Winter Wonderland

It snowed this evening. There was about 0.5" at 7 pm so we took Tani out to play in the snow. It had snowed a couple of weeks before. We actually got caught out on the road coming back from Harrisburg and were very lucky to get home safely only delayed by an hour as the roads were icy. After we got home that time we ate dinner and when out in the snow with Tani. We all walked over to the golf course which is adjacent to our apartment complex and enjoyed the snow. Tani wanted to be carried the rest of the way home. So tonight we decided to have Tani ride in the sled. We pulled him on the path over to the golf course. Tani had a blast, especially when we trotted in the snow pulling him a bit faster than when we just walk. He really enjoyed the ride and Melissa and I enjoyed the beautiful white snow and peaceful evening. I tried singing "Walking in a Winter Wonderland" but couldn't really remember the lyrics and Tani said "No song", which he sometimes says to us when he wants us to stop singing. We turned around at a little bridge which goes over a stream. Melissa noticed the sounds of the water so we stopped to listen. Tani wanted to keep going but Mommy Melissa wisely suggested we turn back. A few minutes later, Tani agreed as his cheeks were getting cold. On the return journey the sled tipped over and Tani turned on his side. He talked about it on the way back - "Tani fell", "sled hurt". Overall quite a fun outing.

Up the tower

A couple of weeks ago Tani had his first cell phone conversation. He likes to open his flip phone that Aunt Lenore gave him - it's a real phone but inactive. He would normally open it and say "Hi" or "Hi Grandma" or "Hi Grandpa" and then close it. But then after "Hi" he said "Up the tower!" and nodded a couple of times before saying "Bye" and closing the phone. "Up the tower" refers to when we were in DC at the Old Post Office Pavillion to see a free concert. Tani enjoyed the concert but noticed an indoor glass elevator and immediately wanted to go on it. Melissa took him up on the elevator which takes one to a tower where one can look out over DC. Apparently he wasn't so interested in the tower but he did ride the elevator at least 10 times with either Melissa or me. When we talked about the elevator that went to the tower at an Am Haskalah potluck, Tani became very excited and started sharing this story with a Mom who herself has two small children. She listened very attentively and acknowledged his fun experience. Then Tani wanted to share this story with everyone but when he does it comes out as "Up the tower!". He still talks about it.

Thanksgiving in DC

Grandma Susan and Grandpa Morris invited us and Mitch, Val, and Max to come to DC for Thanksgiving. Their apartment is small so we stayed in the Le'Enfant Plaza hotel with rooms adjacent to each other with doors that open so the boys could run back and forth. Tani and Max are very different. It's interesting the way they each play with a truck. Tani studies the truck - opens all the doors and anything that moves on the truck, takes the man in and out of the truck. Max puts the truck and the ground and pushes it down the hall. The cousins enjoyed each other and whoever woke up first looked forward to when the door to the hotel room would open so he could run in and visit. On Saturday night Grandma and Grandpa came over to the hotel to babysit. The boys were very excited - they were jumping and running around until they collided. After a moment of crying they were back up and no where near sleeping. Grandma Susan suggested we all leave and let her and Grandpa put them to bed. We agreed and headed out for dinner. Sure enough, when we checked in an hour later the boys were asleep in their cribs in each room. It was nice for Melissa, Val, and I to have some time to visit (Mitch was in Baltimore visiting a friend).

Tani goes to work

Yesterday I came home from work and put my work bag down. Melissa's bag with her computer was nearby and Tani picked it up and announced he was going to work. He really couldn't carry it because it was too heavy so Melissa gave him a smaller bag. He put his cell phone in the bag, got in his little tikes car (which is in the house for the winter), and "drove" off to work.

Talk this way

Tani's language is really improving. He now says 3-4 word sentences although often "Tani" is one of the words: "Tani ride in car", "Mommy drive car", "Tani cut pizza". He doesn't like it when we run the garbage disposal - he usually says "no noise" but today he said "no garbage can". He can also sit for a few minutes by himself while one of us goes out of view to get something - he understands we're coming back. Today Melissa told me that Tani sat and read a book for a while. There's a doggie book that he loves read and comment on. We went to the library today and the librarian showed us a school bus book which Tani likes a lot. He's also enjoying "Make Way for Duckling" although most of his commentary is about the cars. Also, within the last week or so when Tani is able to do a task that's a bit challenging he'll say "Tani did it!". His teachers at daycare have taught him to say "Walk away!" to the other children if one of them gets in his space instead of pushing them away. But he's said it to us a couple of times the other day when we asked him to do something he didn't want to do. He really says it with attitude too. He hasn't said it in the past couple of days - sometimes he goes through a period of a day or two when he has a favorite phrase.

I like it

Thought I would list a few of Tani's current phrases here. The top one is "I like it!" which he says for foods and activities he enjoys. He says this one the most. Today he said "no touch ears" when Mommy Malka was trying to examine a slight rash behind his ear. He can repeat many words right after he hears them and understands quite a bit.

Fun at April Hill Way

Tani and Mommy Neysa spent the day at Georgia, Marc, Emma and Colette's today. We both had a lot of fun. When we arrived, Emma was practicing piano and Tani went over to investigate. Tani pressed the high keys and then walked around the piano bench to press the low keys. He did this several times and Emma was very patient with him, pausing her practicing to let him scramble on to the bench to play some more. After a little while we all went down to the basement. Emma and Colette have a play kitchen identical to his - he thought this was great! He rode a rocking horse and examined a Barbie suitcase - mostly interested in pulling the handle up and down. But his favorite item was a "High School Musical" mat that played music when one stepped in the left corner of the mat. Lights signaled where to step on the mat to match the choreography of the dance that went with the music. But Tani just liked the music and did his own dance. We had to bring the mat upstairs to get him to go up for lunch. After lunch we all went outside. Colette had a device that would shoot a plastic ring about 25 ft or so in front of her. Tani liked this and would go retrieve the ring for her (well most of the time). He then became interested in Emma and Colette's scooters. Emma helped him ride hers up and down the driveway but he wanted more. So Mommy Neysa helped him stay balanced up and down the driveway again. But he still wanted more so Georgia guided him up and down the driveway several times riding the scooter with him - Tani would shout out "more go go!" Mommy Neysa had to run to keep up with them and Tani would exclaim "Mommy running!". Boy did he have fun! Then Georgia and Colette went to yoga and Marc came home from canvasing for Obama. Marc helped Tani play Emma's violin - move the bow across the strings and pluck a tune. Tani was very interested and enjoyed this activity. Tani and Mommy Neysa also romped around in their back yard. Tani chased the cat, played on the swing set, and tried to go into the stream behind their house. By the time we left Tani could say their names: Emma, 'Lette, George, and Marc". Overall a fun day but next time Mommy Neysa needs to take Tani home earlier for a nap.

Soap

Tani loves soap so I thought I'd write a little about this subject. Tonight during his bath Mommy Malka let him hold the bottle of Johnson's baby wash. He was so happy exclaiming "Tani's soap" and "Tani's bottle of soap!". He likes to open and close it and to try to pour some on his hand. He often ends up pouring out quite a bit so it can be frustrating to let him play with it. Washing hands has been a favorite activity for a few months now. He likes to climb on the step stool in the bathroom to reach the sink and hand pump soap dispenser. He can't reach the handle to turn on the water so I do it and he runs his hands one at a time under the water - but he mainly wants to hold the soap and push the pump on the soap container. I usually let him get two squirts of soap out before moving the soap out of reach. He usually exclaims "more soap" but he moves on. I love helping him wash his hands at daycare as he can reach the sink by himself. It's a bit hard though as they have removed the faucet handles because the toddlers would try to turn on the water throughout the day. There is an automatic soap dispenser so he can put his hand under and the foam lands in his palm.

Cars, trucks

Melissa's congregation co-sponsored a showing of the powerful and moving film "Praying with Lior" at the Allentown JCC. She arranged for baby-sitting so I was able to attend the film and listen to part of the discussion with a local family with a special needs child and one of the producers. But then 6 pm arrived and babysitting was over before the program completed, so I took Tani a few blocks down to a pizza place. OK, it took a while to get to the car. Tani first got a drink of water from the fountain, then he wanted a couple of stickers from the friendly lady at the front desk, and then he zipped and unzipped the jacket of a nice man who was picking up his friends at the front entrance. Then we were off for pizza. We got two slices and sat down at tables in the take out area to eat them. The tables are next to a bar and several televisions are on - at this time the Steelers and Giants were playing. Tani seemed mildly interested in the football game while eating his pizza, but when a Toyota commercial came on with cars zooming around his face lit up. When the commercial was over and it switched to a yellow pages ad he shouted "more cars!".

A couple of days ago the garbage truck came to pick up the trash in our apartment complex when Tani and I were in the parking lot. It's one of these big trucks that can lift a dumpster up and flip the contents over into it's large truck bed, replace the dumpster, and move on to the next one without the driver having to get out of the truck. Tani watched with fascination. He waved "hi" to the truck driver with awe and enthusiasm. When the truck left our area, he grabbed my hand and ran after the truck which was heading to the dumpster across the street. There he watched the truck empty two more dumpsters of trash. I think he would followed that truck around the entire complex.

One more story that Melissa told me. She and her friend Heather who was visiting from Wellfleet took Tani to Trexler Park which is a couple of miles from our house. Tani loves dogs but dogs aren't allowed in our apartment complex. Lots of people walk their dogs at Trexler Park so it's a good place for Tani to interact with dogs. Since the summer he has shown great interest in walking other people's dogs and does so whenever he has the chance. Apparently he met a very nice doggie at the park, but there was also a little boy who had a fabulous truck and he allowed Tani to play with it. Tani had to give the truck back and was so upset that he didn't even want to walk this great doggie, which he normally would have loved to do.

The picture attached to this post was taken about a month ago at Trexler park. There's a little stream near the path and Tani wanted to go down to it. And then he walked in and Mommy Malka went with him. They both had a good time!

It's been a while

We haven't posted an entry in a long time. Tani has grown so much. He started walking at 15.5 months and has been saying words. His first word was "Mommy" and then came "hi", "no", and "cookie". Soon after came "yes" (or "yeah"), "car" and "ball". Now he can often repeat a word such as "door", "duck", "key". He also now knows the ASL signs for milk, more, hungry, car, and done. He loves cars - he likes to play with toy cars and explore real ones, including sitting in the drivers seat, playing with the steering wheel and other buttons, and trying to put the key in the ignition (he's getting close). We can now sometimes have little conversations with him and he understands although he often gets frustrated that he can't communicate what he wants. But he often can and is a very happy guy. He says "hi" and "bye bye" to people now - he can really make them smile. This photo is of Tani at 15 mos.