Pesach Adventures and beyond

This is Melissa writing on Wednesday. Pesach is just over and it's hot here-- over 80 degrees. Tani is developing beautifully-- in just the past few weeks, he learned to use the potty. It seemed like he wasn't going to get there, and then all of a sudden, he has mastered this skill. We went to the store to pick out more underwear for him today, a process in which he delighted, particularly climbing around the women's clothing racks on his way back to the check-out. We also bought him a pair of purple goggles for his swim lessons, which he will begin next week at the Y in Roxborough (10-15 minute drive from our house).

Anyways, back to Passover. Tani loved getting ready for Passover and singing the mah nishtanah and other seder highlights. They had a big seder at his preschool on the Wednesday before Passover, and Neysa was able to stay home that morning and join him for that. Apparently, he had enough seder for the year with the one at his school, as he ended up sleeping through both seders in DC. The first seder was at my parents' place-- we were sad that Tani wasn't awake with us, and yet, it was also really nice to have a slow-paced adult seder, which included reflection on a powerful hasidic story from the Ba'al Shem Tov. While in DC, we went with Grandpa Morris (whom he's also calling Zayde) to the Botanic Garden. Neysa and Zayde took him to the Air and Space Museum. We also had a picnic at the DC Cherry Blossom Festival. Tani did quite well with the Passover diet-- primarily whole wheat matza and cream cheese, and Mommy Neysa's famous Passover cookies.

The highlight of the week for Tani was Friday, when he received his new bike. A 2-wheeler with training wheels. It's a Thomas the Train bike from his friend Caleb, who is 6. He got to ride to Harrisburg, where we spent Shabbat, with the bike next to him in the back seat, and when we arrived, he took his inaugural ride. We stayed with our friends Susan and Gerry, and they welcomed Thomas into the house for the night, where Tani fed Thomas and brushed his teeth and covered him with a blanket and even said Shema for him. Early in the morning, Tani and I ventured out on a bike ride--he's really enjoying it. Later in the afternoon, he met twins who are his age, and they rode around together in one of the alleyways near Susan and Jerry's place.

Another highlight was yesterday, when we went with Tani's classmate Toby (and his Mom and little brother Elijah) to Longwood Gardens-- so beautiful! Tani and Toby particularly liked the wooden house, which they pretended was their house, and they even took "naps" in the house. We had a picnic near the house and then went to the children's area with fountains before heading home. Tani needed to pee in the middle of our drive, so we pulled over and he happily peed in the bushes.