Day 15 of 21 = Kayla at 14 months

Summer snack at her kiddie pool on 6/26/05.

Day 14 of 21 = Kayla at 13 months

Cookie and Kayla on Mother's Day (May 8) 2005. Now here she's got a full set of teeth. See the difference?

Day 13 of 21 = Kayla at 12 months

Interesting to see how green the grass is here when this is the same exact site as three entries ago (see Jan 2005 photo of Kayla's first snow). And Kayla looks much older here too. Now she has three front lower teeth! (see below). OK, from hereon I'll stop with the dentistry. Photo taken by one of her parents on 4/17/05.

Day 12 of 21 = Kayla at 11 months

Again, compare this picture against the previous entry and the one taken on Christmas 2004. Here she now has two big upper teeth. How the heck did they get there so soon? They're pretty big for something that develops in a month. See below for a close-up version. The human body never ceases to amaze me.

Next to Kayla is the ever-wonderful Barney boy. Photo taken by Cookie on 3/2/05.

By the way, Kayla's impish smile can also be found in old childhood pictures of Ate and Cookie. The same exact grin and squint. It's quite uncanny. Doesn't apply to me, though -- I have no pictures of me grinning this much as a kid. Ain't that a can of worms that will never be opened.

Day 11 of 21 = Kayla at 10 months

Kayla gets her studio portraits done. Is it me or she had a major growth spurt here? Compare this pix against the previous 2-3 photoblog entries. She doesn't look like a baby here at all but a mid-sized toddler. Photo taken Feb 2005 by the studio photographer.

Day 10 of 21 = Kayla at 9 months

I still remember that Saturday night in January 2005 when it snowed nonstop the entire evening. We spent the blizzard snug inside Mike and Cookie's house watching season 1 of Alias. By the time the snow stopped the next morning over a foot had accumulated, which made it Kayla's first official snowfall. She played outside for a bit and enjoyed every minute of it (the kid loves water), but really her parents wanted the photo op. She looks like a little stuffed animal here. Mike (black gloves at the bottom) is the one holding her steady. I love how the fuschia of her winter onesie contrasts against the white snow. Photo taken by Cookie on 1/23/05.

Day 9 of 21 = Kayla at 8 months

Santa baby on her first Christmas. The two front teeth peeking out kills me. Photo taken on Christmas morning during the opening of Kayla's dozens o' presents. Photographer unknown, though I'm guessing it was Mike.

Day 8 of 21 = Kayla at 7 months

Now THIS is what I call healthy mirror work. "To know me is to wanna kiss me!" seems to be the Kayla motto. Her Lola (Tagalog for grandma, aka my Mom) holds up the self-loving baby. Photo taken on Thanksgiving 2004 (11/26/04). Photographer unknown.

Day 7 of 21 = Kayla at 6 months

Court Jester baby on Halloween 2004. Photo taken by one of her parents.

Day 6 of 21 = Kayla at 5 months

5-month-old Kayla performs some baby acrobatics for her proud daddy. Hey, when was the last time you can do a trick like that? Photo taken on 9/5/04 by Cookie.

Day 5 of 21 = Kayla at 4 months

Um, yeah, you could say that 4-month-old Kayla had absolutely no problems being in a swimming pool for the first time in her life. She loved the pool so much that she was furious when Mom Cookie finally had to take her out when her lips started turning blue from being too cold. Kayla howled and made these weird baby blubbering sounds that really sounded like she was cursing us out. Photo taken 8/28/04 at our cousin Melina's house in South Jersey.

Day 4 of 21 = Kayla at 3 months

This is one of my all-time favorite pictures of Kayla, and maybe even of anyone. I see this smiling baby as the personification of the happy Buddha, and I'm referring to her spirit more than I am to her roundness (although it's that, too). This really is a great shot. Photo taken by Mike on 7/5/04 at their house.

Day 3 of 21 = Kayla at 2 months

2-month-old Kayla on Father's Day 2004 (July 16). Photographer unknown. I wonder who she was smiling at here.

Day 2 of 21 = Kayla at 1 month

Kayla and her Mommy. Photo taken by (Daddy) Mike on 5/9/04, which was Mother's Day. That year was Cookie's first.

Theme: 21 Days of Kayla

Kayla at zero months. She is only two days old here, and had just come home from the hospital. Photo taken 4/3/04 by Dina.


OK, folks. If you want to see the unfolding of a beautiful human being from newborn to little girl, then stay tuned for the next 21 days. If you'd rather see landscape pictures or at least anything but pictures of the same (though changing!) person, then tune back after February 7.

Kayla, aka The Favorite, is currently 21 months old. Say, what if I post a picture of Kayla of every month of her life to date? It will be like flipping through those illustrated books real quick to see the figures move. She's a baby, then her face is changing, and now she has teeth, and then she's running, and then... look! Here she is driving a Toyota!

Come to think of it, this little mini project can actually be expanded into something universal. I'm 33 years old. What if I see the next 33 days as a daily year of my life so far? (i.e., on the fourth day I think back to when I was 4 years old, on the 17th day I think back to when I was 17 years old, etc.) If you're 45, you've got the next forty-five days of year-to-year introspection. If you're 65, well, then, you've got a lot more days of look-back thinking than everybody else.

Makes sense? I think it's a neat concept. It's a way of guiding your interior self to align with your chronological age, and, more importantly, to say farewell to each year of your life and all the things that happened to you that year once that allocated day has ended.

Well anyway. 21 days of Kayla, one for each month of her wonderful life so far. Hope you enjoy the show.

Pax and me on Christmas Eve, 1993 in my old bedroom. What the heck kind of crazy dress was I wearing?? Photo taken by either Ariel or cousin Mike B.


Being perfectly loved just the way you are.

Grace, Erin, Pam, Frances, me. Gathering for Fran when she visited NY in October 2001. Photo taken by David.


The preciousness of friends.

Statue of Mother Mary at the yard of the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy (Lenox, MA). Photo taken Feb or March 2002.


Having faith, and standing by what it reveals to you.

Me during a hike in Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico. In January 1999 I decided to leave everything behind and go on a self-imposed retreat at my friend Trish's home in the Sangre de Cristo mountains outside of Santa Fe. I was supposed to stay 4-6 weeks. I ended up coming home after 2 weeks. I learned the age-old lesson that you can't run away from your own mind. Besides, I missed Lorin too much. Photo taken by Trish.


Listening to oneself.

This week's theme: stuff I've been thinking about lately

Masks shop in Venice, Italy. Photo taken September 2001.


Uncovering the truth.

Shakyamuni Buddha on our mantel awash in morning light. Photo taken 3/31/05.


May the New Year bring us courage, wisdom, and peace.

L&T = Best Friends 4Ever. Photo taken by Trish at SUNY Binghamton, Spring 1993.


May the New Year bring us love and friendship.

Bellissima Firenze! View of Florence taken September 2001.


May the New Year bring us beauty and gratitude.

Me experimenting with mirror surfaces after being inspired by the Mirror Project. It was only when I found this autobio picture today that I realized I also captured some major elements I wish to manifest (money! luck! sweetness! food! ice cream!). Photo of this diner window on the Upper East Side taken on 4/29/05.


May the New Year bring us creativity and growth.

cherry blossoms in Central Park. Photo taken 4/29/05.


May the New Year bring us abundance and wealth.

Kayla. Photo taken by Mike 9/14/05.


May the New Year bring us joy and laughter.

Happy New Year, everybody!

Full rainbow circle over Waimea Canyons, Kauai (Hawaii). I didn't have enough of a wide lens to capture the full arc. Photo taken 9/29/05.


Prayer for the New Year

We begin.
May the New Year bring us healing and wholeness.