Shalom Yafa

It's the end of an era: the boys' nanny Yafa is moving to Wisconsin to be with her new grandchild. While we only saw her twice a week, the boys have gotten very close to her and were always happy to see her when she arrived, and sorry to see her go. She has the magic touch with cars (she wasn't even aware that they fight over them for us), and I also don't think Zachary ever ate more than with her no-nonsense Israeli bubby sensibilities to eating meals! This was her last week with us; I'm not entirely sure if the boys were fully aware when we said goodbye last night that we won't be seeing her nearly as frequently, but they did give her extra special hugs on her last day, in addition to a bouquet of flowers and a frame with two pictures of them with her (which they decorated themselves with puffy stickers and such). The boys have had so many wonderful experiences with her, and continue to share Israeli songs, dances, and a love of our many Hebrew versions of children's classics with both us and each other. Shalom Yafa, safe travels, and see you again soon!

Now gluten free

As a follow-up to the last post on Zachary's make believe with Mima's phone, here's what he's been doing with a teeny tiny telephone that comes from one of Meh's childhood dollhouses. I've been neglecting to talk about the boys' ever increasing swimming skills; they're still in weekly classes, with me taking Z on Sundays, and Meh taking O on Mondays. Here's Z at last week's lesson: And while this isn't particularly representative of O's skills, it's water related and seemed pretty silly at the time. As Z continues to have frequent tummy aches, we've begun a two week experiment going gluten free to see if that helps. This is particularly challenging for him since his favorite foods besides fruit are Cheerios and goldfish crackers. For the former, we've swapped in gluten free cereals like Corn Chex for breakfast. For the latter, Meh did some amazing outside of the box thinking and decided to make her own. From scratch. And with a car-shaped cookie cutter. That's right, gluten free goldfish car crackers. I can't speak for Z, but I think they're pretty darn tasty. We'll have to wait and see how he judges them, though he certainly enjoyed helping to make them.

Tear down this wall

Another milestone for the boys - for the first time in something like 4 years, we have taken down the giant gate around the bookcases and TV/AV components in the family room. There was actually a small adventure involved while I tried to figure out how to make an appropriate cover for the open cabinet where the DVR, amplifier (with its enticing volume knob; Z has already blasted himself with sound a few times), DVD player, and Xbox all live. But, better living through plastic; I successfully created an acrylic screen that shields the components while still allowing remote controls to work. Without the fence, the room feelings shockingly large. The boys were quite curious, and of course started checking out the books on the shelves now that they're in reach -- but I was about ready to declare victory with the actual audio/video components being inaccessible. Yet somehow this afternoon, Z managed twice to get one or two (though not all) components on. I'm not quite sure how, but will have to stealthily watch and see if he's fashioned some kind of crude IR remote out of his electronic toys. Or maybe he's just figured out how to pivot the acrylic screen so he can reach behind. An investigation is underway.

A bit of scariness yesterday - while O was napping and Z was chillaxing, Meh was unloading the dishwasher and heard a loud thump followed by Z crying. We're still not sure exactly how or where, but he managed to bump his head pretty good. Thankfully papa was able to come over and keep an eye on the sleeping O while Meh took Z to the doctor -- everything looks okay though he got a staple in his head. O apparently slept through the whole adventure none the wiser. Z was unphased, and this morning apparently had a fabulous time in the Ikea ball pit while Meh did some speed shopping. O was very sad to not be able to join him, and apparently they've added a height requirement to the age and potty training one -- even Z barely clears the height limit, so it may be a bit before O can join him in BjållPitLünd.

Today mima came to visit Meh and the boys after work, and Z reportedly kept taking her cellphone, holding it to his ear, and saying "Hi, hello, how are you? Good... Bye!" Silly man.

Smell you later

Spring continues to occasionally become summer, and the boys are enjoying more and more time outside, whether in the backyard or at the park. Yesterday Z indicated he really wanted to be up in the tree, and was quite happy to sit in the crook of it for a few minutes while I took his picture. Tree climbing was one of my favorite childhood activities, though I'm moderately nervous about both the height and integrity of the mossy apple tree. For now, sitting is just fine with me. Z has also been slowly starting to master the art of pumping his legs to swing, and has even started to take an interest in sharing the swing with his brother -- so long as he gets to push:

O's ability to make long term and sometimes complex connections continues to astound (and occasionally confound) us! While he was taking his nap yesterday (he still takes some very impressive 2-plus hour ones), Meh had a piece of chocolate. When she went to get him when he woke up, he smiled at her, then curiously sniffed and declared "Mommy smells like chocolate. Mommy eat some chocolate! Eat some chocolate too!"

On the topic of sleep, nighttime continues to be a bit of a challenge. 4:30 remains O's wake up time of choice, and he generally starts suggesting that we take him downstairs by 5 am; negotiating a later time is a dicey situation often leading to loud declarations of "I want to go downstairs daddy. Puh-lease!" Coupled with Z waking up once or twice a night (tummy trouble? bad dreams? We haven't been able to figure it out yet), sleep remains a precious commodity around here.

Total Recall

It's been a Mothers' Day weekend full of mom-related news and events. First, mazel tov to grandma on her engagement -- we're so happy for her and J! On Mothers' Day proper, I got the boys downstairs and tried to let Meh sleep in a bit (note that it's all relative for us, getting up at 4:30 or 5 most days). We started making mommy breakfast to bring her in bed, and O really got into the act, helping me beat the eggs, pretending to make his own pancakes on his stove, and so on. (Z assisted by overseeing us while eating cereal and drinking juice.) Anyway, O was very intent on helping me bring the breakfast upstairs to mommy, and at 7 am it got to be too much and we had to head up. I soon discovered the source of his interest: he climbed into bed with mommy and proceeded to help her eat her breakfast. I'm still finding crumbs in bed two days later.

Anyway, a few hours later we went into city with two moms (mima and Meh) for some yummy international district Chinese food. The boys had fun with their chopsticks, and in restaurant number two (yes, it was a progressive lunch), they got to sit next to the lobster and crab tank; both boys found the sea creatures fun to watch, and thankfully we were all able to enjoy a mostly civilized lunch. The boys were given lollipops on our way out of the second dim sum restaurant. On the walk to the car, O managed to drop and shatter his -- though thankfully he wasn't too upset. (He did fall apart when we detoured to the Asian grocery store, particularly when we couldn't find lollipops, but then again, we were well into naptime.) Z incidentally dropped his onto the pavement as well -- but managed to pick it back up and put it into his mouth before I could get to it. Ugh, though perhaps still not quite as gross as the time he rubbed a lollipop on the carpet of a barber shop in between licks.

Anyway, so O was asking about lollipops as we headed home, and Meh said that yes, after his nap, he could have a lollipop. We walked upstairs, read some stories, and then put him to bed with a song. Sure enough, when O woke up two and a half hours later, his first words were "Go downstairs and have a lollipop!" And he did.