Rafi & Sam's Blog

Tortellini

Rafi liked Pesto Tortellini. It was one of his favorites.  Apparently, Sam likes them too

-BRN

Do It, Rockapella!

Tonight, Rafi started absently singing as he was playing, and it sounded like "wimoweca wimoweca wimoweca." So far, Rafi's not so great at carrying a tune, so I wasn't sure what I was hearing.  He said it was something one of his teachers, Sarah, had taught him in school.

(Side note: Rafi's teachers this year seem to be very tired of "kid music" and are teaching the kids all sorts of songs. The other day, Miss Bree taught Rafi to sing "Achy Breaky Heart," but Rafi was quick to tell me that "Miss Bree doesn't know all the words." Side note over. We now return you to your regularly scheduled story.)

Anyway, it seems I had not imagined what he was singing - Miss Sarah had been teaching the kids 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight." I started singing the verse, "In the jungle..." and the next thing I knew, Rafi was singing his "wimowec" underneath me - if he'd been singing anything remotely resembling a note, we'd have been harmonizing! My freaky little a cappella heart grew three sizes today. Then I pulled out the Spike Lee "Do It A Cappella" CD and let him hear The Persuasions and the Mint Juleps rock "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" and he loved it. He is still convinced, however, that there are instruments in there somewhere.... and can't understand why you would want to NOT have instruments. So there's still more work to be done.

Thank you, Miss Sarah!

And on the 1,274th Day, He Wore Big Boy Underwwear

Rafi is potty trained. He's been doing a good job going to the potty for about a week, and today he consented to wear his new Thomas the Tank Engine underwear (despite his displeasure that the picture is on the back, not the front). He had no accidents today, and we have declared him trained, three days shy of turning three-and-a-half. We are unbelievably thrilled. This evening was spent removing all the potty-unfriendly feety pajamas from his drawers (and replacing them with new, larger two-piece PJs), removing the regular diapers from his room, removing the wipes warmer from his room, and removing the changing pad from his room. We are aware there will be setbacks, and for now he'll wear pull-ups at night (although he's woken up dry the last three nights) but we are happy to proclaim it from the rooftops:

Rafi is potty trained!!!!

And I Finally Figured Out How to Upload Photos Again

Sam's Official 10 month photo (above)

Checkup

We had a very belated 9 month doctor's appointment for Sam today - he weighed in at 22 lbs, 10 oz, and is 29.5 inches long. Dr. G pronounced him healthy and gorgeous.

In other news, Sam learned to clap this weekend and is very pleased with himself. He may or may not be using this clapping to mean "more." He's also getting close to pulling up on people and tables - he's not quite there yet, but he's close.

Rafi is actually making an attempt at toilet training. He's successfully used the potty several times, but is also still going in his Pull-Ups as well. At least he's no longer completely refusing to even come near a potty...

A final note - I apologize that there have been no photos lately - we upgraded our software and it messed something up. We'll get back to it soon.

Can we post Pictures?

Sam, Our Discerning Consumer

All the toys in the world and our son wants nothing more than to shake a half-empty tictac box.

As of today, Sam weighs 21 lbs 14.5 oz  (or 9.94 kilo ).

Stuff We Should Have Posted Ages Ago

Yes, I know. It's been a long, long time since we posted. No real excuse, except that we've been traveling and busy. I attended Br. Pius's ordination, the whole family went to NY for James and Karen's wedding and also cousin Maddy's 3rd birthday party! Brian ran his Amazing Cheese relay from Madison to Chicago with Gil and had a ball.

Rafi is growing by leaps and bounds. He will soon be moving up to the Threes room (July 1) and has been preparing for that by visiting the room regularly. He had his first soccer class this weekend and loved it - apparently, he has a decent attention span (for a three year old). He's starting to get interested in reading - he occasionally wants to know what words say, and likes to sound things out (although he is so far mostly unsuccessful). The most amazing thing to me is his memory. When we went to New York to see Grandma and Grandpa, he spent the whole flight there asking if he could clean the pool with Grandpa. This is something he hasn't done since last August, but he remembered it perfectly - the big net with the long handle, the vacuum thing, the snorkel tank, etc. Thankfully, there was a bit of pool cleaning for Rafi to do when we arrived.

Sam is crawling! He started about two weeks ago, after rocking back and forth on his hands and knees for over a month. Towards the end he was getting very frustrated at not being able to get where he wanted to go. Now, of course, he is intent upon three things, and the things only: following Rafi anywhere he goes, making a beeline for anything that is not 100% babyproofed, and finding any choking hazard one of us (mostly Rafi) has left around. He's also starting to try to pull up, although so far he's not getting very far. He still has no teeth.

I'll post some photos in the next post.

Sleeping

Sam is clearly better at waking up than Rafi.  In what has become a consistent theme - we (really Marsha mostly but me this morning) go in to see if he is awake or to close his door as Rafi is getting breakfast only to discover he is already up.  He just sits in his crib and give you that look that says, "Cool you're up.".  In other sleeping news, Rafi seems to be getting better about waking up as well.  He just totters down the hall and comes into our room.  Marsha says he has even figured out that if it is too early he should just climb into bed with Marsha.  - BRN

Unrelated - here are some pictures starting with Rafi and Elan in the same pajamas with their tongues showing.

Rafi at Touch-a-Truck

-BRN

Wrigley Field Neighbors Day

Sorry we haven't posted in a while.  We were quite busy, Sam was sick, I was sick and then we were of town.  However, last weekend (May 3rd) was neighbors day at Wrigley Field.  Basically, they let people who live around the ballpark in to Wrigley to play catch on the field, they feed you hot dogs and beer and hope you don't complain about more night games, concerts, or whatever else they do.  So Rafi and I went along and we met up with Rafi's friend Elan who also went.  We got a lot of great shots. 

Rafi and Elan on the field looking up at the scoreboard.

Rafi batting on the field.

Calling the bullpen from the dugout phone.   

Sitting in the dugout:

Warming up in the visitors bullpen.   

By the 368 sign (the right field one). 

With Daddy:

- BRN