Yaakov-isms

Yaakov has been giving me a real run for my money for the past couple of months. I don't know if it's a belated reaction to Aaron's birth (my baby is 6 months already!?!) or the stage that he is in but he has been throwing some pretty epic temper tantrums, and there's been a distinct lack of listening and way too much crying and screaming.
Phrase often repeated: Yaakov, do you really think that screaming is going to make me change my mind? Has that worked well for you in the past? No? Well, then please tell me why are you doing it again? Sigh.
Anyhow, thankfully, every so often he will come out with something so amazing that I remember that this tantrum throwing, grumpy and demanding side is only a small, little part of who he is, and that he really is funny, sweet, loving, creative and a pleasure to be around.
Some examples:
Friday night, as I was putting him to bed (I try to put him to bed alone every night. I think he genuinely needs the time alone with me, and I find that it is really good for me to have it as well) he put his arms around me and said:
Mommy, do you know what my best day was? (He had just been telling me something about Legos, and the Lego set that I bought him this week for a week of great behavior (aside- I bought him a set that was labeled ages 7 and up, and assumed that Amira would put it together for him as she usually does, but was shocked to see that he sat at the table quietly, for a good hour and a half and followed the directions and put the entire thing together by himself!), and finishing Pre-K, so I was thinking that would be it) I said no, what was your best day? And he answered:
The day that I came home from school, and Savta was there and we walked in and she said "Guess what?" and Amira said "Mommy had the baby!?" And Savta said yes, and it was Aaron.
My eyes filled with tears and I hugged him tight and I said, well Yaakov, that was one of my best days, too. My other best days were the day that I had Amira and the day that I had you. He hugged me and smiled.

He loves his brother, that's for sure. He loves to lie on the floor and roll around with him, he loves to play with him and make Aaron laugh. One day, they were lying on the ground together and Aaron grabbed the closest thing to him and shoved it in his mouth (as he generally does these days) - and Yaakov laughed and laughed and said Mommy, Aaron put my leg wrist in his mouth! Leg wrist?? Um, you mean ankle? Oh yeah, that's right, ankle.
And he loves his sister, too. He was trying to get Amira to play with him, but she had her head stuck in a book, so he said to her, Amira if you don't stop reading all the time you are going to get sick!
And on Friday, he came into the kitchen holding a piece of paper on which he had written: MOM. He said, that spells Mom, for mommy. I said, yes, that's great Yaakov! He walked back to the table and said to me, Mommy, how do you spell thank you? I spelled it out for him. After a while he said, how do you spell: for buying me a lego power miner set?
Thank G-d for those moments.

Amira takes a survey

I found this so fascinating and adorable that I had to copy it down for posterity (since she plans to mail said survey off to Highlights Magazine, from whence it came):

Highlights Magazine, State of the Kid Survey, all answers in blue, exactly as written by Amira today.

How old are you: 8 1/2
Are you a boy or a girl? (She circled girl)
Which state do you live in? I live in New Jersey.
What job would you most enjoy doing when you grow up? I would enjoy being an author.
What do you like best about yourself? I like being a girl because I have nice friends.
What do you like to do when you spend time with your parents? I like to play Monopoly, Rummikub, Apples to Apples, Uno or War.
How do you stay in touch with your grandparents? I call them on the phone.
If you could change one thing in the world, what would you change? Why? I don't want there to be pollution. Pollution is bad. It makes the air dirty. Garbage dumps are spreading across the land. It will make animals extinct. It might make people extinct. We don't want that to happen.
Do you get allowance? Yes. Do you earn it? Yes.
What new inventions will happen in your lifetime? I think that someone will invent something to stop pollution and to prevent animals from becoming extinct.
Do you think you will visit outer space some day? (She circled Yes.)
On school nights, what is your bedtime? 8:30
What rule do you wish your parents would change? That I don't have to go to bed at 8:30. I want to stay up until 11:30. I want to go to bed at 11:30 because I like to read. I want to finish the "Lord of the Rings!"

Creative writing (and some quick updates!)

In reverse age order:
Aaron is doing beautifully, thank G-d! He now laughs when he thinks something is funny, or when we tickle him, he rolls over both ways, grabs for toys and scootches around on the floor. He is a smiley, happy baby (at least when he is being held, which is pretty much all the time) and while he doesn't even come close to "sleeping through the night" (what is this sleeping through the night anyway? Do kids really do that??) he really is just a joy to all of us. Favorite game of the week: Wiggling and rolling away while we try to change his diaper, and chortling away as he doe so.

Yaakov is as funny as always. Last Shabbos, we went to a friends house in the afternoon and Yaakov very happily helped himself (along with his friend and co-conspirator) to Popsicle after Popsicle (a low estimate would be 6) and sour twizzlers (along with a plate of salad to balance it out) all afternoon. As we walked home, I gave him a little talk about the evils of too much sugar. As we neared our house, we saw a man jogging and he asked me "Mommy, why is that man running?" I answered, for exercise, I would assume. He thought for a second, then said "Well, maybe he ate a lot of sugar." I laughed, and said, yes, maybe he did. He was quiet for another beat, then in a truly rueful voice said "Maybe I should run." I laughed so hard, I'm STILL laughing about it. He finishes Pre-K next week and that means, on to Kindergarten. Zoiks.

Amira is loving, and I mean LOVING softball. She has learned to throw (and aim and actually have the ball go a distance!) and catch with her (pink!) mitt, and hits like a pro! She has the lingo down, practices dutifully when on deck, and is really enjoying (as are we) the wonderful team spirit. Her team even made the championships, which is pretty exciting! The big championship game will G-d willing be this Sunday morning! She is finishing up second grade next week (how on earth did that happen, I want to know. I feel like *I* just finished second grade) and has done beautifully this year. She has grown in confidence and it is amazing to see her progress in every way. She is an incredible writer, really. Last week she had an assignment in class to write a story that was based on an event that actually happened, but turn it into fiction. Here is what she wrote (I have not changed the spelling, punctuation, or grammar at all):

The Flying Birthday Party

by Amira

One day Amira went to her cousin's birthday. There names were Chesi and Ahuva. Amira drove to the party with her family. The party was in Fair Lawn. When they parked in front of the house, Auntie Atara greeted them. They came in to the yummy smell of different foods. It made Amira's stomach grumble. A lot of people were there. Among them Amira saw Ahuva and Chesi. Amira walked to them and said hello. Amira sat down, Kayla sat down next to her. All of a sudden, Kayla's hair started flapping like wings. Kayla flew into the air! One of the girls shrieked. Amira laughed so hard that she didn't realize that Kayla had landed on top of Savta Doris's head. Then everyone except for Savta Doris started to laugh. "Get her off me me! Get her off me now!" Savta Doris shrieked. Finally Kayla flew back to her seat. While they ate the cake, Kayla tried to apologize, but they were too busy laughing. After that, Amira and her family went home. But then, Amira realized it was a dream! But Amira new it was a funny dream. The funniest dream ever.

Backwards driving

I always love the scene in Cars where Mater shows McQueen how he can drive backwards (You mean you DON'T know the entire movie by heart?! Horrors!) because I can do that, too. The first time my father took me out to teach me how to parallel park (my father, never my mother, I think she is still scared to get in a car when I am driving, despite having had my licence for, oh, 15 years now) we were both shocked when the first time I tried, I did it perfectly, and then again and again...I'm guessing it is related my aptitude for spacial relations in some way, but seeing as science isn't so much my thing, I couldn't possibly explain why that is. At some point I also figured out that, oddly, I am easily able to drive a car backwards.

Anyhow, the reason I bring this up is not because we watched Cars for the two hundred millionth time, (we didn't, it was a cold but beautiful weekend, so we were outside as much as possible) but because of the SCARIEST DRIVING EXPERIENCE I have ever had, and hope to ever have.

On Thursday I went into NYC to meet a close friend who was visiting from out of town, and since I had limited time with her before running back for carpool, I decided to not waste too much time looking for parking. So, after the requisite 15 minutes of circling and getting honked at, I pulled into one of those underground city lots. I drove all the way down the narrow tunnel, underground, into the lot and at the end of the driveway was a car, parked horizontally across the entrance to the lot. I waited 5 minutes and no one came, no one was in the guard booth, and no one was moving that car. I got out of the car and yelled "Hellooo, anyone here?" and heard from far away a faint "Lady, this lot is closed."

And so, I had no choice but to drive BACKWARDS, up a steep (and I mean steep) incline that exited onto a sidewalk before ending up on a busy New York City Street. Yes, backwards up a steep incline in a minivan with a four month old baby in the back seat. My heart was pounding, I was shvitzing and tears were running down my face and I got out of the car (with the emergency brake firmly on) and ran up to the street where I asked a mail carrier walking by to make sure that no one tried to cross as I came up because I was petrified of hitting someone, especially since I knew I would have to be going pretty fast to get up that incline backwards. So, thanks to the kind mail man, and my weird driving skills, I made it out of that parking garage. And then drove around the block to another lot, which was thankfully open and no backwards driving was needed, and spent a lovely 2 hours with my friend and her adorable niece.

In other news, Amira's baseball team won again, 13 to 8 (this time they actually fielded well, too!), and she made it on base twice. Yaakov very sadly missed his first T-Ball game due to a thankfully brief throw up bug of some sort and very happily got to try Gatorade (it just became Kosher and I let him have it after he threw up), or as he calls it "Gagorage." And last but not least, Aaron now giggles and it is the cutest sound in the world and is guaranteed to make all of us laugh, too. He also had his four month check up and now weighs 12 lbs and is 24 inches tall, and when I told Amira that, she asked me how tall Yaakov was (39 inches) and then very excitedly told me that now in our family we had: 2 ft (Aaron), 3 ft (Yaakov), 4 ft (Amira), 5 ft (Mommy), and 6 ft (Abba)! Loll!

2 ft, 3 ft, and 4 ft

Game 1: 21-18 Angels Win!

Doesn't really seem like a baseball score, does it, but that's what it is! Amira's first ever softball game, and they won! It really was an exciting game. She plays on a girls league for girls from 2nd through 4th grade from all the local day schools, and her team (The A-1 Appliance Angels) is mostly 2nd graders and the team they played was mostly 3rd and 4th graders and yet they managed to come from VERY far behind (they were down by 8 coming into the 8th inning) to win! Amira got on base every time she was up, which I was frankly shocked by since this is her first time playing in a real (ie real pitching, no T-ball, 3 strikes and you're out, 3 outs per inning, foul balls, etc) game, but she really hits well! She made it home twice, too! All in all it was a very fun 3 hours (yes, really 3 hours!) and we are very excited for next week! Yaakov starts T-ball next Sunday and then our Sundays will really be packed but I really love watching them play (and kind of wish I could play, too!) Some pictures:

Note to self

Yes, yes, Hello. It's been a while, I know. I've been enjoying my "babymoon." I didn't fully appreciate the newborn stage with #1 or #2, but I am truly enjoying it now, lack of sleep and all. I can't believe that it has really been 12 weeks (tomorrow!) since baby Aaron was born. He is really a joy. He is sweet and cuddly and smiley and adores his siblings. His biggest, full face grins and almost giggles really are reserved for them.
So, back to my note to self. Trust my Mommy Instincts. Really.
I was so upset after both Amira and Yaakov's parent teacher conferences back in November because none of the teachers seemed to really get my kids and they all seemed to choose to focus on the negatives rather than the positives, which really worried me. Yaakov's teacher was very focused on his slowness, and the fact that he wasn't writing as well as the rest of his class. Nevermind the fact that he is a) in Pre-K, b) very young for the class and c) had only learned to recognize all his letters in the fall. She was concerned that maybe he had some issues that might requite occupational therapy (bad scissor cutting, letter writing, and the fact that he doesn't really sit still) but she said that since none of the issues were really effecting him in the classroom, and he was clearly a very bright child who was learning a lot, we would wait another couple of months and see. I was very worried that having a new baby in the house would just exacerbate the issues, but thankfully that does not seem to have been the case. In fact, when I spoke to his teacher right after January vacation, she was thrilled with his progress in all areas. He not only knows all his letters (English and Hebrew!) but writes them beautifully and really is starting to sound out words. He loves coloring now, and loves to sit with Amira and color and write! He is still fidgety, but she said that he might be sitting backwards and fiddling with his shoes, but he can repeat back to her every single thing that they learned that day! So, big relief. I know that I just need to remember for future teachers and future conferences that this is his personality, and he is very much like Yehuda, and that if he grows up to be just like Yehuda I will consider myself extremely blessed and very successful, really.
So, Amira. Every single year the conference in November is the exact same thing: "she is so shy and quiet and nervous, we didn't even realize how smart she was until just recently." This year, though, her English teacher didn't even mention anything about her academics, she was so focused on the fact that Amira was nervous and wouldn't raise her hand ever, though if the teacher would call on her she would always know the right answer, and that she has this little quiet voice and just seemed worried all the time. And she didn't have anything positive to say about her academics, and while I know that I am certainly biased, I also know that she is very bright. She breezes through her homework, reads 700 page books in 2 days and can repeat back the tiniest details of a story, and remembers everything. So, I was really worried that this teacher was just not a good match for her. And her Hebrew teacher, while not quite as negative, was also concerned with the same thing- that Amira never participated, was so quiet and shy and worried. We told the teachers that it just takes time for her to warm up, and that every year it is the same thing, but since both teachers were really focused on the same thing, I ended up calling the school psychologist to observe Amira in the classroom to see if she could give any suggestions for helping Amira warm up. Well, I wish Yehuda would have come to conferences with me last night, because it was completely different story. The Hebrew teacher said that Amira has really blossomed. She is now the first girl to raise her hand, participates in everything with confidence, is friends with all the girls in the class and is happy to eat with and play with all of them. She said that she is doing beautifully in every way and is truly a pleasure to teach. I then went to the conference with her English teacher, somewhat buoyed by the positive conference, but still worried since I know that her English teacher is tough and expects a lot. Well, I walked out in tears, again, but this time happy tears. She, too, couldn't believe the difference in Amira. She teachers her for reading as well (reading in tracked and Amira is in the highest group) and she said "This child is going to breeze through school for the rest of her life and is a teacher's dream." She said that Amira has warmed up completely, happily participates, is able to explain things to the class in such a clear way that the teacher never needs to add anything, writes beautifully, never has any trouble with any of the work and yet, is never bored. She told me that she could praise her for hours and that she foresaw a lot of Nachas for us from Amira. Well, thank G-d and please G-d. I was just hoping for a little something positive, and instead she told me that there was not one thing negative that she could think of at all. So, come next November, conference time, I need to remember all of this and just trust that I know my children.

And, speaking of trusting my intuition, I noticed a couple of weeks ago that when I put Aaron down for his tummy time, (which is now known in our house as torture time, since he hates it so much) he couldn't lift his head up, and I was pretty sure that he was supposed to be able to do that by this stage. Thankfully, I have many very awesome friends, one of which is a super talented PT, and I called her in a panic, and she came right over to see. And she agreed with me, but told me that he wouldn't qualify for early intervention at this point. So she told me exactly what exercises to do with him to help. I think it's helping a little, and it is beyond adorable watching Yaakov lay on his tummy on the gymnini with Aaron trying to get him to lift his head, and beyond adorable to watch Amira lay on her back with Aaron on her tummy- in fact, that is the only way to guarantee that he does lift his head!

In other news, we still have yet to make a decision on our housing situation (move or add on) and I really wish Mommy Intuition would help here, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

Glasses!

Not much time to post, but had to put up a picture of my big girl in her new (gulp) glasses!