Still growing...

This is a picture of me with my cousins Estee and Batya. Estee is five and a half and Batya is four. I went to their house in Modiin for Shabbat with Ima while Abba was away in 'Merca. My cousin Yosef, who is six months older than me, was there too, but he was sleeping. Here we are all dressed up for Shabbat. In a very pre-schooler sort of way, that is -- and eating fish sticks...

Well, I'm now really getting this "two" thing. I can throw a temper tantrum like you wouldn't believe, I can put on my own sandals (not on the right feet, but I can get them on nonetheless), and I can take my socks off. I'm not interested in the potty yet (except in putting toilet paper into the potty and flushing it every time I walk by... and using it as a stool to reach the sink so I can wash my hands).

I am speaking in clear three and four word sentences these days -- and in Hebrew too. I say things like לא רוצה and אמא עושה לי and די מסוכן and מי זה and מה זה

In English, I make jokes and think about my day even after Ima puts me to sleep. The other night I spent ten minutes shouting "Ego (Diego), Dora, Boots" before I fell asleep. Ima thinks I was replaying the episode in my head. I also point out when things are "funny." They make me laugh!

I am really enjoying my gan too -- we have a lot of fun and special activities each week. On Mondays there is a rhythmica teacher who comes to teach us songs and movement and dances, and on Wednesdays we get to hear stories about animals and meet a new one each week. Last week we met gerbils!

Finally, I wanted to let you all know that I can count to fourteen. It goes like this:
free, four, five, six, veven, nine, ten, eveven, ten, fourteen.

Two!

It's been hard to do any updating around here. Every time I turn around it's "no, we don't watch t.v. today, because it's Chag/Shabbat/Chag/Shabbat." So I did what any two year old would do: I said "movie?" as if that were any different! So no, I haven't watched a lot of Dora, Thomas, or Elmo over the last two weeks, but I did have another major accomplishment. I turned TWO!

My secular birthday was October 8, but it wasn't much fun this year because it was on Erev Yom Kippur. So I went to shul and tried really really hard to listen quietly, but then Ima took me outside because I was "fussy." I was doing pretty well for a two year old, thank you! It WAS my birthday (one of them, anyway) after all! I think Ima was fussy, so I ran outside and she listened to the davening from there. Then Abba came outside too and we listened together, and then we went home and Ima and Abba and I all went to sleep at my bedtime.

On my Hebrew birthday, 17 Tishrei, I had a party. Uncle Erik was there, and my friends Avi and Aviv and Lia and Eliana and Gilad (and his brother Eyal) came over and we colored, played with playdough that Ima made, and ate train (and airplane, motorcycle, and car) shaped pasta, and then went to the sukkah for a yummy cake that Ima made. It was shaped like a CHOO CHOO TRAIN! And boy was I excited! I also liked my presents!!!

The next day we went on a trip up north. It wasn't much fun, but I got to see my cousins Yosef and Batya and Estee, and to ride on a bus. Oh, and Abba let me eat some gee-gums (gummies). They were yummy!

Fan, outside!

I find it funny when things aren't in their places. So yesterday, I noticed that one of our fans was on the balcony (it is kinda cool out now).

So I pointed it out:

Fan, outside! HAHAHAHAHAHA!
Fan, outside! HAHAHAHAHAHA!

This went on for about 20 minutes, and I got Ima and Abba to laugh too.

I made a joke.

Hooray for pee-pee!

After a few weeks of experimenting with sitting on his special potty, but not actually using it, Ariel had his first "I can do it myself" pee today.

We're all very excited -- especially Ariel, who got a sticker for his efforts.

Shocking, revealing photos of Ariel on his potty will follow shortly...

Happy New Year!

Run

I walked home from ma'on (daycare) today.

I just didn't want to be in the stroller -- "AYYEH" wanted to do it himself.

Actually, to be exact, I ran home.

Since I like to give play by play of what I'm "doin', I said "run" and then ran about 5 yards/meters. Then I stopped and waited for Ima's permission to run again, pumping my arms the whole way. I had to hold Ima's hand to cross the street, which I did not like ONE bit). I had fun running, and then fell promptly asleep for a 3+ hour nap!

I also like to walk. And to take my puppy for a walk. I command it to "WALK" and then sometimes get frustrated when his leash gets tangled around his neck or ear or foot.

By the way, if you're keeping track, I started walking about 11 months ago. On October 24th 2007 (ring a bell? I did it for Ima and Abba's wedding anniversary!), I took my first steps without the help of the coffee table or someone's legs or hands.

Now I run, jump (on both feet), climb all the way up the steps to our apartment without holding on, walk down stairs (holding the railing or the wall -- though I can do the bottom two steps without holding on!), climb ladders in the playground, and I haven't met a jungle gym I didn't like!

Moon bubbles

This morning when I woke up, I ran to the balcony. (I provided the script, too, saying "run" as I was doing it.)

When I got there, I looked up. And I reported what I saw to Ima.

"Moon bubble. Up. Yook."

In other words, I could see the moon, and it looked like a bubble. And it was, in fact, up. And I wanted Ima to look at it. Ima says it's because it was just a full moon, but all I know is that it looked like a bubble.

Yesterday, I reported from the balcony too.

"Copper. Up. Yook. 'pin. More."

Helicopter. Up -- look! It's spinning. Can I see more?

I really do mean for my words to be strung together in what Ima calls sentences, but I still put a full stop between each word. It's hard to learn a language or two.

My playdate with Avi

My friend Avi came over today after gan to play. He hadn't been to my house before -- but I've been to his house twice for Shabbat. It was more fun today because we could also watch Elmo!
Avi is about two months older than me, and he's even taller than I am! But Ima says that we were destined to be friends because Avi came to visit me in the hospital when I was born, and his mommy had been in the same hospital room (and bed) when Avi was born! So we have a lot in common!!! We also both like raisins, veggie puffs, and macaroni and cheese. Not to mention Elmo, trains, and making messes.

We had a lot of fun! Before Avi left, we hugged and said bye bye, and then I waved bye bye to Avi from the balcony for about 15 minutes. Ima says Avi was probably home by the time I came inside and stopped shouting "AVI, BYE BYE!!!"

Come back soon, Avi!

Up up up aypaym

I am home. I had such a good time with Nana, Poppy, and David, but it was so nice to give my Abba a big hug when he met us at the airport. It was a long flight, but I was lucky and had an empty seat all to myself. I shared it with Elmo. I watched Dora, Diego, Clifford, and Curious George on the videos, and slept for over seven hours. Ima was impressed. I think that mean she had a booboo where I pressed on her for seven hours. Not sure.

Here I am in the Newark airport waiting for our flight to Tel Aviv. It was delayed an hour. I met another boy my age named Adiel, and we played with our toys and had races back and forth. We had fun and our Imas and Abba's got to chat too.

Eleven hours later, here is our aypaym. Ima took the picture after we walked off the plane and while we were waiting for my stroller and car seat. Our plane is the one attached to the building.

And here I am with my stroller and car seat, after my long nap! Abba, here I come!!!!

Next time we go to Merca, Ima and Abba said that I will have to get my own seat for real..... because I'll be a big boy then.

Last days in Merca

I went with Ima and Nana to Downtown Miami (where the signs all say DWNTWN -- hey, I'm trying to learn to read here!).We went on a train (the People Mover) and then went to the Historical Museum of South Florida. Here I am with an old cannon, playing in a real trolley from a long time ago, and playing my favorite game of "in" and "out." I put all the toy foods into the washbasin, got in, and then threw the toy foods out! FUN!!! Ok, I put two toy oranges in the cradle with the teddy bear, but the other foods in the washbasin.

When we got home, I said my first three word sentence that didn't have the same word repeated three times (like up up up aypaym!). I said "Mima, Ayyeh in." Which means Ima, Ariel wants to come into the room with you. Of course, Ima was in the bathroom, so Ayyeh didn't get in. No no no. I also say "Ayyeh" when I want to do something myself now. And I can repeat pretty much anything -- except balloon -- so my list of words is a bit outdated. I do say lots of new words and phrases on purpose though: wait, okay, in, on, out, off, hug, again, "baby cry," and eyyo (hello) are a few of my new favorites. I can also say "Diego" for "Go, Diego, Go."

Dayday, as you all should know by now if you've been reading my blog, is one of my favoritest people in the whole wide world. He lets me play outside with the hose! Here we are taking a break from spraying the hose on me, and then there's a picture of me IN the laundry basket taking water OUT of a big bowl. My favorite game meets water!


And here I am with Nana, Poppy, and Dayday just before leaving for the airport. Thank you for exhausting yourselves chasing me around. I had a blast! Come visit me soon!!!! I'll share my cookies.

"Bye bye. Hug. Mo hug. Ayyeh aypaym. Mima. Up up up. Home. Abba."

Bath?

My new favorite game is "IN." I like to go in things. Of course, sometimes I want to go "in" to the backyard, which is really "out," but everyone understands what I mean. I also like to go "in" the sink for a bath! I just fit (Nana's sink is Ariel-sized), and I can play with bubbles and spoons and measuring cups, and fling bubbles at the clean dishes (that's Nana's favorite part). Then I get all clean and no one's back hurts! It's a good thing.

After my bath I curl up on the couch in my pajamas. Sometimes I get to watch Sesame Street or Diego or Elmo's World. I think a toddler (or a toddler's frustrated parents?) might have invented "Cable On Demand." Because I say "ELMO" and there it is -- on demand!

Good night!

Sammy lets Ariel get closer!

My Nana says that Sammy isn't the brightest cat in the world. That's ok -- he LOVES me! And that makes him very very very smart. Ima even held Sammy on my lap so I could "hold" him! It was such fun!

This spoon is called a fork

When I want to eat ice cream or Cheerios, I ask for my "poom." But that's not what I really want. I want the one with the spikes. The one my Ima says is called a fork. That's ok, I'll still call it a spoon. And as long as I can get the ice cream (ok, the Tofutti) into my mouth, does it really matter if I use a fork?

Oh, and my tummy doesn't hurt anymore. I've stopped screaming incessantly. Ima and Nana figured out that I'm lactose intolerant. I drink special milk and take vanilla flavored "crackers" and then I can eat whatever I want. Yum.

Playtime!

Nana and Ima braved the Aventura Mall just to take me to this fun play area. Ok, they braved it at 1 p.m. when all the kids were in school and people were supposed to be at work, so it was sort of empty. I only had to share with a few kids, but they thought I spoke Spanish. I didn't, so I ignored them and went down the slides and played mostly by myself and with Nana and Ima. After about a half hour, Ima said I was "cooked" and so we left.




Then we went to the supermarket (again) and I got to ride in the supermarket car (again) and drive the cart (again). We go the supermarket a lot. I don't mind -- they give me balloons at the checkout, I get to look at balloons through the whole store (yes, the WHOLE store!). I scream "llyaum" "llyaum" (I sound Welsh) every time I see one. Ima asked me to say "ba" and I said "BA" and then she asked me to say "loon" and I said "yoon." She asked me over and over, and I said "ba" "yoon" "ba" "yoon." But then she said "Ariel, say balloon."

I said:

"llyaum"

In Florida!

I'm really enjoying my trip to Florida. Florida is in Merca. In Florida there are stores, tropical storms, toy cars, bristle blocks, cats who actually let me pet them, and my favorite person in the whole world: DAYDAY! Dayday is Uncle David. But I can't say David. I can only say Dayday. And I shout it -- all the time -- looking for "Dayday." Here I am with Dayday playing with my new BUS! I love my bus. It has three "men" - one driver, one boy, and one girl. But I call them all "men" and also use them to drive boats and cars made out of bristle blocks. Ima showed me how to do that. It's fun.

Here I am with Dayday at the Fishing Hall of Fame: And here we are pretending to catch fish in the children's room. It was also fun to steer the boat!
I've done other things in Florida too. Nana lets me play with playdough, and paint, and things. I like to paint pictures of "aypayms" -- both of my pictures here are of airplanes, if you can't tell (I made Ima write my name on one airplane picture in gold paint, because it was shiny). I like to point out the A in my name. I also like to mix paints to see what happens, which Nana says is ok because I'm learning things about the world and because the paints only cost a dollar. I don't know what a dollar is, but it must not be a lot! I have a lot of fun making messes -- and then Nana cleans me up in the kitchen sink, because I'm just too messy to go up the stairs to the bath!

I think I'm pretty good at painting, don't you? Maybe I'll be an artist one day!

Bubbie and Zayde Ser come to visit

My Abba isn't with us, but Bubbie and Zayde still came to visit! Here's Bubbie playing Bristle Blocks with me while I drink from my new Tigger cup.

And here we are making a block tower while Dayday watches!
And here I am spouting my wisdom -- showing Bubbie how I can make water come out of my cup by turning it upside down. I'm learning about gravity.
And here's Zayde on the phone with my Abba. I also like to talk on the phone to Abba. I say "eyyo" "eyyo" "ABBA!!!!!!!!!" and the mostly say "yeah" and "no" when Abba asks me things. Zayde said more than that!
Bubbie is really good at building Lincoln Log trains. She makes them and I throw them off the tracks. We're a good team!

Florida cats are different

I like cats. But cats usually don't like me so much. Except for Sammy Cat. Sammy Cat is Nana and Poppy's cat, and Sammy Cat LOVES me. He lets me pet him, make nice, play with his toes, give him hugs, and even lick his ears. Yeah, well, I wanted to know why he did it all the time! They felt funny on my mouth! He lets me kiss him on the nose and almost let me ride him a few times. I try to feed him crackers, apples, cheerios, my pacifier, and my milk. He only likes the milk.

Gizmo is the other cat. He pretty much keeps to himself... Nana says he's smart. I don't know what she's talking about!