Smithdahl Adventures » Holidays

Gabe discovers the secret to the pancake

ian — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 17:18:04 +0000

Well, Stephanie and I made a good go of it, that’s for sure. For more than a year now, Gabe has absolutely adored pancakes. We have a family tradition of Sunday brunch, and the little guy’s eaten pancakes, eggs and sausage for as long as I can remember. But, and here’s the trick, Stephanie and I have been keeping the syrup away from him. He’s been eating those pancakes plain — which is good for both his nutrition and his hygiene.Sadly, it seems that those days are over.This week, his awareness of people around him got just that much bigger. Even though I’ve been eating pancakes with syrup this whole time, only this week, Gabe suddenly realized that Daddy’s pancakes looked different than his pancakes. He got a taste of mine, and didn’t go back. Now he’s eating breakfast with his cousin Cami, and pointing at her syrup and asking, “I have this, please?”

Wanna Easter Egg?

ian — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 21:24:26 +0000

Easter Eggs!

ian — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 20:48:08 +0000

Steph sure knows how to make both Ian and Gabriel happy. Half the Easter eggs were Star Wars, and half were Sesame Street.

Christ returns from the Dead; Gabriel enjoys Eggs!

ian — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 23:29:58 +0000

This last Sunday, Stephanie treated Gabriel and I to a wonderful Easter celebration. It was Gabe’s first, I think; and it was my second. I hadn’t celebrated except once when I was 13 or so and staying with some good Christian friends-of-the-family (the Wallers). We all sat together and dyed the eggs, adding (Gabe’s favorite) Sesame Street and (Mommy and Daddy’s favorite) Star Wars stickers and decals. Gabe was a bit hyperactive through the process, trying to dip his hands in the dye and knock over the flasks we were using — but it was all in great fun.

The next day Gabe had a great time finding the eggs that Mommy had hidden. Gabe loves Eggs! I think, after bananas and cookies, it’s his favorite food! So, he was very much enjoying Easter. Daddy loves Eggs, too! We went out for a wonderful brunch at our local diner — and then delicious pork, biscuits, sweet potato and asparagus for dinner! Thanks, Mommy! It was a really special day.

Gabe meets Santa for the first time!

ian — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 01:09:16 +0000

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DETfUlBdKgY]

A visit from Grandpa!

ian — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 03:18:13 +0000

We were all lucky enough to get Grandpa over for dinner this week. Here’s a photo of Grandpa playing with Gabe’s favorite toy: the Sesame Street car garage.

Celebrating MLK in style

ian — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 17:44:51 +0000

It’s something of a family tradition to watch movies to celebrate MLK day. In the past, we’ve covered such classics as Shaft and Mario Van Peeble’s Posse. But I don’t think we’ve ever sat down to celebrate with a movie as great as the one we watched this year: Bruce Leroy, the Last Dragon.

About ten years before Wu Tang clan, Bruce Leroy was already mixing Black urban culture with chinese Kung Fu flicks. Bruce Leroy is a kung fu master in Harlem in the height of the 80s — he falls in love with a disco diva who supplies the hilarity of the 80s pop video sound track. The whole movie is produced by Berry Gordy and Motown Records. It’s just … awesome. At one point one of the characters dances the robot in order to escape from being tied up. It also featured William H Macy in one of his earliest and smallest roles.

Anyway, I’m posting about it here, because Gabriel did me proud and *loved* this movie. He was completely riveted when we watched it last night, and threw a tantrum when I took him out halfway through to put him to bed. Then, we I started it up again during the day today, he put his Elmo aside (!) to watch the end with me. Hopefully he’ll continue to have such _excellent_ taste as he grows older.

Here’s a taste of the movie, courtesy of YouTube:

A musical family

ian — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 22:45:42 +0000

It’s probably common with babies, but Gabe has long been really interested in music. Recently, he discovered the magic to my headphones and iPod and now he can’t get enough. In the meantime, Steph and I got the Wii Guitar Hero III for Christmas… another thing that Gabe just loves. Here’s a shot taken with my laptop’s iSight of Mommy jamming out on Guitar Hero while Gabe plays with Daddy’s iPod and headphones (btw the headphones are also a Christmas gift. Thanks Santa!!)

Blocks!

ian — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 23:23:41 +0000

Uncle Rocky and Aunt Melanie were kind enough give Gabe a big set of blocks for Christmas, and he got to open them a little early. He loves blocks! Here’s a picture:

We’re off for Christmas vacation!

ian — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 17:09:17 +0000

I can’t *wait*. This will be Gabe’s first Christmas where he can get excited about things like the lights on the trees and the presents. It will of course be *really* exciting when he can start to understand the true meaning of Christmas, but I’m still quite excited to share the glitter and song with him as well.

Pictures soon, I promise!