Yom Ha'Atzma-

-OOT!

Saying the entire name of Israel's independence day was a bit too much for Noam, but he got very good at finishing off with the last syllable when prompted. Israel's 60th was a fun day for Noam and for Daddy and Eema as well.

We had a lazy morning, since we were all off from school. Here are Noam and Ariel chilling at their early morning playdate...

...And then Daddy read them a book (well, actually, a toy catalogue, but it's their favorite right now).
After Noam's nap, we headed out for some excitement. The day before, Eema and Noam saw the Israeli Air Force planes practicing for the Yom Ha'Atzma'ut fly-overs, and Noam was very excited about the prospect of seeing more airplanes (he says "airplane," and holds on to the little plane that Grandma brought for him...). So we went in search of airplanes, and in front of the President's house, we found some (also lots of flags, which Noam is also learning about).
Noam was extremely diligent in watching the sky for planes.

Then we walked over to the park, which was full of families barbecuing and playing games. Noam really got into the playground there - it has a "choo-choo" you can sit in and steer - and he really did not want to leave (in other words, we had to carry him out kicking and screaming). But a quick visit with Yaffa cheered him up, and then we were off to the "Live Museum" - a whole section of town set up to showcase Israel in the '40s, with lots of plays, music, and food. And buses. As Yaffa told Noam, an old Egged bus is included in the display. For the entire walk there, Noam said: "Bus?! Bus?!"

But first we saw some dancing (at the end of a little play about the creation of the State of Israel)...

Then it was on to the musical performances. It should be pointed out that these were not, in particular, geared to young children. They were just groups of musicians playing instruments such as the cello, the violin, and the flute. Noam could have sat all day and watched - we had to tear him away from each one...


And then, at long last, the bus! Unfortunately you couldn't actually go on the bus, but Daddy and Noam spent quite a while examining them from the outside.



So a good time was had by all. Noam was a very tired baby by the time we got home, and Daddy put him to bed while Eema headed out for an outdoor Israeli dance party. All in all, we think Israel had a happy birthday.

Yes, we know that we have been very bad - we're back, we're posting, and we're sorry - but we've been a little busy. Things like getting a job for next year, making Pesach, and spending time with family have taken up a lot of our time! But here we are. Rather than trying to summarize the past month, we'll just post some pictures, and an update of Noam's latest accomplishments...

Tiyul (trip) to Arad with Eema's school. The bus ride was long but (at least on the way there, when it was light out) very interesting. We saw sheep, goats, and other buses. Noam got to play with lots of Israeli children, but the highlight was the singing before Kabbalat Shabbat. Noam was transfixed for a solid half hour!

Over Pesach, we went to visit our cousins on Moshav Massuot Yitzchak. Noam is ready to be a moshavnick - he loves it there. Here he is playing in grass...

...and checking out the dog with Cousin Moshe...


...Cousin Shuval plays the guitar, which of course made him a huge hit with Noam. Here they are jamming on the porch.
Noam's most willing victim was Cousin Ophir. Not only did he push Noam on the tricycle and play ball with him......he also let Noam ride his big bike! Noam wasn't too interested in the helmet, but he loved watching Ophir ride around in full gear.


Chilling with Ariel
The boys have spent a lot of time playing together lately. Probably their best game consists of Noam sitting on his car while Ariel pushes him all over the house. But here they are taking a little break together.


Too cool for words...Bubbe sent lots of great Pesach gifts, including some cars which Noam adores. But never underestimate the plague bag. Though he didn't attend the seder, Noam later appropriated the sunglasses (representing the plague of darkness, in case you didn't get the significance). He has since worn them not only for trips outside, but also to eat dinner, to read books, to drink his bottle, and yes, in the bathtub. Kudos to Grandma for successfully confiscating them before Noam actually went to sleep in his crib.


Cuddling with Aunt Debra W, who was expected to be fully at his service on her last night in Jerusalem.
Noam was very excited about his Aunts Debra, this being the first time in a long time that he saw both of them at once. "Debah! Debah! TWO!"

Another great Pesach gift...Grandma and Debra bought Noam his very own backpack, just like Eema and Daddy! Noam packs it up and carries it with him for trips both within the apartment and outside. Here he is getting ready for an outing with Daddy, one on which Eema's new measuring spoons were a necessary provision as well.

In other news, Noam now talks a mile a minute. Even just in the weeks since Passover ended, his vocabulary has increased and he is constantly surprising us with his new words. He also remembers his family in America...
Noam: (out of the blue, just looking out the window) Bus!
Eema: Did you hear a bus?
Noam: Grandma.
Eema: Did you go on a bus with Grandma?
Noam: Debah!
Eema: And Debra?
Noam: Grandma! Debra!
Eema: They're in America.
Noam: Hi! Hi!

So Eema had to convince Noam that we couldn't call America at 1am East Coast time...and Noam then remembered Bubbe, Gigi, Hannah, and Mike. He's quite the conversationalist.

Oh yes, and quite the driver. Noam is extremely attached to his car. He rides his car. Maggie rides his car. Noam and Maggie together ride the car. The car is the only way to get from point A to point B. For example, in order to take a bath, Noam must ride his car from the dinner table to the bathroom, at which point he parks the car outside the bathroom door (we know this is what he's doing because he says "park! park!" while he's parking). Then he rides the car back and forth between his bedroom and the bathroom (a space of maybe three feet, for those of you who haven't seen our apartment) in order to brush his teeth and get ready for bed. Before he goes to sleep, he parks it outside his bedroom door...where it waits until the morning.

Noam is also a collector. In the course of doing laundry, Eema frequently finds rocks, pinecones, and other treasures in Noam's pockets. Outside, he both collects pinecones that have fallen, and attempts to "return" them to the trees (by flinging them in the direction of the branches). He also makes piles of rocks and twigs. We are trying to discourage bringing these things into the house, but it seems to be a losing battle.

More soon (this time for real)!

Purim Report

A quick note to report on a fun - and hot - Purim. Though we came back from America equipped with a fuzzy frog costume for Noam, complete with little frog feet, it was not to be. Today was over ninety degrees, and Noam flat out rejected the costume. Instead, he wore the board shorts that Aunt Debra bought for him in Thailand, and a sleeveless onesie. Then we went out and about and watched other little kids sweltering in their fleecy costumes.

Noam had a great day. In the morning he and Daddy sat on the mirpeset and watched the construction down the block.


Then they went off to deliver Mishloach Manot to friends.
Later we went to Rabbi Lau's house, where there was lots of food and drink and some crazy dancing!




Noam and Daddy watched the dancing with a mix of delight and shock (mostly the delight was Daddy, the shock was Noam. He ate some hamentashen to help him deal). He had also just woken up from a stroller nap...
In the afternoon, we were off to cousins Jean and Tzvi for the festive meal. Noam enjoyed playing with his little cousins. They don't speak any English, but were great playmates nonetheless!



Finally, we made it home for dinner. Noam was so filthy that it didn't even pay to take off his clothes for dinner - it just couldn't get much worse. It was definitely time for a bath!


We are hopeful that Noam will sleep very well tonight!

More general news:
- Noam really loves to color these days. On Friday he ate a crayon. Go figure.
- Noam (apparently missing Maggie) - loves his stuffed dog. He hugs it, calls it "good girl," and carries it around with him. He also puts it in his highchair and puts a crayon on top, and then shows me that his dog is coloring too!

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

Guest Post from Aunt Debra

Noam and I have been spending quite a lot of time together on his visit to America! We've spend time at Bubbe's house and at Grandma's apartment, and last week we went to the Children's Museum:
Noam got to drive the bus! His Eema cleverly pointed out that this is just like the book Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, except that Noam is not a pigeon.

Noam and Richie played very nicely with the giant Lite Brite:


We had lots of fun and plan to go back soon.

(All photos courtesy of Richie and his iphone.)

Guest post from Hannah

I don't get to see Noam very often, but we spent a fun day together yesterday when Eema and Daddy were in Princeton.

We got up, and first thing Noam packed for a trip and said bye to me.



But he decided to come back so he could finish his juice and show me the boy and girl who live in his castle.



After we both got dressed, we played with the camera in my computer. Noam really liked this. He also liked the Num Lock key.



We got bundled up and played outside.







It was really very cold, and we could see each other's breath.

Pretty soon we went back inside, and Bubbie blew bubbles.



And Noam was happy it's Adar, so he put on his Megillah and went for a walk with his popper.



Later, Bubbie read to Noam.



Then Noam read four duck books to himself.



And right before dinner we played with pillows.



Noam ate while I watched (and we discovered that he does NOT care for parsley), and then it was bedtime.


Then I got to eat, and chat with Bubbie and Eema and Daddy (or Jane, Sara, and David), and we all went to sleep.