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Today was a big day for Julia - well, moreso for mommy - because she ate chicken for the first time. We had tried feeding her it several times in the past, and she has eaten puree chicken, but today was the first time she accepted regular chicken meat without complaint. The secret may have been letting her feed herself with a fork. She seems to enjoy that.

Julia is pretty obsessed with the Doodlebops, a show on the Disney Channel. She requests it several times a day and sings along to their theme song during the show, in the car (we have the CD) and when we sing it to her. She actually sings along to a lot of Beatles songs too now, since we have been playing that to get her to go to sleep pretty much since she was born. Today at the grocery store, a beatles song played over the loudspeaker and when it finished, she said “Ma Beado,” which means “More Beatles.”

She has always loved going on the swings, but she really got into sliding down the slide (both at our house and at the park) this weekend.

She is saying more and more sentences, including “I love you,” but I’m not sure she knows exactly what that means yet, just that we say it when someone is leaving or going to bed.

Pictures have been added for July 2 & 3, including shots from our trip to Hoboken on the 3rd.

I was away for 15 days for the NBA Finals. As a basketball nut, there’s nothing better than working for the NBA and getting to cover the Finals. As a dad, it’s really tough to be away from home for that long. In the couple of days off between Games 4 & 5, I was really wishing I would have thought of having Melissa and Julia join me in Miami.

After 15 days, Julia looked different … a little taller I think. There was definitely a clear improvement in her communication skills as well, and they seem to keep improving every day now …

She is definitely more clingy than ever and mommy is definitely No. 1. There are times when she will accept no one else holding her, including me, which can be pretty tough to take sometimes. She especially doesn’t want anyone else but mommy to put her to bed at night. This Sunday, she actually let me put her to bed without much of a fight, but that has not been the norm of late. When Melissa is putting her down, she literally pushes me away when I try to say goodnight.

We tried daycare, but Julia did not like it one bit. The first week, we tried two full days. The second week, we tried three half days. She cried when we dropped her off. She cried when we picked her up and when she wasn’t crying, she would sit by herself quietly. In time, she would have adjusted, but her abuela was willing to continue watching her three days a week until she turns two, so we pulled her out and will try again after her second birthday.

We had a good trip to Hoboken on Monday. Pictures coming soon.

Today, although she was showing signs of serious fatigue, she had a great dinner at Applebee’s. She even let her granddad feed her mac and cheese. Just an hour earlier, she cried for five minutes after he held her for all of two seconds.

The photos page has been updated through July 1. Some great shots with the new camera there.