I know Just What You Need

On a 90 degree day like today, I know just what you all need.


You need to imagine how you'd feel if you were bundled up like this:


Okay, okay, I kid.
What you need is to look at these photos of our trip to Prospect Park from February and pretend you are there. You don't necessarily have to imagine yourself bundled up till the eyeballs. Please dress your imaginary self in whichever way you feel comfortable.

Enjoy!





Snowy somersault!



A picture of Gedalya with his grandpa. I wanted such a picture of myself with both boys...


But instead I got this. It's alright, I guess. Just totally not the same feel.

Sometimes I daydream about cloning myself so one of me can take good photos of the other one of me, at flattering angles and all that. But the daydream always ends with me screaming at the other me to put the camera down and do something useful like chasing kids or washing dishes while the other me screams, "Look who's talking!"




Keep cool!

Crazy Cat. And I Mean that Lovingly.

Mel is one active cat. He does not fit the stereotype of "lazy cat." He sometimes gets into fits of activity and literally gallops across the house, from the back windows to the front ones, and back again. He jumps over any obstacles in the way. Adel being one such obstacle. He dashes the distance (of about fifty feet) in under two seconds. I'm not exaggerating.

He also like to jump up onto the china closet.

There he goes!


...almost made it...


Hi, all!


Majestic king of furniture.


These stars are a thorn in his side. The boys and I made them for Purim, to hang from the hood of the stroller. Three stars, to symbolize the end of Shabbos, to complement our havdala theme.


Before Purim, I hung them on our chandelier for the fun of it. Mel went mad! He tried to reach them from the top of the china closet, but they were too far.


Time for Plan B.

(Sorry for the awfully blurry and grainy photo. I wasn't prepared with the right camera settings at the moment Mel jumped.
But you can still see him flying off the china closet head first. And the shadow is great!)

Maybe I can get it from this angle!
Standing on the table?

No.

Standing on a chair?

Still no.

Annnd, it's Hillel to the rescue. Finally someone had pity on the poor animal.
Mel bats at the stars till his furry little heart's content.


Well, this crazy active cat of ours...
Wanna hear how he earned the title of "crazy"?

Yesterday morning we woke up, but there was no cat running into our room to try and catch the last minutes before the hamster retreats to his den for the day. There were kids running in, but no cat. My initial thought was, "Pheeew. Finally that creature has learned to leave the hamster alone."

We went on with our day. I thought it was weird that Mel wasn't meowing for his breakfast, so I just opened a can for him and put it in its spot.

That's when I began to worry. We searched all around the house. Maybe he was sick? Hillel went out to look in front of the house. No Mel. Having nothing else to do, I decided to wait, and began doing laundry. While loading the machine, I was gazing out the kitchen window. There was that hugely pregnant orange cat that lives on our block and a black and white cat next to her. The clack and white cat looked too fat to be an alley cat.

I dashed out of the house SO fast. As I approached the cats in the backyard, the pregnant orange cat whispered to Mel, "There's someone coming!" And they both started running away. The Orange cat ran through the fence, and Mel hesitated. I knelt down and "kss-kss-kss"ed at him. He turned to look at me.

I was afraid he'd choose freedom over me and run. But as soon as he saw me, he ran right into my arms!

No matter how many times we questioned Mel on his escape methods, he kept his lips sealed.
We only open our windows from the top- too high for him to jump. He'd be able to jump that high, but having nowhere to balance, he'd fall right down 2.5 stories.

So my theory... Sometimes Hillel leaves the computer room window open a few inches on the bottom. I've told him not to, but he claimed that he was careful... that he closed it before going to bed...
Well, I'm guessing he forgot to close it this time.
Very conveniently, there is an awning right under that window.

My theory:

Now you see why "crazy cat"?? He's too confident in his jumping skills, and that causes him to do crazy things.

But honestly,

Mel doesn't always quite clear the jump!

Test Results 5-6/9

Since I got some results back, it's a good time as any to post our regular feature: a "Trip to a Specialist" post! (cue applause).
I want to write about our previous trip (the one where I brought along all the kids) but I know that if I don't post the results first, everyone will just scroll to the end to read them. So here they are. Results 5-6/9. (That's not a medical code. That's 5 through 6 out of 9.)

In summary:

These are the tests to date (all negative) :
Micro Array
Cohen
Angelman (imprinting)
Prader Willi

These are two the tests we took at the last trip:
Angelman (UBE3A)
Williams (mosaic)
Both are negative.

We are waiting for results for these two tests from the last trip.
Rett (atypical)
Fragile X

We have yet to conduct this test:
Celiac Disease

So now about our trip.

The train ride was nice, and really fun for the boys. They kept going on and on about how they are going through a TUNNEL!!! under the RIVER!!! We went on an accordion bus, which was a treat for the boys as well. (Those are the types that are so long that they need to bend in the middle.)

We got into the geneticist's office, and as usual, the wait was less than ten minutes.
The boys had a fun time playing with the toys in the office. The geneticist himself went to the waiting room to bring some toys into the exam room. Wow.

The doctor was taken aback by Adel's singing skills. He had seen videos on this blog, but when he sang to her and she repeated the tune perfectly, he was really surprised. That prompted him to test her for mosaic Williams Syndrome.
Mosaic means that only some of the cells in a person's body have the genetic disorder. Since we had tested Adel for all chromosomal disorders (micro array) and it all came out negative, the geneticist thought that it's possible that Adel has mosaicism. If so, the lab could have chosen one of the unaffected cells from Adel's blood. That would show all the results as normal.

The test for mosaic Williams Syndrome takes several cells to test. That way, they ensure that at least one would be affected.

To say the truth, I was kinda hoping this would be it. Williams Syndrome is milder than any of the others we had tested Adel for. And mosaicism would make it even more mild. Sounds nice, right?

Looking at the list of facial features, I thought we hit the jackpot:
The characteristic facial features of Williams syndrome include puffiness around the eyes (check), a short nose with a broad nasal tip (check), wide mouth (check), full cheeks, full lips, and a small chin (check). People with Williams syndrome are also likely to have a long neck (check), sloping shoulders (check), short stature, limited mobility in their joints (check), and curvature of the spine.

But what's the point now that it was found negative?

Well.
After the doctor we went to the nearby park and had a great time.
Adel was very happy, even though she just had a tinchitilik.

What, you don't know what a tinchitilik is? It's a word my boys made up to mean a poke, like a shot or blood test. Adel had so much blood taken that they drained her dry. She actually had no more blood to give, and they were hoping that she'd have enough for all the tests they were drawing for. But Adi is a trooper!

We ate lunch and then the boys ran off to explore the new territory.

They were enthralled with the fun new features that our parks don't have, like this bridge.

...and this rotating stand thingy.

And best of all... TIRE SWINGS!

Adel enjoyed her own little version of the swing.

Then I hoisted Adel onto my back

and put her down for a nap. We explored Manhattan a little. Visited some stores, got a few useless things... and unexpectedly met up with Hillel outside! It hadn't occurred to me to make up to meet specifically. There's always next time!

We went home on a different train- and this one went on a bridge above the river. The boys were even more excited this time around.

We has a great time, and I will definitely be going with the boys again!

UPDATE:
Today I got a phone call with the rest of the results. All negative.
the only thing remaining is celiac disease, about which I will post next time!

What? You Don't Like Pink??

Alternately titled:

Why I Don't Buy Pink Clothes for Adel

(Foreword: All the clothes pictured in this post are from one time frame only. These are the ones Adel wore between age 1 and 1 1/2.)

I got many clothes handed down to me for Adel. Understandably, most of them were pink. I chose which ones I wanted to keep, and passed the rest along.

These are the pink clothes that were given to Adel. Some might look white or red in this photo, but they are all different shades of pink.

This set... I bought all these myself. I liked the style, or the price was really low (or both!)- but there was only one color option.

I also bought all these, but as supplements to Adel's existing wardrobe. With all the pink she has with hand-me-downs and with the ones I bought without other color options, Adel needs matching accessories: pants, leggings, tees, turtlenecks, tights, socks...

So come on- with so much pink going on, why would I intentionally choose pink when I have many other nice color options?
Like this cute hoodie from The Children's Place. I didn't get one, but I got the skirt they sold to go with it. I feel it's such a shame to waste such a cute hoodie on the color pink. The gray is so much more original. You can get pink anywhere at any time.

So I guess the bottom line is, I am not against pink. I'm against having 90% of anyone's wardrobe be a certain color. (Just like I am against 90% of the local women and teen girls having 90% black clothes in their closets.)

Very often there are other options, and I choose them.
Like this adorable hoodie. There was the same one with pink butterflies, but I thought this one would add more to Adel's wardrobe than the pink one.

But when there are no other options and the item is too cute to resist, I get the pink one. Case in point:

I was drawn to the little ruffle skirt, specifically.

Wanna see it from a different angle?

(This is vintage Adi, by the way- from five months ago!)

And one more for good measure.

Addendum to "Gedalya-Style Smile"

I posted this at the end of December 2008, when Adel was two months old:

Finally Adel'eh has been flashing me her yummy smiles when I play with her. And I've confirmed what I only suspected before. She smiles like Gedalya! With her little mouth tilted to one side, and squinting one eye. It's so funny.

Our smiling session:

What a happy little maidele!

Let's give it another try...

Ah- there's the Gedalya smile! :D


And here is big brother's smile for reference. :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, I think I found a better example of Gedalya's silly smile:

They both outgrew the smile by now, but Gedalya sure is pleased to share this trait with his sister!

Five Reasons Why I am Unable to Talk Right Now

1) I received a promotion for 75 free prints at Shutterfly.com, and it expires in 3 days. I also have another 60 free prints expiring shortly after that. I print photos in chronological order, month by month, so I am hoping the 135 free prints will make a nice dent in my photo printing procrastination.
Being that I am currently editing these photos to print:

...I'm sure you can understand why I don't have time to post! Wondering why Adel isn't in any of these photos? Because she wasn't born yet! Those are from June 2008. O.O I'm hoping to order prints from June and July 2008 with this promotion.

2) I am too busy encouraging Adel to poke at my nose, just so I can hear, "Bop! Bop!" All the hours of poking her nose and saying, "Nezele, beep, beep!" Have paid off.

3) I am trying to unearth my dining room table and floor from beneath piles and piles of clothes. I'm transforming the kids' wardrobes from winter to summer. I also made a chart of all the boys' pants (they have a lot!) and categorized them by color (navy, black, khaki, stone, grey), weight (corduroys, chinos and lightweight) and size. I realized that I haven't been using several pants from their closets, while at the same time wishing I had more of other types, so I made an inventory. I pulled out several repeats to give away and made a list of what I need to buy to fill in the gaps. I also put aside all cargo pants to give away. I think I want to stick with smooth, neat chinos from now on.

4) I need to fix my falafel balls that I baked without a key ingredient: chumus. Doh! I mashed them back up and added the chumus. Now I need to recruit the boys to form little balls once again.

5) Adel just fell asleep, and I'm getting ready to go out with the boys. We'll take our new 24" bike to the park while Hillel stays with Adi. Yippee!

So, I apologize, but I'm clearly to busy to post right now!

Cellular Saga

I never thought I'd get so attached to an inanimate object.
I mean, sure, I love my camera and would hate to lose it, but more so for the photos I haven't transferred to the computer than the actual replaceable camera. I'm not attached to jewelry at all. I wasn't able to find my engagement ring and a pearl necklace for some time, and while I hoped they would turn up, I wasn't upset. And then there are the things I need in everyday life that will inconvenience me if I lost them, but would not affect me emotionally.

So why am I getting tender about my cell phone? I've gone through nearly a dozen cell phones since I got my first one in seminary. I replaced each one happily and gave the old one to the kid/s (whoever was around at the time I had any given cell phone).

Well, I guess I should just breeze past this latest phone situation, right? I lost my cell phone a couple of weeks ago. I know I misplaced it at home, but by the time I picked up the landline to call to it, several days had passed and cell phone's the battery ran out. Which meant I couldn't find it by its ring.
I searched and searched... shrugged my shoulders and went onto Plan B: get a free replacement from the mobile company that I am already eligible for.
Once we were doing that, I wanted to downgrade my calling plan, since we were stuck in a contract with a plan that was way too large for my needs.

Long story short, I didn't find any plan small enough for me that I was happy with, and decided to go with prepaid. Did some research, clicked around, computed some math examples... and ended up with a plan that has a flat 10 cents a minute rate, 24/7 with no conditions. That's $10 a month for 100 minutes (which is more than enough for me) and the extras roll over to the next month. Sounds great! (Better than the $90 a month we've been shelling out.)

Now for some background info:
I don't need to be attached to my phone every second of my life.
If I leave it at home, I don't go back to get it.
I don't use the camera because I always have a REAL camera with me. (I only use it to get a good photo for the phone's wallpaper or to send a picture to the blog when we are out having adventures.)
I don't store all my contacts' info there.

So there is nothing that I lost together with the phone. I just will feel much better if it shows up.