Gedalya, What Ahre'le are You?

Zusha is currently into his and Gedalya's full names. He likes saying Meshulem Zusha and Gedalya Ahre'le. But usually he says, "Zusha is Meshulem and Gedalya is Ahre'le."
But his recent comment just takes the cake! He was looking at a photo album and said to one of Gedalya's pictures, "Gedalya, vos Ahre'le bistu?" Gedalya, what Ahre'le are you? "Gedalya is drai yor Ahre'le." Gedalya is 3 years Ahre'le.

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August 2007 Videos

There are a lot of cute videos this month and I really couldn't choose one over the other. So I limited myself to seven. But some are only a few seconds long.

Spraying each other with water balloons. The essence of childhood!

Dancing in the sprinklers...

I bought balloons for the kids and it was the highlight of their lives for about 3 whole weeks. With air, with water, big balloons, mini water balloons... they were addicted!

Every day they grow closer and closer to each other as brothers, friends, and great playmates. It has come to a point where Zusha won't play in the park if Gedalya's not there with him. He's just too bored without his brother.

Gedalya made up this really weird motion to go with his excavator toy. He opens his mouth, closes his eyes, and nods his head to the beat of the motor. Zusha is so intrigued. He watches and laughs! In this video Gedalya realizes in middle that he forgot to close his eyes and bangs his forehead with his fist to make his eyes close. Don't even ask, I don't know either.

The huge excavator next door to the park finished the demolition and left. Gedalya was sad not to see his beloved "kakuv." Here he's saying, "Bye bye, Kakuv."

This summer there was a Kids' Gym set up in the basement of a local shul. It's one block away from us. They have really cool equipment, slides, millions of unusual riding toys, moonwalks, etc. Here is a five-person bike that goes in a circle. Zusha actually was able to pedal and make it move! We've been struggling to teach him to pedal his bicycle for almost 1 1/2 years, but the mechanism there is a bit too complicated for him to grasp. But here he caught on right away, and even gave Gedalya a ride!

August 2007 Photos

Red Light, Slow Down

Once we were in a toy store where Zusha played with a dashboard toy, narrated by Barney the Dinosaur. One of the buttons said,
"Green light- Go!
Yellow light- Slow down!
Red light- Stop!"

So in the park today, Zusha was randomly reciting, "Red light, slow down; yellow light, go!" (Hey, he's from New York!)
There was a 6 year old girl playing nearby who decided to set things straight.
"No," she said, "red light STOP! Yellow light slow down."
Zusha still stood by his statement.
"No, dinosaur said- red light slow down!"
They had this debate the entire time they were playing.
The girl even asked him, "Does your Tatty have a car?"
"No."
"So when he gets a car, you will see that he will stop at a red light."
Then she asked me if this is the way they taught him at school!
They had fun playing together.

Gedalya's 17 Months!

And he has a cute new vocabulary!
ee-ee: Bird

lue-lue: Kiddush

wee: Ball

kema: Camera

bu-ka: Bulka

nu-na: Airplane

kiem: Cream or Crayon

And one word Zusha translated for me. We were walking outside when Gedalya started to pull away from me, saying, "Nue nue." I thought he just didn't want to go home, but I couldn't understand what he was saying.
So Zusha said, "He's saying 'air conditioner.'"
I asked Gedalya if that's what he meant, and he nodded. And indeed, there were several air conditioners sticking out of the basement windows of the Machon/Shalsheles building.

16 Month Word Update

Tatte Heim- Tatte home. Gedalya said it when Hillel came down to help me bring up the shopping and then went back upstairs.

Mni-mne- rimen/belt- as in stroller

Mni- mist/garbage

Yey- heis/hot

Ke- kez/cheese

Cat- the way he says it, it rhymes with hot.

Eigoo- vacuum cleaner

He also started putting together words, like Noch (more) followed by a food name. When he asks to go to the park, he says, "Ooh-ee? Kakuv?" (Swing? Excavator?) Meaning, he wants to go to the place where there are swings and an excavator working nearby.

A New Era. Otherwise Known as Oh-No!

Gedalya learned a fun new trick. As of yesterday, he is officially climbing onto tables. There is no stopping him! All I can do is surrender and keep the tables free of ... everything. Like the fishbowl.
Don't worry, that last statement about the fish wasn't said from experience.