Safta and Saba are finally here! their flight was 12 hours delayed, then they got in without their luggage -- but they're here!
Ella gave them a warm welcome and bonded with her safta pretty quickly.
on wednesday, after a long awaited for visit to Fogo de Chao, we got Ella out from daycare early and went to the zoo to see the lights. it was a warm evening and everybody had a good time!
The Naozim were here to light a Hanukkah candle and eat traditional sufganyot (donuts) and less-traditional pizza.
agh!
of course i didn't accomplish everything i wanted for this year. but oh well.
sorry for not updating this month. i know, i'm bad -- maybe this should be one of the new-year's resolutions. check out pictures from Nov-Dec (link on the right hand side of the blog), a lame substitute for blog posts, but at least something to prove we were alive (and had some fun) this month.
if you're into documenting, photography and/or art, i suggest that you check out these two links:
1. Mila's Daydreams - a mom on maternity leave photographed her sleeping baby into a dreamy scene.
2. our most talented friend Karin, is taking one photo of herself per day here. i think it's an amazing project, and i wish i had the energy/time/inspiration/diversity/creativity to do something like that!
not really.
i found a mobile phone on the street yesterday, and today reunited it with its owner. they guy (a contractor working on the construction of UofC's new glass dome library) thought he had misplaced his phone in his truck, and called it from another phone only to be surprised by someone else (me) picking up!
when i gave him the phone this morning he said "thank you so much for doing this for me, you saved my life!"
the TV was on in the background, playing "when Harry met Sally" or some other girls' movie. nobody was really paying attention. then this happened on the commercial break.
next thing you know, Ella goes "cupcake? cupcake? cupcake?" and "cupcake! cupcake! cupcake! cupcake! cupcake! cupcake!" walks over to her high chair and "cupcake! cupcake! cupcake! cupcake! cupcake! cupcake! cupcake! cupcake! cupcake! cupcake! cupcake! cupcake! cupcake! cupcake! cupcake! cupcake! cupcake! cupcake! cupcake! cupcake! cupcake! cupcake! cupcake! cupcake!" well you get the idea.
so...
here she is helping with the cupcake liners:
...and about an hour later, satisfaction.
i saw this flower on one of my walks back home last week.
i thought it could have been a good inspiration for the mobile that i crocheted for Mina (had i seen that flower prior to crafting). maybe a similar flower inspired the person who made up the pattern. who knows...
taking the picture with my phone inspired me to think about maybe getting a smarter phone. i like the phone i have, even though it's so old that they don't sell accessories for it anymore (e.g., an extra charger). the camera isn't great (but hey, i have a camera -- it's not that old) and getting the pictures off the phone is an operation.
i would buy an iPhone if it didn't come with a monkey on its back...
growing growing growing!
Ella grew 2.5 inches since her last checkup. that's about 7mm a day or about half a cm a week!! yikes!
(Ben says: "i can't believe that doesn't hurt". i agree.)
she's back on her own growth curve (which is still way above everybody else who is her age).
It occurred to me that Ella realizes that "open/close" and לפתוח/לסגור mean the same things. I also realized that Ben is doing ALL the heavy lifting in hebrew.
so to force me to speak some hebrew at home, we're initiating a new house policy:
ella was still awake in bed at 10pm tonight. any bets on when she wakes up in the morning? i take the 6:30-6:45 window.
Oct 31, 2010
It was the first Trick or Treat-ing for both Ella and me! we had lots of fun chasing the dinosaurs (aka - Peter, Nicole and Dan) down the street and climbing all the stairs in their neighborhood. Ella was more into the stairs than the candy. She even said thank you to most people, and at dinner she said "theku kol" (=thank you Nicole) yayy!
Last night I made the final touches on Ella's Halloween costume. she rocks that outfit!
looking forward to the party at school this afternoon, and to trick-or-treat-ing on Sunday, yayy!
(p.s. in case you can't tell, she's a gray scrooge)
sunday morning, we made a spontaneous decision to go to the botanical gardens. our trip started on a bad note when we discovered that our car had a flat tire. gladly it wasn't enough to keep us at home that day! a few hours and a trip to the shop later, we were back on track. we were happy that Nicole and Peter were just as spontaneous as us, and could join us despite all the changes of plans.
the afternoon was beautiful, the gardens still blooming, and some trees started to change. Ella and Peter spent all their energy running around looking at water fountains and enjoying what was possibly one of the last weekends of good weather this year...
sometime we all need to tune out, let our brain rest from processing information and learning new stuff all day, and we just want to sit on our couch, put something on tv, and rest our heads on aba's shoulder. i know i do.
Oct. 10 2010
Ella amazed us today by counting from one to 10 on her own, completely unprompted!
not all the numbers are pronounced perfectly, but they're all there :D
hooray!
this is at bedtime:
Ella is 17 months old today!
and for the occasion, i'll try to compile a list of words that she says, knowing that it will already be outdated by the time she comes back from school today.
English
apple, nana (banana), a ball ,book, bubbles, butt, bye, tootie (cookie), doggy, down, ducky, fish, memah (grandma), poopa (grandpa), help please, hi, keys, ilk (milk), more, movie,morning, my, no, one-two-tee-fo-fie-six-eight-nine-ten, open, outside, peas, pizza, please, pooh, poop, coogie (scroogie), spoon, a star, this, teeth, up please, OK, oh-oh
Hebrew
אבא, אמא, באבא(סבא) עודי, אוזן, אדום, אוטו, אף, בואי, בובה, ננה(בננה), בובי(דובי), דליה, חומיס, ירוק, תולי(חתולי), כיבשה, מיטה, מים, מישמה(מה נישמע?) ,נדנדה, ניים(אופניים), עוד, עו-פאם(עוד פעם), עיגול, עין, עכבר, עץ, פה, פופיק, פרח, בוע(ריבוע), תות
it took about a week of sleepless nights and red-eyed parents before we were back on normal central-time schedule. much better now.
it's getting much cooler. the beaches are closed (and too cold anyway), Ella is wearing her new sneakers instead of sandals, and we tried on last-year's oversized outwear and were relieved that it still fits (actually it's just the right size now). we're ready for snow. (but not eagerly waiting).
school is great. it's much easier to drop Ella off at school in the morning than get her to leave in the afternoon. we have to bribe her with promises of Hummus and cookies (that await at home) in order to make it to the car. many times we make it to the car screaming and kicking.
many of the older kids (2-3yo) graduated on to different schools, and now Ella is one of the older kids there. can you imagine that??? there are four older kids in her group, two of which will also leave at the end of the month. i have mixed feelings about that. on one hand, she will get more one-on-one with Coffy. on the other hand, she learned tons from the older kids. and on yet the other hand some of the things she learned from the older kids are not great (see kicking and screaming above).
so we'll see how this turns out. she's a smart kid.
a smart kid with obsessions. yes, she's a little obsessive sometimes. to the old stair-climbing obsession we now add opening and closing gates; soap bubbles; and the worst of all: keys.
we were in ignorant bliss when she stopped putting our keys in her mouth (the plastic set of keys i got her didn't interest her one bit). now she's intent on using the keys the same way we use them, for opening doors. urgh! if it were up to her, i would have had to hold her up for 10 minutes by the front door while she tries to put the (wrong) key in the lock. she wouldn't accept help, and her failure to operate the lock frustrates her.
does anyone know where we can buy this lock and key toy? if you have a used one we'll take it off your hands. if we can't find one we'll make one ourselves (buy locks at home depot and screw them to a board). hopefully we'll get to it before she moves on to a new obsession.
it's not all bad though. Ella's communication skills are improving -- she's using more and more words every day, and can communicate what she wants much better, which leads to less melt-downs. she understands and follows requests (give it to abba, go to your chair, etc) and can indicate if she wants something that we offer (usually she says "no"). she's mastered the "help please" and "up please" instead of whining. she knows how to ask for several things. she names toys, shapes, and some of the numbers. hooray! i'm happy now that she's learning to speak, i know i'll curse in a couple of years when she doesn't stop talking.
stories titled "boy dies in accidental shooting" are, unfortunately, not rare. we come across them every once in a while. google it, you'll find lots of stories. they are all shocking.
you'd think -- who keeps a gun at home? a loaded gun? at a home with kids around? certainly nobody reasonable! you have to be a criminal to do that!
well
then it happens to someone you know.
she has three kids, and no guns.
her spouse's 22-year-old son from a previous marriage (who doesn't live with her) hid his gun on her property. her two younger kids found it and played with it. her youngest died. he was eight years old.
when i was 20 i had the opportunity to get a handgun license. i thought it would be cool. i knew i was skilled and trained enough to handle it, having spent the previous two years of my life in a firing range. it would have been much easier to carry than the military-issued rifle i was stuck with. i'm so glad i didn't buy a handgun back then. where would it be now?
"guns don't kill people, people kill people"? really? not if they're not there to be used!
how does a responsible, intellectual, wonderful mom go on living after a thing like that? she would have never, ever, leave anything at home that would put her children in risk.
how was she supposed to protect her family from other people's negligent, if not criminal, behavior? my heart goes to her, and there's nothing i can do but think.
do you know what's hidden in your back yard? can you be sure a neighbor didn't drop something in a box in your unlocked garage for a curious child to fine? do you know what your children or grandchildren can find if they look hard enough?
if you're reading this and got this far, please, please, think about your weapons. any firearms, hunting guns, explosives, fire crackers, fireworks, bibi guns... put them away. lock them up. better yet, keep them away from home until you go on your next hunting trip. because you never know.
Tuesday: what a beautiful morning to be flying over Chicago
poor baby fell asleep so hard on the cab ride home, she didn't even wake up when i moved her to bed.
hi scroogim! did you miss us?
ooooou. yuck. Biology experiments in the refrigerator.
Wednesday, 4pm: jetlag catching up. i'm braindead.
i have mixed feelings about this:
Strike cripples Israel's international airport
Thousands stranded at Israel Ben Gurion airport after workers declare go slow amid stalled wage talks. All takeoffs cancelled, baggage claim closed. Airport Authority, Treasury accelerate negotiations; Travel Agents Association implores finance minister to allow planes to use military airstrips...
Ella plays hide and go seek with ben. we don't know where she picked it up, but it's a fun game! the game went on for a long time the night before, but the batteries died on the camcorder so we had to take a second shot at it. this time Pooh got to play too :)
***
.jpg)
left: LOOP baby toy - from here. Right: Red flower - my creation. i'll write down the pattern at some point :)
Everybody's getting one for xmas this year, haha.jpg)
...and this is 2-week-old Hadas, it looks like she's already enjoying her flower!
pattern
=======
petals (make about 7)
ch2 (or make loop)
r1: sc6 (don't join)
r2: sc2 in each sc. place marker
r3-r7: sc in each sc
r8: dec 1, sc 4, dec 1, sc4 (dec: decrease)
r9: sc in each sc.
rattle
stuff firmly as you go. insert 2-3 jingle bells in the top ball (or in both).
top ball: white
ch2 (or make loop)
r1: sc6 (don't join) (6)
r2: sc2 in each sc (inc 6). place marker (12)
r3: inc 6 (18)
r4: inc 6 (24)
r5: inc 3 (27)
r6:sc in each sc (27)
r7: sc in back loop of each sc
r8: sc (27)
r9: dec 3 (24)
r10: dec 3 (21)
r11: dec 6 (15)
stem: b/w stripes
with black, sl st in each sc
r1: sc in each sc of r10 (over the sl st. this makes a nice transition)
r2: sc
switch to white
r3-4: sc
repeat r1-4 to desired length. end with black.
bottom ball: red black and white
with red, sl st in each sc
r1: (r) inc 6, sc in each sc (over the sl st.)(21)
r2: (r) inc 6 (27)
r3: (b) inc 3 (30)
r4-7:(w) sc
r8:(b) dec 3 (27)
r9:(r) dec 6 (21)
r10:(r) dec 6 (15)
r11:(r) dec 6 (9)
close
assemble:
with black, sl st in each loop in outer loop of row 7 of top ball. fasten off. sew petals to the black row.
