Accordion Lessons

Elliot and Tani jammin' on their accordions

This past March Tani started taking accordion lessons from Elliot Seif, who we'd met last Simchat Torah when he was playing with the Dorshei Derekh/Mishkan Shalom musicians. When Tani was four years old we were at the first Germantown Jewish Centre (GJC) young family retreat. One of the children had brought a toy accordion - Tani found it almost immediately and carried it around the entire weekend. So when Tani saw a real accordion last October, he went up to take a look and talk to the musician (who was Elliot). We asked him if he'd be willing to give a few lessons to an eager then five-year old and he agreed. In March Melissa, Elliot and Tani went downtown to Liberty Bellows to rent Tani an accordion. Melissa rented it for $100 for three months but was required to leave a check for an additional $300. If she returns the accordion in June she gets the check back. If not, the accordion is ours. Looks like we'll be keeping it as Tani has been enjoying the lessons. He's learned "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and "Dreams Come True" and is working on a third piece called "Flying". It's fun to watch him play. BTW, we're heading to the third GJC family retreat this weekend!

Tani lost his first tooth!

We were at Mt Airy Day by the Wissahickon Village Cohousing table. Tani runs up to me with a tooth in his hand: "Mom, my tooth came out!". It has been loose for almost a week. The hygienist at our dentist had offered to pull it for him. He had agreed but then changed his mind. To celebrate this milestone, we went to Custard & Cakes Creamery (known as Mommy Neysa's favorite ice cream place). Tani put the tooth under his pillow, and the tooth fairy left a Susan B. Anthony dollar coin.

While at Mt Airy Day, we also sat at the Project Learn (PL) table. Tani got to tell folks how much he enjoyed Jane's K/1 class and Melissa and I talked to a few parents about how much we love the philosophy of PL and how Tani has thrived there. Hopefully we'll get a few more students for PL. Tani's class already has 17 students - if any more sign up they'll get a teacher's assistant to help Jane out next year.

Reading and riding

It's amazing how much progress Tani has made in the last couple of weeks. He recently was able to read his first chapter book without help at school - Magic Tree House Tonight on the Titanic. We went out to Earth, Bread & Brewery to celebrate, Tani had a Joe without sauce and I had a beer with my flatbread pizza. A couple of nights later both Melissa and I were tired and Tani was having a hard time going to sleep. When that happens we sometimes would let him have "quiet reading time" where he could turn the light on and read for a bit. Usually it lasted 5-10 minutes and then he'd call for us. Well this time, he didn't call for us - Melissa was sleeping and I thought Tani had fallen asleep. A little after 10 pm I went to go check - he had not. He was reading a chapter book. Luckily, the loss of an hour of sleep didn't have as much impact compared to when he was three or four years old.

Tani riding his bike with gears and hand brakes

The next Shabbat we went to our friends Mike and Miriam who have three children Ariella (11), Rafi (9), and Tamar (7). Tamar had just learned to ride a two wheel bike the the kids were all riding around in the parking lot of their synagogue which is right next to their house. Tani clearly wanted to be able to ride also - they had an extra bike which fit Tani and did not have training wheels. Within ten minutes, Tani had figured out how to ride it. He still needed to figure out turns and stopping, but that came quickly in the coming days. He now loves to ride his bike everywhere - to synagogue, school, and to the Henry School playground. He still walks his bike up the hills, but can go a lot further now. He recently said, with training wheels it was easier to ride down hills and harder up hills. With two wheels, it's easier to ride up hills but harder down hills. He's actually made good progress on the down hills. He's very happy.

Grandma Susan is visiting us now and will accompany Tani tomorrow for Grandparents day at Project Learn. I hear they might perform something together. Stay tuned. 

Tani's reading!

Melissa and Tani are in the Berkshires this week visiting our friends Tamara and Toby. Right now Tani is reading a story to me via Facetime - Wacky Wednesday by Dr. Seuss. He's showing me the wacky house - stairs go to the side of the house (no door) and a tree growing out of the chimney on one picture, out of a toilet on another. Earlier he read about a mouse chasing a cat. Now's he's just describing the pictures. But he did read a couple of pages to me.

To the left is a picture of Toby and Tani heading to the lake. Melissa and Tani have been away since Aug 5. The first week they were at the Havurah Institute. I'm looking forward to seeing my family again this Sunday.

A Fish Called Tani

Our family has joined the Flourtown Swim Club for the summer. They have a large pool that for 20 min an hour is for adult swim only, a mid-sized "camp pool", and a kiddie pool. We've gone a few times already and have run into many of our friends. There are lots of kids and Tani loves it. He has been taking swimming lessons now for a week at Camp Ramah Day Camp in Elkins Park. His pool skills have improved dramatically. He can now swim about half a pool length. He's looking forward to being able to swim two pool lengths and tread water so he can get his band - a wristband that signals he can go in the deep end including on the water slide. He also enjoys doing flips in the water just like his Mommy Malkah. Watch for yourself!

Snow Cones!

This evening we went to a social event for our Wissahickon Village Cohousing group. There was a potluck followed by games and socializing and then a film. After dinner there was a special treat. Don had brought over supplies for making snow cones! Tani was intrigued and excited not only to have a snow cone, but also to see how the process worked. Don showed Tani how to grind the ice into fine shavings and then gave him the choice of natural homemade syrups: vanilla/brown sugar, mint, mango, and lavendar. Tani chose vanilla/brown sugar. He really enjoyed his snow cone. He then had some additional shaved ice without syrup to top it off. A very fun evening with the cohousing group!

Tani makes challah at GJC

Wrote a Tani post on my personal blog the other day - he's helping us talk about cohousing in Philadelphia. He also helped make challah this evening at GJC with Rabbi Freddie and student Rabbis Alanna and Michelle. They cook every week for community members sitting shiva, in the hospital, or just needing some good Jewish cooking. In this picture Michelle braids the challahs and Tani paints them with egg. His friends Hannah and Ezra were also helping.