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  It's a real cell phone that's no longer active and has no battery - I think he has more fun with it than cell phones that light up, make noise, or even actually call people - he can really use his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!