Back in Israel

Dear All,

Just a note to let you all know how happy I am to be back home in Israel. Don't get me wrong - America was great. I played with Bubbe and her tupperware and all her toys, and climbed on the swingset in her backyard. I ate grapefruit and read books with Grandma, and helped her get the paper from her elevator. I spent several days playing with Aunt Hannah, who is lots of fun (and takes great pictures!), while Eema and Daddy abandoned me for a bit. I went to the Children's Museum with Aunt Debra T, and learned all about Goldbug (see below for details) with Aunt Debra W, and I spend a lot of quality time with Maggie. I also played football and hide and seek with Uncle Danny, talked on the iphone with Cousin Melissa, played with a new toy with Cousin Enid, and had a quick visit from Aunt Renee! Speaking of relatives from far away, I even got to hang out a bit with Peter and Kathy, and Emma and Daniel. And finally, in a great stealth operation by Eema and Daddy, I even got to visit Gigi (Great Grandma) in her hospital room!








But it's great to be back. Okay, maybe I had a little jetlag for a while, like maybe I screamed for an hour or so every night for the first six nights or so, but that's all behind us now (Eema and Daddy sincerely hope...). It was so much fun to see Ariel again! I tackled him, hugged and kissed him, and stroked his hair while calling him "good girl!" (just like Maggie. Thanks to Aunt Debra for teaching him that trick...). He was really excited to see me too. We shrieked and laughed a lot (especially me since I was so overtired!).

I am pretty much back to my old routines, but some things are new and different. Eema bought crayons for me in America and I love to color now. A few of the crayons broke, and I'm trying to break them all, because "broke!" is such a fun word to say. Plus then there are more pieces to use for coloring! Yesterday I made a birthday card for Daddy.

I love the books that we brought from America, and we spend a lot of time reading them. In particular, the classic "Cars and Trucks and Things That Go," by Richard Scarry, is a really formative work for me. The best part is finding goldbug on every page, which I do with great excitement every time. Also, I've learned about things like cars ("beep-beep!") and buses ("bu! bus!") and motorcycles and trucks ("tu! tu!"). This is great cause (as you know if you've visited us) we live near Emek Refaim, which is a pretty major street here in Jerusalem. This means that almost every time we go out, we see many of ALL of these things. And I point out each and every one! It's so much fun for me and for whoever is walking with me.

Something else that started in the U.S is my obsession with the letters A, T, and (to a lesser extent) O. I can identify these letters, though I can't quite draw them yet, and I love to point them out every time I see them! Eema says it makes reading books to me go kind of slow, but I call it pre-literacy and tell her to calm down.

Well, I think that's about it. We had a great Shabbat - I sang a lot - and this coming Shabbat will probably be even more fun, cause it's Purim! We'll be sure to post some pictures as soon as we can.

Love,

Noam