HAPPY BURTAY TU GYDALAYA

The title says it all! And-- I wrote it myself. Yes, I am a big boy- I am now 4 years old!

The week before my birthday we had a countdown. Not just any countdown... a really fun one!
Mama filled seven balloons with little prizes and hung them on my bedroom door.

Every night when we boys got into pajamas, I would pop one balloon and two little prizes would fall out (one for me and one for Zusha).

We got things like key chains, stickers, a cool pair of socks with monster trucks on them, itty bitty mini rolls of tape, and other little things.

(Mel loved the ribbon! That was his present after all the balloons were popped.)

We also got REAL birthday balloons.


I loved parading around town, showing them off to people.

On Monday, after it became dark, it was Rosh Chodesh Nisan. My birthday!
We had a family celebration.
And we had

I could really end the post right here. There is nothing in the world that can compare to delicious, frosty iscreeme . (That's my word as well. I spelled it, and I made the graphic, all by myself! It has an "e" at the end. Do you know why? It's a silent "e." It doesn't make I sound. But I know what it does make. It makes the vowel in the word say its name. And since the "i" makes the "i" sound, it means this word needs a silent "e". :) I am philosophical like that.)

See all the glittery confetti on the table?

Mama bought a party popper and exploded it over the table! Then we covered them all with a clear plastic tablecloth.


Adi joined in the party, too, and even had some iscreeme. :)


Mama made me a crown and I wore it almost every day, from my birthday until Shabbos. Everyone noticed and made a comment- the therapists, the librarian, Mama's friends... and I was so proud to announce that I am FOUR and not anymore THREE.


I was so into the iscreeme that I didn't want to open the presents.


Only after Zusha offered to open them for me did I tear myself away from licking the iscreeme cup clean.

Ooooh, I love this robot box!


Ooooopen...


Yea!!


I also got a street-cleaner train and a garbage train for our train-and-track collection. Zusha and I were so happy and we took them to sleep with us. I got a book, cute, colorful kid scissors, a stamp set of wild animals, and a few more little toys. I loved all my presents!

On Shabbos we had a big cake. It was kosher for Pesach, but it was soooo good. I especially loved the orange cream. :) But that wasn't the end of my celebrations. My grandma, grandpa and aunt came on Sunday, and they brought MORE presents. An electronic math mat that we need to jump on the correct numbers, a mini chess set, clay, and a magnetic building block set. Thank you! Zusha, Adel and I LOVED everything.

I really made it out well! It's great to be four!

Zusha's Post

{Zusha takes over the keyboard}

I'll start, since I am the oldest. My quote these days is

"פון גרויס ביז קליין" after all.

Purim started with havdala, which was the perfect opportunity for me do put on my costume and announce, "Look! We are lighting ME! We will make a bracha on ME!"

After we made our rounds, Gedalya stood on a step above mine, leaned over me,

and put out my fire!

Our grandmother came to our house with yummy shalach manos for us all- even Adi!
Here I must add- one of the things that makes my Mama so behind in putting up pictures is her editing obsession. She can't post a picture without polishing it up. Well, I'm here to do damage control, right? Pictures will get posted, edited or no.

Adi ate chocolate from shalach manos.

When I tasted chocolate for the first time it was Purim as well. But I wasn't ONE year old- I was almost THREE! How times have changed.

On second thought, maybe I will post the edited versions... don't want to annoy Mama when she is all frazzled as it is.

All this chocolate talk reminds me... One of Adi's teachers is leaving for a few months, and Adi will learn with someone else. Mama put together a little good-bye present for the teacher, which includes a box of chocolates. She bought a box, warned us all not to open it... we opened it. The next day she bought two boxes. One for us and one for the teacher. We opened one when we came home. She thought she was so clever. The next morning we opened the other (gift) box. This went on three or four times. Heh heh heh. I love it when trouble tastes good!
(Want to see the other item in the gift? It's a personalized notepad.

Isn't it adorable?)

But don't think that we thrive on junk. We actually try to keep our diet balanced. For every piece of junk food we eat, we eat a mini bell pepper to make up for it. One morning Mama told me to pack up my snack for cheider. When she checked my choices, she was surprised to see two tangerines, two peppers, a slice of cheese and a water bottle in my backpack!

My Mama also had a fun idea to get us to eat healthy:
We all love soup. But we don't love HOT soup. If it's hot, we usually go play while it cools, and then forget about it. So...

Mama pulls out a frozen veggie (broccoli is a favorite of ours!) and uses it as an ice cube. It cools down the soup, while the soup thaws it out, and we get a double yum!

I now hand the keyboard and comfy armchair over to my brother, because I am a sharing yingel.

The Poozils Have Taken Over

Hello. It is us, the Poozils, and we are here to do some blog damage control.

Our Mama hasn't posted since Tuesday, when she promised to update tomorrow... Funny how when we use the word "tomorrow" to mean "anytime in the vague future," or "yesterday" to mean "sometime between the day we were born and today," Mama corrects our usage. And then she goes and uses the word "tomorrow" to mean "sometime next week." Grownups are puzzling.

So before we continue with the damage control, we need to mention that our Mama never even explained to anyone what Poozils are!
It's not all that mysterious or anything. At least not mysterious enough never to have mentioned it on here before. And since we noticed in the stats that some people have been searching this blog for "Poozils" through the search bar on the top right in hopes of having some light shed on the word, we might as well do a favor for the masses. So with that introduction... it's just a word Mama made up for us. It means "roly poly little tots." So there you go.

In case you are wondering where our Mama is while we are taking over the computer, she is taking a nap. On the floor. She was on the way to refil the bucket of water and wash the rag that she is scrubbing the (layers of food we plastered the) house with when she just fell asleep. We had a quick conference and decided that she'd be more pleased if we spiffied up the blog than if we woke her, so here we are.
We will bring everything up to date, starting with Purim (it's only almost a week till Pesach...)

Each Poozil will get a post of his or her own!
Read on...

Thoughts: the Sequel

It's been some time since I posted my thoughts and feelings about Adel and all that she is going through, and what we are going through with her.

Adel has dysmorphic features. Small head, small chin, wide mouth, ears that are large, low-set and deformed, a skin tag, short philtrum (groove between nose and upper lip)... and that's just on the face. But she's cute. Awfully cute.
I can't help but wonder, as I do with all other aspects of Adel's life, what she will look like when she is older. Will one be able to tell that she has a disorder by looking at her?

And what is better, really? For her disability to be reflected on her face or not? (Not like I get to customize my special needs child, or anything. )

I've worked with kids with disabilities before. I organized events in high school - different group homes or schools would bring the kids or adults with special needs to our school and our girls would interact, play, make crafts with them and all. And I had what to think about.

I had more opportunity to think things through when I was working in schools and day camps. One particular school hires high-functioning individuals with special needs for simple office/paper work. With one of these women, it's obvious that she has some sort of condition when you look at her. She is generally treated with respect, but not pity. People deal with her normally as they would with anyone else in her position.
Another young woman there also has a disability, but she looks just fine. Although she dresses a little funny and wears a fanny pack, she's pretty. When I was working there, she brought around attendance sheets and later collected them. She was treated pretty badly, I am sad to say. People were brusque with her, didn't reply to her greetings, made her wait unnecessarily when she came around to collect the papers.

Maybe the way they were treated wasn't connected to the way they look, but it seemed to me that it was.

It makes sense, but it doesn't make it right. One day last week Zusha went down the slide with Adel, and before they had a chance to stand up, a girl that looked to be at least eight years old slid full force into them. Right as I said, "Hey, why'd you do that?" I noticed out of the corner of my eye that there was a group of special needs girls in the park, and it struck me that she might be in the park with that group. I quickly added in a totally different tone, "It's nice to wait for kids to get up before you go down."

I wonder how many other people were appalled and displeased with her actions without knowing any background info. It would not happen to her classmates with Down Syndrome.
I'm wondering about my Adi. How will she have it in the future? Will people be understanding? Judgmental? So much pondering.

This post was brought about by my getting ready to take Adel to the city for more appointments. I always get all thinky and sometimes a little emotional when it is time for another trip. We went to the neurologist and orthopedist today. There is lots to tell about this trip, but I was on my feet all day (left the house at 9:30 AM and came back at 7 PM) while wearing Adi and hauling along a diaper bag... so typing is one of my least desired activities at this time. More tomorrow!

In Your Kitchen Sink

O hi!

I'z in your sink

Breaking your stereotypez

The T______ Trio

The Terrific Trio?


The Terrible Trio?


The Troublemaker Trio?


Or all of the above?

The Backsaver

Now for the Ergo photos and mini review!

Honestly, where has this carrier been all my my kids' life lives? It is just the thing I was looking for, and just the thing everyone needs if they have a baby and if they plan on ever transporting that baby basically anywhere.

My first carriers were a Hotsling and Maya Wrap. They are great, and I love them! But they are more for smaller, lighter babies. It became too hard for me to carry Adel in them after she turned one, and I was dreading doing so. Considering the many appointments I had to take Adel to, I'd need to be carrying her often. I heard great things about the Ergo, and decided to invest in one. I knew I would get much use out of it because walking wasn't on Adel's horizon.

After playing around with the belts, I found the right combination, and I don't feel Adel's weight at all! This carrier is better than a Snuggli or Baby Bjorn because the baby isn't hanging from your shoulders, but rather straddling you. It's like carrying a child on your hip as opposed to having him hug your neck and hang on you. Which one would you choose?

The Ergo can be worn on the front, back or hip. I have never tried it on the hip. When I wear Adel outside, it's always on the front. It's too complicated to put her on my back in public. I need to make wacky maneuvers and to have a mirror to check if it's right. At home, I wear Adi on my back while I cook, vacuum (she is less afraid that way) and sometimes when I put her to sleep.
It comes with a hood that supports the baby's head, so sleeping is nice and comfy.

I take Adel to all her specialists in the Ergo. Sometimes I don't even take a stroller along.
And I must admit- I love having Adel's face so close to mine.

And just for fun...

And it didn't feel so heavy at all! The weight distribution is great.

Zusha thought it was hysterical.

I did wear Gedalya, but I don't have photos. To make up for that, I'll let you know that he was the FIRST one to try out the Ergo. It was right when I pulled it out, nice and fresh from the box - a few minutes before we had to go pick up Zusha from cheider, so I didn't have time to take pictures. Maybe I'll do it again, just to have the pictures.