Wednesday, October 31, 2012

An Ari post

Yesterday we all went over to Auntie Lois and Uncle Mike's to keep her company during her surgery recovery.  This mostly involved us bringing over ice cream and pies, watching the kids play, and talking about everything under the sun.

One of the highlights was watching John introduce our kids to his new dune buggy.  Xander rode in it for about 4 seconds then got scared.  But Ari's made of sterner stuff - he's always the first to try something new.

 Not sure what he thinks as John starts up the engine.




 Wow, you're so cool, you're reversing!




 WEEEEE!





 Holding on tightly, but not scared at all.  (John helped him put on his seat belt!)




 Taking off.




 On the way back from the woodpile.





 Climbing out.



 So proud of himself that he did it all on his own.




Right after he got off, he climbed around to the driver's seat!  Look at that smile as he turns the steering wheel and pretends to drive.  John is incredible with Ari; he obligingly got into the passenger seat and showed him how everything worked.




Getting down for the last time.  Go Ari!



Tomorrow is his last day in the infant/young toddler class.  He's been spending half days for about a month in the older toddler classroom, and he's so ready to move on.  Here are last week's pictures from school:


 Playing cymbals during music time




Dancing with his amazing teacher Jenn.  As much as I know Ari will thrive one class up, I'm sorry he's leaving my fav teacher at that school.


Let's see, what other updates?  Physically, he's right on target: running, falling, climbing, trying to jump and copy Xander, etc.  Word-wise, he's improving in leaps and bounds.  Besides the basic "mama, dada, [X]an-duh, cats' names, yes, no" he's also said his version of "train, water, please, food" and a bunch of other things I can't remember right now.  It's a combination of consonants, vowels, grunts, and pointing, but he always gets the message across.   I think when he finally does speak, it'll be pretty clear.

And I think that's about it... bedtime approaches.  Lilah tov!

Monday, October 29, 2012

The beginnings of life, according to my four year-old

Discussing how babies are born:

"Babies are born naked, because they're gooey.  And they don't want to get goo on their clothes!"

Sunday, October 28, 2012

An awesome day... for most of it

- Out of the house by 8:15am

- Prep religious school

- Participate in Brotherhood Brunch honoring my husband.  Thank you to all family who donated pictures for his slideshow!

- Participate in 5th Grade B'nai Mitzvah Orientation

- Donate to kiddo bake sale, yummy cookies

- Schmoozed with everybody, felt totally at home in community

- Lead Faculty Development meeting with amazing awesome teachers.  So proud to be guiding this faculty!

- Yummy sandwiches in meeting :)

- Home at 3:30.  Short nap at home

- Set alarm from nap to go to birthday party for friend's two year-old.  Ice cream cake, kids running
around

- EVERYBODY impressed with X's t-ball skills, including me.  Hits the ball hard, consistently.  Almost every time it went all the way across the backyard and hit the fence with a thunk.  

- Other parents told us to enroll X in sports.  Jonathan and I looked at each other in shock.  Music?  Art?  Theatre?  Gymnastics?  Now sports?  He better pick his own extracurricular, cuz there are way too many options.

- On drive home, it's dark.  See weird flashing lights off the freeway.  Pull over.  They're homemade gliders with fluorescent lights on them.  Cool.

- Now home.  Overtired kids.  Crazy kids.  Not-using-quiet-voice kids.  Stop-hitting-your-brother kids.  Kids on time-out.  Jonathan being with kids while I decompress on the computer.  


And it was all going so well....

Friday, October 26, 2012

Little things make me happy

I just took "weather.com" off of my bookmark bar.  I haven't checked it in weeks.... it's either sunny, cloudy, or a teensy bit chilly.  Either way, the weather doesn't change halfway through the day, so I can check the weather by using my pre-Cincinnati method: I step outside. :)

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Xander's words of wisdom

On conflict resolution:
After watching a part of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace:  "R2D2 shouldn't use electricity to be mean to people!  He needs to use his words."

On routine and ritual:
"Mommy, I don't want to poop here [at someone else's house.] The horsie potty [at our house] will miss me!"

On weather in different parts of the country:
Asking him to put on closed-toed shoes because it was raining: "It can't be raining!  There's no thunder and lightning!"

On rules and exceptions:
When Simcha meowed near the door: "Okay Simcha, it's very dark out there, so I'll let you out just this once!"

On moving:
"I like this house better.  Our yellow house had stairs, but this one has more room to run around. And a better backyard to play in."

On compassion and TV ratings:
Watching a cartoon where someone got hit on the head: "I'll hold your hand so you won't be scared.  That was a violence!"

Friday, October 19, 2012

Pumpkin patch

Full disclosure: I post these pictures but I wasn't actually at the pumpkin patch, I was leading services that morning instead.  So my captions come from Jonathan's retelling of the event!

 Taking a train to get there




 Ari a little unsure on this train thing




 Feeling hay for the first time.  (And yes, that's a borrowed "monkey leash" - Jonathan said he had always been philosophically opposed to it, but that in practicality it was a life-saver with two kids!)




 Uncle Mike and John, kings of the hay stack





 Ari wanting to be held, Xander tentatively exploring





John was lost and then found




 Watching kids play games




 Auntie Lois showing Ari how to bowl




Apparently he cried hard when they left




 Xander on his second pony ride in as many weeks




The back of Jonathan in the hay maze




 Lunchtime




 Scarecrows along the hayride




My sons have trained me well.  I knew without even looking twice that this was a combine harvester.



When they got home from the pumpkin patch, and I got home from temple, Xander excitedly showed me his mini-pumpkin that he picked out.  There were three, one for him, one for Ari, and one for me!  We decorated them liberally with marker, and they now sit proudly in the playroom. Autumn, here we come!

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Xander's Pirate birthday party

To get people in the mood, Jonathan put up signs at all entrances:













 
 Pre-party pirate dress-up



 Proud pirate momma




 Our sukkah redone as... dum dum dum... The Black Pearl!




 Xander holding the Black Pearl cannon, checking in with his friends




Avi on the crow's nest, surveying the land




 Ari swabbing the deck





 Chatting away




 Playing duck-duck goose




 Full view




 Birthday cake!







 About to light candles





 Eating in the Black Pearl sukkah.  The table and chairs were taken, so they went to the floor.





Rabbis on their day off. :)




Jonathan hid large gold coins all along the grass edges.  Pirate treasure hunt = best idea ever.  Kept 'em busy for 20 minutes straight.





 Trading in their coins for pirate loot, aka goody bags



 Mr. Ari Pirate disappointed he wasn't getting loot



 Mr. Xander Pirate overjoyed with his new loot accessory




Auntie Lois and the birthday boy




 Opening presents




 Our littlest pirate didn't want to take off his hat, even after the party ended!


Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Two weeks ago now... we celebrated!

I'm really behind on posting pictures.  So I'm going to try and do one post a night (every other night?) for a week or so, until I'm all caught up.  Here is from two weeks ago, when we went to the Sukkot celebration at the kids' school. 



 Saying hi from the bounce house



 Jump jump jump




 SERIOUS jump!




 I came straight from work that day.




 Getting an airplane painted on, because Bubby had just arrived on one that morning.




 Ari pondering the strangeness of face paint.




Horsie ride!




Waving to our brave equestrian.





Ari made a beeline for the rocketship.





Enthralled.




Ready to climb out.





Exploring the police car.




Giggling to each other.




Who knew that being placed in mock custody could be so exciting?





My two troublemakers in the back seat.




Looking out at the McDonald's window at all the cars afterward.


Not pictured: Fun with balloons.  Fun with sandbox.  Fun with lulav and etrog.  Fun with running-away-from-Mommy-and-playing-chase.  Fun with snacks in the sukkah.  Fun with watching the older kids have sack races.  All in all, a very good afternoon.