Moorkitz

It's been almost a year since our dear hamster died.
This little creature was a big part of our family.

He was beloved by everyone, especially Adi.

(Can you spot Moorkitz in these next three photos? :))

Adi would request her "ai-dyat" time every day. (That's what she called Moorkitz.) Look how she's petting him. She said "nice" for the first time when she was petting him.

Is this love, or what?

We miss our hammy and think about him often! Even though we now have two cats, there was something about this little rodent that can never be replicated.

Changes

If all goes the way I'd like it to, my life is about to temporarily explode into a frenzy of activity with even less time to blog than usual, if such a thing is possible.
I'll share what I'm talking about when I know for sure whether or not it will work out.
(UPDATE: I haven't published the post before, and since writing the above, our exciting news has been confirmed! So I will spill the beans. We are moving! And as to why it's SO SO SO exciting, I'll share that next time. )


We have had many changes in our family recently, and this one will top them all if it materializes.

I wrote about the new camera. We also got a new couch. Not *new* as in *replaced the old*. No. We never had a couch, and I had had enough. So we got one!
It's actually a love seat, because a full couch would not fit into our dining room.

Lemme tell ya what's what about this thing. It came in two boxes. Boxes full of foam, fabric, and... pre-cut wooden boards. Yep. Hillel put this thing together piece by splintery piece. I did the foam placing and covered it in fabric. It was some experience.

So new camera, new couch, and a new carriage, too! We had our Graco Coach Rider

 (it's an old style and not even Google can find a trace of this type of carriage online.) for almost three years, and while that isn't a lot in carriage terms, I must admit we really abused ours. I've had up to three kids riding this one-seat stroller at once. It's been used as a delivery car for our groceries on an almost daily basis. We stuffed that thing to the brim. And since we are a walking type of family, this carriage had mileage to rival a car. I estimate that I've pushed it close to 2,000 miles over the time we've had it. So it was time for it to step down and make room for:

 

Graco Modular Signature 3-in-1 series.
It's great so far, and has really proven its worth in the atrocious snow mountains we've been climbing just to get around the neighborhood.

Then there is another change. A sad change. A change I'd rather do without.
Our wonderful hamster, Moorkitz, died a few weeks ago. I knew he was getting on in years. He has become less frisky and his fur started thinning. Unless you have owned a pet and watched your dear animal that you cared for, played with and cuddled, deteriorate and die in front of your eyes, you can't imagine the feeling. Many people dismiss the feelings a pet owner has for his pets, but it's not trivial.
I took care of Moorkitz the last days of his life. I bathed him daily when he was too weak to use the bathroom properly. I held him in a towel until he was dry and warm. I bought eye drops to help his eyes that got stuck shut every time he awoke. When you put that much time and care into someone, it hurts to watch them die.

I'm going to write a special tribute post for this special pet of ours. But in the meantime, this was Moorkitz.





We really had some good times. Here I put him into the back of Adi's car and the boys took him for a ride!




We miss our dear little hamster.

Baby Baby Ah-Mia

Whoops, I just found this post from a couple of weeks ago... I thought it got posted, but I guess not. So, tonight there is a bonus.

Here is Adel's beloved ah-mya (meow/cat):


At one point, Adel discovered that we have another "ah-mya" living in our house.

Oh, how surprised she was! She has seen him before, obviously, but I guess then she didn't really understand what it was and wasn't too impressed.
But at one point, several months ago, something clicked. And when I took Moorkitz out for Adel to play with, she flipped with excitement. It was just like her ah-mya, but mini!

Now she starts giggling when I carry her past the cage and she spies the hamster out of his hole. When I take him out, she just soars from happiness. She hugs him by putting her cheek on him. She lifts her arms and crosses them above the hamster. And she even said the word "nice"! "Naiiii, naiiii," as she was petting him! For the first time! And she's been using it properly and consistently since then. My awesome girl.

Speaking of Adel's vocabulary, I can't believe I forgot to mention Adel's latest and greatest word!

MORE! MMUH!

 She is finally saying "more" instead of screaming. When I don't give her the next spoonful of food fast enough. When I try to take her out of the swing before she is ready. So many possibilities!

 This is also when I learned that Adel is a master signer. This baby thrives on sign language! When the therapists were all trying to get Adel to understand the concept of "more," Adel kinda tuned them all out. She didn't seem to care much. Soon they started using the sign for more, and Adi's interest perked up. She looked like she was understanding what they wanted of her! She sometimes mimicked them, saying, "Mmm."

One day I was just so frustrated at Adi's screaming for more of whatever it was that I just took her hands and formed them into the sign, saying, "More, Adi, more."

And then a light went on in her head. I'm serious. I saw it. And then she just stopped screaming for more, and politely signed to me, saying, "Mmmuh."

Yesterday in OT she was having a great time with the toys and whenever the therapist wanted to change to a different toy, Adel was "moremoremoring" at her.

Another recent funnie is "Ow!" She uses it so appropriately, it's hilarious. She says "ow" when she bumps or plops down but doesn't get hurt. If she gets hurt, she SCREAMS. I much prefer her adorable ow!

So these are Adi's three new words. 

Naii/Nice

Mmuh/More

Ow!

Brought to you by: animals, sign language and a sense of humor!

Moorkitz

Our hamster...


is officially clean for Pesach.


The cage is all sparky and Moorkitz is now enjoying Kosher L'Pesach food.

I also gave him a little bath. Hamsters shouldn't be washed usually because they take long to dry and might get sick from being wet too long. So I wrapped him in a fluffy washcloth for some time.

His fur grew really long and some bedding was tangled within it. I brushed it out, and let the boys have a chance as well. They were excited because they were doing this, but in real life:

(Choose the little brush in the corner.)
Gedalya was hoping to see little red hearts fly out, and he wasn't kidding. Zusha knew it wouldn't happen, so he thought it was a fun joke to try to find the hearts, which he said were clear. (To justify their invisibility.)

This Post is About Ketchup

Because ketchup is a really random item, not unlike this post. (It's really random for us, as we have one bottle for almost a year and it's less than 1/3 finished. This is also the first bottle we have in our house in 6.5 years of marriage. We only have it because Zusha sees boys in his class inhaling the stuff and he wanted us to buy it.) And also because I am going to ketch catch up on a whole bunch of topics that I don't feel like separating into different posts.

Random Topic #1: Zusha's reading update

He officially reads everything. All words that follow the rules, that is. Like, he will read the word "fine" correctly, but "engine" he will read the same way- rhyming with "fine." He needs to be reminded about combined letters- ee, ea, oo, th, ch, sh, ie. He also has trouble figuring out if the letters g and c are hard or soft in any particular word. But that will come with time and experience.
I will write out names of things around the house on index cards and hang them up so they can learn to read them at a glance. One time Zusha was listening to music on the MP3 player and announced, "Dveikus nigun!" Huh? I was sure he doesn't differentiate between the many different instrumental nigunim. And he doesn't. He read it from the screen!

Random Zusha quote of the day- I was telling Adel that her cuteness level is 10 today. Zusha took her from me and said, "No Adel, your cuteness level is one hundred thousand today!"

Random Topic #2: Gedalya funnies

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Today Gedalya read seven words outside, and he shared that info with everyone. He read:

stop
sale
off
boots
yellow
learn
take

Watch him read! Too cute.

Random Gedalya quotes of the day- "Adi plew with this already." (Played) LOL.
"Thanks for the panic attacks." (?!!?!??)
We passed by the Public School yard where there were chol hamoed rides last year on Pesach. Gedalya remembered and as we turned down that block, he asked, "Is it chol hamoed? Are we going to the rides?" I replied that the rides are only there on chol hamoed Sukkos and Pesach. "And today is chol hamoed Tuesday?" was his clever answer.

Random Topic #3: What I feel guilty for doing to Adel

I force-fed a cookie to my baby.
My baby, who is 98% breastfed and doesn't even eat solids every day.
We were heading home after picking Zusha up, and Adel started crying. Louder and louder. Apparently I lost track of time because I realized that she hasn't eaten in several hours. I nursed her at home, put her down for a nap, and when she woke up I just got us ready and we left. Then we spent a few hours in the park, stores... yikes! I quickly looked into our bags to see what I could offer her. Dried banana! Long slices, all natural, very hard to bite... I took off her mittens and gave her one to suck.
She was happy... until her hands got cold. I took away the banana, put the mittens back on and picked up the pace. Still wailing. Then... I took out a bag... of hamatashen. I pinched off a piece of the cookie. Crumbled it. And put it into her cheek. She was screaming and trying to spit it out. But I knew that she needs that little something in her tummy until we get home. Gah. No fun for anyone.
Guilty action #2: Adel is playing with her used diaper as I write this post. I'm not taking it away because she will cry. It's okay, though, since it's only wet and all balled up.

Random Topic #4: Fun with friends

I picked up Zusi, Zusha's classmate, one day after cheider. His family was moving that day, so he spent the afternoon with us. The boys really had fun. We went for pizza, to the park... by the time we got home, Zusi's father was there to pick him up! I told him that he came too early and we are not finished playing. He thanked me and went back to the moving.

This little daredevil became fast friends with Gedalya. Although they are two years apart, they have this in common:

Yikes!

Random Topic #5: Animals

I need to find animal food that is Kosher for Pesach. This is one major thing that is preventing me from slowly starting on cleaning the less-used corners of the house for Pesach- the animals will spread chometz there again.
Also, the cat attacked and killed Adel's therapy ball. Not like they are cheap or anything. Grrr.

Random Topic #6: A couple more Adi updates of the non-guilty variety

She learned to isolate her finger to point. That's new and fun! She also recognizes pictures. She meowed while reading her kitten book and again at the computer screen when I was editing our cat's photos. "Ah-mya, ah-mya."

Random Topic #7: Long lost friends
Last Shabbos my friend, Osnat, was in BoroPark. She was at her sister's house, not too far from me. We were friends since age 12, went to camp and high school together... but she moved to another borough and we haven't seen each other in four years! Yikes. I have never seen her youngest daughter, and would never have recognized her two older children whom I haven't seen since babyhood. It was such a nice little get-together. No pictures, of course. We'll have to plan something on a weekday- and not in another four years!

Random Topic #8: Ribbons and bows
Adel has more hair accessories than hair strands. That's something to think about. And that's the thought I'll leave you with.

{Wheeeeeew, was that ever long! I think I used almost all my labels for this post. }