Rafi & Sam's Blog

Lab Interview

This is only tangentially related to our kids but we had our University of Chicago Lab School interview yesterday.  This was the parents only interview - we take Rafi back for a playgroup in January.  While I don't want to publish any of my thoughts on the interview itself I do want to relay this anecdote.  The interview ran over the hour we had and when we were leaving the next set of parents were in the waiting room. I don't know if it was that we ran over the hour or just the interview itself but they looked so much like deer in headlights - they were looking straight ahead at us as we came out of the office.   I thought that if I said anything they were going to jump out of their shoes.  I could just see their minds racing - do well in this interview and our child gets into Lab School, then they can get into high school here as well, then they can get into a good college, get an advanced degree and have a happy life - but if we do badly our child will be ruined before they are 4.  - BRN

Kids - Your Legacy or Torture for the Rest of Your Life

Last Night just as we were heading for bedtime, Rafi is singing in a low voice, Jingle Bells.  I start singing over him with the Dreidle Song and follow it up with a "Why are you singing Jingle Bells?"  Now Marsha pointed out that he learned it at school, he damn well knows it is a Christmas Song and why am I bothering but did I listen.  No - I'm not quite that smart.   Of course, Rafi takes this as a challenge and keeps on singing it - JUST TO ANNOY ME!! - He suceeded.  Oh Well

Last Night of Chanukah with the Israels

 

-BRN

I'm in Charge, Pending the Return of the 3s Room Teacher

Random things I've been meaning to post:

Sam had his 15 month doc appointment on November 21. Stats: 24 lbs 4.75 ounces, 31.75 inches tall, and 18.5 inches in head circumference.

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One of Rafi's classmates, Cate, broke her arm recently. Rafi has been fascinated with everything about it, especially her purple cast. Cate's mom recently emailed me to say "Rafi has been so adorable throughout this all. Cate told us at the hospital the day it happened that "Rafi said I would get a cast." When he saw her permanent cast on Monday, he must have asked me 100 of the most analytical questions, i.e. How does she keep it dry in the bath?" That's my boy. He's all about the process.

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Random comment from Rafi last week, out of nowhere: "Sean at my school knows what a hedgehog looks like." 

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Sam still doesn't say many words, but he uses the ones he does have all the time. "Bah" (ball) and "doggie" are our constant companions. He also says "mama" but it means "I want something" rather than meaning me. He also seems to say Daddy, but it's hard to distinguish from doggie. Doggie still emphatically means dog, but can also be used for any other animal. We still have "hiya" and "bye" and have now added the ever-popular (and adorable) "uh-oh." He use this properly, and with great sadness. 

Sam is also now able to tell you what some animals say. If asked what the doggie says, he says "fffff." (We think he's trying to team up with Emma in his class - she says doggies say "Woo!") He says a duck says "ka" or sometimes just "k," and sheep emphatically say "baaaaaa." When you ask what a lion says, he opens his mouth real wide (presumably, just like we do) and very, very quietly says "rahr." It's very cute.

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In addition to Brian's previous mention about the high chair no longer being used in our house, we have also developed a problem with spoons. Sam LOVES spoons ("poo!") and bowls ("boh!") but has no interest in beign fed. Oh no, he must feed himself. And the messier the food, the better. Pesto tortellini? Check. Applesauce? Check. Sour cream? Check. We may have to do baths a bit more often.

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I've taken to calling Rafi The Mayor of the JCC. He loves to make grand pronouncements and get everyone to do what he says. (Sigh.) A few weeks ago, the fire alarm went off just as we were arriving at the JCC. Rafi does not like loud noises, so he was not a big fan. We dutifully waited outside (where we got to witness the infant evacuation plan, which involves throwing 5 very confused-looking babies into a crib and wheeling it outside) until the all-clear. Rafi and I dropped off Sam, then headed towards Rafi's room. We passed Kory, the director of the day care program, who asked us to tell everyone in Rafi's room that the alarm was going to go off again but that it was just a reset and not to leave. Rafi raced upstairs, flung open the door of his classroom, and declared, "EVERYBODY LISTEN. THE ALARM IS GONNA GO OFF AGAIN, BUT IT'S JUST A TEST SO DON'T LEAVE. IT'S GONNA BE VERY VERY VERY LOUD SO EVERYBODY COVER YOUR EARS. RIGHT. NOW." And every kid in the class dutifully covered their ears until the alarm stopped going off. Rafi then said, "Thank you. You can go play now." And they did. 

Happy Chanukah, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!

Chanukah Pictures

 

General Update

We've been really slow up about updating the blog lately so I'll try to give some bullet point updates:

- Rafi got two very exciting Chanukah presents.  Bubbe & Papa got him a washable coloring book.  You color it and then wash the marker off and then color it again.  It sounds cute until it's 5:45 in the morning and he won't go back to sleep because he wants to color.

- Rafi also got the complete first season of Ask This Old House.  He's very excited and wants to watch them all.  "Let's watch them fix the screen again."

- We have acquired not one but two Rafi made Chanukiot this year.  One he made at school out of a block of wood with the usual nuts glued to the top.  When it was time to sand the wood block, Rafi showed his entire class how to use the sandpaper.  He also made one at the synagogue chanukah party out of a strip of metal, some shiny rocks and the usual nuts.  We have yet to use either one for fear of a fire or melting of the chanukiah.

- Sam seems to have decided that he wants to do what Rafi does but also the corolary if Rafi doesn't do it, he shouldn't have to either.  This applies to several areas.  The high chair appears to be on its way out.  At Marsha's direction, I got out the booster seat out and he'll sit in that and eat at the table but no high chair.  What he really wants is to sit at the little table with Rafi so he can climb on and off the chair.  Also, Rafi's food is clearly better than his - same food but it tastes much better from Rafi's plate. 

- We have a third scotch drinker but we seem to be losing #2.  No Marsha is neither #2 or #3.  Rafi won't drink it any more but Sam is fine with sticking his fingers in my scotch.

- We had the Alperippows and Mordfin-Matars over Sunday night and we made latkes and suffaniyot and had roaring time.  I'm not sure what is so exciting about a bag of 200 plastic balls but kids just seem to love to dump them out and kick them everywhere.  (fwiw, both of these families need Secret Service code names so I can don't have to type "Alperippows" and "Mordfin-Matars". )

- Shelby and Michal came over last night with Elan and we've come to the conclusion that kids need a mute button. 

-BRN

We're quite late in giving an update.  Here is a good family photo or at least the best photo we got.  I think this may be the 1st real family photo with all 4 of us. 

- BRN

Thanksgiving 08

n.b.  I meant to save this post and finish it later but I posted it live instead.  It is now complete.

As usual we went to St. Louis for Thanksgiving.  This year however was Noah Oberlanders's Bar Mitzvah and so everyone was there including Bubbe & Pappa and Aunt Mindy, Uncle Ronen, Maddy & Ari.  We also had the whole Medow-Oberlander-Licht-Other Medow-Other Oberlander, etc. families.  We stayed as usual at Sima and Mike's but Sima counted that 20 people stayed at their house including 4 couples and 12 children.  The good news was that both kids slept well and the presence of other children who could turn on the TV meant Rafi didn't wake us up in the morning - he just went with the flow.  [note to self: teach Rafi to turn on the TV and watch This Old House - BRN] 

It was an even wild and crazier weekend than usual.  We got there on Wednesday and the drive down was not great but could have been worse.  Rafi was OK in the car thanks to the DVD player.  Sam was not quite as happy and either Marsha or I spent a lot of time turning around to try to amuse him.  We had to stop 3 times.  It is about time to get Sam his own DVD player.  Thursday was Thanksgiving and the kids basically spent several hours trashing the Medows basement.  Luckily their actual grandchildren helped in the trashing so their was plenty of blame to go around.  Later, the kids played guitar hero.  I'm not sure if Rafi was actually playing or just playing if you get my drift.

Here is a cute picture of Sam and Noah.

 

 Part of the basement trashing also involved football helmets as you can see below.  Rafi had a great time with Isaac Medow who is a couple of months older than him and they were thick as thieves the whole weekend.
 

Friday night and Saturday were the actual bar mitzvah and we don't have any pictures of that but Noah did a great job.  Rafi and Sam got to go up with me to open the ark and Rafi even got to help sing Adom Olam at the end. 

Saturday night was the big fun - the party.  They rented out one of the JCC's and the kids had the run of the place including food, basketball, football, a blow up bungee game and the wii room.  Rafi stayed up way way past his bedtime but he had a great time. While we were there the fire alarm went off, probably because of the cotton candy machine.  Rafi the leader without a following as usual, was yelling, "It's a fire alarm - everyone find your exits".  Of course, he was not in his J where he knows where the exits are so he was sort of running around looking until I took him and Isaac up to the exit. 

Lastly, Sam made a new friend this weekend.  Ebbets the dog. Sam pretty much chased him around the whole time saying "Doggie Doggie" until he decided to start calling "ebeh ebeh" in an attempt to get Ebbets to come.  Several times either Ebbets gave in or adults held him and so you get pictures like this of Sam hugging Ebbets.

-BRN