What's up doc

Today was Owen's three year wellness checkup with his pediatrician. Meh reported that he kept asking when he'd be seeing Doctor R (his dentist), but had some good interactions with Dr. P., and overall everything is looking very good. I asked him about the experience tonight and he said she looked at his teeth. I asked if she'd also looked at his eyes and ears, and he replied "No, just my ears."
The stats:

• Weight: 31 lbs (50th percentile)
• Height: 37" (50-75th percentile)
• BMI: 25-50%

Deep thoughts, by O

Home! I'm back from my whirlwind trip to both Jerusalem and London. It was so good to spend time with friends T, S, and their kids M, R, and A in Jerusalem, and to visit with N, S, J, and R in London. And my conference went very well. But home is goodness. Meh captured a list of O quotes while I was gone - she reported that some of the most excellent comments Owen had occurred at 5 in the morning (and thus weren't recorded), but here are some daytime and pen-at-hand ones:

"Can I have some? Cuz I do sure like it."

"I can't see you cuz I closed my eyes."

"Mommy, you are the beautiful princess"

"They're 5, they're 6, they're ninety ten, Thomas and his friends!" (actual lyric: "They're 2, they're 4, they're 6, they're 8")

Extreme Pond Jumping

Close college friends T and S and their super fun kids M, R, and A moved to Israel several months ago, and when I learned I'd be speaking at a conference in London, I figured that would be close by and a good opportunity to try to see them beforehand. Alas, my European geography apparently failed me slightly, as this meant a 5+ hour flight (and another 2 hour time change forward) less than 18 hours after I landed in London. Still, I got to get into London, have dinner with friends N, S, and their boys J and R, and then hop the Tube the next morning back to Heathrow, getting to friends T and S's house in Jerusalem by early afternoon!

Being in Israel was definitely a change from my last visit, which was more than 20 (!) years ago. The airport is gorgeous; in addition to the self-proclaimed largest duty-free shopping by square footage in the world, there was a giant mezuzah greeting travelers. T and S live in Baq'a, very near where I was based when I came to Israel in high school. In fact, on our first evening, we drove past the new home of the education facility where I'd stayed (which is now the second story of a car dealership). The visit was a nice combination of visiting with the family, playing tourist, lite shopping on Ben Yehuda Street, admiring impressive indoor and outdoor artwork at the Israel Museum, eating excellent kosher meaty food (the big new thing in Israel is apparently fancy burgers with dozens of different sauce options; they looked disappointed when I just asked for ketchup), and getting a brief dose of immersion with R's evening school activities, a doctor's office visit, and general hanging out. It was so great to get to spend time with friends as they adjust to living in a new country and culture. Of course I couldn't leave without a few souvenirs for the boys: a kippah with Pixar Cars, and another with Curious George. Oh, and some rugelach from an excellent bakery. Full pics here.

Back to London, where I had a good and productive conference, and got to see my friends once more before I head back to the US. A good but exhausting trip; very happy to be getting ready to board the plane back!