In and Out (and in, and out, and in...)

Yes, I know, Noam and I have been putting off posting for much too long. So much to tell you all! Daddy came home, which was very exciting. He brought Noam a new stuffed CAT (one of the two words we are pretty sure he says. He says CA! when he sees a cat...but also when he sees other small children, and sometimes when he sees Eema).



So that was Monday. Also on Monday we kidnapped Yaff and dragged her to the pool. No pictures from there - Eema has her hands full keeping Noam's head above water. Literally. He can technically crawl in the baby pool with his head above the water, but it requires significant effort, and Noam doesn't seem to understand why he would want to do such a thing.

On Tuesday we went back to the pool. This time Liz was our victim and we came armed with a float. Noam enjoyed floating, but his favorite part of the day was climbing IN and OUT of the baby pool. We are all about IN and OUT right now. Toys go in and out of boxes, bottles come in and out of the cooler, clothes go in and out of the washing machine. Noam goes in and out of the pool. And apparently, the toy basket as well.



This is fun, though somewhat repetitive, and occasionally leads to Eema finding things in strange places, when Noam puts something IN and loses interest before taking it OUT. On Tuesday Eema found her cell phone IN the cooler...

Closely related to IN and OUT is ON and OFF. We do this with hats for hours. Here is Noam trying on one of Eema's hats.




On Wednesday Daddy came home early and we all went out for ice cream. Extremely yummy flavors at our local gelatto place!



Perhaps inspired by watching us eat our ice cream, Noam decided that night at dinner that the time has come for him to take control at meal times, and feed himself with a spoon or fork. He was quite insistent about it, and, though Daddy immediately abdicated all feeding responsibilities when Eema handed over the spoon, there's clearly no stopping him. Below you can see the process, as well as the inevitable results (Aunt Debra T, you may want to skip this section).



Having established that Noam wanted to hold the spoon, Eema tried to help him get some applesauce onto it...



...but there are so many different ways to hold a spoon...



...and while some of these ways might not actually result in food getting into one's mouth, it is not entirely clear how much Noam cares...



..and sideways is much more fun.



An eating mystery: As we (that is, Eema) try to wean Noam off the bottle and onto the cup, a mystery has emerged. Noam will happily drink water from a regular cup. He will drink juice or water from a sippy cup. And he'll drink anything from a bottle, but he loves his milk best of all. But when presented with milk in a sippy cup, he sips...and spits. Then he screams. Very unclear.

I think that's it for now. Adventures planned for next week include Eema starting school, Noam hanging out with his new babysitter, and the beginnings of getting ready for Rosh Hashanah.