Vic's family visits

Sam tried on a pair of cool shades.


Sam's aunt Julia and cousin Nikki came to visit. Here, Julia, Vic, Sam, (Elena and Nikki not pictured) are hanging out in a local park.


Sam also really enjoyed this swing.

Revolutionary War Historical Site at Morristown, NJ

Sam visited Jockey Hollow in Morristown, where George Washington's trooped spent a winter during the Revolutionary War in 1776. Here, Sam tries out the officer's uniform.

Here Sam is checking out a recreation of a soldier's hut. Sam checked out their digs and decided that his crib was much more comfortable.

VIDEO: Sam on the phone

VIDEO: Sam's first piano lesson

Grandma, who is a professional piano teacher, decided to give Sam his first piano lesson.

Zzzzzz....

2 little piglets fell asleep...

Basketball

Sam: "I am going to be playing forward... I better start practicing making those 3-point shots!"

Sam tries out Bright Horizons daycare

This week Sam tried out daycare with Bright Horizons. He loved the facilities, the teachers, the toys, everything. On his second day there, he didn't even want to go home! :)

There are the notes that his teachers wrote:
6/15/09 (teacher Miss Theresa): Samuel, Welcome to bright Horizons! Sammy transitioned very well after Mom and Dad left for work. He enjoyed stacking the rings on the base. Sam spent a lot of time playing with the piano key board, listening to the different notes and songs. He explored and touched almost everything in the room. Bravo Sammy, what a great day, it was a pleasure.


6/16/09 (teacher Miss Nirva): Good morning Samuel, happy to meet you. I think of Sam as an inspired artist. He moves his whole body when he hears the sound of the music and also when we clap our hands together while I was singing. He tries to say "book".


6/17/09 (teacher Miss Theresa): Samuel enjoyed socializing with a new friend A (the same age). He shared blocks and musical instruments. Samuel cruised all around the room. he took turns crawling and walking. Samuel wanted to play all day. He didn't even want to stop to rest.

6/18/09 (teacher Miss Theresa): Samuel was a celebrity at the ribbon cutting ceremony of our grand opening. He smiled and waved to everyone at the window. Samuel left very comfortable reaching and grasping toys, books and anything on counter tops. Samuel also sat briefly for an activity. He touched colored cellophane paper and attempted to place it on a sticky card.

6/19/09 (teacher Miss Theresa): Samuel was very energetic. he sat down to listen to a story. Samuel was non stop stacking the soft blocks, talking on the phone, etc. He played and explored using his hands and shapes in the water table. Samuel painted with fingerpaint on different mediums and textures.

The budding abstract painter

Sam decided to try his hand(s) at abstract painting. This is his finger-painting project. Sam explains: "This piece combined post-impressionist strokes with realism influences, and was also inspired in part by the 19th century American painters". You never know, maybe this will be worth 10 gazillion dollars one day.


This is another finger-painting project, this time in red paint on a plate, and a picture of Sam busy painting.

The weekend went swimmingly!

Sam decided to open this year's swimming season this weekend.


Hanging out in the pool with daddy.


Lock up your daughters!

First Haircut

Sam got his first haircut yesterday, as his hair was growing too long and getting into his eyes. Sam was a little afraid of the haircut at first, but then got a little bit more into it.


I think Sam likes the haircut but is still afraid a little because he doesn't know what's going on :)


As a reward for being a good boy while getting his haircut, Sam got to go to the pet store at the mall. Here he's checking out some dogs.

Historic Speedwell, Morristown, NJ

Sam now has 2 Teeth! Check out his two bottom incisors.


VIDEO: Sam goes checks out an exhibit at the museum.


Sam in front of a historic cottage dating from 1700's, which was a house for a local judge and a factory owner Samuel Vail.


Checking out the local lake belonging to the village. In the old times, they collected ice from this lake in the winter and stored it underground in the summer to cool food.


VIDEO: Wild Geese Chase :)

Garden Tour on Memorial Day

Chilling... (Avis Campbell Gardens in Montclair, NJ). Sam had fun hanging out on the grass. He especially liked walking around a bench in the garden and picking grass.


Sam also learned how to unzip his bedsheet. There is a zipper on four sizes of the bed, and Sam unzips the sheet on all four sides (!). Perhaps it's more fashionable to sleep without the sheet these days... Sam's a member of the younger generation, he would know.

And the winner of the "Biggest Gainer" Contest is... Sam!

JERSEY CITY, NJ - Never has gaining been so satisfying! For the past year, Jersey City's Biggest Gainer contestant Sam Izmaylov has been working to take control of his life and gain a lot of pounds. "This journey has been wonderful! It's been tough, but wonderful. It's totally changed my life," Sam said. Sam gained a total of 19 pounds, or 238% of his starting body weight of just over 8 pounds at birth, by consuming countless calories during intense eating sessions on a 24-hour schedule, and bouncing around the crib and the apartment, ending at the final weight of just under 27 pounds. This means he more than tripped in size!

"It's definitely self perpetuating, because every time I see the height and pounds go up, every time I put on a new shirt, I can't believe I need the next size up. I was wearing "0-3 months" size before", Sam said. "I feel like a new person. Now people take me more seriously."

In interviews to the press, Sam acknowledged the "Grandma Diet" as the main factor helping him win this contest. One of the Grandmas could not be immediately reached for comment. The other Grandma declined to comment and asked not to be identified, because the information is private.


Sam's height at birth, represented on the measuring tape (Before) and as a 1-year old (After)


Sam's clothes as at birth (Before) and as a 1-year old (After)


Sam's daily food consumption at birth was 16 oz of mommy's milk (Before) and lots of other food as a 1-year old (After)

Sam turns 1 year old

Today Sam turned 1 year old! It's hard to believe. It seems only yesterday that he was a kicking and screaming 8-pound newborn, and now he's a bouncing 27-pound toddler! Dad celebrates by giving Sam a horsey ride.

This is how Sammy looked as a newborn:

(Not Uncle) Sam Opines on the Proposed Tax Reform

Here's the dialogue I recently had with Sam:

Elena: "Sam, what do you think about the upcoming tax reform?"
Sam: "Eeewwwwwww!"

Elena: "It sucks that taxes are increasing, doesn't it?"
Sam: [makes a sucking noise]

Elena: "Did you hear, there are going to be withholdings on carried interest allocations from certain disqualified interests in entities receiving services, including convertible and contingent debt, options and derivative instruments! What do you think the implications will be?
Sam: "Hhhmmmmmmm...."

Elena: "Sounds like it's time for you to set up an entity in the Cayman islands to take advantage of these changes"
Sam: Dah-dah-dah-dah-dah"

Elena: "What do you think of the proposal to tax the health care benefits provided by the employer?"
Sam: "Boooooooooooo"

Elena: "Are you going to ever vote for people who implement such huge tax increases?"
Sam: Naaaaaaeeee"

Sam's date with Xenia

Elena's best friend from college Xenia kindly offered to babysit Sam while his parents did boring stuff like packing boxes for their move to a new apartment. Xenia and Sam went to the Rockefeller park in New York and had a lot of fun playing on the grass. (Pictures courtesy of Xenia)


Gatorade bottle was his favorite toy of the day. Xenia later revealed Sam's intentions: as a future athlete Sam is planning to switch from milk to Gatorade soon!


Sam loved practicing his new walking skills on the grass.

Sam learns to walk

Today Sam started walking for the first time. He was standing leaning on his playtable, and when daddy called him, he started walking towards him and took 4 or 5 steps on his own, without support, into daddy's hands. He did that a couple of times. We haven't caught it on tape or on photo yet, but we will try to do that soon.

First Passport

Being an avid traveler that he is, Sam decided that at his advanced age, he just couldn't do without a passport. Now he's ready to be a global trotter! The details were whited out just in case.

Sam entertains guests

Sam had his friend Noa and her parents come for a visit. The kids are a little small to be able to really play games together, but they had fun checking out each other's toys. In the photo, you can see, left to right, Sam, Noa and Sarah.

"Photo Op"

Obama's Airforce One airplane was seen right outside our window, circling for half an hour at a very low altitude, closely followed by a military fighter jet. They maintained that it was done for a "photo opportunity" with the Manhattan skyline and the Statue of Liberty. Kind of freaked people out. Sam remained calm. He loves looking outside the window and now recognizes the Russian word for "helicopter", because we see so many of them every day from a tourist helipad nearby.

Summer day

We went outside to enjoy a beautiful summer day (sunny and 88F/31C). Here Vic and Sam are hanging out at a park nearby.


And, of course, Sam misses his grandma Vera, who had to go back to Russia last week to help out with her second grandchild - Elena's brother's baby who is due to be born any day now. Here, Sam is hanging out with grandma before she left, asking her for any tips on how to create mischielf for his parents.

Tooth!

Yesterday Sam finally got a tooth. It's one of the front teeth on the bottom, on the left side. We are so excited! Right now you can barely see it but I am sure he'll be biting everything in sight in no time.

Sammy also learned a new fun game - opening chest drawers and sticking his fingers in between them. Too bad his parents were such party poopers and installed child-proof locks so he can't open the drawers anymore.


Sam went to hang out on the grass in our local park. Although he crawls at home all the time, he couldn't quite figure out how to crawl on the grass, but decided to try eating it instead (too bad the evil parents ruined that fun game as well and didn't let him indulge his grazing tendecies)

Sam is learning other new skills as well. He now experiments with putting things on top of each other, such as putting a toy on the table. He likes to gather his toys in his little basket as well. We also weighed him today and he is 25.6 lb (11.6 kg) - growing very fast.

VIDEO: Daddy + Pacifier = Sam LOL

This is what happened when Daddy tried to be funny :)

Historic Fosterfields Farm, Morristown, New Jersey

This is an operating farm that was preserved since the mid-19th century. Here, we got to see a demonstration of how the cows get milked.


Sam was really excited to meet some pigs.


The farm also had a collection of historic cars and carriages from the beginning of the 20th century, which used to belong to the family that owned the farm then. Sam: "Beep-beep"!

Watch out!

Photo op

We took Sam to the mall to take some photos of him. Here's how they came out:

He was a bit afraid at first but then really enjoyed the photo shoot.

Sam couldn't stay in one place even for a second!

Sam really liked this bear, he even started giggling when he saw it.

Patriotic Trip to Virginia

Since Elena just became a U.S. citizen in February, and Sam is also a newly born American citizen, we decided to take a patriotic trip to historic Virginia to learn more about the U.S. history.


Sam is defending the fort behind the barricades. Enemies have no chance! (War Museum at Newport News, Virginia).


Here we are at Fort McHenry, near Baltimore, Maryland. An important battle was fought here in 1814, and after the battle, the American flag was still standing, inspiring one of the participants of the battle, Francis Scott, to write the "Star-Spangled Banner" to honor the flag. It later became the anthem.


At fort McHenry, Sam is playing on the grass next to the flag, on the site where the original Star-Spangled Banner stood in 1814.


Sam is checking out WWII tanks.


It's much more fun to crawl on top of a tank than on the floor.


Naval Aviation memorial at Virginia Beach, Virginia. Sam also really liked the Norfolk Naval Base.


Sam is checking out the replica of the White House Oval Office. Sam: "I like this office. Can I be President when I grow up?"


With the statue of George Washington at the Presidents' Park in Williamsburg, VA.


And, of course, enjoying a family meal (at Ruby Tuesday).