Boy Time!

My boys... they don't get as much blog attention as Adi does, but that's probably because they aren't such big troublemakers anymore. Heh heh. They had their time of flour scattering, shampoo spilling, spice eating and getting up to take showers in their pajamas in middle of the night.

Now it's Adi's turn to take an ENTIRE loaf of gefilte fish out on shabbos day and eat it, to bust open a yogurt and bring me a bag full of yogurt containers marinating in the contents of one of them, and to sit out on our path and scream her little vocal cords out because I refuse to take her on a long walk an hour before shabbos.

So whereas Adi provides more blog material, there are some handsome boys around that can not be overlooked!

Gedalya is 5 1/2 and he's doing great in school. He's making lots of friends and learning a mile a minute.

My favorite redhead is great at spelling. We spell some words that we don't want Adi to understand, so lately Gedalya has taken to spelling EVERYTHING. Right before Adi started school, Gedalya said the following:
I-S space A-D-I-apostrophe-S space S-C-H-O-O-L space I-N space B-O-R-O space P-A-R-K question mark.
He spelled everything right himself. The wise guy looked around for a school bus to see how to spell "school." But I consider it that he spelled it himself because he was resourceful and didn't ask me.

I introduced the concept of "script" to the kids. They watched a short video of script letters being written, and then Gedalya announced, "I want to learn scribbled!" Gedalya dear, even when you write print, you write scribbled. ;)

Another time: We were walking outside, and Gedalya was snacking on alphabet crackers. Each letter he took out, he would find something around him that started with that letter. We were in CVS when Gedalya took out the letter P. What was the word he chose? Pharmacy. That kid surprises me every day. How did he know it starts with P?

Best brothers...

Zusha is 7 1/2  now. Here he is in the park with his class (all the way on the right.

Zusha's English teacher takes the class to the park sometimes, and it's really cute when we are there as well. Zusha gets to play with Gedalya and Adi, as well as with his friends. In fact, Zusha's classmates have made friends with Gedalya and Adi as well!

One morning I had a hangnail. Zusha noticed it (I nicked him with it) and I proceeded to bite it off so not to scratch the kids while getting them dressed. Zusha watched and asked, "Are you scared? Is it scary for you?" When I answered no, he said, "Good." He's my sensitive little soul.

Today Zusha took out a siddur and davened almost everything himself. It took him over half an hour, and he diligently read each and every word even though reading does NOT come easy to him by any means.

Recently I've been spotting Zusha's discarded pants on the floor and thinking in amazement (before calling him to put them in the hamper and scolding him for dropping them to begin with) how BIG they are. It's like having a little bochur living in my house. Like, do I really have a kid who FITS that? Size 8-10. Yep.

I don't have as many pictures of him as of Gedalya because he's too much into fake smiles lately, and it's already almost dark by dismissal time. But that's life, isn't it? Every kid is different, and everything about my children is very specific and personal and doesn't depend on anything but themselves!

Why I Will Never Give Up Looking For a Diagnosis For Adi

Many people say to me,
"I know you want to have a diagnosis very much, but how will it change anything?"
"We are doing the best we can, working with Adi's symptoms. We will give her all the help she needs. A diagnosis is just a word."
"Maybe it's better that you don't have a diagnosis so that Adi isn't limited by it. "
As if I'd say, "Well, Adi's diagnosis says she will never talk, so why bother trying."

I want that diagnosis, not just out of curiosity. But I'm certain that it will help me help her.
Take a look at this family. They got a diagnosis of cerebral palsy for their twins, but they weren't satisfied. The mother researched more and then stumble upon something that changed the whole family's life forever.
Is this something I can have for my Adi? An answer? A way to help her?
The video shows it is half an hour long, but it really is just repeating another interview with the parents done on a different show. Watch until 17 minutes. Then you can skip to 24:30 to see the twins today. A really touching story.

Post-date Friday: A Little Photo Magic

Almost two years ago I was taking photos of Zusha blowing bubbles.

Simple, clean setting, cute kid, fun activity. But I couldn't get any nice photos for some reason!

Either the wand was out of the frame...

Or Zusha didn't look good... What a shame to waste a great string of bubbles on a picture where the subject doesn't look good.

Or Zusha looked good, but there weren't any bubbles.

My solution?

Sometimes a little cheating goes a long way! Now I have at least one keeper from that session. :)

A Good Choidesh!

Happy Rosh Chodesh Kislev!
We are getting very, very close to...

Chanuka!

 

{Zusha with the dreidel that he made}

What an exciting time of the year.

We celebrated five Chanukas in our old apartment, so everything was familiar. We set up Hillel's menora in the same spot, at the top of the stairs, and the boys' menoras took their place at the kitchen or dining room window. But this year we will have to make new memories and settle into new familiarity. Chanuka is the only yom tov that we haven't experienced in our new place yet.
So exciting!

Post-date Friday, Creature Edition

This creature likes building webs around our house.

No creatures here, just beautiful remnants of sunlight over the water.

Man made juxtaposed with G-d made. Gorgeous.

Back to creatures... :)

I found this little guy on the sidewalk on my way home one day. I picked him up, and he stayed on my finger all the way to my house! At home, I put him in a bug box to show the kids. Then we all let him out in the park together.

And that's the creaturish edition of Post-date Friday!

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.

Let's Talk About the Weather

This is how we go around these days.

End of November, but still...

"Look, Mama, no coat!"

("Look, Mama, no feet, either!")

Usually there are very few sweater days around these here parts.

But we are really enjoying showing off all our adorable sweaters.

 

And no hats means more opportunities for awesome hairstyles and bows. :)

We even had a few days interspersed with short sleeves!

How many November days can be spent like this?

Not to say there are no signs of fall...

We've had rainy days, and leaves are everywhere!

The colors are unbelievable. This bush was totally bare about two weeks after this photo was taken.