Hannukah Party

Of course (isn't it strange how these things catch you unawares) Mikael had a Hannukah party at the day care. This is our second day care party, so the format was sort of familiar. Lots of kids, lots of noise, sitting on cushions, music, and good food. It could be a lot worse. Mikael was totally (totally totally) into the candle lighting and also did some of the dancing. He turns around for the dreidel song (סביבון סוב סוב סוב) and stamps his foot for the part were we chase the darkness away (סור החושך). These behaviors seem to be pretty strongly conditioned because they can still be evoked by the appropriate stimulus, sometimes even accidentally. Each kid got gifts including, most exciting, a little flashlight with a generator so you can pump it up to make it go. The flashlights were shaped like little pigs with the light coming out the snout. I'm not entirely sure what the Hannukah link for the pig is.

The woman singing in the white shirt in the last picture is Caro, who runs the day care.

Yael's cell-cam

Yael Perez took some pictures of Mikael hugging the teddy bear ('hug' is one of his English words) and playing with Divya. We just got them because of technical downloading difficulties. Yael also says that this is an opportunity to remind everyone to remember to clean the lens before they use their cell phone cameras, especially if they keep the cell phone in their pocket.

 

 

 

Looking cute

Liya's friend Naama was visiting the country last week with her daughter. I try to avoid posting pictures where the point is that other people's children are also cute because I don't want to interfere with other people having their own baby blogs, but this sequence was just too cute to miss.

House shoes

Mikael has issues with shoes. Sometimes it's important to have them on and other times it's important to have them off. We try to be sort of strict on some issues -- no shoes in bed and no going barefoot outside in the winter, for instnace. Big irony in the last one, I know. Anyway, Netta knitted some beautiful slippers for him, which is great because the floors of our apartment can be quite cold. I also bought him some wooden shoes when I was in holland two weeks ago, but we've had less luck getting him to wear them.

 

 

 

 

New toy

While I was away in Europe, Mikael received a new toy from his grandparents across the sea. Saba Emi read great reviews about the Munchkin Mozart Magic Cube and decided it was a must-have. It's an amazing little toy that plays part of a Mozart orchestral piece but allows Mikael to add and subtract instruments by pressing the different faces. He has a lot of fun with it and has discovered that he can turn instruments on or off not only by pressing the buttons but also by sitting on them, standing on them and jumping up and down, and even banging on them with a spoon covered in oatmeal.

Here he and Yoav 'happily' share the new toy.








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Mikael feeding the cats

Mikael feeding cats in Givat Ada. Nothing special here, just the ongoing development of motor and cognitive skills.





On Vimeo.


On Vimeo.

Dinner in Mevasseret

 

 

 

 

גבעת עדה - מאכילים חתולים

בשבת קפצנו מיכאל ואני לגבעת עדה שם הוא מסתובב בחצר מלאת ההפתעות והיצורים. החתול שמופיע בתמונה לבדו זה חתול רחוב ששמו חדי. לפני חודשיים מצאנו אותו דרוס ופצוע בגורדון פינת שפינוזה. הזעקנו וטרינר, הוספנו כסף והיצלנו את אחד החתולים הכי פחות נחמדים בעיר. בגלל שהוא דרש טיפול מסור, ונוטה לאלימות הוא הועבר אחר כבוד לגיבעת עדה. להורים שלי שהם בעלי ניסיון בהצלת חתולים. אחרי שבועיים של טיפול מסור ומאבקים, חדי החלים מספיק בשביל לעבור לחצר. הוא עדיין מאוד לא נחמד ומאוד לא אוהב בני אדם. כשהיינו שם בשבת אז הוא הראה את פרצופו בפומבי - אפשר לראות שהוא מרגיש טוב. הוטרינר הבטיח לי ששמור לנו מקום בגן עדן של החתולים

דיוויה

ערב הנסיעה של עופר להולנד קפצו יעל ודיוויה לביקור אחרון לפני שגם הן חוזרות לברקלי

מיכאל מטפח כאן את רגש הקינאה שלו. אבא עופר לא יחזיק ילדים אחרים ללא אישור מיוחד

השרשרת

מתוך ערימה של צעצועים שמצאנו באמצע הרחוב דגנו את השרשרת הזאת. היינו לפני נסיעה וחשבתי שזה ייתן למיכאל עיסוק מעניין לדרך. מי דמיין שהשרשרת תהפוך לכל כך פופולרית. מיכאל שם אותה בבוקר ומוריד אותה בערב. כשאנחנו יוצאים להסתובב אחרי צהריים הוא מסתובב איתה כמו רקדנית הוואי. לפעמים מוסיף לזה כובע, משקפי שמש או מפוחית פה!

Jammies

I don't have a lot of strong childhood memories, but I'm still nostalgic for those one piece pajamas with the footsies that I used to wear until I-have-no-idea-what-age. I've wanted some for Mikael for a while now, and Savta Rina and Saba Emi sent us a couple of pairs a little while ago. We were worried that Mikael wouldn't fit into them because they looked a little big, but it seems to be ok.

The footsies bothered him though, so we had to take them off and put him back in his usual PJs before bed.

 

 

Independence

Little Mikael in the big world demonstrating his ability to be far away from us.

 

By the sea

Yael and Divya walked us down Ben Gurion Boulevard to the sea and then north all the way to swim class in the new port area. Liya joined us for part of the trip, and we took these nice pictures as the sun was starting to set.

 

 

Our new door picture

Yael took this excellent picture. I'm going to put it on our door instead of the one from Sede Boker

 

Stopping at a small playground

Yael and Divya and Mikael and I went on a walk and stopped for a while so Divya could nurse and Mikael could bang happily on a styrofoam abacus and a metal railing.