98 weeks, 3 days.

New Year's Eve and still unwrapping presents...thanks for the trucks, Aunt Sarah and Uncle Tim! Graham's friend Sam has this same set and he loves them.

98 weeks, 2 days.

Hat Head Miller and I had a lunch date at Calexico today. Thanks to a sticker book and animal flashcards, we had a very relaxing dining experience.

98 weeks.

Graham, John and Grammy went to Kidville and reviewed animal sounds today, at the very tail end of John & Grammy's visit. Thanks for coming to Brooklyn, Grammy and Uncle John! It was great spending the holidays with you.

97 weeks, 6 days.

Once Graham realized that Grammy had photos on her phone, he asked to see pictures of Abby the dog constantly. The phone wasn't Grammy's only goodie--Graham also loved her altoids!

97 weeks, 4 days.

Merry Christmas!  Thank you to Grammy, Uncle John, and Nana for celebrating with us, and thank you to everyone for the calls, cards and presents!

97 weeks, 3 days.

Christmas Eve! We went to mass at St. Ann's, which had a Christmas pageant. Graham loved the "show," especially the angels and Mary. He kept up a steady commentary through the pageant--"more song!," "animals!," etc.

After mass and meatballs, Graham made a plate of cookies for Santa. He then took a bite of nearly every single one.

97 weeks, 2 days.

Welcome to Brooklyn, Grammy and Uncle John! Graham is already reaping the benefits of having someone other than Mama take him to Kidville.

97 weeks.

Decorating Christmas cookies with Bennett and Oliver! I thought Graham might be too young to get into it (other than the eating part, obviously), but he really enjoyed decorating the cookies and stayed interested much longer than his buddies. After finishing with the cookies, the boys drew on the chalkboard.

96 weeks, 5 days.

Graham took his first art class today, with Bennett and Elie. They made Christmas tree ornaments. Looks like our years of homemade decorations have begun!

96 weeks.

Activities Graham has done this morning: empty and refill a pack of 36 markers (repeat until time to leave for Kidville); empty and refill a box of bean bags at Kidville (repeat until time to leave Kidville); and empty and refill my wallet (repeat until nap time).

95 weeks, 5 days.

Happy birthday, Sam! Graham and Sam built train tracks together at our house before heading over to Sam's for his party.

95 weeks, 4 days (aka, 22 months).

Graham and Bella took a rest together in a Thomas the Train engine this morning.

95 weeks, 2 days.

Morning story time with Mama and Daddy. Later, Graham had his first pad thai eaten from chopsticks (he tried to use them, but that didn't go very well) and helped decorate the tree. He was an insta-pro at hanging ornaments.

95 weeks, 1 day.

Graham enjoyed meeting baby Sarah at the end of Auntie Spice's baby shower (congratulations to Apryl and Adam on the upcoming arrival of Baby Shu!), but the real highlight of his day was chasing the Christmas tree, carried by Daddy and Uncle Adam, down the street.

94 weeks, 6 days.

Thanks Grammy for the adorable creche set! Graham is very intrigued by the angel, wise men, and Mary and Joseph. He does not like the animals or baby Jesus and refuses to let them play with the other figures.

In this vein, Graham is suddenly very opinionated and likes to boss us, and his toys, around whenever possible. He also likes groups of things (like a creche set), which he can sort and arrange in different locations.

94 weeks, 3 days.

Graham went out to lunch with Violet and Elliot after playgroup today. Those buzzers did not go off soon enough.

93 weeks, 6 days.

Graham and Bella read about trucks at this morning's playgroup. Graham's attention span for books has really increased, and he seems to be picking up on plots. He gets worried when characters cry, get into trouble or something scary happens, and he has started finishing the sentence in books we read frequently.

Graham just woke up from his nap and said "go outside get stroller see Bella," so I'd better go say hello to him. He's hit 200 words, so we're going to stop counting.

93 weeks, 5 days.

Off to the races with Matilda, Katherine and Eric!

93 weeks, 1 day.

Back in Brooklyn!

92 weeks, 6 days.

Happy Thanksgiving! Thank you, Apryl, Adam, and Punch, for having us! We love you (and your food).

92 weeks, 5 days.

We spent the day before Thanksgiving exploring the arboretum (Graham enjoyed the Chihuly exhibits as well as a hay fight) and eating absolutely delicious TX tacos!

92 weeks, 4 days.

Off to TX for our second annual Thanksgiving in Dallas! Other than a brief but miserable car sickness incident, we had a very smooth trip and Graham got a chance to play a few tunes with Uncle Adam before settling down in the future baby Shulman's room for a good night's sleep.

92 weeks, 3 days.

Graham and Sam read a book about trucks together at playgroup today. Later on, Graham fed his dinosaur green beans, moving his jaws open and closed . In addition to the imaginative play, he's started telling jokes by calling something the opposite of what it is, like saying that his milk is hot. He starts laughing when corrected.

92 weeks, 1 day.

We took the ferry to Williamsburg this morning to check out the Renegade Holiday Craft Fair and the last weekend of Smorgasburg. Out of our festival food purchases, Graham liked the schnitzel with spicy mustard on a pretzel roll and the dulce de leche donut but didn't care for the porchetta sandwich.

91 weeks, 6 days.

After a very busy 2 hours at the gym, Graham and Sam took a breather to read the paper.

91 weeks, 4 days.

Graham and 4 of his friends terrorized a local pizza place for dinner tonight. The dinner was a success in that all toddlers were happy and ate. It was not a success for the cleaning staff or the other diners.

Graham continues to improve his verbal skills. Today, he said "Go outside, more stroller," which may be his longest expressed thought so far.

91 weeks.

Graham finally figured out how to go forward on a riding toy!  It took a demonstration from his best friend and role model, Sam.  With Sam in the lead, he also walked the entire way to the park (6 blocks).

90 weeks, 5 days.

Graham made the best of our 48 hour vacation at a friends' place due to remodeling in our building. He liked Bennett's lion towel, but most of all, loved his car collection.

90 weeks, 4 days.

Graham toughed out the long lines to vote this morning. We are all very excited that Obama will see him through his first 5 years.

90 weeks, 2 days.

Graham decided to be a good host this afternoon and pull out every book in his collection for his friend Violet to choose from.