Something Else

Things A can do all by herself:
1. Button and unbutton her sweater
2. Dress her babies
3. Diaper brown bear
4. Put on her sweater
5. Put on her own diaper (we do not approve)

N is very good at feeding himself. He picks up the spoon and gets it straight in his mouth. Tonight he had delicacies - asparagus (he just loved sucking those spears!) and sweet potato.

N’s 6 months check up was a couple of days ago (but he’s closer to 7 months). He was 18lb 5oz and almost 28 inches long. All we talked about with Dr. B was sleep. Or lack thereof. He asked if there might be some family history of this. I thought it was funny he asked, given that there was… He gave us a referral to see THE sleep doctor - Dr. Ferber. I’m wondering if N was somehow impressed by this, because he slept for 8 hours straight that night. It got me thinking that we might be getting lucky. Alas, it didn’t last long. Last night, N was up every 2 hours. We will be needing that appointment after all.

N is infatuated with L. All he wants is his dad. When L leaves the room, N’s face darkens and the crying begins…

Today was Mother’s day. We didn’t even talk about it. Maybe next year.

N is trying to crawl. He’s scoots backwards when on his belly. He does pretty impressive push ups. Now he doesn’t like it when we leave the room - he gets extremely upset when his favorite people suddenly disappear. He’s still into eating books.

This morning A decided that she is wearing underpants. We took the potty with us on our Aroboretum lilac Sunday picnic. 2 accidents. But it was fun! In the evening A needed to pee, but was apprehensive about using the potty. She needed to go, but kept getting off the potty. She asked for a diaper. We had a little discussion. Then I needed to pee. Modeling works. Or maybe she really needed to go. A said “There’s a yellow puddle in the potty. Let’s show Daddy.” We did. After that she asked to put on a diaper. It had been a long day. I wonder if we’ll be back to diaper fetish tomorrow.

When we were in Israel, L’s mom told me that when L was a baby she wrote a short skit with this title. Turns out baby L was a very crappy sleeper. Shortly after he finally fell asleep, he would be up again. Day and night.

What can I say - like father, like son.

A’s new favorite book is Yoko. It’s about (surprise! surprise!) a cat. Yoko’s school lunch is sushi (smushi, as far as A’s concerned). It doesn’t go down well with the other kids. But there is a happy ending. And one learns that Israel’s national food is potato knishes (it’s not like the author got the sushi part right…)

This evening, I took A to our local smushi store to get us some dinner and watch the smushi man make the smushis. A was super excited about eating smushi. She bravely ate 2 thin slices of an avocado maki. It’s good it’s Friday night. She devoured our challa. She’s still on her special diet.

A has a diaper fetish. She just has a thing about diapers. She can spend hours putting diapers on and taking them off her bears. She insists on a variety of diapers to choose from. She likes to hold diapers (clean ones) and can walk around with them all day long. She used to like getting diapers from her friends (because they had “special” diapers - “Micky mouse diapers” and “Green diapers”.) Now she’s into sharing too - at her last visit to the playground she insisted on giving one of her diapers to a 5 year old girl. Luckily, the girl had a little brother who was more appreciative.

This must have started more than a year ago, as I distinctly remember SIL E commenting on how advanced A was with imaginary play when she attempted to change a bear’s diaper.

We’ve gone through A asking to change her diaper practically every hour; A discovering old diapers in the closet and putting them to use as bear diapers; A confiscating N’s diapers after he was born; A asking for a diaper “to hold” once she got to coop; A wanting to check out what kind of diapers other kids use; A pretending her blankie was a diaper; A deciding that diapers “don’t go on the belly! Not like that!” (sadly I have no idea what this means); A pretending her washcloth was A diaper. We did have a short period of A not wanting to wear a diaper, but now we’re in “I want to close the flaps by myself” period.

Underpants (even ones with Mini mouse!) don’t seem to have the same appeal. A never heard about landfills.

This week we started N on some real food* - banana (his favorite so far), avocado, oatmeal with mango, pear and tonight was sweet potato. N sits in his chair, clad in protective gear. We hand him a spoon with some mashed food on it, or just leave it on the table for him to grab. He feeds himself pretty well. He loves spoons. Luckily, we have many as they tend to find their way to the floor.

A is inspired to try everything her brother tries, but will not really eat more than a bite. She’s on a special diet of cereal, pancakes & waffles, pasta (plain or with cheese, cold please) and fruit. And cookies.

* To be fare, N’s real first food was lettuce handed over by his uncle B during the seder. No dipping on N’s part. But it was shredded within minutes.

A was very excited about the Seder. She told me that there would be a glass of wine and an empty chair for Elijah. And cats. It’s good Z & Y really do have a cat. A practiced Ma Nishtana on the way over. We went looking for Foofy the minute we walked in.

It was exciting to have all the family together - 1 kid, 2 babies and one on the way…

A was all set to sing her part when the production team (L) intervened for a photo-op… But she did sing, Ma Nishtana, ever so softly… We all chimed in. N was ecstatic.

A was so psyched she stayed up through Had Gadya and only fell asleep in the car a couple of minutes before we got home (rephrase - Saba and Savta’s house).

As far as A is concerned there is something missing from the promised land. The food providers are unable to get the soft cookie thing right. It’s what she starts her breakfast with every day. We tried a poppy seed cake on the first day. Chocolate rogalch on the second. After that A kind of gave up on us. This afternoon she let me know that “soft cookies are gone. yuckie. bye.” Lucky for A, her Savta inquired what soft cookies really were. Soft cookies at home are bite sized brownies. So Savta made brownies. After her nap A got to inspect the baked goods. Finally someone got it right. She asked if she could have some tomorrow morning.

Other things that A has discovered about Israel:
- “It’s warm outside. You don’t need a coat, only clothes.”
- “There is no toilet in the bathroom!”
- She cannot play with Savta’s birds. Or pig.

N just smiles at everyone and all the time. He’s gonna be a heart breaker.

Yesterday I had fun trying to make N laugh. Here are the things I tried:
- Jumping - that’s the best
- Karate moves - works too
- John Travolta moves - not so much.

When he’s not laughing, N is experimenting with new torture techniques: biting and screeching. One does need to make use of all bodily parts.

A really surprised me today when she hurt her arm and asked N to give her a kiss. And she figured out how to kiss too!

We are almost ready for our trip to Israel…