Puppet Master

Many months (years?) ago, we got a fabulous make-your-own-puppet for the boys from our friend T. They hadn't really shown much interest in it before, but then O wanted me to pull it out yesterday, and it instantly became his best friend. He eventually even wore it himself, faced the puppet towards him, and said "Hi Owen!". Even Z got into the act of engaging with it.


We had a lovely New Years brunch for my birthday this year; Meh made a fabulous lemon meringue pie (among many other tasty treats), the boys and I grabbed bagels (a very gracious baker helped walk the three dozen rolls with holes to our car, where O noshed down happily on a piece of pumpernickel) and we had a nice time with family and friends.

Unfortunately it's been a pretty rough new year health-wise. Attendance at the brunch itself was down a bit due to a nasty stomach bug that had been going around -- and which landed with Z the next day. As he recovered, all three of the rest of us got it at the same time, leading to an exhausting and rough time all around. Here's a video of O already on the way to recovery:
Then Z's recurring cough got him sent home from school on his first day back from the bug; I took him to the doctor (where he did really well) and he was diagnosed with walking pneumonia. Pink stuff was prescribed, and he's overcome his general distate for medicine (follow up pieces of chocolate have helped) and is nearing the end of his regimen. Hopefully everyone will be in top shape by the time we head down to Arizona in a few days to visit friends P and T (the same T who gave us the puppet -- and so we come full circle) and their boys J and M.

Boxing Day

I forgot to mention, before going on holiday break, Z came home from school with this drawing. He also came home with one of a Christmas tree, and what I think were intended to be plus-sign stars -- but the way he makes plus signs really looks like crosses; much hilarity ensued when Meh mentioned this on Facebook, with a few folks getting perhaps a bit up in arms about keeping religious holidays out of the schools.

With the influx of new toys and the general clutter of the holiday season wrapping up, Meh has taken the opportunity to do some excellent reorganizing, clearing out a few drawers, optimizing our phone 'charging station', and grabbing a few new plastic boxes to house the boys' growing collection of legos and train pieces. And speaking of boxes, one of the boys favorite Chanukah presents was a fabulous kid-sized cardboard house from mima and papa! Here they are enjoying it with mommy:

I think it's actually intended for coloring or painting, but since we don't want to be planting suggestions that crayoning walls is a Good Thing, they were completely happy with climbing around in it, and eventually transferring a menagerie of stuffed animals into it. At some point O decided he needed to enter through the window, so one wall is a bit more of a suggestion than a contiguous piece of cardboard at this point -- but a huge success with the boys!
We got to celebrate many nights of Chanukah with mima and papa; they made us dinner (twice!) and we had them over for candelighting and present playing several times as well. The night before last, we all enjoyed the boys' new Lego (sorry, Mega Bloks) playground set. It's been fabulous to see O playing make believe:

And Z ran through a few verses of one of his favorite songs:

Someone set us up the Connect Four

(If you're not familiar with the meme, see this.)
The boys have been enormously enjoying Chanukah this year. On the minus side, when I announce it's time to light the candles, O often responds "presents!" And there has been a fair amount of present jostling and fighting when we give each boy a present; for the past few days we've gone down to a single present for them to share (possibly with enough components that they can both have fun without noticing the other one is playing with something clearly more interesting than what they have). To prove that they can play nice, here's more fun at the train table (which sports a new Chanukah-gifted set of tracks, bridge, and station):

Today's present was Connect 4. As I assembled the board, I was a bit bummed to see that even our childhood games are getting updates; there are now variants for making the game into a "5 in a row" version, as well as specially marked checkers that do special things like giving the player a bonus turn. Each of these checkers is actually named for its obvious icons: anvil checker, wall checker, and so on. Except for the one that knocks out an opponent's checker, which has the obvious classic bomb logo on it, but is simply described in terms of playing "this checker". Oh how the times have changed. Anyway, the boys enjoyed taking turns putting checkers in, but they've removed the most fun part of the game - the little switch that drops all of the checkers out. Now it's a weird twisting hinge thing that a grownup has to manipulate. Still, it was fun to have a family game day!
O's got a new tooth or two coming in, so he's been a bit under the weather. Zachary's fighting a cough that seems to mostly appear in the evening and first thing in the morning. And I'm recovering from allergies after visiting some friends for a Chanukah party last night. Meh's been doing a good job of taking care of us, but I think we'd all love a nap. Over the last few days that I've been home alone with the boys, we've gotten closer and closer to landing the communal nap, but still no dice - either Z will get bored and start to turn on the radio or O will be a squirmer (or push me out of the way to try to snuggle Z, keeping both of them awake). I still have hopes for the stars to align one of these days!

Making House

Happy Chanukah! O and Z's first chanukah present from Meh and myself was too good to not open immediately (as in, three days before Chanukah): to complement the new coffee table/train table (which is currently topped with a matt technically intended for doll houses and the like), Meh picked up what can only be described as a Playmobil summer dream house (or, as the box stirringly proclaims, "set no. 4857"). Very exciting, with a grill, bikes, bathroom, kitchen, tiny jars of pickles, and more -- a grand total of 323 pieces. Alas, all of the cute tiny things are separately delivered, assembled, and oh-so-easily disassembled. Meh managed to get it all together over the course of an evening (it took several hours), and the next morning, shortly after introducing it to the boys, I found O plucking the tiny flowers from the groundcover, and Z removing the tiny kickstand for the little bicycle. We tried to explain how things were intended to not come apart, but when the boys started pulling trees and partially attached home furnishings, it was time to pack it in. Alas, we were too late to save one tiny sandal from one of the little Playmobil people's feet -- or at least so we thought for most of the day; tonight I put my hands in my sweatshirt pockets and discovered a large, suspiciously solid piece of pocket lint, which turned out to be the lost sandal, surreptiously dropped in my pocket by O. The playset is sadly hiding in the laundry room, perhaps to make a reappearance in the future after strategically and liberally applying superglue.

Both boys have immediately taken to the holiday. Even a few weeks ago at his last swim lesson of the quarter, Z was practicing his "chhhh" sound for the instructor (and alternating between "challah" and "chanukah" for use demonstrations), which had her busting up in laughter. O frequently asks for chocolate gelt, Z has been singing Maoz Tsur, both boys liked lighting the menorahs (especially the train one), and when I put Z to bed this evening, he even whispered "Night night daddy. Happy Chanukah!"

Hidden Agenda

There's probably some biological/psychological reasoning behind it, but when O needs to poop, we often notice he disappears (or at least tries to) -- either into a corner of the room, or by saying "bye bye" and shutting a door. It's privacy, it's cute, and it's a likely sign that he's probably well on his way to potty training. (And if we ask, he typically says "I hide and make a poop!" -- silly boy.)

So it was immensely entertaining for me the other day when this behavior was linked unexpectedly. O and I were reading a book that has a mouse on every page (no, not that one), and on one page, the mouse is peeking out from behind an object. Owen pointed at it and said "mouse make a poop!" Similarly, later in the evening when he cleaned up from dinner, his dog-faced sippy cup ended up landing inside a mug in the sink. I mentioned the dog looked like it was hiding, and without pause, Owen commented "dog making poop!" Silly man!

Self-trained

O's verbal skills continue to develop, and he keeps a close eye on anything Z does. Here he shows his mad clean-up skills.

He clearly adores/worships his brother, often echoing what he says or following him around the house -- sometimes following perhaps a bit too close?

I was home with the boys today (I've actually have gotten to spend a lot of good quality time with them in the past few weeks) and he continues to be particularly interested in emulating Z on the potty -- he'll frequently sit on one of the little training potties in the bathroom while Z occupies the, um, official one. Most of time he's fully clothed, but in the past few days he's frequently requested we help him remove his diaper. Yesterday Meh reported that he actually went a bit (she was so proud that she, er, left it for me to view). And today he wanted to sit on the big boy potty himself. But he couldn't quite figure out how to climb up, and when he kept squatting next to the potty, I was starting to get a bit nervous. Still, trying to help him up led to more of the insistent "Owen do it" or "do it myself" that shows just how determined he is. Meanwhile, Z has now turned around and started to imitate O imitating him (!), hanging out in the bathroom on the tiny potty and reading his favorite potty books -- sotto voce, of course:

The Running Woman

Today was the Seattle Marathon and Half Marathon, and Meh braved both an early morning wakeup and the increasing rain to run the half with friend L from start to finish, in an impressive 2 hours 37 minutes -- congrats and hooray!

The boys and I met her afterwards at the always fun Seattle Children's Museum, where they have a fun new Lego exhibit (translation: tables and tables with lots of Lego and Duplo for the boys to play with), in addition to what I think was a new 'restaurant', 'grocery store' (the upscale Metropolitan Market no less), and the continuing favorite buses, fire trucks, and cars. We met friends A and K with sons E and R -- though by 'met', it was more an occasional wave as the kids tore through the various activities at the museum. Z was literally jumping out windows.

Yesterday Meh had to get into town to pick up her bib and chip for the race, so we decided to make a family outing of it and give the boys an opportunity to enjoy our sometimes underutilized public transportation options. We took the bus into the city (they really enjoyed and continued to talk about the "blue bus!"), and down into the fancy newly retrofitted underground tunnel at Westlake. Several equally fun elevators later, we were registering Meh for her race and picking up a few goodies (Z's favorite: a green cowbell) before the crowds got too hectic for the stroller. We then walked around downtown (where Z got drawn in by a large multi-track train storefront window display) and grabbed lunch while O somehow managed to have an epic nap through the whole visit. Another walk past the trains, and we were back down at the tunnel station, getting to enjoy wave after wave of passing light link rail trains while waiting for our bus home to arrive.

A turkey is a funny bird

Happy Thanksgiving! We had a nice gathering of twenty, including an impressive (perhaps mildly insane?) 7 kids under the age of 5. But they all did great, playing very nicely either together or scattered throughout the house, and we all had an enjoyable feast. Z learned a cute Thanksgiving song in school that ends with wild gobbling, and he recited it several times, with much giggling.
Meh of course did some epic cooking (I contributed the staple challah), as did all of our guests -- papa even came over yesterday to both contribute his culinary expertise and to help keep an eye on the ever curious Owen, who participated in the food prep work from his own play kitchen. It all turned out fantastic, and we were glad to be able to share the day with so many friends and family!

DIY

Grandma has been having a great visit with O and Z! O was very excited to meet her at the airport, pointing out all of the planes (and counting them: "1, 2, 9, 10, 11!") as we approached. There was a nice weekend featuring all of the kids' usual activities: playing with trains, cars, and O's newfound fascination with cooking (just in time for Thanksgiving!). And all three of the grandparents and Meh came to cheer on my orchestra's fall concert -- it was so wonderful having them all attend, and the whole audience was very supportive.

For the rest of the weekend, grandma got to come watch swim lessons (both boys were talking about and waving at her during their swims), and in addition to some wild playtime at the local mall, we got to have lunch here (O was ferociously chomping on the crusty bread, while Z was clearly ready for a nap and kept snuggling into the poor woman sitting a little further down the bench). It's been a very fun visit, and O in particular has been increasingly vocal about 'gamma' and the activities/toys he wants to share with her.

Speaking of increasingly vocal, also in the news (and the title of this post), O is starting to assert his independence to us. When I offer to help him with a jacket zipper, putting on shoes, or opening a "red cheese", he'll often say "do it yourself! do it yourself!" Sometimes this is followed by a very cute plea for "help.... plee-ayz!", but almost as often he manages all alone. And so it begins!

Challah for breakfast

Our roadtrip to Texas continued with the drive from Houston to Fort Worth. Unfortunately, stopping in the very fun Austin wasn't really an option -- the mapping software indicated it would nearly double our journey. Speaking of mapping software, I think the most challenging part of Texas might be all of the frontage roads for freeways - half of our directions ended up placing us on streets that apparently aren't really even streets. Anyway, so we travelled along the fairly non-descript I-45, making stops at scenic gas stations, sub shops, but also at a brand-spankin' new rest stop that featured, among other things, a giant sheet metal buffalo (O was entranced) and an excellent playground (both Z and O were excited to stretch their legs). I was amused to note that the playground's springy ground cover was actually a giant red, white, and blue Lone Star -- are they really that prevalent that some playground company manufactures them en masse, or was this custom for the rest stop?
Anyway, we arrived in Fort Worth (more specifically Benbook) after dark but did get to have a tasty pizza dinner with M and K (N was already asleep) before landing at our new hotel. Again, luck was with us: the room faced a gas station/truck stop with at least 4 big rigs parked outside for Z to enjoy in the morning. We then headed over to the S family, where Meh and the boys got to meet N for the very first time! She was initially shy, but warmed up to us pretty quickly. We all had a shared breakfast of challah french toast expertly prepared by M; friend C who we had been visiting previously on this trip in Houston had used my recipe and made an extra loaf for us to bring up to Fort Worth -- thanks C!
Then it was onward to the day's activities: a craft fair for the ladies (Meh had a great time and even discovered a new favorite jewelry artist), and a nice Fort Worth park for the dads and kids. O proceeded to sleep through the entire event, while Z swung and swung (he even started to get the hang of pumping his legs to go "faster!") and N alternated between slides, swinging, rocking, and climbing.
After tasty exclusive lunches out (Meh and K ate Texan barbecue, while the dads and kids had yummy Mexican), we all regrouped for a relaxing afternoon in the wonderfully warm (though I suppose M and K might argue cool when compared to the 100+ degree summers?) weather, taking a long stroll around the neighborhood with the kids, playing, reading books (Z was quite pleased to discover a prisitine copy of his favorite), and in general just chilaxing -- it was so nice to just stay put. Oh, and Owen and N went shopping around the house.
The last day of our trip started with Meh and K doing an extended run (Meh is prepping for the Seattle Half Marathon in a few weeks!) followed another lovely M and K produced breakfast. Then we headed to M's school for the grand tour; the large fountain was a big hit, as was a large grass field in which to run wild. Zachary and Owen were both calling the TCU horned frog statue a "dinosaur". Indeed.
After wrapping up our tour, we had a lovely group stop for ice cream before heading back to the airport. It was so great to catch up with M, K, and N (their own recollections here), and we hope to see them again very soon! All too soon we were saying goodbye to the "black car", wandering the many terminals, riding the airport train, eating lunch, and at long last catching our flight back -- both boys were still light on the sleep, but enjoyed watching "looootttts of big airplanes!", and Z even celebrated the flight by watching Curious George's airport adventure episode. An exhausting couple of days, but it was so so good to catch up with friends and family, and have a little Texas-sized adventure!

Houston, we have no problem

Back on the road as a family! The fares couldn't be beat and Z had a day off school, so we flew to Texas this past week to visit friends and family in Houston and Fort Worth. For the first time in a long time, our trip featured (gasp) no laptop. This was partially to try to keep our luggage size down a bit, but mostly because, who are we kidding, would we have any time to practically use a computer on the trip? But anyway, these next few entries will be blogged from home sweet home, where we arrived last night after a very good but jet lag-inducing (and somewhat sleep deprived) trip. Overall the boys did amazingly well with all of the transitions, travel, new places, and (for them) late nights.

As with many trips, this one featured nearly every mode of transportation by land even in the first few hours: the very familiar "blue car" (our car, graciously shuttled by papa), escalators and elevators through the airport terminal (both boys got to push the call buttons in turn), the airport's satellite train thing, and of course the airplane itself. Somehow this time around we managed to consolidate our luggage to a single checked bag -- I was pretty impressed, until I recognized what this made our carry-ons look like. (Not pictured: Z's own suitcase, this time functionally packed with the boys' clothes rather than toys.) Still, the gate-checked stroller made for a pretty good luggage cart.

Of course first we played at SeaTac's excellent play area to get some energy out, and then had to look at lots and lots of "biiig airplanes!" before they boarded us. On the plane, the boys were very happy; we opted for the window+middle seat configuration in two sequential rows, and both boys had great views of baggage carts, other planes, the takeoff, and Mount Rainier.

Z conked out about an hour in for a nice nap, though O continued to be squirmy and talkative through most of the flight.

This was Meh's first trip to Texas -- and one of her first experiences was us trucking the boys and collected luggage out to the rental car shuttle, where the driver helpfully offered to bring the "buggy" (stroller) up front. One more exciting-for-kids ride later, and we were picking up the "black car" and heading to visit friend C. It was great to catch up with her for dinner, and the boys had fun playing on her "soft couch". In fact, they spent much of the rest of the week (and have continued since we got home) talking about how much "I had fun with C".

The hotel turned out to be fabulous, featuring a suite with a separate living room that allowed Z to quietly play for a bit without disturbing O on our second night, with a very convenient breakfast spot downstairs, and even a heated pool (not hot enough for the boys though, who didn't last long) and hot tub. And the biggest unexpected score was that our room happend to face a busy highway (fairly well soundproofed), which gave Zachary and Owen alike hours of entertainment pointing out passing trucks, cement mixers, car carriers, and the like.

Our first full day started off, after said hotel breakfast involving as many Rice Krispies on the floor as consumed, with a trip to Houston's excellent Children's Museum. We've seen some in the past with "towns" the kids can play make believe in, but this one really outdoes itself. It's got its own currency -- and a bank (unsurprisingly, Chase is a sponsor) complete with little debit cards that the kids can take around to various stations (Z of course fell in love with the combination police station/forensics unit/ambulance) to either collect a paycheck or spend on utilities and the like. I think much of it is lost on even the older kids, but still, the clear advertising for loans is something I think all banks could take to heart. The museum also featured plenty of science projects (the boys both liked the science fictiony, electric arcing Jacob's ladder), a shiny red car with cutaway door gears, exhibits of little houses from around the world around showing their Chrismahanukwanzakah observances, an outdoor water exhibit, and a steam locomotive in the lobby.

Though the boys were starting to get a bit weary, we hit one of Houston's kosher meat restaurants for a tasty lunch before heading back to the hotel for a nap. The restaurant owner (also a dad) came out and entertained the boys for a bit, and even helped me rescue a tiny Lego piece that would have otherwise gone missing on our way out.

After resting up for a while, we drove up to meet the boys' Uncle J, who's living north of Houston, for dinner. Meh suggested wanting to go somewhere 'fun and Texan', and I stumbled onto this eclectic option. It definitely didn't disappoint with random wood panelling, a carriage parked in the middle of the place, and an entire wedding party having their rehearsal as O and I scooted around them to hit the salad bar. Meh reported that there was a stuffed armadillo that O apparently pointed to and said "dinosaur!". It was great to catch up with Uncle J, even if only for dinner, and we hope we get to see him again soon!

Friday morning, after breakfast with C one more time, we were off on our cross-state drive to visit friends M, K, and N in Fort Worth -- more on that half of our trip in our next post!

Boys (2), Man

Meh is on a long-deserved and anticipated vacation with friends down on the Oregon coast, in Goonies territory no less -- apparently with the famous ocean rock formations visible from the house where they're staying. We've only chatted once, but it sounds like she's having a fabulous time! In the meantime the boys and I have been having a fun and busy guys' weekend; Mima and Papa have been exceptionally supportive as well, meeting up with us yesterday for lunch and hanging out, and today they watched one boy while I'd take the other one to his swimming lessons. When O asks where mommy is, I've tried to explain that she's in Oregon, and he's now very cutely started saying "mommy in Oh-reh-gun".
The primary challenge has been sleep; nobody's been sleeping well (and that's relative to our usual somewhat poor sleep schedule even when we're all home). Friday night we all ended up crashing in Z's bed when first O and then Z woke up and couldn't sleep. Last night Z slept through but O was up repeatedly, including both 2 am PDT and 2 am PST -- yup, that Daylight Saving Time change that everyone describes as giving us "an extra hour of sleep" was more about an extra hour for O to be awake -- and an hour earlier for the boys to be up this morning, ugh! But beyond sleep, we've been having a great time running errands, hanging out, and getting to play with mima and papa.

This coming Wednesday features our family's first flight featuring four separate airplane seats (hooray for non-crazy fares!), deep into the heart of Texas. We're looking forward to visiting with friends C (Houston), the boys' Uncle J (outside of Houston), and then M, K, and their daughter N (Fort Worth). On that topic, M's birthday was this past week, and when I mentioned that to Meh, the boys overheard and started singing; I caught the encore performance on camera:

Pirate booty

For the past few years, we've approached Halloween with a combination of enthusiasm and trepidation. It's Meh's favorite holiday, so the house always gets an excellent dose of decorating (my favorite little touch this year was that she added felt horns, glasses, and a witches hat to our illustrated portraits), and this year Z helped hang a bunch of ghosts outside. He then proceeded to happily point out the 'looooots of ghosts in the tree' every day while waiting for the bus, super cute. The trepidation comes on the actual trick-or-treating evening, where for the past few years we've actually made decent progress, from porch meltdown to driveway meltdown to successful afternoon event but failed/unoccupied house abort.

This year unfortunately Meh had to work on her favorite holiday; she did on the plus side put together a fabulous costume of a character from an excellent series of books currently making the rounds -- apparently her injury makeup was real enough that a few coworkers and patrons were checking to make sure she was alright! I planned ahead a bit by asking a few neighbors if they'd be home on the early side so I could bring the boys down before their (heh) witching hour, and by talking to the boys about trick or treating and costumes and such beforehand. Mima and Papa also came over to assist with the trick-or-treating, along with "Lola in a costume", as both boys pointed out repeatedly as she wagged around the house in her nifty Woodstock outfit.

Six o'clock rolled around and I got Z into his pirate costume; he was very happy about it and checked himself out in the mirror. On the other hand, O was having none of the costuming -- though he was enamored of the big felt candy bag. We then headed out, and actually had a pretty successful evening of trick-or-treating! Z did a great job knocking on doors (though usually he then transitioned to trying to open them), saying trick-or-treat, picking out a piece of candy, and saying thank you. Here's a fairly representative instance:

Even O got into the act of picking out bags and boxes of sugariness ("a yellow one!"), and dutifully held onto (hoarded?) the candy bag. We got through probably close to a dozen houses before O and Z were ready to head home -- but overall a huge success. And enormous thanks to mima and papa for helping me wrangle the boys on our evening outing and first wholly successful trick-or-treat!

I'm leavin' today

I'm wrapping up a trip to New York for a conference; in between giving several talks (one was actually scheduled against a competing talk by Tony Bennett, though apparently his son/manager ended up giving it instead), attending meetings, learning about the latest dorky music gear, and even getting to hear a certain musician slash Sing Off celebrity judge speak, it's been fabulous getting to visit with the boys' uncle B and aunt J, multiple friends who live in the city, and grandma and J, who timed a trip in from Michigan to coincide with my own. Grandma and J hit many of the tourist destinations with B, but I did get to catch up with them for multiple tasty kosher meals, as well as opening weekend for the Rockefeller Center ice rink.

Of course I now tend to see most anywhere I go through the boys' eyes, and know at least one of the sights I'll be returning to the next time the whole family gets back east: the New York Transit Museum. In addition to sourcing some of their favorite toys (I had to pick up two of Uncle B and Aunt J's new subway lines, the 3 and the Q), the museum, which appropriately occupies an old subway station, had a fabulous collection of trams, trolleys, ticket collection mechanisms, buses, and (nearly missed by us) stairs down to an entire subway platform filled from end to end with a variety of trains from the 1920s to the present. Entertainingly, the subway cars' interiors had fabulous period-authentic ads; I kept feeling like I'd walked onto the set of Mad Men. All in all, definitely something the boys would be interested in!

B and I met up for a final breakfast this morning before I headed to the airport, and we picked up a substantial number of bagels as well as walking both the waterfront and the lovely High Line on yet another fabulous fall day. Oh, and as can only happen in a city of 8 million, we even ran into friends S & J, also visiting from Seattle, and supplied them with a fortifying bagel for their day's activities. The remainder are now my giant second carry-on. It's been a very good trip, but I'm very much looking forward to getting home to Meh and the boys tonight!

Songwriting 101

When the boys get into the car, they alternate their demands between two Justin Roberts songs. And by alternate I mean that one seemingly randomly chooses between the two songs, and the other insists that we should really listen to the other one. When one of the songs (or really any song they know) actually starts playing through the car stereo, they happily say the name of it, and sometimes even sing along or at least find their favorite phrase from it and yell it really loud when it comes up.

Both of the boys' top song choices (as with many pop and certainly most popular kids songs) follow the standard musical structure with alternating verse and chorus, followed by a bridge before the final chorus. O has gotten to getting annoyed and insisting "more yellow bus puh-leez!" during the bridge in the middle of the song. Meh keeps trying to explain to him that it's just the bridge and the chorus will be coming back in a few seconds. And today, it finally stuck -- when he got to the point where he used to request the song, he instead happily said "bridge!". Of course, it was immediately followed by "more yellow bus puh-leez", but hey, it's a start. I've also scored big with both boys by finding a live extended performance of it online; next up I'll clearly have to teach the boys about such music concepts as the YouTube version's heavily featured breaks and vamps.

Whistle while you work

As a setup for today's impressive childhood linking of seemingly disparate relationships, I must explain that for a long time, Meh and my signal when trying to find each other in large crowds or stores or whatever is a certain whistle (for our musical listeners, a descending major third). I continue to use it when I come home to see where everyone is, and that often draws the boys out of their activities for welcome home hugs and snuggles.

So, onto the story, which is admittedly far shorter than the setup: O discovered a collection of straws under our sink today, and managed to bend one so that it caused a whistling sound. Meh whistled back to him from the other room, imitating the sound he was making but apparently somewhat close to that major third I mentioned. O responded by saying "daddy!". Z added, "more whistle!"

Friends J and S returned from their intercontinental adventure (with baby L impressively in tow for the journey) and brought Z the perfect gift for his newfound kippah love: a Thomas crocheted kippah. He's happily worn and talked about it, though he's often tempted to try to pull it off (while still attached with clips) to take a peek at the friendly train.

And on the topic of Jewish observances, happy Sukkot! Meh impressively went to Home Depot, got some PVC pipes and attaching corner pieces, and put up our most stable sukkah yet! We didn't really have enough branches to make proper s'khah, but we did have a fabulous fish and chips dinner in it this evening -- after which I suggested Meh shake the lulav (or at least our stand-in, some romaine lettuce) and etrog (substitute one lemon).

Yeshiva bocher

To those who observe it, a very happy Rosh Hashana/Jewish new year! We've been preparing in a variety of ways -- making double round loaves of challah (with a fabulous new circular braid technique Meh found on pinterest thanks to friend K) almost daily, bringing in our excellent bumper crop of red (and now increasingly staying green, but still flavorful) tomatoes, and busting out with the Rosh Hashana toys, books, and puzzles in our collection for the boys. All week, they have also been enjoying "shofar doggie!", a video we landed on while YouTube surfing to show them what a shofar is; the video has become a top request for early morning and pre-bedtime viewings.

As far as the holiday itself, we went to a service -- er, sorry, an "experience" -- hosted by one of the local synagogues and designed for kids. We actually got there way early with mima and papa and explored the JCC's new garden patch for a while while we waited for things to get rolling. The service (sorry again, experience) was held in the JCC's gymnasium, so intelligibility wasn't particularly high -- but it was mostly songs and a sock puppet/felt board seven-days-of-creation story, followed by an arts and crafts project involving making a creation story collage out of food bits (a pita background, shades of blue frosting for the sky and sea, broccoli for trees, swedish fish for fish, star- and person-shaped sprinkles, etc.) Meh was most excited by the high quality (i.e. actually edible) kosher marshmallows they used for fluffy clouds, and now has a mission to go hunt some down at the one local grocery store likely to carry them. O mostly slept/nursed his way through the event. Z really wanted to run around giggling (in between some excellent public self-grabbing, as we continue to work through potty training), but occasionally joined in the songs and certainly was absorbing the general spirit of the event.

That night, we had a lovely dinner at mima and papa's house. Both boys chowed down on excessive amounts of challah, but also enjoyed mima and papa's plush bedding:
Incidentally (and to explain this post's title), between services and the festive meals we had on both nights (and again with friends over for Shabbat dinner last night), Z has decided that his favorite part of Jewish observance is wearing a kippah on his head. It got to the point this morning where he insisted on wearing a fabulous purple one (O occasionally pointed and commented on the "purple hat") when we were heading out for a walk/jog with friends L, R, and their son E. Between the kippah and his increasingly ragged (fringed?) blankie, Z certainly looks ready to go study some talmud!