My friend Ada lives in the Bay Area with her family, but they celebrated their son's Bar Mitzva here. Mikael came along with us. The first picture shows the actual bar mtizvaing (Rabbi, Nimrod, Ada and Nissan the dad). In the second picture Mikael and Liya can be discerned by the truly observant. The last one has Mikael offering Ada a half-eaten date.
Shiran took photos of our swim class a few weeks ago. For a mere 80 NIS, we are now able to share this miracle with you. We were surprised to see that Mikael's eyes are open under water. It helps us understand it when Moran, the teacher, tells us to have him grab things under water. That's Moran, by the way, holding him in all the pictures, and Liya reaching out to him.
There were many video-ready moments in the evening. Mikael and Yoel have a great comic sense together. Unfortunately, we didn't even pull out the camera. Yoel and Netta took all the pictures we posted here. By the way, they assert their copyright and ask that you get in touch with them by e-mail for pricing policies regarding any reproductions.
The mirror is a real source of fun and joy in lots of different ways. Most of the games are very cute except the one where Mikael grabs the bottom of the mirror and bangs it violently against the wall. This game is better.
Doda Ayala bought these shades when Mikael was 6 months old. It's amazing how toys that have been lying around for months or even more than a year are suddenly HUGE when he hits exactly the right time for them. This has happened again and again with stuff that we thought was totally over turning into the biggest thing over night. The glasses are very big right now, as you can see.
Mikael got his first phone call from a friend. Emma from the day care called him. He was so overwhelmed that he really couldn't say anything to her except 'Emma Emma' but after the phone call he ran around the house saying 'Emma Emma' for quite a while. Emma is a little more verbal than he is. Afterwards, the mom's set up a play date for tomorrow.
Too bad we had no camera. It got left at a friend's house and we are still negotiating its return.
The schnitzel and mashed potatoes that Savta Hava made were a great success, but we still had to get up in the middle of dinner several times. First, to get the yellow car; then, to get the train; then, to get the green car; then the doll; then the wagon; finally, the book. While Mikael was eating and I was reading the book to him, we got to the page with the house on the hill, he suddenly got very excited and went and got the old (broken) camera and came and brought it to me. I wasn't sure exactly what he wanted, but when he saw that I was getting the working camera and setting up this picture, he seemed satisfied. You never now.
We came to Rehovot to get the car, but while we were there we had a great lunch with Yali and Noa and Ido and Hila.
Mikael and Noa in the little tent.
On Friday morning, Mikael and I had errands to run. We needed to take a bus to a store which would sell us a new remote for the air conditioner (very important because otherwise the house gets quite cold here in frigid, wintery Tel Aviv), and then a long walk to the train station, and then a train ride down to Rehovot to pick up Ido and Hila's car, and then back with the car to Tel Aviv to meet Mommy for a well deserved nap.
We got to the bus station, all right, as you can see (that's Efrat, Liya's friend and a Grinberg person), but then things got even more complicated. We got on a bus going the wrong direction, and then waited a long time for the right bus, and in the end we took a cab, so by the time we got to the store, Mikael was fast asleep. I transferred him sleeping into the car seat and wheeled him into the store and from there down to the train station where he slept all the way to Rehovot.
All this is really just one more opportunity to plug the Gogo Kidz and the Britax Marathon car seat which have proven to be a great combination.
This large, ancient animal regularly makes a loop around our building. Since Mikael also makes a circuit around the buildling pretty often before he goes upstairs, they meet with some regularity.
If intelligence is measured by your ability to distinguish fake or broken electronic devices from useful electronic devices, then Mikael is a genius. Here he is with my MP3 player. I'm not entirely sure, but I think he's trying to get the green turtle backpack to listen to Paul Simon.
Liya wants Mikael to have more access to pictures of his family. We've had a lot of luck with a book of photos that Ayala made for us a while ago, and Mikael brings it to us so we can help him identify everyone. Our new project is a little 'photo cube.' Of course, at our pace, we've been talking about this for a few months and never gotten around to it.
In Mevasseret last week, Liya took a step forward by taking photos of each family member with Mikael. Now my job is to actually print them out today.
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