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!

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.

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!

Block City

Ariel has a new favorite passion: blocks. In fact, at his checkup today at the well baby clinic, he was asked to stack three blocks -- to see if he was "on par" developmentally. He stacked six. We're so proud! Ariel loves his book "Block City," a beautifully illustrated version of the Robert Louis Stevenson poem -- and he likes to act it out as well! But on the shopping list for our upcoming trip to the US is a set of wooden blocks.

"Block City"

by Robert Louis Stevenson


What are you able to build with your blocks?

Castles and palaces, temples and docks.

Rain may keep raining, and others go roam,

But I can be happy and building at home.




Let the sofa be mountains, the carpet be sea,

There I'll establish a city for me:

A kirk and a mill and a palace beside,

And a harbour as well where my vessels may ride.




Great is the palace with pillar and wall,

A sort of a tower on the top of it all,

And steps coming down in an orderly way

To where my toy vessels lie safe in the bay.




This one is sailing and that one is moored:

Hark to the song of the sailors aboard!

And see, on the steps of my palace, the kings

Coming and going with presents and things!




Now I have done with it, down let it go!

All in a moment the town is laid low.

Block upon block lying scattered and free,

What is there left of my town by the sea?




Yet as I saw it, I see it again,

The kirk and the palace, the ships and the men,

And as long as I live and where'er I may be,

I'll always remember my town by the sea.
(1913)

Ariel goes to "camp"

Ariel really likes his new camp t-shirt -- even though he won't be old enough to come to camp until the summer of 2011!

Ariel had an amazing day (and a good way to stay alert long enough to discourage jetlag) when he joined Ima and the Ramah Jerusalem Day Camp (with Abba in tow) at Kiftzuba!

Ariel loved the ball pit and the ride-on car area -- so much so that he tried to ride a Little Tikes cozy coupe all around the grounds!

The day wouldn't have been complete without a few rides down several "wheees" (as Ariel calls slides), ice pops & potato chips, a ride around the Kiftzuba train with Abba, and bouncy castles (which, while they originally frightened Ariel, quickly became a place for him to practice -- quite happily -- his first somersaults)! Ariel really had a blast! The campers also enjoyed plying a very willing Ariel with treats, prizes from the arcade, and more!

Below:

Ariel and Abba wave from the train!

In Ariel's words:

"Oh, cain! Oh, cain!"

"Bye bye"

Ayyeh, Merca, aypaym, abba

Ariel's now quite a jet-setter. He just landed in the US with Abba after a long flight (yes, alone with Abba -- good job, Sam!). He's going to celebrate, be"H, his uncle Yechiel's wedding this week. Ariel was very excited to go to the airport, where he saw lots of "aypayms" and then got to have french fries for breakfast with Abba. He was a good boy all the way through London and to Philly, and is now getting reacquainted with Bubbie and Zaydie -- and with the ground. Luckily for Abba, Ariel was able to sit in an empty seat on both flights. Now if only that luck continues in August when Ima takes Ariel to Merca.

Upon arrival, Ariel and Abba were greeted by Bubbie and Zaydie, and drove to Lakewood. Ariel was a good boy and slept on the ride, and before bed had a treat: chicken soup and parve "eyekeem."

Conversation with Ima on the phone at about 11 p.m. Lakewood time:

Ima: Hi Ariel
Ariel: MIMA!!!
Ima: Ima loves you very much.
Ariel: MIMA!!! eyekeem
Ima: Did abba give you ice cream?
Ariel: yeah
[in the background: Abba: Ariel, do you love ice cream?]
Ariel: Yeah. eyekeem. MIMA!!!
[in the background: Abba: Ariel loves ice cream and Ima. Ariel: yeah]
Ima: is the ice cream good?
Ariel: Yummmmmmmmmmmmmm. Eyekeem!

Not that this is exactly Shakespeare, but it gives you a sense of what it's like to carry on a conversation with an overtired 21 month old.