Happy Everything!

A good Yom Tov, a good moed... a good yohr!
Happy new beginnings, happy sukkos celebrations, and a happy upcoming birthday to our almost three year old girl!

It's been one year since Adi took her first step. Two years since we started therapy. And three years since I got the most wonderful Simchas Torah present... my wonderful Adibaby!

I am surprised it took my boys this long to figure out something is different about their sister. But really, they never realized! They once asked me if they also had teachers come to teach them to walk and talk when they were babies. I told them that no; some kids learn it by themselves, and others need help. They asked me why Adi needs orthotics. I explained that they help her feet stand straight on the ground.

But still they never realized Adi was different.

Today we were preparing for Adi's birthday that's coming up on Friday. Gedalya, who was 3 not that long ago himself, said, "But she will be three, and she still won't know so many words!" Says the kid who started reading when he was half a year older than Adi is now.

Yesterday we went to a Chol Hamoed event by A Parent Speaks. It's an organization that is involved in the special needs community. It was just awesome. All my kids enjoyed. Adi got very into the craft, and danced to the live music. She wanted to get a fishie painted on her face, but backed out as soon as I sat her on the chair, after a 15 minute wait on line. Gah!

But the BEST part was... at the end they gave snack bags with a squeezy artificially colored drink, sour sticks, colored marshmallows and flavored chips. None of the things my kids are able to have! I brought them back, and instead of snickering, or rolling her eyes, or saying something like "come on, let them enjoy," she apologized to me! Apologized! In an environment like this, people know some kids can't have some things, even if they seem benign. 

Oh, and another best part: There were kids that actually shrieked louder than Adi! No one stared when Adi shrieked. Or when she threw herself on the floor and refused to let me pick her up. Everyone was able to be themselves. It was so beautiful and natural. My boys didn't even seem to notice that some of the kids had differences.

Events like these give me hope for the world. Everyone felt at ease. Happy. Gedalya stood on his head for a good percentage of the time. :) And you know what? He wouldn't do it at any other party. But this was a non-judgmental place. 

So talking about Adi's not-so-many words...

...here's just a sampling of her recent words and phrases:

hohie = horsie

toe-lue = turtle

goggie = doggie

guckie = duckie

bowie = birdie

han = hands

(Adi said, "doin han" when we were all making funny shapes with our fingers.)

hoon = phone

nowani = don't want it

awani = I want it

teen = train

weeng = swing

on/off

button

pan = pants

tawid = carriage

wolue = water

backpack

bock = book

cookie

ainga = traingle

(She finds them everywhere, like sails on boats...)

go-lee = girlie

pa-ee = potty

(The girl knows what to do and when, but has no patience to sit on the potty long enough!)

ponny = pony

(as in pony tail for the hair)

ca-yoo = color/draw

And what might be the best quip EVER:

"Oh, no! Aaah-di! Nah-nye!" (Oh, no! Adi! Not nice!) Sad that the most words she ever strung together are scolding words for her trouble-making!

But as long as she continues to make trouble, I'm happy! :D

9th Week of Summer Vacation

Last week of August, first week of September.



On Sunday there was supposed to be a hurricane. But it seems it overlooked New York, because by midday the sun was out and the day was beautiful.
So we went out to assess the damage.
There was a crack in our house before we moved in, but it was cemented. It seems that between the earthquake and the hurricane, it opened up. It's about 5 feet long and an inch or two wide. We're still fighting with the landlord to get it fixed. Meanwhile I get rainwater all over the kitchen each time it rains. :(

Gedalya had a great time collecting acorns, pretty leaves, branches and unusual seed pods that littered the ground after the storm. Here's a cute lineup of acorns.

We was many smallish branches that had fallen off of trees, but this one was big. Of course, the boys had to check it out.

The entire top of a tall tree snapped off, and one car wasn't having a very lucky day.

My mother in law and sister in law came to visit. Since no trains were running, they walked about 2 miles each way to visit us, if not more.

Silly seed pods...

Monday: Zusha made a dinosaur at the library.

We saw a cute little cricket in our yard.

And we cuddled with Mushu.

Tuesday was a super fun day! We went to Manhattan to visit friends.

It was a long, fun day... too long for this post, in fact.
We were all hungry and tired when we came home. We went to a pizza store, where Adi did this:

On Wednesday I got a new camera! I wanted a more professional one... one step closer to being a professional photographer. I had listed my old one on eBay, and it sold! The day I got my new one, we went to the post office to ship the old one out.

On the way we saw more hurricane carnage. Fun type of carnage.

Stopped off at Eichler's to listen to music...

And took a ride.

Tested the new camera on some scenery.

More fun destruction.

"In! Bock!" Adi said. So I put her in the box. :)

Thursday:
I was playing around with the new camera too much... too many photos for this post! 

Friday:
Adi's first braids! It's been just a month since my first attempt, and it's become one pf my favorite hairstyles for her. Two braids, half a braid, pigtails that are braided...
I finally discovered that I need to wet the hair first.

Look out for more braid photos in future posts!

Videos for Genetics

April 2011. Adi showing her words at 2 1/2 years old!

August 2011: More park. Look how well Adi does steps already. :)  (2 years 10 months)

 Adi has a deep and profound obsession with trains. Here we are on the Williamsburg bridge, watching the trains pass really close to us behind the fence.

Video Time!!

April 2011. Adi showing her words at 2 1/2 years old!  

 

June 2011. 2 years 8 months. Park play with the best brothers in the world!

 

July 2011. Awesome stream at Botanical Gardens that Adi couldn't resist.

 

Fishie, or Weehee

Back in July we went to the New York Aquarium in Coney Island. The boys had gone before, but were too young to remember it. And Adi had never gone before. Everyone enjoyed immensely!

Penguin feeding.

Giant walrus. It kept swimming up to the kids, and they were all in giggles over it!

Star fish.

Really odd and cool looking alien seaweed.

Adi fell asleep right before we went into the aquarium, which was so perfect. She was about to tantrum over the injustice of going indoors when she wanted to play outside when I overwhelmed her with Bamba. We were waiting on line to get tickets, and I was afraid I'd have to confiscate the Bamba once we got indoors (no food and all that), but she fell asleep right on time!

She woke up, tantrummed a bit, and then simmered down when she realized how fun it all was.

"Weehee! Weehee! Weehee!"

My mother called while we were there, and Gedalya got to talk to her. :)

The aquarium is a series of buildings with different animal themes, and it has outdoor animals, too. All that going in and out got to Adi, and I recorded the tantrum for all to see. Luckily for you, I recorded it in still image form, not HD video with surround sound. :)

Figure one

Figure two

Repeat the above scenes 15-20 times. Add screeches.

It was late, and the aquarium was soon going to close. We almost skipped the last building, but luckily we went in. There was the coolest waterfall of all time! Water comes rushing down over this glass, and kids stand under and enjoy!

This is a trip we will be bookmarking for the future! Definitely a hit. :)

Cake! And Other Words

We had cake on Zusha's birthday. Birthday ice cream cake! And obviously Adi remembers, because when I took it out the leftovers, she ran towards the box and yelled, "Keek! Keek!"
And just in case there weren't enough Adi vocabulary posts recently, here's one more. What should I do? This girl has a new word almost every day!

"I don't know"
 Adi started this a couple of months ago, and she thought she was all that for figuring out a valid response to any question.
"Adi, how old are you?"
"I-woe."
"Where does this puzzle piece belong?"
"I-woe."
And if you insist that she really does know, and should tell you, she spreads out her hands, palms up, for emphasis and says, "I! Woe!"

"Why"
 It started as "I" (not "why") said in response to any time I said "no."
"Adi, don't throw your food."
"I?"
"Because then it gets dirty."
"I?"
"Because the floor is dirty."
"I?"
"Because you are a messy baby and I never am able to keep it clean."
"I?"
"Because!"
And then she graduated to the proper "why."
"Adi, it's time to go to sleep."
"Why?"
"Because you need enough sleep to function normally."
"Why?"
"Because I need you to sleep so I can function normally."
"Why?"
"Because it's 11 PM!"

"Sorry"
One time Adi stepped on Mel's tail by mistake. I told her to say sorry to the cat. She said, "Wha-wee, ai-nya!" Since then, I've caught her using "wha-wee" appropriately a couple of times.

"Excuse me"
When Gedalya was little, he said, "Es-mee-mee-mee" for excuse me. The boys and I were reminiscing about it, and Adi was listening. Apparently she already knew what excuse me meant, because she adopted Gedalya's baby word, since it's easier to say. Once I was going down our steps with the carriage, and Adi was standing at the bottom. She saw me coming towards her, said, "Meemeemee" and moved away!

"Bunny"
 Adi started to call all her stuffed animals "bunny."


"Penguin"
Adi has a favorite stuffed animal. It's a penguin pillow pet whom she calls Bunny as well. I didn't want to correct her, because it was so cute. Anyway, I figured "penguin" was too complicated for her. But I did throw that info out there, that it's a penguin. 
Once we were in a store that sold these same penguins. Adi took one to play, and when it was time to leave, she put it back and said, "Bye, weengween!" 


"Sit"
 Adi tells me to sit when I lie down next to her to put her to sleep. Sit, Mama! Because if you lie down, it means bedtime for Adi. She says it "Theet!" This means that "Haya" is no longer used for "sit." Although sometimes she still uses it to mean sit on a ride.

"Toy"
Pretty self explanatory. It surprised us when we heard Adi say it a last week. Toddled over to a zippered bag of toys and demanded that I open it for her. "Toy!"

"Bug"
 We saw a bug and I showed it to Adi. "Dyatap," I said, using her adorable word. "Boog!" Adi replied. She says it between buge and boog. Too cute!

"iPad"
 She calls it "neem," but once she saw Zusha holding it and ran to him, yelling, "iPad!" Zusha and I exchanged a look to make sure we heard her right. We did!

"Camera"
There is a story as to how Adi came to say camera, but she did, today. Took the kids' camera off the table and said, "Ca-ma." I'll started writing up the background that led her to say this word, but then it morphed into its own post. :)


"Open"
Perhaps the cutest and funniest one of them all, it's not even a real word. When Adi hands me a snack that she wants, she does this.

Just the O of "open" and no sound coming out. She's a funny one, that child!