Grossman family west

Hi Everyone!

Dad said I could write this one with his help and he even let me pick out the picture at the bottom. Last week, mom and dad and I went to a place called San Diego. We had a lot of fun in San Diego, though it was really hot. We played at the carnival, on the beach, and even had a picnic. Also, I got to play with my cousins Jennah and Carson, who are both really cool. But the most exciting thing of all was that Aunt Robin made Eric an official Uncle for me! A new Uncle for ME! Isn’t that cool?

Mom and Dad took lots and lots of pictures. More than 100! And Dad put them on the website in the photo gallery. Go look at them!

–Avi

Aunt Robin, Me, and Mom on the Beach right before I get my new Uncle

On Monday, our beloved Boston Red Sox came to town to take on the Oakland A’s. Avi couldn’t have been more excited, so he put on his Sox socks, donned his Sox hat, dressed mom and dad in their Sox gear, asked Aunt Debbie if he could borrow her foam finger, and invited mom, dad, and seven of his closest friends (one of whom turned out to be an A’s fan!?!) to the game. Avi cheered on the Sox like a pro but it was his first game, so he made some rookie errors. For starters, he forgot to bring his own peanuts (like Zayda told him) and also forgot that it got colder when the sun went down (though mom brought warm clothes). The costliest error was that he also didn’t know that they stop serving beer in the 7th inning (oh, the adorable innocence!), so he was left dry in the home stretch—a fate so unbearable that he just gave up and went to sleep.

Sadly, the Sox lost. Those of us hardened by years of fan-dom are used to such an outcome but mom and dad were worried about the impact it might have on the Innocent One. Fortunately, Avi fell asleep before the end of the game, so his youthful Sox innocence remained intact. We’ve posted a special slideshow in the photo gallery, complete with a video of the Little Fan sleeping through “Take Me Out To the Ballgame” (a song mom thought was actually named the “Seventh Inning Stretch Song”). Enjoy!

Go Sox!!

A couple of weeks ago, our friend Danielle loaned us a fancy new mobile, and Avi loves it! I have to admit, it’s pretty cool–in addition to the music, the contraption spins at an angle on a motor and all kinds of neat shapes and animals slide around on it. After I was done staring at it, I remembered why I was in the room in the first place–to film Avi watching it. His eyes dart around and you can just see the “development” going on right in front of you! I posted a video in the photo gallery, so you can see both Avi and the cool mobile…

Aunt Amy and Uncle Rick are in town for passover and stopped by a couple of days ago for a fun visit! We added a couple of pictures to the Family and Friends photo album…

Aunt Amy, Uncle Rick, and Sam visiting Avi

Kirsten, a former teacher co-worker at Ardmore, visited San Francisco and stopped by so we could meet Natalie and they could meet Avi. After a tasty sandwich at ‘wichcraft, everyone posed for some pictures.

Kirsten and Natalie

Aunt Liz (Holly’s sister-in-law) and Avi’s cousin Carson (who is eight days younger than Avi) came to visit this past week, and boy did we have fun! Avi and Carson met for the first time, and it looks like they’re going to be pals for a long time. We went shopping downtown, played together, and even went to see the Golden Gate bridge! Of course, we took pictures and videos, too, which we’ve posted for your viewing pleasure in the photo gallery.

Cousins Avi and Carson, born 8 days apart

One friend has asked me if I was concerned that posting all of the intimate details of the Little Man’s life would someday come back to haunt him. I think we’ve been in the clear, until now…

At his last music class, Avi had an explosive poop, the kind that makes a diaper look like tissue paper and really gets all over your back and legs, totally soiling your clothes. Worse than the poop itself, though, Mom and Avi were caught without a spare set of clothes. Luckily, our good friend Tula was in the music class, too, with mom Eve–and they had an extra set of clothes for Avi!

It was a VERY nice offer from Tula and Eve but there was one GIANT problem… Tula is a girl (!) Avi faced a difficult dilemma–sit through music class with poop all over his pants, or wear girl clothes. It was a tough choice. In the end, though, Avi felt confident in his masculinity and decided to wear Tula’s clean girl clothes. He thanked her, and squeezed into the girl-sized clothes with masculine confidence, flexing and spitting on the ground to prove his toughness after zipping them up.

So now here’s Avi’s most embarrassing photo, EVER:

Avi Cross-Dressing

Avi’s Two Month Birthday on March 31 was a wild one: first a music class (more on that tomorrow), then a visit with our friend Tula, and finally he boarded a plane for a trip for Las Vegas. What a wild day! Luckily, between all of these events, we managed to squeeze in a photoshoot which we added to the same photo set as his One Month photoshoot, now updated in the photo gallery!

Avi Turns Two Months Old

Kim Chai, our old pal from BMA who has since moved down to LA to start a charter school there, sauntered back to SF for a visit and came by to meet Avi. Now, rumors have been circulating that Kim has been trying to seduce people to move south by singing the praises of LA, so we didn’t let Kim hang out with Avi for very long–we like him in San Francsico and he’s too young to move. After Kim left (just to make sure), we explained to Avi that SF was just as hip as LA and here he’d have an easier time avoiding the paparazzi (who are even more aggressive with the camera than his parents are). Then we took a few more pictures of him.

Meredith, Kim, and the Big Man

Instead of the traditional rushed 1-on-1 doctor visits while we were pregnant, we joined a “Centering Group” —a group of 12 pregnant families all due around the same time who met regularly at the hostpital with a Nurse and a Midwife. We started each session with individual medical exams and then spent the remainder of the two hour sessions discussing a pregnancy topic (more general information on Centering groups here). It was a great way to ask questions, share concerns, and get support in a relaxed, open environment of people in your situation with hours, instead of minutes, of medical expert time (according to Holly… Joel generally felt that the entire setup was “inefficient”). Anyway, after everyone gave birth, we had a “birthday party,” which produced a couple of cute pictures…

Last time we all hung out, we were inside Mommy's belly!

Proud New Families