Gedalya's Knows the Alef Bais!

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Ooti- osiyos/letters

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Gedalya is 20 months old and he already knows some of the Alef Bais! He picked up on Zusha's enthusiasm from learning it in school, and constantly insists on reading all the Hebrew letters on all the school buses he sees. He is SO brilliant! So far he knows:

א, ג, ד, ה, ו, ז, י, ל, מ, צ, ץ, ק, ש, ת

The ones in purple are the letters that he knows best. He won't hesitate for a second before naming them. The others take him a few seconds to recognize.

In this video he's just repeating after me, but he can recognize and name all the letters that I listed.

And here is Zusha playing the Rebbi. ;)

Mud Magnet!

MUDMAGNET

Zusha was never a boyish boy. He doesn't like to get dirty. He's not wild or reckless. B"H he was my first! He never fell ONCE while learning to walk. If he would wobble, he'd crouch down to prevent himself from falling. In one video, in which he was a novice at walking, he lost his balance and had to touch the ground with his hands to stabilize himself. He was so upset that he made his hands dirty and refused to continue walking until I wiped his hands. He doesn't get a single drop of food onto his clothes when he eats. Once we were all eating ice cream bars, and I got messier than Zusha did!

But Gedalya. :)
Gedalya's favorite object is the garbage can. His favorite activity is digging in the mud. Or eating food with his hands. Like yogurt. Other hobbies include falling behind benches in the park and diving head first off the bed.

So here is Gedalya engrossed in one of his favorite activities.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

See what happens when you let yourself enjoy the sudden quiet in the house... Until you slap yourself on the forehead for neglecting the #1 rule of parenting. If it gets too quiet... check it out!

Like his mascara? ;)

Look at me!

Ah, much better...

Mazal Tov!

Mazal Tov to Osnat on a new BABY GIRL!

The Proper Handling of Ices

This past Shabbos was a milestone of sorts in Zusha's life. He went to shul with his Tatte for the first time. They went in the afternoon and stayed until after Shabbos. Zusha came home proudly waving a plastic tube with a neon yellow-green substance. Apparently, someone gave him a treat.

Zusha was overjoyed, "Mama, look- PAINT!!!!"
I had him put it in the freezer. All he wanted to do was play with it, but it was time for bed.

The next morning he was up at dawn. Off he went to the freezer and brought me the tube of chemical ice. So while Gedalya slept peacefully on, I dragged myself to the kitchen, lined the kitchen table with garbage bags and snipped the plastic tube open for him.

Oh, he had fun! He smeared it, cut it, crumbled it, "painted" with it... the best use for such things.

I Can't Believe it!! Major Breakthrough!

Gedalya has been terrified of the bath for as long as I remember. The last time he took a bath happily was when he was under a year. Since then he has been falling into fits of hysteria if he suspected it's bathtime.
I would improvise, washing him off in the sink, quick showers that had him yelling as if the world was ending... It wasn't fun. He'd climb out and sit in my lap, and I'd have no choice but to rinse the shampoo off while he was in my lap.

Zusha would take advantage of Gedalya's fear of the bath. Whenever I would undress them...
ZUSHA: Gedalya, bath?
GEDALYA: AAAAaaaHHHHHHhhh!!! NOOOOOOOoooo!!!!!!
ZUSHA: Yah!
GEDALYA: No! No! No bath!! MAMAAAAA!!!

Look how sad he is here after a bath:

But tonight I tried something different. I was washing the tub and preparing the bath. Gedalya was running around the house screaming and crying. This time I told him, "No, no bath for Gedalya. Bath for Zusha." It took a while for him to believe me. He didn't stop crying until Zusha was safely in and he was safely out.

Zusha was enjoying himself immensely. He hasn't had a nice calm bath in months. It's always rushed and punctuated with shrieks and sobs. Tonight it was finally peaceful. Gedalya was looking on as Zusha played with the water, the toys, and the "SNOW!"

Gradually, Gedalya stretched out his hand and began splashing and feeling the "snow." After he warmed up to it, I took him and plunked him in! To my surprise, he was totally fine with it. He played, I washed him, and he even cooperated with the hair washing better than Zusha! I can't believe it. I really can't. I am so happy to have overcome this toddler challenge. (Or rather I have exchanged it for public fall-on-the-ground tantrums. But I will revel in my newfound joy of the peaceful bath and deal with the other challenges as they come.)

Look how happy he is now!

And look at that long hair!

Midnight Party!!!

About 3 weeks ago, the Poozils woke up in middle of the night on Motzai Shabbos. We didn't make havdala yet, so we all trekked to the kitchen. This was at about 1 AM!

And after havdala, do you think they all went to sleep like little angels? Noooo...

"I challenge you to get me to bed!"


That look. There's only one thing that can make Zusha so happy: making mischief! See his finger, the dark shadow at the bottom of the picture? He knows he's not allowed to touch the camera lens, so that's exactly what he is doing!


"So, are you up for the challenge? Should we do another round of catch the toddlers?"


"She was up for the challenge."

They're caught!

"Not to worry. You thought this was bad? I have something planned for you, Mama. Right, Gedalya?"

"Can't wait for tomorrow, heh-heh-heh..."

Chelm :)