Developing Facial Recognition Software

Here I am going through my picture book and pointing out who I see. I'm pretty good if I do say so myself. I am still working on saying Gung-Gung and Gramma. My cousins are all letters O(Owen), H(Harrison) and E(Ethan). I've had Mama, Dada and Papa down for a while now and I just mastered Nana. Aunt Elaine is just Lane(so close) and Uncle Mike is My. I've decided to call Aunt Megan, Mimi since her name is hard to get my tongue around and Uncle Jim is a work in progress. He hides from the camera like a vampire from sunlight so I only have tiny head shots of him. I know Kiwi of course, I call him Ooof. Every other kid (no matter how much older they are) and I are just BABY!

Snow!?!?!?!?!

Did you know it snows in Southern California? Mommy and Daddy sure think so but the jury is still out on that for me. Tuesday, Mommy and Daddy along with Nana took me up to Mt. Baldy to play in the snow. I got all dressed up in a sweet snowsuit that we borrowed from my friend Logan. Mommy and Daddy were planning to ski while Nana and I made snow angels. Let's just say that even at 6000ft there wasn't much/any snow to play in. I had to climb up, over and into a gully to find this patch of snow to check out. The people at Mt. Baldy said there was snow at the 7500ft lodge but mommy and daddy didn't think it was worth it especially since we didn't see any snow the entire drive up. That and it was $20 dollars each just to ride the chair up to the lodge! I guess we could have just hiked up the hill. It's not like we would slip on the ice and snow. LOL.
The great thing about being 1 year old is that almost everything is exciting to me. Heck, we could take a trip to the DMV and I would think it was Disneyland. After playing in the patch of snow and wandering around the virtually empty parking lot we had a picnic in the back of daddy's truck. MMMMMM food.  After that it was time to head home and to be rocked to sleep with the gentle sway of the ride. We have a big storm coming in this week so mommy says we can try again in a few weeks.

A Busy Girl

My life is sure busy these days. Daddy is home all day and really tries to keep me active. I tried to act out my favorite part of my new book “Hop on Pop.” I’ll let you guess which part. Mommy had to reel me in from the edge of the world. Check out what else I did this week.
I practiced my Karate, surveyed my domain and attempted to “swim with the fishes” but in a good way. I climbed rock walls and slides with Finn (is Everest in our near future?) I painted my face with various foodstuffs and practiced for my ballet debut at the Met. I explored the culinary aspects of various soils and alluvium and learned about botany and the aesthetics of pinecones. I tried surfing the coffee table (I’ll try the real thing sooner or later), I discovered the structural properties of sand and I got first hand knowledge of gravity’s affect on people.
That’s a lot of activity and learning for one week. Sometimes you just have to know when to say "When!"

Looking Back on Christmas

Happy New Year!

I hope you all have big party plans for tonight. Maybe I'll get to stay up until 6:45pm! oooohhhh! We'll see if I can handle it.
I've been acting a little strange lately, sleeping in past 7am and turning down food and milk. Well, daddy discovered the reason this morning...TOOTH #13! It's here! I am only a few teeth away from a full set! Whohoo!
Happy New Year everyone! I have big plans for 2010! I'm almost 16 months old!
We hope to fly somewhere fun soon, but those TSA's are putting a damper on the plans. If I can't be on someone's lap the last hour of flight, where will I go? ;o)
Enjoy the pics from this week.
I'm playing the the rain, kicking it in my new chair, and eating my very own apple with daddy on the couch.  I can climb up by myself now, it's very exciting!

"baby!"..... my cousin Ethan

My second favorite word, after "ball", is now "baby". (I sound like Vince Vaughn in Swingers.) My 3 month old cousin Ethan was here for Christmas night and I was so excited I could hardly sleep. He's so tiny and cute. He only weighs 12 lbs. Can you remember when I weighed just 12 lbs? I kept screaming "baby!" from my room, in case he was having a party without me.
I had a great Christmas.  Mommy and Daddy took me to family mass at 4pm where all the kids can be wiggly and noisy and we don't have to stay up until Midnight. That's a good thing since I can't handle being up past 6:30pm.  I took my time opening my gifts on Christmas morning because the boxes  and wrapping were so fun to play with. 
Yesterday we had a fun photo shoot on the beach with Aunt Elaine and Uncle Mike. They don't take pictures every second of their life like I do, so this was a real treat. I think my cousin would have stopped crying if only he had joined me in eating the yummy sand. It's so delicious, I can't get enough. ;o)-
Thank you to my great grandma who sent me the cutest little red outfit! Everyone thought I looked like a little doll.  I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! xox

Merry Christmas

Christmas is coming

A lot has been happening since the Xmas card photos. I've been helping Mommy bake, I've been eating a lot, been learning to step up on things, sit down on things and sit in things. I'm up to 26 words on my vocabulary list. Daddy has been teaching me to stick out my tongue and look fierce. I have the tongue thing down but not the fierce part but I have been practicing my "looking cute" poses. I am a full fledged giraffe wrangler and rider now. I have to hide in my blind and sneak up on them like the guy on "Wild Kingdom"used to do (I don't mean Marlin Perkins. The other guy who did all the work, Jim). With all that danger, I have taken to wearing helmets be they real or imaginary. All of this learning gets a girl plumb tuckered out. Only 4 more days till Christmas. I can't wait!

Christmas Card Outtakes

We had a great time at the beach taking pictures with Daddy's new camera this weekend. I really enjoyed eating sand and getting dirty as you will see in the slideshow. Kiwi didn't make it on the card this year since I am more than enough to handle for the photo shoot... (p.s. The monkeyfist could never replace you, Aunt Megan)

I'm 15 months old!

I have 12 teeth now! I still have a little bit of a cough at night, but I'm feeling great. I'm full of energy, very happy and cuddly lately!
I found some muffin cups in the cupboard and tried to bake them in my salad spinner, it didn't work very well, so mommy let me bake some real muffins! They were delicious and made a huge mess!
My newest obsession is jumping on Kiwi's dog bed. This drives mommy nuts. She is constantly sanitizing me and cleaning the house so I don't get covered in dog hair and germs, but I like to roll on Kiwi's bed to make sure I am nice and dirty!
I love to run around looking at all of the Christmas decorations around the house. My favorite is the musical gingerbread house. I get to push the button and then I dance and giggle. It's great fun!
I spent most of the week playing with my best buddy, Finn. People think we are twins when we are out together because of our bright blue eyes. We attract quite a bit of attention! We've been testing out the best playgrounds in town. Anderson Park is our favorite. I can even go down the slide by myself now! The weather is getting a little cooler, so we have to bundle up. Mommy enjoys this because she loves to dress me in cute boots and hats. When I say it's getting cold, it's only about 61 degrees, so I don't think it's going to be a white Christmas in Redondo Beach. Daddy says we'll drive to see the snow this winter though.
Santa came to our street yesterday, but I couldn't stay awake long enough to see him. I tried, but I am really stuck on that 6:15 bed time. I can't handle anything later.
I opened my "Little People" Nativity tonight. It was very exciting! Daddy let me sit in the box of packing peanuts. I am hamming it up for the camera every time I see one. I'm getting really good at posing with my "Cheese" smile.
Enjoy the slideshow!