Snowman

Last Saturday we got our first snow of the season. The snow didn't really stick to the streets but it did stick to the cars. So Melissa, Tani, and I went out behind our building and built a snowman on the wall by the parking garage from the snow on parked cars. Initially we had made snow balls and gave them to Tani. He threw a couple but mainly wanted to put them on the ground and stomp on them. Then I gathered enough snow to make the base of a small snowman and then put a head on. Unfortunately, there were no twigs or other foliage to use for arms, eyes or nose. Melissa picked a couple of leaves off a bush and used them for a nose and mouth and put her knit cap on the snowman's head. Then it got too cold for Melissa and I although Tani wanted to stay outside - so we went in. When Melissa and I went out for the evening, we noticed the hat was missing. The next morning as we were all heading out we saw the snowman's "head" on the ground. We shrugged it off. When we returned that afternoon though the head was back on the snowman (although still no hat). Melissa remarked on the interesting "conversation" going on amongst members of the building. Then she had an excellent idea. A dinner guest had given us the pieces to a "Mr. Potatohead" including eyes, arms, hat and shoes but no potato body (I guess that had been lost). I had wondered what we could do with these pieces, but our snowman became the perfect "potato". Here is our snowman last Monday, who had melted a bit since Saturday but I think made it until Tuesday.

Treehouse, Art Museum, and Pizza

We had quite a fun day. Sarit, mom of Lillian in Tani's Gesher class organized a morning outing at The Little Treehouse in Chestnut Hill. It has an area where kids can play while parents drink coffee and visit. This was a chance for me to see how Tani interacts with his classmates. There was a train area that drew Tani's attention immediately. He could have played there for hours but of course some of his classmates wanted to play with the trains too and the anti-sharing instincts of young preschoolers kicked in: grabbing, shouting "mine", crying --- anything to get a few more coveted trains even if Tani had 4-6 trains already. Melissa was good at encouraging him to share and helped diffuse a couple of incidents. We want Tani to be able to learn to share without adult intervention - to ask for what he wants of his peers but also to share and be generous. I think there was at least 20 minutes where Tani and two of his classmates played together in harmony. Afterwards we went to the Little Shop at Germantown Jewish Centre to look for a menorah and dreidel for Tani. Tani has been reading "My First Hanukkah Board Book" and wanted the blue menorah and dreidel with a face and hat that he had seen in the pages. While we were looking Tani found a wooden toy school bus with magnetic passengers, i.e. they didn't slide around on the bus. That way Tani could move the passengers on & off the bus and they don't slide around the bus when it was moving. He played and played and did not want to part with it. So we asked him if that was what he wanted for Hanukkah and he said "yes". We left GJC and made a quick stop at the co-op for bagels. Then Melissa decided it would be good to head downtown to Chinatown to pick up Tani's backpack full of trains that we accidently left at a Chinese restaurant when we stopped for dinner last Monday on the way home from DC. After retrieving them we headed for the art museum - Melissa had heard about a "Tours for Toddlers" program where kids would get a tour of the Art Museum. We parked and were walking to the museum, but Tani was having too much fun running around the fountains, up the museum steps, around the stone pylons on the landings. Once we got in the museum, no one had heard of the "Tours for Toddlers" and Tani didn't seem in the mood for looking at art but rather for playing with his school bus which he insisted on taking to the museum. So we went back down the stairs with lots of running on the landings on the way down and then running on the sidewalks and around the fountains. We had hoped he'd take a nap on the way home but he didn't. Once home, Melissa was able to convince him to take a shower - we have a hard time getting him to take his once-a-week bath/shower. His curls are gorgeous after he washes his hair.

Then after looking at some short home movies of Tani as a baby it was time to head out to dinner with Manel & Jordi and Debrah & Levana. We went to a pizza restaurant in Mt. Airy. Tani almost fell asleep on the drive over - we encouraged Tani not to fall asleep and he shouted "I'm not sleeping". We laughed and he got mad at us. It was very funny since he was dropping off to sleep as he shouted he wasn't sleeping but we understand that it's still not nice to laugh. At the restaurant Tani ate whole wheat cheese pizza - I was surprised he liked it so much. It was nice to catch up with Jordi and Manel after Manel's senior recital the night before. Jordi made sure that Tani didn't escape out of the restaurant after he was finished eating - he'd pick him up and tickle him. Finally I told Tani he could go out, but then he just wanted to come right back inside. The temperature has been around freezing since yesterday's snowstorm, while on Friday it was ~60 deg. After we got home Melissa did the bedtime rituals - PJs, brush teeth, a book or two, talk about his day, and then lights out. He asked Melissa to sing him a long Hebrew song and he was out before the song was over. A very nice Sunday.

A day with Tani

This is Melissa writing. I generally have Tani home with me on Mondays and Wednesdays. He's at preschool the other 3 days. It's nice to have a leisurely morning with him and to go on various adventures. Today, even though it was cool (was below freezing overnight) and overcast, we decided to venture out to the Morris Arboretum, where we have a membership and to go see the garden railway. Tani loves the trains. He also really enjoys their exhibit called "Out on a limb" where you can pretend you're a squirrel climbing high in the trees. Tani likes to call himself "baby squirrel" and thus, I'm mommy squirrel. He has a few phobias (vacuums, air blowers in bathrooms), but he doesn't appear to be afraid of heights. The climbing area is a grid of knotted ropes from which you can look down to the ground below, which is some 30 feet (if I'm estimating correctly).

Tani fell asleep in the car after a stop at the supermarket, where he walked around amusing himself by playing a game on my iPhone (instead of insisting on buying various treats). We are considering buying a house, so I parked near that house to get a feel for the street and drove around a bit while Tani was sleeping. [Note from Neysa, Melissa hadn't finished this yet but I'm posting it now anyway]

Getting to sleep

This is Melissa writing. It's Monday night, November 30. We just got back from Thanksgiving vacation in DC with my family, including my parents and brother's family. Tani particularly loved the time with cousin Max, who is the same age as him (turning 3 in January!). He was very sad to leave today. As I write this, Tani is screaming and crying, "I have a nightmare, I'm lonely." We had gotten into the habit of laying down with him until he was asleep, which meant that whichever one of us put him to bed would doze off and then wake up disoriented without much of an evening left. Tani's teacher encouraged us to help him to put himself to sleep--both for our sakes and for his sake, so that he is able to put himself to sleep. These transitions are hard! Tani just said, "I'm really sad...I want Momma but she's not letting me into her room and I have a nightmare." He also shrieks as part of his cry. The dance of parenting has meant a lot of learning for both of us. I feel calm right now, knowing that this is the right thing to do for our family and for Tani in the long run, even considering how distressed he is right now. He's processing his feelings. If only I could cry like that and let out my anxiety that way! Neysa just whispered that she's not convinced that he's in his bed--I'm thinking it's best to not engage him right now, to let him work through his feelings of separation, abandonment?, loneliness. "Mom, I'm lonely," he just shouted. It's interesting that he hasn't barged into our room-- he understands that he needs to stay in his room. I pray for Tani that the angels watch over him and help him to sleep...it's now forty-five minutes later and all appears to be quiet on the home front. Amen.

Sunday at Valley Green

This morning we went to Esther and Toby's daughter's baby naming. Tani wasn't sure he wanted to go but decided to give it a try. When we arrived the kiddush had been set up in the back which included three plates of cookies. He planted himself in front of one - reaching for a cookie I told him not until after the ceremony. He stayed in front of the cookies commenting "they smell so good". But didn't eat any until it was time. Melissa headed off on her retreat afterwards - we said goodbye to her and drove to Valley Green where Deborah and Levana were celebrating Deborah's birthday with a few friends and cake! Tani was interested in the cake, but when he got to the park was more interested in singing the Tom Chapin "Happy Birthday" song to Deborah and hanging out with Levana. A nice man gave out a piece of bread to each child and they happily threw it to the geese and ducks. We then had cake but Tani was not really interested. He'd had many cookies at the kiddush. We then took a walk down Forbidden Drive. Tani ran down the path and then climbed on the wooden fence to look over the Wissahickon creek. Levana joined him on the fence and they happily stood there taking in the beauty of the park. People needed to go and everyone left except the four of us - but then Levana was tired and hungry so they went home too. I had thought about trying to have brunch at the Valley Green Inn but decided against it as it's kind of fancy and there's no grilled cheese option for Mr. T. Tani played with the small pumpkin decorations on the steps - a two year old who looked exactly like Katie Aronson came up to play too with an adult I didn't recognize. Later, when Tani and I went to the snack bar for ice cream and french fries I saw Katie's Mom Beth and realized it was her after all. The line was long but Tani was patient. He sat on a picnic table and schmoozed with folks in line. By the time I was third in line Tani was ready for his ice cream - he had decided on a chocolate soft serve cone. A few minutes later he had his ice cream and we hung around waiting for the fries to be ready. Tani makes many people smile by his friendliness but this time by his chocolate face and hands and his enjoyment of the ice cream cone. I had two big napkins and used them both. When my fries were ready we both sat down and shared - Tani exclaiming how these were the best french fries and ice cream in the world! (I shared some of his ice cream.) When we were done Tani went to go check out a limosine that had pulled up with some wedding guests. Valley Green is often booked for weekend weddings. As the staff set up Tani chatted with them and checked out the limo. He actually got in line with the guests to climb into the limo - they all smiled. After the limo drove off two musicians were setting up - one with an electric guitar and the other a bass. Tani enjoyed watching them practice and the guitarist let him strum his guitar. Soon after a horse and carriage pulled up - it was to take the newly married couple off - Tani wanted to wait for the ceremony to be complete so he could watch it go. He got to pet the horse while we waited. After the bride and groom rode off down Forbidden Dr, it was time to go. We went home and Tani watched a video. I cleaned up the kitchen and made Tani a grilled cheese. He sat down for dinner and by the time he was almost finished with his grilled cheese, he had slumped onto me and fallen asleep. It was 6 pm. So much for the much needed bath. I better go to bed now as I suspect he will wake up early tomorrow. Stay tuned...

Does God have a back?

From Melissa:

With the beginning of the new cycle of Torah readings, I have started telling Tani stories from the Torah, starting with the first day of creation. We are fostering a culture of love for Torah, including serving him tofu Torahs and cheddar cheese Torahs (I have a cookie cutter that my parents had when I was a kid). Tani came from home from school the other day and announced that he had eaten his tofu Torah. I began my story with chanting the first line of the Torah, "bereishit bara..." in the beginning, when God began creating the heavens and the earth, the earth was tohu vavohu and there was darkness everywhere and water and God's spirit/ ruah sweeping upon the water. And God was lonely and in the dark and so God decided to create light. So God said, "yehi or" Let there be light! and there was light, and God saw that it was good. It was also very, very bright, like being out on a sunny day walking with the sun in your eyes, in all directions-- it was a little too bright, so God created a beautiful treasure chest to store the light, in order to separate the light from the darkness. (During various tellings of the story, Tani would mention the moon, and I would tell him that we have to wait until the 4th day of creation for the moon-- we were still on the first day. Tani loves the moon-- we have the book Harold and the Purple Crayon, which was a gift to me from Heather years ago, where Harold takes a walk with the moon and it follows him. Tani noticed tonight that the moon was following us--the full moon which I'm convinced made Tani a bit devilish all day, from the moment he woke up this morning). Back to creation...I told Tani an adaptation of the kabbalistic myth about this first light--how the light was so powerful inside the treasure chest that it exploded and bits of this light went everywhere-- there's some hidden in each of us, waiting to be discovered. The first time I told it, he was curious about this idea, but yesterday he got upset by the idea that this light is in him, even when I said that it's good light...I'm not quite sure what this reaction is about, but perhaps Lurianic kabbalah is not meant for two-year-olds. I'm also realizing that it would be helpful for me to look up the original source to get a better sense of how the light is described and what the process of returning the light to source might look like.

Back to bedtime tonight. When Tani says the shema by himself, it's a blend of the first few words of the shema and then the candlelighting blessing. So then we say it together. He recites some of the words with a bit of attitude--not sure what that's about--months ago, I tried to work with him on saying it more respectfully, but for now, I think it's better to ignore his playfulness when saying shema. I tried chanting v'ahavta, which he didn't want, and we started talking about how God loves us-- how God loves Tani and Mommy Malka (and he immediately added Mommy Neysa) and then Grandmas and Grandpas and Uncle Mitch and Aunt Val and Aunt Shari and Cousin Max. He had such a big smile as we said each person's name.

We were at a program for young children today where the presenter referred to God as a "he", which I don't like. So tonight I also mentioned that God is not a he or a she. Why? Tani asked (which he asks often!). Because God doesn't have a body-- God is not a person, God is not separate the way we are (and yet I found myself wanting to offer something about what God is, not just what God is not, even though Maimonides would argue that all we can say about God is statements about what God is not...I'm revisiting what I learned in rabbinical school and what I really believe as Tani and I begin our first encounters with these rich and deep questions.) A little later, Tani asks: Does God have a mouth? No, I said. Does God have a back? Not really, although we can imagine that God does (I say, recalling the story of Moshe seeing God's back). Does God have a bed? No, but we can imagine that God has one, but God doesn't need to sleep the way we do (and yet, what about Shabbat? When we get to the seventh day, God will need rest!) A few minutes later, Tani put his head on me and fell fast asleep. Good night! Laila Tov!

Tani's first Halloween

Melissa and I took Tani to the Halloween parade at the corner of Carpenter and Greene Sts in front of the Henry School. Melissa had bought Tani a skeleton costume at a thrift store for a few dollars, but Tani decided he wanted to be a train conductor instead. So he dressed up in overalls and a junior conductor train hat he received from his recent Amtrak ride from DC to Philly and took a stack of post-its to be train tickets. We walked down Westview ST to the start of the parade. A few trick-or-treaters were dashing up and down the pathways to the front porches of these homes. I explained to Tani we could go up to a porch and get a treat. One owner beckoned us to come up. So we walked up the pathway to his porch. People were enjoying dinner and wine on their porch and had a basket of candy to give out. Tani cautiously went up and picked out a piece of candy when it was offered. The owner told us for the past few years they have dinner on their porch and give out candy to the trick-or-treaters. It turns out that people within a few blocks of the parade get a lot of Halloween traffic as people drive in to march in the parade and go trick or treating as most homes in the area participate. As we walked closer to the parade start Tani was a bit overwhelmed by all the people and commotion. He wasn't sure what to make of people wearing masks that covered their faces or costumes that were "a little bit scary". I carried him for the first part of the parade and he watched with deep interest. Eventually he wanted to get down and go up to a few more houses to trick-or-treat. He was catching on. He collected some treats from a few more houses and then we decided to go over to Sara and Shai's house - Tani likes their daughter Sophia. Sophia was out trick-or-treating and a family friend was giving out candy at her house. Levana and her Mom Deborah were going home and were parked up the block so Melissa was helping them into their car. I walked up with Tani and decided to go up on the porch of the house where Manel and Jordi live a few days a week. Their landlord was giving out candy and Tani took a piece. We came back down to find Melissa when we saw Jordi drive up! This was a surprise because they normally aren't in Mt Airy on Saturday night - but they had come in for a party. Jordi though was on a mission to somehow get his things into his apartment amid the mayhem of the trick-or-treaters and lack of parking. We helped him get his things in and he invited us up to his apartment - Tani was very excited. Soon Manel came up having parked many blocks away. Tani enjoyed meeting their new cat Una and looking at Manel's special lamp that made music, sounds and colors. We stayed for half an hour and then made our way home - it had started raining a few minutes after we saw Jordi and Manel and had been raining off and on. Tani had been eating some of his candy. After 2 or 3 small pieces Melissa explained thereafter he could have one piece a day. Tani seemed fine with this. Although we all had rain jackets on we got home a bit wet but happy to have been part of this fun Mt. Airy Halloween event.

Sunday part II

When we arrived home to take down the Sukkah, Tani was still sleeping. I hoped to make good progress while he slept but he woke up soon after I started. So Melissa and Tani came up to help. It's important to give Tani jobs to do - he helped put the black bungee cords in a bag. He ate rice cakes on the ladder while we were taking down the poles. Then he helped put the bamboo roof in the box along with individual, 4 foot poles. He was able to get most of them in the box, only needing help with the last two. We moved everything back into the garage including his car and tricycle (which we had in the backyard by the sukkah for the week). As we were heading back into the apartment building, Tani saw his canine friend Emma, a little white dog who owner is named Suzanne. Suzanne is great with Tani and lets him walk Emma a bit. Tani walked Emma down the hall and then went back to retrieve his tricycle, which he road down the hall and into the elevator and then up to the fourth floor. When we got up to our apartment, we saw our neighbor Angela, who told us thather mother had just passed away on Friday. We had known that her mother had been declining and was on hospice. Tani was curious about what we were talking about, so Melissa explained that Angela was sad because her mother had died. "Why?" Tani asked. "The angels asked her to come with them and she went" answered Angela. Tani thought for a moment and then asked Angela "where is your other mommy?" Melissa explained that not everyone has two mommies; in fact, it's a pretty special thing to have two mommies. Angela nodded her head in agreement.

Melissa talked with Angela in the hallway, and Tani and I went inside the apartment. It was late afternoon and we asked Tani if he wanted to go for a walk into woods or to the Jenks playground. He chose Jenks, which is a community playground built mostly from wood on the campus of an elementary school in Chestnut Hill. It has towers to climb in, tube slides, and a bunch of balance equipment. Lots of kids come to play there and Tani loves it. We met a two year old boy and his Dad, who takes care of him during the week while his wife works. We then came home and Melissa made pizza and salad while Tani watched a video from the library on the laptop. We ate dinner and then it was time for Tani to go to bed. Melissa has pointed out to me that I tend to let Tani extend bedtime with every stall tactic in the book and her goal was to have him sleeping by 8-8:30. Well, he did fall asleep - but so did she - they are both sleeping in Tani's new bed with the train sheets, pillow cases and comforter :) (a gift from Grandma Susan and Grandpa Morris).

Sunday part I

Melissa, Tani, and I spent a wonderful day together. We began with a walk in the Wissahickon. We parked at the upper lot at Valley Green and walked the short trail into the park. Tani enjoyed looking at the creek and walking over bridges to get to Forbidden Dr. Once on Forbidden Drive, Tani pretended he was a bus and we were his passengers. His motto is "taking wonderful people to beautiful places-- anywhere you want to go." We came up with this a week ago on our first hike in the park, and he still remembered it. Being the bus driver motivates him to keep walking down the trail. We found a pretty spot with a view of a small waterfall. There was a picnic bench and we sat down for a snack. On our way back to our car, Melissa pretended that she was a car running away from her Mommy and Tani pretended that he was a bus who wanted to crash into Melissa. It kept Tani moving quickly and was a lot of fun!

We had a short visit to the park today, because we were on our way to the Abramson Center for Jewish Life, the large Jewish nursing home in the Philadelphia area where Melissa had worked as a student rabbi. We went to help out at the Simchat Torah services led by our friend Debrah, who is a chaplain there, and who has a delightful 2-year old daughter Levana. (Debrah and Levanah have become good friends, who often join us for Shabbat, and who introduced us to the Morris Arboretum and invited us to the fabulous outdoor Tom Chapin concert this summer). We were hoping that Tani would march around the sanctuary with his stuffed Torah and participate in the childrens' aliyah during the Torah service. Alas, that was not to be!

The granddaughter of one of the residents brought her black lab Midnight to visit and Tani immediately went out of the sanctuary to visit with the dog. Midnight's owner was wonderful with Tani and helped Tani "walk" the dog around the lobby a few times. A lot of people delighted in Tani's presence at the Abramson Center. At one point, Tani noticed an elderly man lying in a Geri chair (a recliner on wheels). Tani approached this man and sat down in a nearby chair. "Are you sick?" he asked and the man smiled weakly and nodded his head. Then Tani asked what was the matter. The man pointed to his heart. Then Tani asked if he ate too much food. The man shrugged "maybe" - that morning Tani & I had read Tani's book "Cookies: Bite-Size Life Lessons" and one of the pages talks about how you might feel sick if you eat too many. Tani sat next to the man for a few moments and then waved to him. The man waved back. Then Tani went back to the Midnight.

Tani then discovered a sunny play room full of toys and books, right off the main lobby-- what an oasis in a nursing home! He and Levana loved playing in this room. Levana had a babysitter with her from Tani's school, who also knew Tani. This allowed both of us to help bring folks who lived at Abramson back up to their rooms after the service. We also spent some time visiting with the mother of a friend of ours from Allentown (or, in Tani's world, with Rebecca's grandmother). We left around 2 pm and were both very hungry. We decided to drive to the nearby Whole Foods for lunch and were wondering how we were going to be able to pick out food/eat with a tired Tani on the move; however, Tani had already fallen asleep during the 7 minute drive. We took turns going into the store to get our food for takeout. We then drove back home and took down the sukkah.

Tani at the fire station

As you all know, Tani loves fire trucks. When we first came back to Philadelphia we were in Center City walking to dinner in Chinatown when we came across a fire station - of course Tani wanted to investigate. The firefighters there let him sit in their truck and turn on the siren. There's a fire station less than a mile from our apartment in Mt Airy on Germantown Ave, and Melissa has taken Tani to visit it several times. She says the firefighters there are wonderful to Tani and he loves to sit on the fire truck. During this visit they let him wear their gear! Just down the block from the fire station is a clinic where ambulances come and go and there are often Septa buses going by. Melissa's office in Mt Airy USA is just a block from all this activity with a great view out her window.

A day with Aiden

This is Melissa writing. Tani has a good friend, Aiden, who lives right down the hall here in our building. They're the same age and share a lot of the same interests (trains, trains, trains, trucks, trains, music, trains). They love to run up and the halls together. I have Tani with me on Mondays and Wednesdays and generally share their toys nicely, and today (Wednesday), Aiden spent the day with us. He came over in the morning to play. He loves Tani's toys! and then Grandma Susan (who was visiting from DC) helped me take the two boys to the Please Touch Museum, where we have a membership (we got a membership that allows us to brings up to 6 people, so please come visit with us!) The museum wasn't very crowded, so Tani and Aiden had the run of the place-- the excavator, the city bus, the musical instruments, the mountain with tracks for wheeled wooden birds, the flying bike...it was a bit challenging to keep track of two boys; however, overall, it was a lot of fun. We then drove Grandma Susan to the train station. The boys wanted to get out, but I knew they were tired, and they were both asleep soon after we got onto the highway towards home. We all napped in the car for about half an hour (Tani woke up at 5:30 this morning) and then went upstairs to play some more. We also made pizza-- Grandma Susan had bought some whole wheat pizza dough from Trader Joes yesterday, and the boys helped roll it out and put on tomato sauce and cheese. It was really good.

I checked out a picture book called Guts from our local library, and Tani loves the picture of the insides of his body-- how food travels-- the esophagus to the stomach to the small intestine to the large intestine, and "then you poop it out." I made a copy of the picture and taped it up next to Tani's diaper changing station. I don't think I was anticipating that he would be so interested--but it does make sense that he is curious about what happens inside us. We bought Tani a beautiful picture book about the insides of the human body. We took the train downtown last week and went to the Franklin Institute, which has a huge heart that you can walk through. Tani has been talking about walking through the heart.

After Neysa came home tonight, Tani, Neysa, and I went down to the sukkah, as I hadn't been there yet today to shake my lulav. Tani shook the lulav for the first time. Tani is starting to wear size 4T--tonight he's wearing PJs with firetrucks and dogs. Tani and Mommy Neysa fell asleep around 8:15 tonight. Moadim l'simcha.

Hiking in the Wissahickon

Yesterday for 2nd day Sukkot Melissa decided she wanted us to take a family walk in the Wissahickon to her favorite spot in the woods. So we all headed out early - well, getting us all out the door a bit after 9 am on a Sunday morning counts as early. We drove to the Mt. Airy entrance to the park and began walking down the hill into the park. Tani wanted to eat his snack of cereal but we explained it would be more fun to eat it at the entrance to the trail by the creek. He seemed to agree when we got down there. After our short break we began our hike to Melissa's spot. The trail was rocky and steep in some parts and wet in others, but Tani seemed to enjoy the challenge. We finally got to the metal bridge and went across to a very nice spot to sit and eat another snack of bread sticks and hummus. By this time it was 10:25 am and time to turn back to make it to services at GJC at 11 AM. Tani was so enjoying his adventure that he was in no hurry to leave. He wanted to walk up and down the bridge and found a walking stick and decided to hit fallen trees and logs. Although he managed not to step in any rivulets on the way in, it was too tempting on the way out. I think we have an outdoor guy and look forward to more family hikes. In the next post, Melissa will tell about Tani's volunteer experience at the Morris Arboretum's garden train area...

Trolley Car

Just wanted to write down Tani's trip for ice cream at the Trolley Car Diner.  I was late getting home from a business trip so missed dinner at the Trolley Car with Melissa, Grandma Susan, Manel, Deborah and Lavana.  But got there in time for the ice cream.  Well, Tani had already eaten half of his ice cream and was walking around the old trolley car that is an ice cream/water ice stand next to the diner.  I ordered a water ice and walked around the car with Tani - he loved this trolley car - he would tell me all about it - these are the wheels, this is its nose...  It's a fun place to go for ice cream.  I hope we go back soon.

Fun Labor Day Weekend

It's been way too long since our last blog entry and Tani has been doing many fun things. Last Labor Day weekend we went to NJ to see our friends Miriam & Mike and their children Ariela, Rafi, and Tamar. We arrived Friday afternoon and Tani immediately went to their playroom off the kitchen and played with their ample selection of trains, Thomas and otherwise not to mention trains, cars, trucks,... you name it. Miriam prepared a wonderful Shabbat dinner and after dinner all but Mike headed over for the 7 pm childrens service that Miriam lead. Tani loved it - there were songs and a big birthday card for the world that Miriam had drawn in honor of Rosh Hashanah. Everyone wrote down a wish for the new year and stuck it on the card. Tani got to carry our wishes to Miriam to place on the card. There was also a cake to celebrate the birthday of the world but Tani was having so much fun playing in the hallway and sanctuary he didn't even notice kids eating cake and cookies after services. Mike lead the adult service at 8 pm and Ariela and I (Neysa) stayed for that. When we got back the children were still up (Tani was too excited to go to bed). Everyone did eventually go to bed. Miriam lead services Saturday morning - Melissa and Ariella went to services while Mike, the remaining kids and I stayed back intending to come later. By the time everyone was dressed and ready to head out Melissa and Ariela were returning --- we had missed services! After lunch we rested and played. Although we tried to get the kids to take a nap, only the adults ended up with naps. That evening after the 3rd Shabbat meal the kids got out their bikes and helmets and went for rides around the block. Tani borrowed Tamar's tricycle. Everyone had fun! Tani enjoyed opening the garage as well as the bike ride. We got up early the next morning to head to Ocean City on the Jersey Shore. While leaving a bit later than we intended we got to the beach at 9:45 AM which was early enough to easily find parking and a nice spot on the beach. Tani played in the sand with Ariela, Rafi, and Tamar and enjoyed knocking down a sand castle they made for that purpose. Then Melissa took Tani into the water. They splashed around near the shoreline while I watched. There were two life guards who were blowing their whistles from time to time warning swimmers not to go too far out. Tani was having a blast in the water when a wave knocked him over. Then Tani was ready to come out but he talks about wanting to go back to the beach sometime. Melissa and I took the kids out for pizza to give Mike and Miriam a few moments to go have lunch themselves. The kids were great - very well behaved. Afterwards we all joined up together and got ice cream. By this time it was time for us to go home although Mike & Miriam and family stayed a bit longer. We drove back to Mt. Airy and did four loads of laundry. Sand was everywhere! Tani needed a bath!! During his bath he said he wanted to use the potty. I thought he just wanted an excuse to get out of the bath, but he got out and sat on the potty and actually went in the potty!! A first!... The next day on Labor Day we went to the Morris Arboretum in Chestnut Hill with Deborah and her daughter Lavana who is 4-5 months younger than Tani. They had a model train exhibit with the trains moving through various garden displays. Tani spent two hours watching the various trains on the different lines. Eventually though he wanted to go right up to the trains which wasn't really allowed. However, one of the trains was having problems and the woman who went to fix the trains let Tani examine one of the cars while she was fixing the track and working on the engine. We were heading out to the car when Tani discovered fountains in the garden and ended up sticking his feet (with shoes on) in the water. Then Tani wanted some of Lavana's snack of goldfish pretzel crackers. Actually he wanted all of them and when Lavana wanted six (out of about 20) for herself Tani had a big meltdown, crying all the way out of the park and towards home that he wanted *all* the goldfish. That usually doesn't happen but he was tired. We decided to stop by Melissa's new office in the Mt Airy USA office building - Tani fell asleep on the way still talking about the goldfish pretzels. So I got some Chinese takeout near her office and we sat in the car while Tani slept. When Tani woke up we went in Melissa's office and Tani enjoyed looking out the window while Melissa unpacked her books. There were buses, ambulances, and fire trucks going by on Germantown Avenue. Her office is across from a dialysis center so most of the ambulances were transporting patients to and from the center. There's a fire station a couple of blocks away who welcome children to stop by. Overall Tani had a wonderful week!

This is Melissa writing on July 20. Tani turned two-and-a-half last week. (The photo here is from the beginning of June at Longwood Gardens). We had a spontaneous party the evening of July 14, his half birthday. We bought cupcakes and then called up our friends the Wilsons (or in Tani's language, Rebecca's house) and went over for a little celebration. Tani and Rebecca each blew out a candle. Tani has been calling himself Mickey Mouse lately; although, today he was a dog.

We went to Dorney Park today-- it's a popular amusement park here in Allentown. Tani loved it. We went on the flying bus ride about 6 times and a ferris wheel and a jeep ride (a little train that looks like jeeps) and even a small rollercoaster. Tani was mostly in great spirits; however, he got very anxious waiting for the jeep ride (for the 2nd time) and started screaming. I told him that if he screamed again, we would leave that area, which we needed to, and he had a bit of a tantrum, but then calmed down. He gets quite dramatic when he wants something and can't have it, but then calms down. I imagine that we'll be going back there.

On Saturday night, Neysa, Tani, and I went to an outdoor concert in Bryn Mawr with our friends Debra and Levana (who is a few months younger than Tani). This was a Tom Chapin concert-- Tom Chapin is a wonderful children's folk musician, and Tani loves listening to his CDs. It was so exciting for all of us to see him in concert-- we sat right up front, and he has such a nice manner as a performer. Neysa bought Tani his latest CD, which Tani has been calling "my favorite CD," transporting it back and forth from the car to his CD player in the house.

I got a wonderful book out of the library-- Cookies: Bite-Size Life Lessons, by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. The illustrations are gorgeous, and Tani loves it, particularly the page, "respect is offering your very first cookie to your grandmother," as well as the page, "greedy is eating all the cookies yourself, hee hee hee, yum yum yum." We also have loved the They Might be Giants "Here come the 1-2-3's", and we've been watching the DVD that comes with it-- just returned it to the library. I think we'll probably buy ourselves a copy, and I saw that there's an ABC DVD as well.

Tani is a loving, sweet boy (we often call him "sweet boy"), and he brings joy and laughter and love to our lives each day.

Fireworks

I was putting Tani to bed last week and there were fireworks going off outside.  Dorney Park is only a few miles away and I think they set off fireworks some nights right before closing the amusement park.  Tani asked what the noise was and I explained it was from fireworks - they also give off pretty light if one is close enough to see.  Tani hasn't seen fireworks yet as these shows occur right around or after his bedtime and I also worried he might be afraid of them.  But Tani seemed very interested in the fireworks sounds.  He called them "fireworkers".  He also asked if they were like thunder.  I explained they were very similar except that fireworks were set off by people but thunder and lightening by Nature.  Last night at bedtime there was a big lightening/thunder storm so we opened the shade to watch the display.

When explaining fireworks I didn't tell Tani they came from Dorney Park because I think he'd want to go over there and not go to bed.  About a week ago we went to "Ice Cream World" which is right across from Dorney Park.  Tani got a cone with mint chocolate chip ice cream, which he discovered he liked after eating some of Mommy Malka's a few weeks before in Wilmington.  Melissa didn't get an ice cream, and I got a cone with vanilla soft serve dipped in chocolate sprinkles.  Tani was eating his ice cream until he saw mine.  Then he wanted to try mine.  He decided he liked my cone with vanilla soft serve and chocolate sprinkles better and passed his off to Melissa.  So I took mine back and got him his own.  By then he had eaten so much of mine that he didn't really eat his new cone.  He wandered outside and saw the tall roller coasters across the street.  "I want to go over there!" he exclaimed pointing to Dorney Park.   It was 7:30 pm and we weren't about to go to Dorney Park right then.   Tani then started sobbing "I want to go to Dorney Park, I want to go to Dorney Park."  He couldn't ride any of the rides he saw since he's under 48".  We've heard there is a kid's section called "Camp Snoopy" which Tani would probably like.  There is also a big swimming pool and some small water rides for kids.  We thought about getting a season pass for Melissa for $100 (Tani is free), as a single admission is $40 plus $10 for parking.  She hasn't taken him there yet but I suspect he'd have a blast.

Moving into summer

This is Melissa writing on June 19, 2009. Tani and I went to the DaVinci Center yesterday and his 8-year-old friend Ben led him through the tunnel.  Older kids go through in the dark; however, Tani asked to have lights on.  He also helped clean up some big soft blocks-- he takes pride in being a "helper", and whenever he has trouble separating from me at the JCC, if one of his teachers gives him a job, he goes right away to the teacher.  

We also went to the fish hatchery, what Tani and I call the "fish park", a wonderful place for kids, where they get to feed the fish.  Tani wore his boots so that he could splash in the puddles.  He's beginning to really test the boundaries and was saying that he wants to fall in and did indeed put his foot in...breathe...we also saw two blue herons while at the fish hatchery, and I just got an iPhone, so Tani sat on a bench at the end of our visit and watched Laurie Berkner sing "We are the Dinosaurs."  

I found some of my books from childhood, and Tani particularly loves "Morris the Moose goes to School."  (Yes, sometimes he calls the book "Grandpa Morris goes to school")  Morris first goes to the fish store, in search of candy, and then gets directed to the candy store.   Last week, Tani and I bought fish at the Farmer's Market (he now helps pay) and then I gave him 3 quarters to buy some candy...but they don't let you buy a few candies the way Morris the Moose did.  (Morris got 6 gumdrops for 6 pennies).  We had to buy a quarter pound.  Yes, Tani has discovered candy, which gives him great delight.  It's also a wonderful way to bribe him to do something-- 3 white chocolate chips worked like magic a few weeks ago.   

We have been going to the library, and signed up Tani for the summer reading program.  He loves Amelia Bedelia.  He also loves the water fountain at the library.  Oh, they have great kids' music.  They Might Be Giants is one of Tani's favorites-- we have had their ABC CD for a while, and just got their 123 CD.  He loves to sit in the car and listen to his music "LOUD".  He also loves to "cuddle in Mommy's bed" at night, once he's in his PJs.  

Tani has been taking on new identities.  Lately, he has been a bunny and also Gordon (one of Thomas the Train's friends).  The other day, he was a camel, and last night he was a lion.  Sometimes, he's a cat.  He doesn't like for me to be something else-- I'm always "Tani's Momma".

Block party

Melissa is on retreat this weekend so Tani and I are on our own.  Today we had a big day in Philadelphia.  We went to synagogue at Germantown Jewish Centre.  We spent about ten minutes in services, an hour on the playground, and 30 minutes at kiddush.  It was nice to see old friends in Mt. Airy.  It had rained the previous week and there was a big puddle on the playground.  Luckily, I remembered to bring Tani's boots.  Unfortunately, the puddle was so big that after Tani jumped in the puddle the water splashed up into his boots and all over his pants.  Fortunately, Melissa reminded me to bring a change of clothing.  We then headed to W. Philly to see cousin Jen, her husband Joel, and their eight week old baby Jonah.  They were staying with friends on St. Marks Square street which was having a block party.  So we arrive ~2 pm and there are tricycles, super soakers, and other fun toys scattered about the street and on people's porches (the street has row houses with front porches on both sides).  There's also a kiddie pool set up and Tani want to go get wet again.  Fortunately I have a swim suit and swim diapers - I thought we were going to go swimming yesterday and didn't take the swim bag out of the trunk.  Unfortunately I didn't think I had his water shoes, so I took off his sneakers and sent him barefoot into the street.  He happily walked up the block and played in the pool, with the super soakers and jumped around as others sprayed hoses.  He also got to ride on a peddle bulldozer and play with a garbage truck on someone else's porch.  I had also brought his tricycle which I had put on the side of the street.  Tani got very upset when he saw other kids riding it.  I explained how we were all sharing and that he was having fun playing with other kids' toys.  That explanation did not seem to help much.  I had a nice visit with Jen and Joel and got to see baby Jonah, who seems to be studying everything, taking it all in - he seems very content and happy.  At some point I needed to change Tani's diaper and after looking at the bottom of the stroller for wipes noticed that I had his water shoes after all.  So I changed his diaper, put back on his bathing suit and now water shoes, and we wandered up the block looking for water balloons.  But more festivities were about to occur.  First was a pinata breaking activity.  Kids gathered round and took turns whacking the pinata with a baseball bat until tons of candy fell out.  Fortunately, Tani was so busy playing with his water shoes he didn't pay attention.   After this was a donut eating contest.  Parents string up about 30 donuts on a line and the kids each try to eat a donut without using their hands.  Whoever finishes the donut first is the winner.  Tani has shown no interest in donuts up until now but the kids were having so much fun he went to investigate.  He touched a donut and licked his fingers and noticed they were sweet.  So he decided to enter the contest but did use his hands to devour the donut.  Joel has a picture of this.  I stayed a bit later than I should have as Tani was clearly getting tired.  I gathered things up and Joel helped me and Tani get to the car.  I was on the Schulykill expressway at the Montgomery Ave exit when I realized I had forgotten his sneakers.  Ughh.  Jen found them and I'll ask her to mail them back.  So I went to the Lehigh Valley mall once we got to Allentown and now Tani has some sandals for summer.

I love you, Momma

This is Melissa writing my first blog entry.  A few days ago, Tani started saying "I love you, Momma"--Neysa and I have been regularly telling him that we love him since he was born, and it's amazing to now receive Tani's words of love.  He often says it spontaneously.  He also started giving kisses-- a little slobbery, but wonderful.  He loves to cuddle in Mommy's bed when he wakes up in the morning.

We are beginning to talk about going to a new house-- we don't yet know exactly where we'll be moving.  We needed to reassure Tani that he'll be coming with us, and then he requested that our new house have a basement and a garage...we'll see...

We saw baby Amani (my cousin Mike and Liz's 3-month old daughter) this weekend, and Tani has been pretending to be baby Amani.  This includes pretending to nurse.  He is now fully weaned.  I am grateful for the 2+ years that Tani nursed and I am now also grateful that he is weaned.  Tani also often pretends that he is a bunny.  And sometimes, he's curly bear, a character from Elmo's potty video.

We had 2 full weekends-- from May 21-25, Grandma Diane and Grandpa Arthur came to visit.  We went to MayFair in Allentown and Tani had his first paddleboat ride.  He also picked out a pink hand-sewn snake and a small wooden tow truck with a car as a present, and before Grandma and Grandpa returned to Atlanta, they got him a little Thomas the train engine.  I showed Tani the plain version and mud-covered version.  He chose the mud-covered version, then later tried to take off the mud.  He loves Thomas, and pretty much anything with wheels.

This past weekend, we celebrated with my cousin Nicole as she graduated from college and then spent 2 days with Tani's cousin Max, Uncle Mitch and Aunt Val, as well as Grandma Susan and Grandpa Morris.  We visited Longwood Gardens near Philadelphia, which was one of the most gorgeous places I have ever been, and has wonderful fountains for children to play around.  Tani and Max had a wonderful time running around and getting wet together.  My mother organized this visit, which was a real treat for my father, who is turning 70 on June 9.  While we were sitting at lunch, Tani sang the whole alphabet song and baa baa black sheep.  He sang quietly, but also seemed to enjoy the audience.   On the car ride home, he sang along with the CD--he loves the They Might Be Giants Alphabet CD, especially, "Go, go go for G"  He was disappointed when our car ride, which was over an hour, was over-- he wanted a longer drive and asked to go to Providence to see Ezra (his 3-year-old friend who is Joanna and Rebecca's son).  

Laughing

Tani laughs a lot and is a lot of fun.  We have this book which has a page of different facial expressions children make such as "yuck!" and "huh?".  If we say one of these words and make the appropriate facial expression he'll just laugh and laugh and shout "Again!".  We can say it ten times in a row and it's still funny to him.  If you're reading this, try it out with Tani some time - guaranteed for laugh!   All three of us had a good laugh the other day over this next story.  Melissa had recounted to me in the evening that Tani ran out of the bathroom that morning waving a tampon shouting "I found a cheese stick in the bathroom!".  She told me this in front of Tani and when I heard the story I started laughing and then we all started laughing and Tani repeated "I found a cheese stick in the bathroom!" and then we all laughed some more and so on...  Today Tani picked up a pad of paper, a pencil, a pen, and a remote control.  He then wanted to open a door but his hands were full.  I always chuckle in these situations because he clearly has to go into problem solving mode.  Today he handed me first the pad of paper, then the pen and pencil which freed up a hand to open the door, but then he also handed me the remote control and then opened the door.  This has happened a number of times in the past - he's going somewhere, sees an object he wants to hold and gathers them up until he can't hold anything else and then has to figure out how to pick up the next thing. It's very cute.

It's raining

It's been raining every day for almost a week now.  Since Tani loves to jump in puddles and he only has two pairs of shoes and each pair takes a couple of days to dry out, it seemed prudent to buy Tani some rain boots.  Tani loves his rain boots, which have smiling dragon faces on them.  He really jumps in the puddles with gusto now.  He rode his tricycle in the light rain Monday evening - he likes to drive through the puddles and he likes to go fast.   I had gone inside a few minutes before Tani and Melissa and I heard them outside.  I went out to investigate and saw that Tani had picked up a worm and was carrying it around.  He was trying to open the car door to take his worm in the car.  I said "Tani, do not go in the car with that worm!" and then ran away.

It's 8 AM Wednesday morning and Tani is still sleeping - he's usually up by 7 or 7:30.  He's up now, have to go...

How to win friends and influence people

Facilitating toddler interactions can be quite challenging.  If one child has a toy and there is another child in the room, they will often want the same toy even though there are dozens of others to choose from.  The "toyless" child might then grab the toy from the first child, resulting in crying and looks to a nearby adult to correct the injustice.  When Tani was 1.5 years old, if he took a toy from a child, rationally explaining how it wasn't nice and to give it back often didn't work.  Now he understands a lot better and I think knows he shouldn't do it.  We were at a birthday party last Sunday and two girls were playing with a small toy kitchen.  Tani, who is 30% bigger than the next largest child even though they're the same age, swooped in and brushed the two girls away and started playing with the kitchen.  "Tani, that's not nice.  They were there first, let them play with it".  He reluctantly moved out of the way and a microsecond later was on to something else.

In Tani's daycare, if a child bites another child the teachers write up the incident and send home a sheet to both the vicitim and perpetrator's parents but won't identify the children involved.  That way the parents know their child bit someone or got bit but don't know who the other party was.  When Tani turned two, he bit one of his classmates.  By then he was talking so I asked him who he bit.  "Devora" he said matter-of-factly.  "She cried".  (Note names in this posting other than Tani's have been changed to protect the innocent and the guilty).  Melissa asked his teacher the next day about the incident.  She smiled and wouldn't confirm who but said the girl was running around the previous afternoon proudly telling everyone "Tani bit me!".   A couple of weeks ago Tani got bit for the first time - or at least it was the first time we got a white form explaining Tani was bit.  These forms also state when it happened, what was going on at the time, and what was done about it.  For example, "at 10 AM Tani bit a child who was trying to play on the same toy.  We explained to Tani 'it's not OK to bite your friends'".  So I asked Tani who bit him.  "Orli" he said again matter-of-factly.  "I cried."  I recalled that about a month ago during bedtime Tani was telling me that Orli had been misbehaving and the teachers had to tell her not to hit her friends.  He said, "Orli hit Shoshana.  Shoshana cried."

Believe it or not after reading all of the above, the kids have great affection for each other.  When I drop Tani off at daycare, often the kids who are there will happily shout "Tani!" or "Nani!" if they can't quite pronounce his name yet.  Luckily toddlers forgive and forget quite quickly and if they remember a bite or hit it seems to be remembered either fondly or as a noteworthy event, not something to be resented.

School bus

When I put Tani to bed at night, he always requests the song "Wheels on the Bus".   A couple of months ago it morphed into "Wheels on the School Bus".  The song is a narrative (sung to the tune of "The wheels on the bus go 'round and 'round") of how students wait for the bus in the morning, ride to school, the bus goes to wait and then picks the students up after school and takes them home, and then they go play, eat dinner, get ready for bed, go to sleep, wake up and repeat the process the next day.  I often sing several rounds of this until he either falls asleep or asks for a different song.  A couple of weeks ago he requested that the school bus driver wanted a snack, so I sang "The school bus driver has a snack, has a snack, has a snack, the school bus driver has a snack, of Cheerios and milk" (I think I had originally picked pretzels, cheese and crackers but Tani changed the snack).  He likes this verse and if I forget it while I'm singing he is sure to remind me.  This week he requested that I add a line that the school bus driver wears a bib when he eats his snack.  So the line goes "The school bus driver wears a bib, wears a bib, wears a bib, the school bus driver wears a bib when he eats his Cheerios and milk for snack."

Tani has been into a "Real Wheels" video that Grandma Susan bought him which is all about buses.  The video is for children 3-8 because it is mostly talking and not much music or songs.  When Tani was two (as opposed to 2 years and 2.5 months now) he had no patience for videos with a lot of talking.  Now he can follow the story and enjoys them.  So this bus video's narrator is a funny guy named "Bus driver Dave" who tells the viewer all about buses.  Dave shows up at bus driving school ready to learn to drive a bus, but he's late so he has to wash the school bus with a hose and mop.  He squirts himself "accidently" in the face with the hose and makes all kinds of faces at having to wash this big bus.  Tani thinks the whole incident is hilarious.  It's fun to watch him watching the video.

I want to bang on the drum all day

Dave Smith, president of Am Haskalah, made a little drum for Tani - he asked us it was OK to give it to him and were like sure, great!  Tani has been playing with it ever since but tonight he was really into playing.  He grabbed both drum sticks and would beat the drum for a minute and then shout yay!  He'd then ask Melissa and I if we wanted to hear more and we'd say, "yes we'd like to hear more".  So he'd play some more and this would go on and on except if he banged his finger by accident, in which case he'd make a little pout for a few moments and then continue playing.  Tani's expression when he plays is like a drummer in a rock & roll band - he looks really intense.  I needed to go to the store so I'm not sure how late into the night he played, but at 9:30 pm it is all quiet in the Nevins-Klein house.

Hamataschen

I should have known it was too quiet in the dining room.  I had stepped into the kitchen to skim through the new Newsweek for a few minutes.  Tani had eaten a lot for dinner including half a container of tofu and two 1 oz pieces of cheddar cheese plus a small hamantaschen.  He hadn't been interested in them the previous few days and I was surprised that he ate it.  I had left the other six hamantaschen in foil wrapping on the table.  I put down the Newsweek, returned to the dining room, and looked down at the foil - nothing was left except for half a hamantaschen that Tani was munching on.  Tani!  Did you eat all the hamantaschen?!  He smiles.  

Tani has a little tricycle that he now can peddle around the house.  His feet reach the pedals now and he enjoys taking it for a spin around the dining room and kitchen.  This past Sunday Melissa took him to an afternoon family concert which he apparently enjoyed.  When I asked him about it though he said "Tani ate a cookie at the concert!".  Interesting what he remembers.  He clearly enjoyed the concert and likes the CD Melissa bought at the concert but no mention of the music or dancing. That morning I had taken him to the JCC with me - there are teenagers who babysit from 9:30-noon and we arrived at 10:30 so I could run on the treadmill and Tani could hang out with other kids and the babysitters as Melissa was at Hebrew School.  After running when I went to pick Tani up, he was sitting between two of the teenagers texting on a Blackberry.  I am running more and more now and Tani has been commenting "Mommy runs on the treadmill".  This thought has lead to "Grandpa Arthur fell on the treadmill...  Grandma Diane has a bicycle AND a treadmill AND a garage!  I pushed the button and opened the garage door!!"  It's been 1.5 months since we were in Atlanta so he clearly has a good memory.  He also remembers he played with a CD player at Great Grandma Alice's house. He often remembers family and friends and will comment that he wants to go to their house.  He always enjoys an outing with good friends.

On the road

We were driving in the car last week when Tani had interesting conversation on his cell phone.  It's a real cell phone that's no longer active and has no battery - I think he has more fun with it than cell phones that light up, make noise, or even actually call people - he can really use his imagination.  So he's on his cell phone and the conversation goes something like this "... Hi! pause Mommy Neysa and Mommy Malka" pause We're on the road! pause Yeah, yeah pause Absolutely! pause OK, bye".  Tani loves to listen to music in the car.  Melissa can attest to the fact that I get nervous if there's no CDs in the car, which now rarely happens.  His favorite kids CDs are Raffi, Laurie Berkner, and Tom Chapin.  He reliably enjoys jazz and has been known to listen to a Beethoven symphony or cello concerto although he usually wants us to replay certain phrases over and over - Melissa explained to him the slower parts of the music are also interesting to listen to and he would let us play at least a full movement.  The only genres he doesn't like at all are Country and pop-style loves songs.  I know this because sometimes I've had to resort to radio in the car for music, and he quickly protests these types of songs.  Recently Tani, my friend Georgia and I were driving in Georgia's car and she only had a CD mix in the car.  After passing on the first two songs, he happily listened to "Red Barchetta" by Rush.  He also liked "Limelight".  In the last couple of weeks, Tani wants us to rewind songs to listen to the beginning several times before moving on with the rest of the song.  We might repeat a song or parts of a song 3-5 times before moving on to the next one. He seems to be studying/listening to songs he likes more carefully.  It's a lot of fun to listen to music with Tani!

Watching videos

Tani has been sick this week so we've been watching more videos than usual.  It's fun to view a video with Tani, watching what he notices.  He often picks up on small details such as a tree off to the side.  He likes to watch his favorites over and over again.  Today I noticed for the first time how he anticipates a scene that's about to occur and then announces it right when it appears on screen.  His current all-time favorite is the "Wheels on the Bus" video which has six short videos and he likes them all.  Recently he's enjoyed watching a short "Old McDonald Had a Farm" video over and over (it has to go back to the library next week).  He loved an "Elmocize" video about Elmo leading an exercise class - we're going to buy that one.  He likes musical videos best. 

Zumba

Am Haskalah generally has Shabbat services Friday evening, but once a month we have services Saturday morning.   Recently (parshat Shemot) we were having Saturday morning services in the Allentown JCC when at 10:30 a "Body Pump" class began in the auditorium next to where we hold services.  The music was disrupting the service so one of the members went over and asked them to turn the volume down.  As the service was ending ~11:30, a "Zumba Hip Hop" class began.  While I think most service goers did not appreciate the music, one person certainly did.  Tani.  During the oneg Tani immediately went through the kitchen into the Zumba class, even forgetting about his kiddush and challah.  He stood mesmerized by the first couple of songs watching the teacher and class exercising to the Zumba routines.  By the third song he was trying out some of the moves.  He stayed for the entire class.   He would yell "yay!" at the end of a song he particularly liked.  People commented on how well behaved he was, not disrupting the class or running around.  Well, he sort of disrupted the class as people definitely noticed him and seemed happy to watch his joyful participation.  Too bad there's no Zumba for toddlers class.

Happy New Year

I have a lot of blogging to catch up on chronicling our vacation from Christmas Eve to New Years day.  Fortunately, I have notes in my journal so I can go back in fill in details for a few subsequent entries so I'll start with New Year's and work my way back.  Tani's godfathers Manel and Jordi drove up to Allentown Wednesday (12/31) afternoon.  Melissa, Manel, and Tani went swimming in the JCC pool while Jordi and I watched all the fun from the side.  I had planned to make dinner for after the swim, but our power had gone out at noon and still wasn't back on at 5 pm when we got back from the pool.  So we hung out a bit at home by candlelight and then decided to go out for dinner.  We were going to get Chinese but Jordi and Manel noticed the Panera in the plaza and we headed over there.  Tani enjoys Panera - a few Sunday mornings I had taken him there so I could get coffee.  The first time I had gotten a pastry which he didn't like so he ate some pretzels and graham crackers I had brought along.  The second Sunday morning we went to Panera I got a pumpkin muffin.  Well, he loved it.  I had given him about a third and planned to eat the other 2/3 myself as I can eat faster than him.  I had cut my portion into pieces and when Tani saw me gobbling them up, he grabbed a few more pieces for himself to add to his pile and then continued eating leisurely.  On our next visit to Panera he knew what he wanted and shouted cake! cake! at the person serving us.  Fortunately New Year's Eve was dinnertime and it had been about a month since we'd been there so he wasn't asking for pumpkin muffins and was content with grilled cheese.  Manel and Jordi had brought a sticker book with them for Tani which kept him busy for a little while while we ate dinner.   We had a very nice visit and then they headed back to Mechanicsburg and the power at our apartment was restored.  On New Year's day we went to the mall and I bought an iMac which I love.  We then headed to our friends Paul and Rebecca who were having a New Year's day party in honor of Paul's birthday.  Their son Noah who is a few months younger than Tani had some pretty cool toys.  The one that made the biggest impression on Tani was a police car where one can push buttons which makes the lights flash with a siren sound.  For the next several days Tani was saying "I pushed the buttons, lights came on, woo-woo-woo-woo". 

Ice Cream World

Tonight Melissa, Tani, and I went to Ice Cream World to mark the end of our winter vacation.  I love their soft serve vanilla ice cream in a cake cone with chocolate sprinkles.  Melissa advised that Tani shouldn't get that as the sprinkles would create quite a mess.  Besides, the last time I gave Tani a soft serve cone he carried it around but refused to eat it.  I feel bad that I don't know what flavors Tani might like since he's only had vanilla except for the time at Cold Stone when he demanded some of my cookies & cream when he woke up from his nap before I had finished my cone.  So Tani got a dish of hard vanilla ice cream.  Tani ate his ice cream very deliberately - sometimes only a tiny amount would stick to the spoon but he systematically finished his ice cream.  When I got to near the bottom of mine where just the triangle part of the cone was left, I handed it to Melissa to finish but she asked Tani if he wanted to try it.  He delicately nibbled on it and after realizing it tasted pretty good polished it off and wanted more.  So next time he might get soft serve vanilla ice cream in a cake cone.  We'll probably wait a bit longer before he gets sprinkles....