Homecoming presents

After Liya and I had our lovely romantic evening together in the dark cottage in Klil which included a jacuzzi, a dinner with wine and candles, a hike with skinny dipping in hidden pools deep full of deep freezing water, and a long slow breakfast, Mommy Liya and Daddy Opher headed back to Givat Ada to pick up Mikael. Of course we brought presents. Acorns we'd picked up on the hike, a toy tool chest (whose tools can be used to take the chest apart and put it back together again), and baklava for Rami and Hava.

All of Hava and Rami's granchildren together on one couch. This won't be possible some day. Maybe Hava and Rami will have to buy a bigger couch. Anyway, from the left: Noa Kallir, Yotam Meirav, Mikael Donchin, Yalli Kallir, Shaked Meirva and Romy Meirav.

 

By the way, this picture was taken when we were leaving Mikael on our way up to spend the night at a cottage in the woods up north. This was Mikael's first night without his parents around and he did amazingly well. We were all very proud of everyone: of Mikael for being so good about it, of us for being willing to try, and of Savta Hava and Saba Rami and Doda Mayan Shahar for taking such great care of him.

Building towers

I don't remember if we've posted towers before, but Mikael spends a lot of time building them, so they're worth enjoying a few times.

 

Mikael and Arik

Ernie is called Arik in Israeli Sesame Street (and Bert is called Bentz). Although we've always had a thing for Arik's famous Put Down the Ducky song, Mikael started getting really attached to Ernie because we began watching his 1,2,3 Count With Me DVD. This particular Ernie is 'found art.' I think he came to visit us from Indigo and had to go back the next day.

 

Ofer and Mikael

One more picture of Ofer and Mikael. Ofer is obviously ready for another child or a grandchild.

 

Mevasseret after the party

After the brita, Mikael and I got back in the car and drove off to Mevasseret for a lovely Friday evening dinner. Mikael didn't sleep in the car, so as soon as we got there, we both went downstairs and took a very long nap. Milka was in Africa and so Dror and Netta cooked dinner. Yael was going to come but Tamar was not feeling good, so they stayed home. That made for a very quiet evening for all of us. I woke up early enough to give Dror and Netta a little bit of help with the cooking. Mikael woke up just in time for dinner. After dinner, we stayed for a while longer and then Mikael got into his Elmo pamajas and we drove home.

 

 

 

Going uhn uhn

Mikael loves to drive cars. Its one of his favorite things. Here Sagi is helping him drive a car after the brita. That actually reminds me that today we took Mikael with us to Park HaYarkon and he rode his little peddle-less bike done the bike path, he kept saying to himself, "vroom vroom, pigeon at the wheel!" For those of you who have missed out on Mo Willems (Mikael's favorite author these days), here is a link to the immortal classic, Don't let the pigeon drive the bus!

 

 

In the rain, outside the brita

The day was very rainy. In fact, Mikael and I had spent the morning running around Tel Aviv in the rain getting ready for our weekend together. Mommy Liya was busy this weekend at a seminar. One of the things we bought while we were getting ready was an umbrella for Mikael.

Sagi (Ofer and Orna's middle son) and Ofer help Mikael get the umbrella open

 

 

Mikael makes excellent use of the umbrella in the rainy parking lot.

 

 

Eventually, much later after everyone had gone, the rain ended and Mikael folded the umbrella and agreed to get in the car

Shahar's Brita

Zohar, is my first cousin once removed, and she is Orna's daughter. She just recently had her second child, a girl named Shahar (who is my first cousin twice removed, by the way). Zohar and Elad were nice enough to invite me to the Brita (a girl version of the Brit, but without the cutting). Here are pictures of that side of the family, which is nice because we don't see them so often:

Mikael and his daddy:


From the left: Tal (Zohar's sister), Mikael, Ofer (further back, Anat's husband), and Nadav (Ofer and Anat's youngest).



Mikael, Adir (Ilan's brother), Ilan and Adir's daughter.





Anat is the one feeding Mikael.



Mikael with Zohar and her elder daughter Mayan and her father Weizmann

פיג'מה אלמו

Elmo pajamas

פיג'מה שקנו למיכאל בטמפה. הוא מאוד מאוד אוהב אותה. ברקע של התמונה השלשית אפשר לראות את המטבח שהכנו לו. אחרי שהמטבח היה מוכן ורק נותר לצבוע, הייתי אמא אמיצה, קניתי לי ולמיכאל גלגלת ומברשת וצבענו את המטבח ביחד.

These pajamas were bought for Mikael in Tampa. He loves them very much! In the background of the third picture, you can see the kitchen we made fromhim. After the kitchen was ready and all we had to do was paint, I gathered my courage, but me and Mikael a roller and brush and we painted the kitchen together.

10 אצבעות

My 10 fingers

רעיון של מיכאל, אני עזרתי בביצוע

Mikael's idea. I helped with the implementation.

חוג שחייה במיטה

Swim class in bed

אחרי המבטי, מיכאל הצביע על המיטה, הודיע שזאת בריכה, שם את המשקפת וצלל מתחת לסדין

After his bath, Mikael pointed at the bed and told me that it was a pool. Then he put on his swim goggles and dove under the sheets.