B&N Nap Time :-)

After a busy afternoon of hanging out with him Big Sister, home for Holiday Break, Lil' Ninja is taking a little nappy at B&N.

-- Sent from my Palm Pixi

Lunch @ Panera w/Sister!

-- Sent from my Palm Pixi

Directed Play w/Music- Andrew Bird visits "Jack's Big Music Show"

Love of Reading!

Just TRY to convince me that we as parents are not able to create a FUN love of learning in our Lil' Ones ;-)

-- Sent from my Palm Pixi

No Stress Holiday Shopping

Who says holiday shopping needs to be stressful?

Loving life at the B&N Thomas the Train Play Table!

Directed Play w/Music - Sharing

Early morning "Sharing" with Matchbox cars complete with GiggleBellies Music ... "Let's play Daddy!"

-- Sent from my Palm Pixi

Background Learning - "Brainy Baby- ABCs"

One of L'N's favorites! 
Sitting in front of his old school typewriter hollering-out all 26 letters as they pop up on the sceen. SO PROUD of how well he learned & remembers his ABCs!

Directed Learning - "My Baby Can Read!"

Carmine absolutely LOVES his "Baby Read" series! He has been watching the set since he was 6mo old.

-- Sent from my Palm Pixi

Sunday Morning Classic - Dumbo

Nothing like a little Disney Classic for a Sunday morning! 

-- Sent from my Palm Pixi

Sat Morning YouTube!

Enjoying a relaxing Saturday morning of L'N's favorite YouTube selections. Feist sings 1 2 3 4 on Sesame Street here!


The "Mouse Rug" on the left is something we picked-up years ago, but they have held-up amazingly well. Great Holiday Gift Idea ;-)

-- Sent from my Palm Pixi

Long Afternoon at the Library

Best stroller in the whole-wide world!
Easily folds-up with one hand.

New TRAINS @ Mam'k Children's Library!!

1st KISS T-Shirt!

Starting him off with a solid appreciation of theatrical rock bands, if not great music ;-)


Get your Lil'Ninja a KISS T-Shirt of his/her own for the holidays!!!

-- Sent from my Palm Pixi

Background Learning- "Meet the Sight Words 1,2,3"

FB Fans can follow the rest of the day's L'N adventures at: http://lilninjabooks.blogspot.com

Directed Learning- "Brainy Babies- Shapes & Colors"

FB Fans follow the rest of the day's L'N Adventures at: http://lilninjabooks.blogspot.com

L'N Story Time! - "Tootle" by Gertrude Crampton

Check-out today's L'N Story Time title on our bookshelf to the right

Background Learning & Independent Play - "Baby's First Moves"

Follow the rest of the day's Lil' Ninja adventures at: http://lilninjabooks.blogspot.com

Directed Learning- "Brainy Babies- 123s"

Sleepy Boy!

Our Lil' 6am Warrior couldn't hang a minute longer! He insisted on spending an hour at the library even though he was SO tired. I was going to just run in to grab my holds, but he literally turned himself red trying to get out of his stroller to stay at the "Libry-Libry!". Once home, he asked to watch Brainy Babies "ABCs" instead of napping in his room ... but crashed 5 min into it ;-)

Morning Adventures!

Out of the house by 9:30- Visited the G-pigs, turtles, birds, & fish at 2 pet stores; picked-up tonight's dinner groceries; and spent an hour with Dewey at the children's library ... all before noon! Now that's a good morning ;-)

Average Morning – Part 2 (Burny)

… After a quick change of the ol’ diaperoonie, it is downstairs to visit with the animals.

First we come across the grumpy old lady, “Burny.” She is a seven-year-old Brussels Griffon who strongly voted AGAINST bringing a small human into her home 19 months ago. Her mommy’s dog, Burny has little use for anything or anybody who comes between her and her mommy’s 100% attention.

“Burny!” our L’N exclaims with joy as he reaches steps number “Twel-and-Thur-teen” of his descent to the first floor.

“Grrr…” is the Ol’ Lady’s only reply as she hops off the soft brown cushion atop HER leather couch in anticipation of the annoying Lil’ Human actually trying to touch her.

Burny would never actually bite L’N of course, but she certainly tries to put on a good show to keep him guessing and more importantly, away from touching her.

“Grr, grr, grr,” Burny grumbles as she strolls into the kitchen, out of L’N’s grasp, with an air of, “I was going in here anyway Lil’ Human!”

Once in the kitchen, Burny quickly takes her place in her favorite position, sitting on her mother’s feet underneath the small dark wooden computer desk. With his one-sided morning greeting towards Burny complete, and his bare feet now firmly planted on the living room hardwood floor, there is a familiar pitter-patter as Lil’ Ninja runs across the room towards the open library and his next morning friend.

Average Morning – Part 1

Welcome back to all our faithful and patient readers of the Lil’ Ninja Adventures, and thank you for all your ongoing support. If this is your first time visiting L’N … WELCOME!

Some great photos from an amazing photographer, Heather @ Oriani Photography (a.k.a. MommyNinja), recently inspired us to share an average day in the life of our mini superhero. With that in mind, L’N Adventures proudly presents, “Average Morning – Part 1” for your reading pleasure, comments, and feedback …

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Today is an average day for Carmine, or least as average as can be expected — you see, Carmine is a 19 month old Lil’ Ninja. Being an average day, today we are not going to hear about any death defying playground acrobatics, or high-speed stroller chases, or under-wa-wa Special Operations tactics, or any number of other Pirate-fighting adventures. Nope, today we are going to hear the story of an average little boy, in an average family, in an average community, on an average day. However, we think you will find that just like your family, and your community, and your day today … he is anything but “average!”

After a refreshing evening’s sleep, our Lil’ Ninja’s day typically begins around 7:30 A.M. with a little light tossing & turning in the “night-night” crib, accompanied by a fresh “ba-ba.” What most people don’t know about our L’N’s bottles is that they are magic bottles. That’s right, they’re magic – it’s the only logical explanation after all! You see, every night MommyNinja & Daddy put our L’N down for “night-night” with a fresh, cold bottle of organic whole milk (Ninja’s need healthy things to eat & drink to maintain their active lifestyles, of course).

           

“Good night Boogas,” MommyNinja whispers her favorite pet name while giving his bright blonde hair a quick toss, “Mommy loves you.”

“Good night Buddy,” Daddy adds, “Mommy and Daddy love you very, very much … sweet dreams.”

With the little green light of the “baby-baby” monitor’s camera glowing from atop our L’N’s tall bookshelf of “stories,” MommyNinja & Daddy close his door and leave him to drain his fresh, cold “ba-ba” as he drifts into sweet Ninja dreamland. That’s when the magic happens. At some unknown wee-morning hour, the magic “ba-ba” transports itself through the closed L’N bedroom door, floats downstairs to the kitchen, washes itself, and refills itself with fresh cold milk. Then, it floats BACK up the stairs, through his closed bedroom door, and back into his “night-night” crib, where L’N finds it every morning as he starts to toss & turn, welcoming another “average” day! Pretty amazing stuff, huh?!

“Big Bear? Eeyore? Lil’ Bear?” the morning roll call of Stuffies commences, drifting through the “baby-baby” monitor on the floor below.

BANG!

“Uh-Oh! Ba-ba empty!” our L’N exclaims, tossing the now-drained magic bottle out of the crib and across his room. It lands on his brightly colored racecar carpet with an unmistakable “THUD” that can be heard throughout the downstairs kitchen, library, and living room where MommyNinja & Daddy are enjoying their fresh ground and brewed “coffee.”

“Daddy? Mommy?” After several minutes of stretching and tossing around his crib with his favorite Stuffie sleeping companions, the morning call-to-action sounds through the L’N house.

As the L’N bedroom door opens, we see the world’s cutest Lil’ Ninja with a serious case of bed-head, standing in his crib pointing towards his racecar carpet and the discarded bottle.

“HI! How ‘r you?” L’N greets Daddy with his head resting on his arm, which is propped-up on the big round rail of his wooden crib. “Ba-ba all gone!” he declares, still pointing in the general direction of the empty magical container.

“Good morning Buddy,” Daddy answers, entering the room, “Did you sleep well?”

“Yeah” answers L’N, just as clear as you might respond to a friend or your first period English teacher, in the later case, only to be corrected with “Yes, not yeah Johnny.”

“Did you have good dreams?” Daddy inquires of L’N who is still rubbing the previous night’s sleep from his gorgeous big blue eyes.

“Dreams” answers L’N.

“What did you dream about?” Daddy asks.

“Row-row-row,” L’N answers with the same coy smile he offers every morning to this question.

This exchange has become somewhat of a morning routine for L’N and his Daddy. The sly smile on his lil’ boy’s face, tells Daddy that he doesn’t really dream about the “Row, row, row your boat” song each and every night, but that he enjoys the smile and laugh he gets from Daddy from this response. After a quick change of the ol’ diaperoonie, it is downstairs to visit with the animals.

L'N Mental Conditioning

After an exciting day of fighting Dirty Pirates, there is nothing quite like a relaxing game of chess to keep the brain skills sharp!

Learning to Share @ Mam'k Childen's Library

Today's adventures brought us to the brand new Children's Library in Mamaroneck where we are learning to share and doing VERY well!

L'N loves "stories!"

'Wagon Wheel'

So ConEd decided that we not only needed a 10x10 crater at the end of the street, our neighbors and we needed our very own PERSONAL ones in front of our homes. Carmine saw the monster saw out the window and said, "Wagon Wheel!"

Future Nudist?

So I turn around while making Carmine's lunch, and he has demonstrated what he thinks about his Daddy's outfit choice for today!

L'N Alarm Clock

Who needs power for an alarm clock when you have a Lil' Ninja and a wrist watch? Irene who? PLEASE!!

'Two As'

Practicing our alphabet while hanging out at JFK this morning waiting for sister TrishaNinja to arrive from Orlando ... Yeah Trisha!

L'N Monkey Morning

Ever have one of those mornings were you just feel like you have a monkey on your back? Or two?

Good Morning!

Just a quick note to say "Good Morning" to my loving family & friends! Homemade sourdough pancakes (from scratch), fried eggs, banana slices, and Yummy Juice with my Daddy this morning! Hope you all have a GREAT DAY! Bye-Bye, Love you, <SMOOCH> (blowing kisses)

L'N Lunch Time!

Two bowls of "Cars2" mac & cheese, turkey, peaches, & banana slices ... and I ate them all by myself (with a FORK - oh yeah) while watching my Brainy Babies "A B C" video on my giraffe TV and shouting out the letters! Very proud of myself ... had to keep giving my Daddy kisses though ... they need that positive reinforcement sometimes ;-)

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SAND!

Look Mommy ... you'd be so proud ... I'm getting DIRTY in the sand!!!

Grammie Books!

A certain Lil' Man was VERY excited that he received a package from Grammie this afternoon! He ripped it open himself, pulled out the books, said, "EWW ... books!" He then preceded to sit down right there on the kitchen floor and start reading them! TOO CUTE for words!!

L'N Stuffie Migration

Today's adventure is very exciting! For days & days now, our Lil' Ninja Warrior has slowly and secretly been recruiting Stuffies from upstairs in his room to join his downstairs army of Ninjas in the library. Today, the migration is finally complete! Watch out Pirates, Lil' Ninja is on attack mode! Oh Yeah!!

L'N Dino Hunting

Today's adventure brought us dinosaur hunting at the Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk, CT. Dinos & the Sea Turtle were the biggest hits of the day!

L'N High Chair Chronicles Part II

Today we have our little super hero moving at lightning-fast speed shoveling in his favorite spy food (Mac & Cheese) ... after INSISTING that we squeeze his fat lil' butt into his old high chair - with the tray on this time! Didn't even matter that Nephew Jacob was in Times Square with Brother Justin & his favorite, Anna :-)

L'N Flexibility Training

Here we have our Lil' Ninja who climbed into his now too small high chair on his own while watching Baby Einstein's Old McDonald. Of course the new-found interest is the result of Nephew Jacob using HIS high chair (not that Carmine has touched it in 6 months)!

L'N Hiding in Plain Sight

 

"Bye, Bye ... Luv U ..." SMOOCH {Blowing Kisses}!

New Lil' Ninja Recruit Training

 

Uncle Carmine in training with his newest L'N recruit ... Nephew Jacob!

L'N Monkey-Sense

During a recent trip between adventures our Lil' Ninja, Carmine, recalls one particular element of his vast L'N training that at times he would just as soon forget ... "Monkey Business!" We should explain for our non-ninja readers. As a Ninja one needs to be agile, flexible, and able to move quickly and quietly from one location to another. Sound like an animal you may have recently visited at the Bronx Zoo? You got it -- Monkey Business!

Carmine's self-initiated M-B Training began when he was 10 months old under the clever cover story of his first Halloween costume. With his flare for the dramatic in full force, Carmine insisted on a bit of character acting in order to "get in the monkey mood." After donning his full-body monkey outfit, he solicited the assistance of Daddy & MommyNinja to transport and position him in a local forest with one of their L'N trainers. The environment was complete!

For several hours, our L'N practiced his Monkey-Ninja Katas until he mastered the intricate martial arts moves to near perfection.

"Touch left over right, right over left," L'N can hear the Monkey-Ninja Master instruct from that day so very, very long ago (7 months is a VERY long time when you've only been around 17 after all).

"Taste the fluid movements of the monkey, my lil' ankle-biting ninjas! Can you taste it?"

"See how he moves; visualize how he glides effortlessly from tree to tree ..."

"Smell the subtle musk of the Monkey-Ninja in his element ... No Frank, put your diaper back on ... DO NOT THROW POO ... not just yet anyway!"

"Finally, what do you hear my stinky poo-throwing monkey ninjas? NOTHING! Ninjas are silent warriors my babies! Go forth, fight crime, capture Those Dirty Pirates ... THEN throw poo Frank!"

Carmine received a perfect score on Monkey-Ninja Katas #1-3, and was even recognized for the most authentic monkey call ... not a bad day's training with all said & done!

Today, of course our mini super hero helps other L'N learn their moves and develop their skills: monkey calling skills, nunchuck skills, Dirty Pirate locating skills, and of course ... poo-throwing skills! Until the next time we meet ... thanks for visiting (tell your friends)!

[All photos are used with the permission of Heather Hayduk of Oriani Photography - all rights reserved - check out her work on their Facebook page]




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