity about the world that only a child can have, and the sweetness of our dreams. Because they grow up so quickly, we have to constantly remind ourselves to enjoy and cherish every moment and every development with Hannah, because at the blink of an eye, she'll be a teenager, cursing how annoying her parents are :)

Hannah weighed 17lbs 13oz, was 27.75 inches long, and her head measured 46.8cm.

Louie (8/07)

August was a fun month. We put Hannah in a swim class, and although she was probably a little young for it, she enjoyed it. She still only had 2 teeth around this time, but she was almost completely on solid foods. She would eat almost anything we gave her although there was the occasional gag if she didn't like the texture or if something wasn't soft enough. Her favorite food around this time was Peas, and she didn't like Tofu at all. It was the food most responsible for her gagging.

We had an afternoon BBQ at Rusty and Patti's this month, where Hannah got up close and personal with their dog Louie. Little did we know that we would adopt Louie as one of our nicknames for Hannah.

I took a trip to the East Coast this month for a Camp Reunion, but unfortunately Hannah and Maria stayed home. I was the proud dad, though, and showed all my friends from camp (who knew me as a younger, much different person) pictures of her. I hope we're able to send Hannah to Summer Camp when she gets older. Some of my best childhood memories are from camp, and I want Hannah to experience the same thing if she's interested.

On the Road (Again) (7/07)

We took another road trip to SoCal this month. This time, it was to meet Hannah's new cousin Zoe Mei Rofman, born on June 19th. Hannah has three cousins (Samantha, Rachel and Jack) who live in Virginia, but Zoe was the first cousin that she met. Maria was working this week at her company's headquarters, so I got to spend a lot of time with Hannah. We took frequent walks, I took her to the beach in Santa Monica a few times, and we went into a pool for the first time, which she liked. It's always hard for babies to adjust to new surroundings and routines when they're so young, but Hannah was a trooper and she did a great job on this trip.

Hannah weighed 16lbs 4oz, was 27 inches long and her head measured 46cm.

Rapid Transit (6/07)

Hannah continued to rapidly develop in June of 2007, and she literally had a new trick almost every day. She was learning new words frequently, moving around with greater ease, improving her hand-eye coordination, laughing, signing, clapping and a bunch of other things. While babies develop rapidly almost from the beginning, it gets much more obvious when they're mobile, interactive, and verbal. It was, and continues to be, amazing to watch her explore the world and soak in new things like a sponge.

Best Birthdays Ever (5/07)

Our birthdays in May 2007 were by far our best birthdays ever. I don't remember doing anything special for either Maria's or my birthday, but I do remember enjoying the company of Hannah, especially as she grew more interactive and fun. Some of my favorite pictures ever (no, not the one in her Eagles jersey) were taken this month. Can you guess which ones they are?

On the Road (4/07)

April 2007 was a fun month. We took Hannah on her first road trip to San Diego and LA for Passover, and she said her first true word. It was "achkee", which means glasses in Russian, and she said it on our drive home from LA. She did a good job being couped up in the car for all those hours, although she didn't sleep much :)

Passover was fun, and Hannah got to play with her friend Lia. Aunt Yaling was pregnant with Zoe at this time, so having two babies in the house was good practice for her and Jake. Nana also liked having us stay at her house in Oceanside, and we took some walks on the beach that Hannah enjoyed.

Hannah was rolling over and sitting up by this point, but not quite able to move around.

Hannah weighed 14lbs, was 26.25 inches long, and her head measured 44cm.

Digestive Personifying (3/07)

Hannah's personality continued to develop and shine through in March of 2007. She was a sweet, social, happy, loving and funny baby. She always attracted a lot of attention when we went out, and she showed her enjoyment of it by smiling back at everyone who smiled at her. We took Hannah to the SF Zoo for the first time this month. She was a little young to understand the animals, but we enjoyed being out in the world with her.

March was also the month when Hannah stopped drinking breast milk and started on solid foods. Her first meals were organic oatmeal, and we gradually added fruits and vegetables to her diet. Her favorite food around this time was peas, but she pretty much ate everything we gave her, including carrots, squash, spinach and whatever other concoctions Earth's Best made available. I even tried making some homemade concoctions that Hannah ate for a while but eventually grew out of.

With the solid foods came....you guessed it, solid shizzle. And lest you forget, shizzle out of water, whether it comes from a dog, adult, or adorable little girl, stinks just the same. My dormant gag reflex was beginning to awaken.

Shizzler (2/07)

As all our friends told us, once the 3 month mark passed, things started to get dramatically better. But we discovered an odd thing about Hannah around this time. Every time we took her somewhere, she had a habit of making poop, regardless of whether she'd pooped before we left the house. Whether we took her to a family meal, or out to breakfast or lunch, she would invariably soil her shorts every time! Maybe she was just so relieved to be out of the house and experiencing the world that she just couldn't control herself. That aspect of her is straight-up Landow. Ironically, around this time, with her bald head, she also started looking like both Buddy and David Landow, my grandfather and uncle, respectively. Ode to the Landows!

Sweet Boiba (1/07)

When the New Year rolled in, Hannah started to became more of a person and less of a fragile infant. We started to see elements of her personality come out. She was happy, social, curious, and just about the sweetest little girl you could imagine. Maria was great with giving her tummy time and singing to her constantly. Her favorite song around this time was Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, and every time we sang it or played it on CD, Hannah would brighten up with a big smile.

January is also the month that Maria went back to work and Linda, Hannah's Nanny, started taking care of her during the day. Linda did a great job taking care of Hannah from day one, always playing with her, singing songs, teaching her things, and taking her for walks along the water. Maria worked from home at the time, so she got to sneak away for a quick kiss or hug with Hannah, but it's always been a challenge managing our careers and raising Hannah. We're very fortunate to have Linda though, as she loves Hannah very much.

Hannah weighed 12lb 1oz, was 24.75 inches long, and her head was 42cm.