Something Different

One day I decided to do something different with the kids...



Yes! I took them bowling! We had never gone before, so I thought it would be a great idea for a trip.




We looked for the lightest balls and after some nagging, we also scored a ramp.


Adel waited impatiently for her turn to come.




You thought I was kidding, huh?




It was a really close game, but Adel won!


After the game we discovered a fun little photo booth and decided to try it out. We got ourselves some LOLs!


The kids really had a great time, and I'm sure we'll be going again.

Yom Kippur... Sukkos

Come, all, step into my time machine and be transported back in time to long-passed Yom Kippur and Sukkos...

At the seuda hamafsekes.


Zusha didn't seem to notice that I was taking photos at a seuda that looked very much like a Shabbos or Yom Tov seuda, but when he looked at these photos later, he was a little disturbed- how could I take pictures on Shabbos!? There is also a cute video of the boys dancing while Hillel sang Shir Hamaalos, and they can't come to terms with such a discrepancy.


Turn the dial on the time machine forward a bit and we land on Erev Sukkos.


The boys are just so excited!

Yes, those are the spoons on the ground. I finally got them out of my window by removing an entire window pane and letting them cascade into the yard.


Adibaby getting in on the lulav action...


...and the boys, too!


Hanging the last of the decorations:


Oh, and about those adorable arba minim?


The boys made them. They wanted to buy the plush arba minim, but at $15 a pop, sorry guys, not in this income bracket.
But I did feel bad. So I decided to harness their energy and creativity and make our own lulav and esrog!


We bought some felt, got out our pipe cleaners, needle and thread and got to work.
I cut, the boys sewed and stuffed.

I had to guide them a little to make smaller stitches, but they really did the sewing on their own! I turned it inside out and they stuffed it with felt scraps. Then I finished the small hole that we left by myself.


Haddasim. I cut the leaves and guided the boys as they poked a needle through and wound the thread around the pipe cleaners.


Same for the aravos.


I did the lulav myself since there was no time left. Cut several layers, sandwiched a few pipe cleaners between them and sewed along the sides.


Then we added the brown rings (also felt) to hold it all together, and the kids were SO proud!

*sigh*

Getting involved with animals is a sure way to have your heart broken. Two days ago, a baby bird died in my hands.
I saw her first on Monday afternoon. A baby pigeon sitting on the sidewalk while people were walking all over her, and only by miracle were they not stepping on her. I gently got her to walk over to a wall of a store, but she didn't stay there. I looked around on the store awnings to see if there was a nest somewhere, but didn't see or hear anything.
Leaving her there would mean a slow and agonizing death for her from trampling, starvation, cat attack...
I took her. Put her in a gift bag and brought her home. On the way I stopped at a store to buy baby formula. I had no idea what to feed her, but baby formula has total nutrition.
The boys chose her name. Appy. Short for Apple, which is short for Tree Leaf Apple Stairs.

We brought her home. She was awfully dirty, but before bath time I attempted to feed her. She didn't take in much.
I washed off so much dirt from her, wrapped her in a towel and held on to her to keep her warm. She drank formula from a dropper a couple of times more.


At night I put her to sleep in a large flowerpot, all wrapped up in old clothes.

I Googled for some pigeon information and came across a wonderful site of people dedicated to rescuing pigeons. Since NYC doesn't rescue pigeons, a few like minded people started a private group type of thing. I filled out their "pigeon in distress" form, and mere minutes later, I got a phone call! The lady said she has emailed three people in my area, and if I don't hear from them in a couple of hours I should call her back. Wow. I expected this to happen over days, not hours and minutes. Such dedicated people.

Soon a man called me and told me that they can take her off my hands, rehabilitate her, place her with other rescued pigeons (so she should get used to being among them) and eventually do a slow release.
A woman then explained to me exactly how to feed the bird- how to soften the dog biscuits and place them in the beak.

They told me they can get me a cage for the time being, and that I will have to keep her for 2-6 weeks until one of the people who rehabilitate pigeons has an opening. Right now they were all full. (They asked me if I was Jewish, and then told me that 90% of the people on their team, and of the people who contact them with a rescued pigeon, are Jewish.)

I prepared the dog food the way they told me and took Appy to feed her. She was weak and didn't want to keep her eyes open, so I tried to wake her. She needed to eat because her crop was totally empty. I got one biscuit down. She was showing no interest in swallowing, so I just held her, petting her to stimulate and arouse her. I tried a second biscuit, and she swallowed only half of it. I removed the other half from her beak. After a short break I tried one more. By then her legs were limp and she had trouble standing. I called the man I was in contact with to ask him what to do. He said it doesn't sound good and there is nothing to do now.

The baby bird died in my hands. It was so, so awful. I tried to lift her head, to get her to respond, but it soon became clear that she died.

I was crushed! I really didn't think this would happen. She was walking around in the morning, even climbing/flying out of the shopping cart where we kept her. I didn't even think she would die.
I was terrified that maybe the food blocked the airway, but the man I spoke to said they don't breathe through the beak, only through the nose.
Maybe I should have continued with just the formula?
Maybe she got chilled after the bath? But I wrapped her in towels and held her for warmth for about twenty minutes. Maybe I should have blow dried her. I don't know. I feel so guilty. But in the street they always get wet, even in the winter.

In any case, if it was destined for this baby pigeon to die, she would die anyway. But at least she was clean, warm, fed, cared for, free of parasites... in her last 24 hours of life. She died in a much calmer way. I don't regret taking her in, not at all. But my heart is broken.
She was just under three weeks old.

And Now, I Will Brag

Just a mere ten days ago- Adel started babbling...


...and she hasn't stopped!


And now allow me to introduce... Mobile Baby!

A Bit About Therapy

I haven't posted any updates because I just uploaded the last month's photos to the computer yesterday and had nothing to share until now. I'm editing the photos, so soon the posts will come in scores once again!
Meanwhile, I'm going to tell you a little about Adel's therapy.

We have three sessions on Mondays, two on Tuesdays and three on Thursdays. I worked hard to leave one weekday free. That will be an appointment day (there are about eight doctors waiting for us to pay them a visit!)

Adel enjoys some of the therapies better than others. She loves speech therapy because the teacher gives her yummy salty snacks, plays games with her and gets overly excited about every coo. Who wouldn't love that!?

Playing as the boys look on:


Mmm, yummy barbecue potato popper!


Aw, teacher, do I have to chew??


Finger-lickin' goodness. My mama never gives me junk food!


She likes the special education, too. So many toys! So many songs! She just doesn't like it when the teacher tries to get her to do one thing while Adel wants to do another (as in, try to open flaps and do fine motor activities when all Adi wants to do is grab that toy and shake it to death.)
The special ed is also the first therapy of the week, after a three day break, and every time the teacher comes in, Adel says, "OMG, I thought you were all gone for good!"

Here is a glimpse into the special ed session:


She has mixed feelings about occupational therapy. The goal here is to get her to use her arms better. She has no reflexes in her arms and resists any weight bearing on them. The therapist comes with a huge birthing ball, so that's +10 points for her right there! Adel loves that ball. She will do much more while sitting or lying on it than anywhere else. But it's the physical manipulation that she doesn't love, like being put into strange positions.

The least favorite of them all, as one might have guessed, is physical therapy. Adel just doesn't want to be moved around and twisted and turned like a pretzel. She prefers to sit on her tushie (who doesn't!)

The special ed teacher is a home inspector if I've ever seen one! She takes Adel all over the house, teaching her concepts such as under, on top, inside, outside, on, off, hot, cold, wet, dry...
She motivates me to clean the house because she climbs under the table (gotta sweep there!) sits on every chair (they gotta be cleared of laundry I'm in middle of folding!) takes a tour of the stove and fridge (scrub the dried spills!) washes Adi's hands (the dish load in the sink should be at least low enough to be able to stick a hand under the faucet!)
Whew!

More Medical Adventures- UPDATED

I'm heading out the door to get a root canal right now. I'm thrilled to bits. :/ Hey, nothing can be more painful than the tooth pain I have now. Wish me hatzlacha!

UPDATE:
Okay, I'm back and surprisingly, I am still alive.
But let me tell you: I don't recommend getting a root canal for personal enjoyment!

The novocaine didn't fully take. I had to get EIGHT shots. I think. I lost count. And even then, I felt it. Most of the time the pain was the same intensity as my toothache was (which I had to take 3 Motrin at a time plus local benzocaine cream to control.) But at one point it got so bad. SO bad. *Shudder* I'm not looking forward to the novocaine going away and leaving me with the full level of pain.

This Month's Art Issue

Time for more Zusha art! He is churning out masterpieces faster than I can post them. I have a huge waiting list of gorgeous things to post.
For now, you have this:

helicopter

caterpillar


And this... Zusha really surprised me with this. We have a game with requires the player to enter a pattern on the screen by filling small squares on a grid. I came into the room one time to find our phone number written perfectly across the screen. I thought at first that there is an option to type on this grid, but there isn't. I asked Zusha who did it, and he said he did! I could not believe it and asked him to show me how. So he drew the bottom three numbers to prove himself. He did this pixel by pixel.


Little artist.

Zooooom

Zoom is what this little person was born to do.






And my job is to know where he is at all times!
It's as challenging as it looks!

Happy Fall to All

Is it winter or autumn? The leaves are just beginning to turn colors and fall to the ground, yet we are wearing full winter gear... coats, hats, scarves, mittens...

So here is a glimpse of what should really be happening right now. Lucky I caught it when I did! We had almost no autumn this year.






A funny Gedalya quip:
We were walking along, and further down the block, a man was standing on a ladder by a tree, sawing off branches. The boys didn't notice him. A branch fell down and Gedalya exclaimed, excitedly, "It's fall!!! It's fall!! The leaves are falling! Look!"

I couldn't help but giggle at the idea of trees shedding their branches every fall... having to walk around trying to avoid randomly falling logs. Haha.