Some of my Daily Activities

Hi everybody!
It's me, Julien the Baby!
I know that sometimes people wonder how I spend my days. After all, I'm a baby so I'm not working or going to school.
During the week, I am usually with one of my parents (or sometimes Popo - DOJ's mommy). I'll wake up in the morning and have breakfast. We have some form of morning activity, where I get to utilize some of my fun energy! After that I'll have lunch and a good nap. Then I'll get to do something fun in the afternoon before dinner, then it's time for bed.

I go to Tot Gym two days a week. Basically it's an opportunity to play in one of San Francisco's Park & Recreation Centers, in a nice large room with many fun toys and mats that I don't have at home. Plus there are other babies there, within a year or so of my own age.

I don't have one of these cars at home, so it's nice to practice my driving when I go to Tot Gym. Sometimes other babies are using the cars, so I need to wait my turn. It's not always easy, but my parents think that it's good for me to learn patience this way.
As a bonus, after Tot Gym I can often play in the playground for more activity! And then I'll have a good nap. I love napping, even if I protest beforehand.

Another activity I have is Music Together, which takes place one day a week. It's a very fun music class!

Part of the class involves being underneath a parachute with other babies!

In general I'll be with one of my parents in class, but I like to wander and see what's going on.

Teacher Andrew is really nice about letting me (as well as the other babies) touch his guitar! He's really nice.
The nice thing about Music Together is that it's near shopping and a playground, so after class I can have more fun. Admittedly this makes me a little tired, so afterwards I'll usually have a nap.


Finally, here's a video of me playing on a slide at Tot Gym!

Love,
Julien the Baby

Halloween 2010: October 31 party at Avery's!

Hi Everybody!
Happy post Halloween!
On Sunday Halloween, we went to Avery's for a Halloween party. Avery is in the playgroup that we joined soon after I was born. It's referred to as a "working mom's" playgroup, so in general both parents work during the week. When we were all very young, our mommies were taking time from work so we would get together once a week. Gradually the other mommies started returning to work, which is how Mommy and I joined our other playgroup, and thus how I got to meet Ruby! Anyway, my first playgroup still periodically gets together.

Here I am at home before the party - this and other Chinese emperor costumes are from Uncle Justin and Aunt Chloe! They arranged for these costumes to be made for me when I was still a very tiny baby!

Here you can see how the back of the costume appears.

Here we are in costume at Avery's!

In this picture, Alys is on my right, as Ms. Peanut. On my other side are Nolan (bear), Aiden (lion), and Natalie (Notre Dame cheerleader).

I'm pretty impressed that we all sat still for the picture, for the most part. In this picture, Dev (cowboy) has already disappeared, while Sophia (fairy) is up and ready to move! Avery (princess) is next to Alys.

Alys

Natalie

Sophia

Dev


Because this was during the heat of the World Series, everybody was excited for the SF Giants baseball team!

I really love balloons!

Avery (with her mommy Christina and daddy Brent in the background)

Alys and Dev

I always have fun with these babies! These babies and their parents will always be special for us, because we were all the first playgroup together. I hope that we all get together again soon!
Love,
Julien the Baby

Halloween 2010: October 30 Randall Museum

Hi everybody!
On Saturday October 30, we went to the Randall Museum for their Halloween party!

Before we left, I got to open a beautiful Halloween present from Grams - Funky Frank! It's a fun stuffed Halloween doll that plays music. I even know how to press the button to start and stop him.

Here we are at the Randall Museum.

We got to see a fun magic show! I was getting a bit tired, so my parents gave me a bottle of milk.
After the magic show, we got lunch and went home! Then I had a really great nap :-)
Love,
Julien the Baby

Halloween 2010: October 26 party at Ruby's!

Hi everybody!
On Tuesday October 26, Ruby hosted a Halloween party for our playgroup! It was really fun! Since it was the day after we returned from New York, DOJ came to assist for a bit.

Here's Ben as a bumble bee! Bzzzz bzzzzz...

Here's DOJ helping me with my costume.

Here's Ruby the Panda!!!

Here's Ben and Ben! There's also a third Ben, who moved to Mill Valley, so we don't get to see him as much. So it was great that he was here, even though he's not in this picture with Ben and Ben. I think I last saw him when he hosted a Farewell party to Ollie.

For whatever reasons, our mommies insisted on being in the group picture with us. They weren't wearing costumes, but after some resistance we agreed that it was acceptable. DOJ and Ashley's mother-in-law took a lot of pictures using different mommies' cameras.

Here's Ruby and her mommy! Ruby did such a great job for the Halloween party, so we all must thank Ruby for hosting.

After the pictures were taken, we had fun in the back yard! Ruby even had refreshments for us, but it seemed like the mommies were eating everything!

Cole was having fun in Ruby's car.

After Mommy changed me from my costume to my play clothes, I then got to have a turn in Ruby's car. That was a lot of fun!
I know it's a month after Halloween, but I hope that all of you enjoyed Halloween. It was a big holiday for me. Not only did we go to Ruby's party, but there were a couple other parties. Stay tuned for more blogs about my other Halloween parties!
Love,
Julien the Baby

October 23 - 25: The finale of our New York City vacation!

Hi everybody!
We were in New York from October 20 to 25. Even though the trip was relatively short, we had a wonderful visit! Here's the finale of our trip...
Saturday October 23 was my grandfather's birthday! So that was very nice, to honor his birthday with our New York vacation.

We started the Saturday with some upside-down time for me. I warned you that my parents are whacky!

My parents strolled me throughout the Upper West Side. Back in April when we were in Paris, my parents had some mirror fun. Here we go again...

Here we are in Central Park.

The leaves are beautiful, but I really just wanted to walk!

My parents kept me in the stroller throughout most of our Central Park walk, until we arrived at a playground. After my parents spent a decade or two trying to figure out how to actually *enter* the playground, we finally made it inside, and then they let me out of the stroller! I was finally free to walk and run about! Hurray! It was really worth the wait.

It's fun to walk through the park with a parent by my side. I get to feel like a famous celebrity with a bodyguard! Except it's even better because it's Mommy or DOJ!
We stayed in the playground until it got dark, then we exited at Columbus Circle (by the Lipstick Building at 59th Street), then walked all the way back North to 84th Street. But we met Michael around 82nd Street and had dinner together.
On Sunday October 24, DOJ and Michael went to the cinema and they saw the Facebook movie together. In the meantime, I had a leisurely morning with Mommy, and then we walked through the Columbus Street farmer's market. We caught up with DOJ and Michael and strolled some more. Then Mommy, DOJ, and I went to the High Line.

The High Line is an urban park set above ground! It uses the old railroad tracks that were above ground many decades ago! It's an architectural beauty where we are elevated above the streets of New York, in a very wide open space. Wide open spaces exist in very few parts of a city as busy and congested as New York City.

We enjoyed a fun acapella concert!

We got to enjoy wooden chaise lounges and watch the people go by for an hour. It was fun and relaxing. DOJ later read a fun interview with the actress Debra Winger, who talked about walking on the High Line with her son and a reporter, being unrecognized.

It's such a gorgeous place. We were sad to depart The High Line, but we wanted to get cupcakes at Billy's Bakery before heading home for dinner.
On Monday, October 25, we had a leisurely breakfast with Sara at Le Pain Cotidion. Then DOJ took me Michael's for a nap, and then we flew back home!
I had a great New York vacation and look forward to returning!
Love,
Julien the Baby

Friday October 22 in New York City

Hi everybody!
On Friday October 22, we had a fun active day! We decided to take a cruise to the Statue of Liberty! We stay on the boat the whole time, but we get to see the Statue from the boat. The boat ride was about 90 minutes total, which worked out great since there were still other things we wanted to do. We took a taxi to Pier 96, where the boat departed. We've found that it's actually easier (and not much more expensive) to take taxis throughout New York City when we're not going on a straight bus route, especially with my stroller.

Here we are at Pier 96, by the Hudson. We arrived early so got some time to take pictures.

I had a great seat on the boat.

The boat was slow enough so that we could admire the lovely New York City architecture.

There are some fun modern skyscrapers! And they're more fun to see when you're outside than inside them.

Here are Mommy and DOJ in front of the Statue of Liberty.

Here I am in front of the Statue of Liberty. Yes it's true - I was sleeping at this time!

After the boat cruise, we strolled along 9th Street, before heading to the MUJI store by the NYT building - it's also near Penn Station, so I think it's at 41st by 8th Street. At MUJI, my parents shopped while I got to walk along the long ramp. I was practicing my walking and running.

After MUJI, we strolled through Times Square and headed to the Japanese tonkatsu restaurant Katsu-Hama. They have 2 locations, and we went to the one that's on the 2nd floor, on 57th Street. My parents used to go to the one on 45th Street. In this picture, I'm sitting on a booster seat, because they didn't have high chairs. And this is the FIRST TIME I've ever sat on a booster seat at a restaurant, without any strap support. I guess I'm growing up!

I enjoyed reading my book and drinking milk. But I also ate a lot of rice. Because of the distractions from reading and dining, I also dropped a lot of rice on the ground! DOJ sure was busy cleaning up the table after we ate.
After dinner, we took a taxi home and I had some good slumber!
Love,
Julien the Baby