No is the new Black - Day 5

I have a toddler. With that comes lots of exercise from chasing him around the house. It brings lots of detective work in trying to decipher what it is he's trying to say. It attempts to teach patience when your loving child learns the word "no". It's cute at first, and usually meaningless. "Elliot, do you want to take a bath?" "No!" That I can handle, that makes sense to me. However the word "no" has taken on new meaning. "Elliot would you like some milk?" "No!" (As he's reaching for the milk). We thought that maybe he wasn't understanding the meaning of the word and was just enjoying saying it, but at least 8 times out of 10 he's right on target. At least we're getting a glimpse of what it will be like to have a defiant teenager! He's also turned into quite the climber. We have been child-proofing more and more as he gets bigger and to be quite honest, we're running out of places to put things so that they are out of his reach. This afternoon I was sitting on the couch and he was playing in the kitchen. He likes to bang on a metal chair in our kitchen, so I let him have his fun. Things for quiet for a minute and I turned to look in the kitchen. You can imagine my surprise when I saw Elliot's head over the half wall. It clicked to me that he was standing on something and could fall. I don't think I've ever moved faster than I did into the kitchen to snatch him before he fell off the chair. I then watched him a number of times climb on the metal chair to a standing position. My heart almost stopped. Now the metal chair must be folded when someone is not sitting in it. So scary! I guess this is what I have to get used to with boys. He has no fear!

Happy Birthday Israel - Day 2

Tonight my little family visited the Dell Jewish Community Center for an Israeli Celebration, in honor of Yom Ha'atzmaut! They had seven "cities" to visit with arts and crafts at each city. We were given a passport and at each city, we received a stamp. When all our cities had been stamped we received a t-shirt from the PJ Library (the wonderful people who send us books each month). Elliot recently received the book Good Night Israel, which he wants read to him at least 10 times a day. The book takes us on a trip through Israel, stopping at all of the sites. It's really cool. We were hopeful that the "trip" tonight would jog his memory of all of the places in his book. Wishful thinking on mommy's part. He was too distracted by all of the older kids running around, and all of the other little kids, and all of the things to destroy, and all of the places to run!!Unfortunately, it was poorly conceptualized by the JCC folks and even more poorly executed! Oh well, we got falafel, we made art and we got to see lots of other kids Elliot's age. I think the highlight for Elliot was playing outside on the Elliot-sized playground. As soon as we got home, Elliot ran for his book. I'm sure after the 500th reading, both he and I will have it committed to memory. Only a few more reads....So, Happy Birthday Israel! You look fabulous for 64! We hope to visit you someday. And now for some pictures of my little traveler.