halloween sameach

for halloween, aviyah was the doll in the pink dress from the book, ברכבת יושבת ארנבת.

(she _really_ did not want to wear her pooh costume.)

drummer girl

we visited mommy between her classes today. there was a pretty cool drummer in the park. and a 6'5" jewish spiritual healer guy. and a drunk guy.

washington square

today, we went to washington square park. the park's a little seedy. . . it reminds me of the al pacino movie, _panic in needle park_. i know samantha would've been a little skeeved out. anyway, aviyah had fun, and she did this crazy cute circle thing.

f line

part of the fun of the trips is riding on the subway. aviyah loves to play with the people on the subway. they're really super nice to her. it's crazy how different people are with you when you have a baby. today, on our ride home, aviyah was really looking at one lady's bracelet. i'm serious, the lady took off her bracelet for aviyah to try on. then, aviyah passed it to me to try on, then she tried it on again. then, and this won her big points, she passed it back to the lady and said thank you (in sign language).

belly drum

today, aviyah and i went back to our neighborhood park. she really understands almost all of what i say in hebrew. it's not super amazing, though, because i'm not super amazing in my hebrew, yet. i am getting better and better. for so long, i've really had to think through sentences first in english. but, i'm practicing so much with aviyah, sometimes phrases and full on sentences do come straight out.

it's so wierd to think about language though. i mean, if you think in english, it's crazy but we don't even think and we can say words. it's crazy when you think about it right? you don't even know, in a way, what you're going to say when you start to speak?

one thing we're trying to work on with aviyah is to head off brattiness. she can understand so much and she's definitely got this thing where she can whine at times for something. i try really hard to let her know that i'm not going to respond to brattiness. it's tough though because we really have three different styles, so i think there's always a bit of a transition when we shift from one to the other.

it's hard in a lot of ways to watch her right after work. in all honesty, though, even though i'm incredibly tired, it really really really means a lot to me to be able to spend so much time with her. i always feel like i used to say that what i really really want to be is a really good father. i liked being in social work a lot, and i love teaching. but, i hope that what i really am is a good husband and a good father.

kettler

is german for. . . thank you papa and mom mom!!!

. . . everything's a.o.k.

uncle ryan came to visit aviyah today and shared his pictures with us!

17 months (כמעט)

aviyah is almost 17 months old. it's a little crazy to think that she's getting older, but she's really so much fun right now. she's getting bigger, and she's staying up a bit later now. i'm trying to go on little trips with her around the city in the afternoons. we have a park and a playground that is nearby that she loves, but i also want to try to expose to so many different kinds of things and people.

she visited the doctor the other day for her checkup. she is officially 21 lbs. and 29". the doctor said that she is growing and that she's right on point for her percentile. (she's getting close to the alarm button in the elevator!!!) she's definitely tiny, though. she's in the 10-25 percentile, but the doctor said that the key is that she's staying with her pattern.

it's been a bit crazy sometimes. sometimes there's pressure from things other parents say that try to seem like their baby is or was bigger because they are or were doing a better job feeding her. there's a couple of other smaller babies at the park and they definitely have said they feel the same thing. it's one of the things that parents compete about a little bit. . . i think it's a bit crazy.

i think the key thing is that every baby has their own pattern. and i know that within our circle everyone is really trying to make the very best thing happen for their baby, so i think it's hard to judge like that. that said, it's also been good because it caused us to really make sure we were doing our best to feed her all different kinds of foods and to try different ways to help make sure she eats. i just think different babies have a different pace on different things and it's hard to make a case about things so early, i think.

she is trying to say more and more words, and she gets really proud of herself when we understand what she's trying to say. her words aren't always clear though, and many of the words sound similar to each other. she says "hi" and "bye" and "park" and "momma" and "dadda". she says "milk" and "book" and "bubble" and "bath" and "gezer" (carrot). she says "par par" (butterfly) and "baby" and "bao bao" (hug). i imagine she's close to around 15 or 20 words, maybe. people say that she might be a bit delayed because of the different languages, but either way, i think it will be okay.

today, she was holding a bag and pointing and saying "bag" and "aviyah" over and over again. was she trying to trick me into thinking it was her bag? was she trying to say "aviyah's holding a bag"? was she trying to convince me to buy her one?

in our apartment building, there's about 6 or 7 other children that she sees and plays with in the backyard or in the front yard. the weather is still so nice here that she's able to play with outside. ava let her play with her purse (the bag!), and she even offered to let aviyah borrow it for the night. what a sweetheart!

she definitely understands a lot of what i'm saying in hebrew. i wonder how everything will turn out. she has said three or four words in hebrew, but usually the hebrew word for a thing is harder to say. plus, she gets crazy reinforcement in english because she hears it all around from everyone. i imagine that if i continue, she'll definitely get what i'm saying, and she'll definitely have a big leg up in making hebrew her own if she wants too. that said, i'm pretty sure she'll end up speaking english back to me. some people have mentioned that if i really want her to speak it back that i need to not respond to her if she says it in english. i'm not sure i can really do that. . . i'd really love for her to speak hebrew, but i can't go all eliezer ben yehuda.

the cutest little girl in the world

doubles

samantha is pregnant! her due date is april 1st. (yikes!)

:)