Finding a school

My parents are losing their heads over finding a good school for me in New York next year.

I can count from one to one hundred. Do you want to see the video?

Sakura Park

We went to Sakura Park for a picnic.
I liked the cherry trees.
We played soccer.

Birhday soon

I am turning four soon. Any one wants to come to my birthday party?

Ilia in 2008

2008 is the year that I will turn four years old. I know this because I used to say: "I am three years old, next year I will be four years old". Now it is next year, and I am ready to be four years old.

I went to a New Year's Eve party with my daddy. Lola was there too. I danced with almost everyone in that party. I love music and dancing. I learned how to turn when dancing.

I can count in three languages from 1 to 10.

Jay's Birthday Party

I went to Jay's birthday party. He is now three years old. Jay is my best friend at the school. I am sad that he had to leave our class and go to another school. Last week, we went to the children museum with our mommies and had a great time. We have two special games that we play: one is called "fishies" and the other one is "stupid things". Both are fun and important games.

I hope Jay and I can continue to remain friends.

Oh, you can see Ms. Mira over my shoulder. Isn't she happy?

Ilia goes to a 9th Ave Diner

Last weekend, I went with my daddy to a diner on 9th Ave. I had a toasted bagel with one egg on top! That is how I ordered my breakfast. I have to say the waffles my daddy ordered look a lot better, but after a while I started tasting the egg and realized how yummy it was. I ended up eating the whole egg and half of the bagel. I also had one glass of milk. Oh, I love my new black and white sports jacket!

New York sky is fascinating

I am in Central Park in New York, with my warm clothes on, because it is getting really cold these days. This is the after hair cut photo that I had promised. OK, I agree with you, the hair cut didn't do much damage!

Being myself

This photo was taken before I had the haircut. I wanted you to see it before I post an after photo. It is getting cold in New York these days, and we had a few flurries of snow today, but when this photo was taken, we had a few minutes of golden sunshine.

This week, I had a cold and didn't go to swimming pool. As we say, it is not a running pool, it is not a sitting pool, and it is not a sleeping pool. It is a swimming pool. So I go there with my daddy and learn how to swim.

Ilia gets a hair-cut

I got a hair-cut two days ago. Some of my daddy's friends were saying I shouldn't get one but I knew my hair was getting too long. So my mommy gave me a nice hair-cut at home. It was interesting because my daddy got a hair-cut on the same day without telling me, and when I asked him where he got his hair-cut, he said he got it at a barber's shop.

Now I am sure you want to see photos of me, but can you wait a bit?

Trip to the fire station

We went to the fire station! It was really exciting. This is a photo of a photo of me, trying a real fireman's hat on. Ms Mira is helping me try the hat. We also get to go inside a real fire truck. It was great!

Halloween 2007

I was a fire chief at this year's Halloween. We had a parade at our school, with my friends from all other classes, the fireflies, the bears, the fishies, and of course, the giraffes!
At first I thought about being "Blue" from Blues Clues, but that was hard when I didn't like to go into a costume store, so I decided to be the fire chief.

Looking to the sky

Hi! Yesterday was the New York City Marathon! We went there and cheered Jessica, who finished her first Marathon and posted a good time too. I have a lot of photos that I will post later.

Here is a photo of me, looking to the sky.

Curly hair

My daddy has been my dedicated photographer. But this photo of me and my mom was not taken by him. It is taken by Ed Jones, a great friend and an accomplished photographer. When we were in Ithaca, we went to one of his shows at Cornell, and it was great!
Ed once drove us (Me, daddy, Kevin, and Avril) to New York City and back in his car. That was when Kevin and I invented the fun game of "where did the hand go?"

Back to blogging, from New York

Hi everyone!
I am am back, after the longest of delays in writing. Thanks to all who asked about my absence.

Here are some updates in my life:
1- I have moved to New York City.
2- I used to be a "Cornell baby", now I am becoming a New York baby.
3- I miss my friends in Ithaca.
4- I call the subway "cave-bus".

How have you guys been doing?

Where was I?

Hi everyone,
I have been away for a while. Or should I say for a very long while? You should ask my parents why I haven't updated the weblog for so long, but the good news is I am back. I will put up photos that cover events, adventures, and milestones of the past seven months.
For now, here is a photo of me dancing with two lovely ladies, Ananya and an anonymous but very energetic girl at the Students with Families party at Cornell. Note: My mom organized the party for me.

Hello to everyone again

My dear fans, friends ,and family,
I am back again! I have been very busy enjoying various activities during the last days of summer but as you can see, I have not forgotten the importance of writing to you and getting feedback from you. I have a lot more pictures and stories, please stay tuned.
Love you guys :-)))

Naturalists

Children love nature. They love watching the birds fly and listening to the music of life coming from everywhere.Everything moves in a beautiful dance and makes us full of wonder and awe.

Learn to see the world through the eyes of a child and you will see beauty and truth in everything.... (trying on new hats also helps -sometimes- ;-)))

Conservationists

I think we need to respect all living creatures beause nature is the mother of us all and it is full of beauty and unexplored places. I have been thinking a lot about this recently, because I have just started learning the names of wonderful animals and reading about many exciting places. I cannot wait till the day I can travel around the world to see all of them.
Could you please take care of them until we children can take the job from your hands?

Shall we dance?

Although the wedding was fun, at times I really wanted to go out and explore the new place. So here I have come to see the surroundings, and my mommy has run after me to make sure I don't get into the street. Maybe she is trying to explain to me that it is dangerous to be out there, but it looks as if we are ready to do a formal dance.How artistic, isn't it?
I have to tell you, we stopped the traffic that day.

Alison and Calixto's wedding

I have finally attended my first formal wedding. It was so much fun.
Well, actually it did not start that way! The wedding was in Long Island, which is 5 hours away from my home in Ithaca, so my parents woke me up in the middle of the night and put me in my carseat. I am a real gentleman otherwise I would have become much more vocal in expressing my dissatisfaction!!! We got lost a few times on our way, and by the time we got to our hotel we had only a few minutes to get dressed.

Now guess what? My dear mommy realized she had forgotten her dress shoes, and as my daddy suggested that she could wear her sneakers with her red dress she started to cry. These grown-ups are funny....Finally, my dad found the address to the nearest shoe store and we all went there and mommy bought herself new shoes.(I think she really likes buying shoes because as you can see, it made her very happy!)

We danced a lot and had a lot of good food, and all the people admired my new dance moves.I think I like weddings, next time I will make sure daddy has all his maps in the car and mommy ...all her shoes ;-)))

By the way, the person beside us is my auntie Avril, she closes her eyes in all her pictures but she is always nice and smiley. I hang out with her sometimes.

some thoughts

Who says children don't think about the wonders of this world? Who thinks we don't understand when things aren't as they are supposed to be? Believe me, we understand your feelings even before you do acknowledge them yourselves, and we can see the world clear and true, with all its beauties and defects, as God created it. We are very strong creatures. You can count on us.

reading is fun

This book is my very favorite.It's title is "who is my mommy" and it is about a kitten who cannot find her mommy in the barnyard and keeps asking everyone if they're her mommy, and finally finds her mommy because her coat is brown and fluffy just like hers. I love the ending when they cuddle up together.
If you are looking for good, educational, fun reading, this is the book for you.

another tough game!

As always, I accompanied my parents to another tough soccer game, this time they were playing for their own team called "Nutrition United" (if you have got any ideas for a better name please tell them ;-))) Uncle Neal here was trying to explain the team strategy to me but I couldn't make much of it...maybe nobody else did either because they lost in the end anyway?!!!

Ithaca child!

Yes, here I am. As you can see on my very cool T-shirt, from Ithaca,NY. We were at the Buttermilk falls. I was disappointed at first to see there was only water and no real buttermilk coming down, but it was still great to jump in and splash about.

Why am I laughing?

Well, my mom had this leaf of grass in her hands and was trying to blow in it like a whistle, and the poor thing made such an obnoxious noise I just couldn't resist. It was soooo funny :-)))) I laughed and laughed and laughed....

DVDs taste funny

Have you ever tried them? DVD's taste funny...!

Now this is useful reading

Now this is useful reading material.

I give up!

Ok,I give up. This stuff is too complicated.

Let me see...

Let me see...is this mommy's thesis or daddy's new research proposal?

Conducting practice

Birds like to sing and people like to chat as they come and go, and I like to pick up a stick and pretend that I am conducting an orchestra in the open air.