Grossman family west

We consider Avi a “talker” as, much like his grandmother, he always seems to have a word to offer. That said, at this stage his words are better characterized as “sounds” or “noises”, though he is getting quite good at repeating words like “Nanny.” I assumed that he wasn’t really sure what he was saying—instead just realizing that Mom and Dad seemed excited when he made the same noise that we made, so he repeated it.

Then, the other day, Mommy asked him to put some of his toys back in the bin and, much to Daddy’s amazement, he did exactly that. Shooting a surprised look at Daddy, Mom said “that’s nothing. Watch this!” and suggested I grab the camera…

About halfway through the video, I started to have the feeling that my home wasn’t the complete “safe conversation space” that it used to be…

I present to you, with much pride, Avi Aaron, the Flashcard Ninja.

The safari hat helps contain my giant brain!

With a Dad like Joel, it’s pretty amazing that Avi learned to eat WITH utensils. But indeed, he has! Check out two videos that show the progression of Avi eating with a spoon (luckily, he has not learned about catapults, yet!) You can see the videos here.

Avi Eating with a Spoon

Last month (sorry for the late post!) we headed up to Tahoe with our neighbors. We got in a beautiful day of April skiing, explored Northstar village, and, of course, played some Rock Band! A short photo album now posted in the Photo Gallery!

Avi and Mommy relax in the Tahoe snow

Swinging on a swing? Check.
Animal Noises? Check.
Crawling? Check.
Walking? Check.

For Avi’s next feat, he masters complicated puzzle sets with amazing deftness: circles, rectangles, and squares are no match for the Puzzle Master. Next week, we shall start on advanced cryptography and more complicated puzzles.

Check out the video here.

A few weeks ago, we got a family membership to the Bay Area Discovery Museum and brought along our friends the Weekley Family whose Dad, Corey, just happens to be a professional photographer. What happens when you mix a professional photographer, a photogenic 1-year-old, and a scenic venue? Our first ever official FAMILY Photo Shoot! Enjoy!

BTW, if you are in the Bay Area and looking for a great family photographer, we highly recommend Corey! You can check out some of his work on Flickr. Email us if you want his contact info!

GFW Under the GGB

You may have heard the rumblings, you may have heard the rumors. But you probably won’t believe it until you see it with your own eyes, right? Well, wait no longer! It took Avi 11 months to figure out this whole crawling thing, which he quickly decided was completely overrated. And so, two months later, he’s over it. And he’s walking!

Now, his walking is certainly a bit precarious—enough so that Mom and Dad have considered sticking a helmet on him during the daylight hours. But we’re here to celebrate the victories and so, without further ado, I present four video clips of AVI WALKING!

It's true, I can walk! But I still prefer this...

A couple of weekends ago, mommy and Avi went to Seattle. While there, we got to celebrate our friend William’s second birthday at his sport-themed party and visit friends and family—including Uncle Dale, Uncle Mark, Aunt Liz, and Cousins Carson and Jennah. Everyone is getting so big! Check out the pictures in the Photo Gallery.

It was great to see everyone in Seattle!

Hey! Remember us!?! It’s been way too long since we’ve reported any updates–we’ve been enjoying the temperate San Francisco winter, entertaining new visitors, and developing some new little human skills that have all been creating some great content for some long-overdue website updates.

I won’t give away some of the exciting posts that we have ahead, so today we will ease you back into the excitement that is GFW with the final of Avi’s Monthly Photo Shoots–from when we turned one. We had lots of visitors that week: Grandpa, Gigi, Auntie Robin, Uncle Jake, Aunt Liz, and even our pals Misty and William from Seattle. All of them make an appearance in our final photo shoot. Additionally, as a way of asking for forgiveness, we’ve posted a short video as well, of one of Avi’s new skills (and, there’s actually ANOTHER video IN the photo shoot slideshow–so you’re really getting TWO videos for the price of one!)

Are we forgiven yet? You can find the new video and the updated Monthly Photo shoot slideshow at the top of their respective columns in the photo gallery!

I'm Back, and I'm ONE!

For those of you keeping track (and there were an impressive number of you!), Avi turned 1 year old on Sunday. To celebrate, Grandpa, Gigi, and Auntie Robin came to visit—and we had so much fun! Then, on Saturday, we had nearly 35 of our pals over to celebrate. Mommy did a great job organizing everything, the food was delicious, and the weather held out. The day was a blast! Pictures and a video are now posted in the photo gallery!

Avi Turns One

As you read in an earlier post, we enjoyed Boston weather, friends, and family, for about a week over the holidays. We had a great time and were lucky enough to spend a lot of time with Nanny, Avi’s Great-Grandmother. Avi decided that he liked her style and, as soon as he got back to San Francisco, set about teaching himself to move like Nanny. She does a great job of getting herself around for a lady with a number of years of wisdom under her belt…

We’ve captured his latest milestone in a video (actually, 2 clips) now posted in the Photo Gallery!

Honk Honk!! Outta my way!