Samuel on Cutting the Grass and other things

On his way down to breakfast a few days ago:

Samuel: "Let me go first. I have to cut the grass" (as he picks up an empty laundry basket and holds it in front on him, on the stairs, as he descends) "the grass was so sharp yesterday, it cut me" (face completely serious) "it cut me so hard I even bled inside my bones".

At the bottom of the stairs:
"See how nice it is with the grass cut?" (while still pushing the laundry basket around the hall on his way to the kitchen)

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Plop Plop and Ding Dong are making quite a come back. Plop Plop has blue hair and is a boy, Ding Dong is a girl with yellow/orange/red hair. They travel a lot. They also say mean things, bad words and stick out their tongues, but Samuel is quick to tell them not to do that.

Tonight I was introduced to Plop Plops mother, her name is Poo Poo. I couldn't help but laugh, to which Marc said, "Don't laugh" but Samuel responded by saying "It's OK to laugh Mom, Plop Plop's mom is laughing too". I guess with a name like that you'd need to laugh.
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Samuel got a couple lego sets for his birthday and he makes some fantastic structures / ships / creations. His designs are impressively symmetric and explanations of them are very creative. He has made Mexico, pyramids, spaceships, firetrucks, boats, kings, house-truck-boats. He plays with them for hours, but gets frustrated when they don't stick as firmly as he'd like.

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The Christmas season has resulted in Samuel asking a lot of questions about Christmas, why we don't celebrate, why we don't have a tree or lights, who Santa Claus is. The answer invariability is about us being Jewish and celebrating other holidays like Rosh Hashana, Purim, Hanukah, etc, I list all of them for him, but what he seems fixated on is Halloween (which doesn't really make it on the list of "Jewish" holidays).


On our way to pick up my grandmother a few weeks ago, he asked "Is Babby Jewish?", I said yes, and he responded "Oh good, then she celebrates Halloween"

And last night at dinner as we were enjoying the last of the Halloween candies, he came up with a creative suggestion "We should save these candies, and get a tree, and decorate it for Halloween, and put candies on it. Is that a great idea?"

Matthew's first movie

We took Matthew and Renee to their first movie today, Yogi Bear, and of course Samuel came too as did Regi.

It was the 3D version and Matthew LOVED it. Sat, legs crossed, glasses on for the entire hour+ movie, with brief dancing interludes when Yogi danced and Matthew joined in.

True to her character Renee sat for no more than 10- minutes at a time, Regi's lap, my lap, the floor, the stairs, going out to get more popcorn, etc.

Matthew still seated after the movie

Renee's First Clothing purchase

We went shopping for new winter boots, although if you were a passer by you would have thought I was torturing Matthew and Renee. I tried to soften the experience of shopping by bribing them with new socks. Both took me up on the socks, and Renee also asked for this outfit. "Mami, Nene want it pink petty. Mami buy". No boots were purchased.

Peer Pressure Already???

Samuel went to his friend J's birthday party this weekend. He asked me to get him clothes that would make him look so good, handsome and cool, like sweat pants.

As gift wrapping, I usually do craft or white paper and let the kids draw on it for decoration. Samuel asked me to write a very tender message to his friend on the package. When we got to the party he asked me to not show anyone the present, he only wnated J to see the message.

Tonight, as he was brushing his teeth, I asked him if he wanted to get his haircut. He said "No, because then my friends won't like me with short hair. They'll come to me and smell me like this (sniff, sniff) and say 'you're stinky with short hair' and 'short hair is stinky' and I like my friends so I don't want to get my haircut".

There you have it. The beginning of peer relationships and perceived peer pressure.

Plop Plop and Ding Dong's Role in Creation

I bet most of you didn't know that Plop Plop and Ding Dong helped Gd with creating the world. "Honest, they did" says Samuel "they helped make the platform for the dinosaurs. The Dinosaurs tested the platform Plot Plop and Ding Dong made with Gd to see if it was wobbly, and when it wasn't wobbly then people came". How does Samuel know this, you ask? "I know because Gd told me yesterday"

And did you know that "aliens come in round ships from space? But sometimes they come from the water because that's where they live. Or they can come from earth and live there"

The best news though is that tomorrow when Samuel goes to school he'll be telling his friends that we (Marc and I) are nice. This was a change from earlier in the evening when we told him that he couldn't watch Scooby Doo, at that point he was going to tell his friends that we were mean, and they were going to attack us and kill us for real.

And that's a fairly typical bout of bed time tales. Good night.

Happy Hanukkah

The first night of Hannukah we had "sufganiot" (jelly stuffed donuts, or in our case Timbits). Matthew fell in love. The next morning, he woke up talking about "suganiot". Judging from the furniture found in the kitchen, he brought a chair from the living room to the kitchen, climbed on the chair to get to the leftover Timbits. And judging from the smile on his face and Timbit in each hand, he succeeded. But that's not all. Being the loving and generous soul that he is, he gave one to Renee and one to Samuel. And then, buckled into his car seat, he realized he had none left for himself and the tears began to flow. He cried and cried "Mafew want suganiot, Mafew love suganiot, Samel and Nene hav suganiot". He calmed down enough to ask for more and thankfully we still had another small piece in another box. He was happy as can be after that. When I picked them up at day care, Matthew re told the story "Mafew lov suganiot, Mafew no suganiot, Mafew cry suganiot, Mafew eat suganiot, Mafew cry suganiot" etc.

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Samuel: "I'm Jewish. Matthew are you Jewish?"
Matthew: "No, Mafew Baman (Batman)"

Me: "Matthew, is Samuel Jewish?"
Mathew: "Yeap"

Me: "Matthew, is Daddy Jewish?"
Mathew: "Yeap"

Me: "Matthew, is Renee Jewish?"
Mathew: "Yeap"

Me: "Matthew, am I Jewish?"
Mathew: "Yeap"

Me: "Matthew, are you Jewish?"
Mathew: "No, Batman"

Reflections on NaBloPoMo

23/30 isn't bad. Reflecting on this year's November gets me thinking of last year's NaBloPoMo, and the previous year's and of what next November will hold.

Will Matthew still be as exuberant as he is today? Will he be euphoric, generous and loving, except when things go wrong, will he loose it like he does when he's 2?

Will Renee continue to be independent and intelligent, staying out of her brothers' way when their play is physical and rambunctious, but always eager to egg them on?

Will Samuel's hands loose the last little bit of baby fat? Will he still have the most fantastic imagination and gift for telling tales?

Will their interactions be as hilarious as they are today? Will the boys be as tight as they are? Will Matthew and Renee will kiss each other?

Stay tuned for NaBloPoMo 2011 . . .

(and some posts between now and then)