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.

Shavua Tov

Noam and I have been a bit too busy to blog. Noam is busy with important things like trying to throw as many objects as possible into the toilet, learning to climb out of his highchair, and flinging food. Eema has been busy trying to thwart and/or clean up after the above activities.

The highchair thing is particularly terrifying. Noam slouches down in his highchair and tries to slither out that way. When that doesn't work, he pulls his legs in, hoists himself up, and tries to swing his feet over the side. This is where Eema swoops in and grabs him. He doesn't seem to understand what the problem is.

Throwing food is another story. He definitely understands that this elicits a strong response from Eema, which is overall a fun thing, not to mention the nice splat that the food makes when it hits the floor. We are experimenting with discipline, and with not laughing when he does evil things and then looks gleeful.




We miss Daddy a lot, and Noam does not seem to want to talk on the phone. However, during playtime, he talks on the alarm clock, and on the toy car keys. He picks them up, holds them to his ear, says "Hi!" and then holds it out to me to talk. But when there's actually a voice on the other end its too scary.



We had a very nice Shabbat. Yaffa stayed with us, and we had a very social Shabbat. Especially Noam, who made lots of friends at lunch!

On the Move

With apologies to Grandma and Aunt Debra W (who knew this before I did!), I have to admit that the camera is no longer adequate for capturing images of Noam. We definitely need a video camera. He just moves too fast!

We were up at 4:30 again, for another day of Eema-Noam bonding. Luckily he did some decent napping, and was mostly in an excellent mood. In the morning the Friedmans (Tzivia's parents, otherwise known as Charlotte's grandparents!) were nice enough to take us out for coffee at a local cafe. Noam always enjoys a good coffee date.



In the afternoon, lucky Noam got to play in the park for three hours (!!) with his exceptionally wonderful babysitter. For those of you who don't track the weather here in Jerusalem, it is in the 90s and very dry. But it doesn't seem to slow Noam down one bit. When he came back inside, he was in a great mood. First he played ball for a while (no, we have not been actively trying to teach him to balance a ball on his nose...)




Then he decided, perhaps inspired by his cousin Melissa the great organizer, to rearrange the living room a bit. Here's the "before" picture...



...Looking over the counter from the kitchen, where I was making his dinner, here is what I saw...



Apparently it was time for a change.




Finally, before going to bed, Noam read to himself for a bit. He turns the pages carefully, and talks quietly to himself, occasionally rocking back and forth.




He likes to read The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Pat the Bunny. Interestingly, his favorite book to have me read to him these days is the bagel book. For those of you who haven't seen it, this is a book with great pictures, but it is somewhat lacking in plot and character development. "Whole bagel." "Half Bagel." Turn the page. "Light bagel." "Dark bagel." You get the idea. If not, come on over and Noam will make you read it to him three or four times in a row!

Goodnight Blog

This will be a very short post, because Noam woke up at 4:25 this morning. He went to sleep at six this evening, and I would have happily done so as well...

One quick story from this morning: Eema resisted the urge to go back to sleep, but while cleaning up in the kitchen, Noam escaped down the hall into the bathroom. I was not far behind, but Noam doesn't need much time. I came into the bathroom to find Noam standing and staring intently down into the toilet...whence he had thrown several rolls of toilet paper and some pieces of my glasses case.

Nothing more to say about that, except that I think it undermines my attempts at discipline when I laugh while scolding him.

The Man of the House

With Daddy off in America, Noam is doing his best to help out. After waking up at 5 this morning, he calmly and quietly raided Eema's underwear drawer when she fell back asleep. After waking to find the room strewn with socks and stockings, Eema decided we should switch to the living room, where she could doze off on the couch instead. Noam played quietly and miraculously avoided getting into any major trouble until breakfast time.

After breakfast, he helped unload the dishwasher by pulling each piece of cutlery out, one at a time, and handing it to Eema to put in the drawer. Admittedly, this took the better part of half an hour, but hey, we were in no rush. When we were done, we moved on to laundry.

After loading up the washing machine, we turned it on and ran outside for some fun. Noam has a complex relationship with our washing machine. Its located at floor level, so Noam enjoys opening and closing it, and he likes the loading and unloading part. But turn the machine on, and it turns into the enemy. Though we have assured him it is not in fact coming to get him, Noam remains unconvinced. Suffice it to say that it's best to leave the house, or at least the room, once we turn on the washing machine.

This afternoon, apparently sensing Eema's longing for some adult conversation, Noam decided he would read Middlemarch, by George Eliot. Since Eema is in the middle of it, Noam evidently thought this would be a companionable thing to do. Eema sat next to him on the couch and read some of Noam's books until he was done.





Bathtime this evening was sufficiently traumatic (for at least one party) that it can't be discussed in a public forum, but at least Noam had fun (he sang and made speeches), and went to bed without any trouble.





Daddy, we miss you!

So close!

Just a heads up to everyone that Noam seems to be very close to walking on his own. Today he walked through our dining area with just one hand against the wall to steady himself.
He has not, however, figured out how to climb the ladder up to the slide in the playground, though he's trying! He continues to practice on the stairs - today he heard his friend calling to him from the top, and he practically flew up the last flight!

In other news, Daddy started yeshiva this week. Noam is apparently studying hard to try to keep up.



While Daddy is away all day, Eema and Noam have lots of time to play. This is Noam's newest toy, which, as you can see, requires much concentration.




Shabbat Shalom!

Noam on Vacation

Noam is really enjoying the last few days of Eema and Daddy's summer vacation. On Friday, Noam and Daddy went to an outdoor jazz concert while Eema cooked. While Eema had adventures in her new Israeli kitchen (it took around half an hour to figure out how to turn the oven on, and another half an hour to turn it off), Noam sang along and applauded at the concert.


In other exciting news, today Noam got to see his cousin Shira Wolkenfeld. Eema and Daddy had coffee with her in the morning, and she stopped by in the afternoon for a brief visit. Noam invited her to stay and play football but she had to go!

Today was Noam's first day in Israel with a babysitter. He had a great time with her and Eema and Daddy got to run some errands without pushing a stroller. We will be inviting this babysitter back very soon!


Some other Noam developments:
- he continues to try to climb on the balcony. We continue to discourage this, unsuccessfully.
- he has a new game, in which he very carefully and methodically clears his high chair by slowly lifting each piece of food into the air, dangling it over the side while we say NO, and then dropping it on the floor.
- he imitates Eema by trying to blow on hot food
- he stands by himself for much longer periods of time, but when he wants to move, he realizes he's standing and drops to a crawl. He hasn't quite figured out that he might be able to take steps by himself too!