Barack Obama

A’s school is obviously doing a better job than we are in educating her to be a good citizen. On inauguration day they had the kids sit and watch the whole thing on TV. A now totally knows who Barack Obama is (I figure she had plenty of time to study his face during that hours). She recognizes him when she sees his face in the newspaper or on the internet. Her curiosity slightly peaked when I said that we are going to see an exhibit with a picture of Obama. A promise of a sea monster exhibit was what got her going, though. Once at the museum she immediately recognized Obama in Shepard Fairey’s image of “HOPE”.
She is living in extraordinary times.

Boon

One of N’s favorite things are balloons, aka “boons”. He likes them with air in them, but preferably straight up in their original 20 party balloon bag from CVS. He is now attached to a powder blue balloon in a tattered plastic bag. When he gets tired he starts saying “boon, boon, boon” and is reassured when we tell him it is waiting for him in his crib. Now, if this balloon would make him sleep through the night and/or not wake up crying at 5:30 am I might go out and stock up on balloons. Then again, we might just need to do it anyway.

De-brothering

A is not so in love with her brother. Maybe because he’s been driving us crazy climbing all over the place, biting, just being restless.
A couple of weeks ago she said: “N is not a good baby. He needs to go back to the Hospital”. Mind you, the kid has been around for 15 months.

Today she said: “I’m going to take N and flush him down the toilet. And then we will only be three. Mommy and Daddy and A. And then Ruben (the plumber) will come and get N out of the toilet. And he’ll be all wet. And we’ll dry him up and then I’ll flush him down the drain again. And he won’t come back for ever and ever and ever.”

Time for some positive bro speak.

Mama

N now calls me Mama. In an Italian accent. He calls L Mama as well. And any other human figure too.

Today I was not around for dinner and bath and L told me that N walked around the house with a picture of me crying Mama, Mama, Mama.

Conversations

Recent conversations with A:

A: “Thank you mommy bear for making me dinner”
Me: “You’re welcome baby bear”
A: “I’m not a bear, I’m a horse!”

Me: “How many people do we have in our family?”
A: “You’re one, and Noam is two and I’m three and Daddy is sixteen!”
The following day..
“I’m three, and you’re one and Noam is sixteen and Daddy is two”

The head

N and A have recently been quite interested in their head and the stuff that’s in/on it.

Nose:
A said “Mommy, there are two holes in my nose. You know what they’re for? For putting your fingers in.”

Eyes:
Savta M taught N to say “A’in”. He’s been sticking his finger in our eyes ever since…

Tongue:
Yesterday N discovered that he can stick his tongue out and that it’s really funny. We had some family tongue greeting last night…

Ears:
When N sees A he covers his ears. Which is what she does when he cries or “talks” too loud to her liking…

Hair:
N is into brushing his hair.

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.

Sunday morning

Last Sunday A walked into our room shortly after 6 am. She has never done this before. N was sleeping blissfully in his crib. We were zonked. No juice to get us going at all. L got out of bed, but no dice. A wanted me. She wouldn’t get into bed with us. She just stood there and tugged at me for a while. Next thing I know, it’s 7 am and A is standing next to out bed calling me “Mommy, Mommy”. I have no idea what she did in our room for an hour. I tried to ask her, but she had no idea what I was talking about. It was so weird – did we actually sleep in? And what happened in that hour in A’s life?

No diaper

Today A spent the entire day in underpants. No accidents. She even took her nap without a diaper. She seemed to think peeing in the potty was pretty cool. Yay!

It was a beautiful day. A spent a lot of time on the tire swing in the front yard. She loves it. Big pushes!

N is teething again. He is so miserable. He is now scooting backwards – it makes him SO mad.

We must be doing a good job (for now) in raising good Jewish kids. A told me this evening “I like going to synagogue. We sing and eat. I like it.”

A visit to the doctor

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…