A-ba!

N started saying “A-ba”. Sometimes he says it to L, but mostly to anyone and anything.

On the way home from flying her purple kite, N kept saying “A-ba, A-ba, A-ba”. A said “Aba is not here, there’s only mommy”.

Wahad, tnein, talate!

We are trying to get some structure into the chaos of our days. No more playing in the living room after breakfast – it’s time to get dressed. Imposing the new rules required introducing the “getting dressed game” in which I sing “one, two, three! one, two, three! when I say three, you’ll take your pants off!” A promptly follows the instructions and gets her pajamas off and her clothes on. This worked great for a couple of days. On the third day, there was some resistance so I decided to try some novelty counting. I said: “wahad, wahad, wahad, tnein, talate!” The crying stopped and cooperation started. Now it’s our new song. And A sings it too. Only when she sings, it sounds like this: “wahad, tnein, TA-WA-TE!”

Escape

Today I told A that she will be going to school. “Alone?” she asked hopefully.

The throne

A couple of months after N was born I decided to splurge on a cool high chair for A. It’s been great – she can get in and out of it by herself, it fits neatly under the table, easy to clean and it’s green.

N likes spending time under the kitchen table. A’s chair is a great attraction. This is not to A’s liking AT ALL. Every time N is under the table this is what we hear: “Noooooooooooooooooo! Go away! This my chair! My chair! Noooooo! Go to Daddy! Not here! Go to Mommy! No N! Mine! My Chair! It’s not for babies! Nooooooooooooooo!”.

Once L threatened to take the chair away and put it in the basement. A was all for it.

I put a note on the chair saying “Anyone can touch this chair, but only A can sit on it.” No one was impressed.

It looks like the message is getting across. N tries to stay clear of the throne.

Dog Days

A: Are you Stella’s mommy?
Me: If you’re Stella, I’m Stella’s mommy
A: I’m Stella

***

A: Are you Stella’s Daddy?
L: If you’re Stella, I’m Stella’s daddy
A: You’re Stella’s daddy, and you’re Stella’s mommy, and I’m Stella and N is Bezi.

Stella is the tiny dog that lives up the street. Bezeq (also know as Bezi) is the big brown dog that lives across the street.

Evolution

Every night I sing to A a goodnight song I made up when she was a baby. The first line is “Good night A, Good night”. It’s been a while now that she has been asking that I sing goodnight to a variety of her alter egos:
- a bunny
- a turtle
- a cat
- a big bunny
- a purple bunny
- a purple turtle
- Vincent van Gogh
- a big purple bunny
- a snake
- a big purple snake
- a big purple turtle
- a princess
- a big princess
- a big purple princess
- a big purple Stella
- a big purple happy Stella

I wish A was happy too.

Toothbrush

N loves our electric tooth brushes. He wants to hold it. He wants to brush L’s teeth. He wants to brush his own teeth. A and I got him a baby toothbrush at CVS, but it didn’t cut it. Today, the gang came home with new battery powered tooth brushes for all. N was thrilled. He brushed his teeth and said “bvvvvvvvvvvvvvvmmmmmmm”.

First haircut

It is a custom in some Jewish circles to cut little boys’ hair for the first time when they turn three. We don’t belong to that circle and the haircut in question was for a girl. Yet we waited until she was three. Her hair hadn’t been brushed in more than a month. Her beautiful curls were starting to look like a matted rug.

L practiced on himself a couple of nights ago. A was all for it (granted, she was promised ice cream as an incentive). She picked out a huge purple hair brush at CVS. She looks great.

Now it’s Mommy’s turn.

Hot dog!

A had her first hot dog at a 4th of July BBQ. It came on a popsicle stick. A novelty. A couple of weeks later they were served at G’s birthday party. A wanted one, but insisted on a stick. We compromised on spearing it on a knife. A few days ago I got some organic salt sticks with meat (I swear there is more salt in these things than any other ingredient). A was psyched. She had two! On a stick of course (thank goodness for recycling take out chopsticks).

This adds one more to A’s limited diet consisting of:
- cereal (granola, cheerios, etc.)
- bread (preferably challa)
- bagel with raisins (Dr. B pointed out that this is the same as bread, but as far as I’m concerned it’s a different kind of bread..)
- almond butter & jam sandwich (yet another variation on the bread theme)
- waffle (homemade with blueberries)
- ricotta or cottage cheese
- apple butter
- mac’n'cheese
- pasta, plain
- yogurt (plain, with granola please)
- banana
- grapes
- raisins
- prunes
- cookies
- ice cream (vanilla with rainbow sprinkles)

Dr. B said things could be worse.

Remember?

We went to the kite festival at Millennium Park today. When we got there A said: “We came here with Hazel and she had a kite”. This was a year ago.

Yesterday she recounted the time we went to a drumming class – the toy she brought along, the noise, the drumming instructor (“he was a Ray Charles cat”), the coffee shop we went to after and the muffin she ate… This was more than six months ago.

I guess it’s not so hard if your brain is not cluttered with junk (which song was #1 on the hit parade in 1983? – that’s L.’s brain) or full of fog (because you haven’t slept for more than 3 consecutive hours for more than 9 months – that’s mine).

I hope she remembers flying her purple kite.