23 Months

T minus one month and counting until Alex and Ari's big SECOND birthday! They are definitely no longer toddlers!

So what are Alex and Ari up to at 23 months?

Ari has developed into quite the independent little lady. Her favorite new word is "mine" and she uses it often to let Alex know what toys she considers "hers." Luckily, Mommy has been teaching her to be nice and share, giving Ari stickers (her favorite!) whenever she catches her doing something nice. Ari has caught on, so she tries often to be "nice" by sharing and kissing and hugging her brother. Ari is also the fashion diva, picking out her own outfits in the morning and letting Mommy know if she doesn't like a particular article of clothing. Ari recognizes several letters of the alphabet, including "O" (her favorite- she also finds it on the telephone, in books and on signs), "B," "A" and is learning "S" and "T." She likes talking on the phone, especially to Nana and Daddy. Ari's favorite free time activities include coloring, playing with stickers (she likes to put them on paper and then take them off and put them on herself!) and reading. She has started putting several words together to form short sentences, like "Alex, books please!" when she wants Alex to bring her some books (she often demands Alex bring her something or other...)



Alex takes after his daddy and has an excellent sense of direction. He will often tell us where we're heading or what we are passing (school, the grocery store, even Mommy's old high school) while we're in the car. He amazed Mommy one day by remembering where his school friend Matan's house was, weeks after we visited and in a totally different context. Alex has been forming lots of two-word sentences and is communicating very effectively. He also acts as the little disciplinarian, telling his sister, cousins, and friends "NO!" when they do something they shouldn't be doing. He got over his initial skepticism of school and now runs into the building every time we go, pushing and holding doors open for Mommy and Kira on the way to the classroom and pushing the buttons on the elevator (he knows that "B" is for basement, where their classroom is located.) This week he got his first boo-boo in school when he fell during indoor playtime. He was none worse for the wear, however, and by the time Mommy came to pick him up at the end of the day, he was happy and running around again. Alex loves his baby sister and enjoys entertaining her and helping Mommy take care of her. His favorite activities are reading books, building towers and playing with Play-Doh. Oh- and making mischief with his sister.




Speaking of which, it's been so much fun watching Alex and Ari become best friends. They really look out for each other. The first person they ask for in the morning (usually after Mommy or Daddy) is each other. On the way to their school classroom, they now insist on holding hands as they walk. If Alex lets go of Ari's hand, she reminds him with a stern "Alex, hands!" They seem to have their own language and inside jokes, as often they'll crack each other up while Mommy and Daddy look on in confusion. They like to run around the house playing chase and hide and seek and peek-a-boo with each other. If one is crying, the other often will come over and hug or "make nice." So while they have their fair share of times when they bicker, more often they are having fun with each other. And as Kira gets older, they have started to include her in the fun, showing her the ropes, offering her toys, reading books to her, making her laugh, joining her on the play mat, and explaining the toys on the exersaucer to her:

Alex and Ari both know that they are going to be "two in March" and they're looking forward to their big day- especially because they know that birthdays mean cake!!

Don't worry...we haven't forgotten about Kira. We'll have a full update on her tomorrow, her four month birthday!

Another Weekend Gone Too Fast!

Another fun weekend has passed too quickly...but we did manage to pack in lots of good times.

Saturday afternoon we took a trip to the mall to run some errands and take Alex and Ari for a ride on the indoor train. Aunt Lori met up with us, so she and Mommy took Alex and Ari on the train while Daddy waited with Kira. We also had another opportunity to use our "choo-choo" stroller, the Big Caboose. Ironically, we also rode in the caboose on the train:

Alex and Ari didn't even need the stroller for much of our mall outing, though- they preferred to hold Mommy and Aunt Lori's hands (along with the cute stuffed doggie Aunt Lori brought them):

Today we joined our group of close neighbor friends for our monthly "BBQ" (in cold weather, that means something involving food and indoors!) This month, it was a brunch at the Epsteins' house. For one of the first times, Alex and Ari were old enough to go off with the other kids and play, leaving Mommy and Daddy to enjoy conversation and yummy brunch food after Kira was fed and napping happily in her carseat.

Riley ("RyRy") and Alex...and the school bus

Marin and Alex

Alex gives Andrew a hug

This afternoon, Nana stopped by for a visit with the kids before we grilled some hamburgers outside (the weather was actually pretty mild today) and played some more with our backyard neighbors, also members of the monthly BBQ gang.

Another great weekend for the record books!

Sisterly Love

The Heavens Opened, And the Angels Rejoyced

At the risk of jinxing our good luck, Mommy is proud to announce that last night Kira slept "through the night" for the first time. Now, through the night is relative, but 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. is more than enough to make Mommy happy. Until now, Kira was getting up around 1-2 a.m. for a feed, but last night she slept through that feed. Mommy was up at 4 a.m. worried that Kira was still alive (she was, Mommy checked), doing a happy dance, and then just waiting for her to get up, but it's still an exciting accomplishment. Of course now it probably won't happen again, but we're still making progress!


Kira's accomplishment was a fitting end to a very nice, long holiday weekend. Saturday evening we had friends Taylor (who turned four on Friday- Happy Birthday, Taylor!) and Matthew (one year old) over to play for a little while before we all went to dinner at Buca di Beppo. You'd think it would be chaotic with five children and four adults, but all of the kids were amazingly well-behaved...it was our waiter and the manager of the restaurant who needed a "time out" by the end of dinner. Needless to say, we won't be going back there any time soon...but we still managed to have fun and Alex is still talking about the evening. He remembers Taylor and "the meatball" in particular. It was a really big meatball. Here is a picture of Ari wondering, "who is this little boy playing with my toys?"




Sunday afternoon, while Daddy conducted tryouts for his Maccabbi soccer team, Mommy took the kids to our friends Alex and Sydney's house for a play date. Alex and Syd are two of Ari and Alex's first friends- the mommies became friends while they were pregnant- so it was special to spend time together. Syd was captivated by Kira and Alex and Ari were equally captivated by Boomer, Alex and Syd's super-gentle doggie. Of course, Mommy forgot her camera so we didn't get any good pictures, but there's always next time.

Sunday night Nana and Poppy Jack came over to babysit while Mommy and Daddy went out for dinner by themselves for the first time in a very long time (maybe over a year?!) Mommy and Daddy had a delicious dinner and the kids got to have Nana and Poppy read them some bedtime stories.

Monday Daddy was home for the holiday so he took Alex and Ari to gym class while Mommy stayed home with Kira so that Kira could nap and Mommy could do some work. Afterwards, Daddy took Alex and Ari to the playground to take advantage of the unseasonably warm weather. Later in the afternoon, we joined Miri and Opa for an early deli dinner followed by ice cream.

Mommy didn't take many pictures this weekend, but here are a few cute ones from around the house:

Teamwork- Ari holds the stackable crayons while Alex adds more to the top

Intellectual Ari

Intellectual Alex

We were sad to see our nice long weekend come to an end but there's plenty of fun to be had during the week, too!

P.S. It's almost 8:00 in the morning and all three kids are still sleeping. Was there a full moon out last night?

Haircut for Alex (200th post!)

Alex's hair was getting rather straggly, so a few weeks ago Mommy and Daddy mentioned that he needed a haircut. We also reminded him that the kids' salon we go to has cookies at every station. So for the past few weeks, Alex has been asking "haircut? cookie?" We've been so busy we didn't have a chance to go until Tuesday, when Daddy was working late and we had a free afternoon. It was freezing rain outside (literally coating the streets with ice!) but Mommy loaded all three kids up and took them to the salon for Alex's haircut. After Alex and Ari walked into the salon very carefully, so as to not slip on the ice, while Mommy carried Kira in her carseat, Ari and Kira sat and watched Alex get his haircut. Alex was excited at first, but got a little nervous as the stylist got up close and personal with the scissors...or worse yet, the electric clippers. With a little encouragement from Mommy, though, and several cookies, he sat through the entire haircut and was very proud of the result:

Alex has been admiring himself in the mirror the past few days and showing off his new haircut. But when Mommy asked him if he wanted to go back for more, he gave an emphatic "no." Guess we'll have to remind him about the cookies when it's time to go back again!

School Pictures and Kira's Latest

Last week's theme in school was yellow. Here are pictures the teacher sent of Alex and Ari playing with yellow- learning to use scissors (!) to cut yellow paper and making yellow play doh:

Yesterday Kira discovered her hands- and can't get enough of them. Funny thing is, every time Mommy went to take a picture of her sucking on her hands, Kira would take her hands out of her mouth and give a big smile as soon as she saw the camera. And as soon as Mommy put the camera away, she'd go back to sucking her hands. After several tries, Mommy finally snuck in a shot:

Reunions

This past weekend was spent reuniting with lots of friends. Saturday afternoon we went to an Open House in honor of the new son of Kindra, one of Mommy's college friends who used to live nearby but has since moved a few hours away. Kindra and her family were back in town for the weeend, though so we got to catch up with not only her, but other college friends Khatereh and Jay, too. Alex and Ari played with Kindra's older son Henry and Khatereh and Jay's son Alex (all just a few months older than Alex and Ari) and other new friends, as the house was teeming with toddlers!

Sunday Daddy took the kids to Miri and Opa's house for brunch while Mommy went with Poppy to a bicycle swap event (Mommy is gearing up to finally achieve her goal of completing a triathlon this year!) In the afternoon, Mommy had another reunion when Navin, a friend from high school, and his family stopped by for a visit. Alex had fun playing with Navin's 3 1/2 year-old daugther Kareena while the adults caught up but Ari was in a shy mood so she hung out on Daddy's lap the entire time.

After gym class this morning, Aunt Lori brought Ozzie over for a visit, much to the kids' delight. Ari laughed as Ozzie gave her lots of kisses and Alex enjoyed chasing Ozzie around the house. Here is Aunt Lori with two of her neices/nephews...Miss Ari has been in quite the defiant mood today and refused to be in the picture (although she was happy to push the shutter button to take the picture...)
Finally, some cute pictures from this weekend:

Kira getting some lovin'

Kira in the Bumbo seat

Playmates

Spanish class was cancelled today because the teacher was sick, but it gave us the perfect opportunity to have friend Andrew over to play and try out the new table:
The mommies like to tease Ari and Andrew by telling them that this was one of their first dates...with big brother Alex tagging along to keep an eye on things, of course.

Tonight we went over to school friend Matan's house for Shabbat dinner with Matan and his family. Alex and Ari had fun seeing their friend outside of school and playing with him and his big brother Doron. They didn't eat much of their dinner, but in typical form devoured dessert. Mommy and Daddy enjoyed a yummy meal and some adult conversation while Kira napped in her carseat or drank her own dinner.

We're excited for the weekend-- TGIF!!

A New Friend for Kira

The Arking family welcomed it's newest addition on Monday, daughter Ella. Today after Mommy dropped Alex and Ari off at school, she and Kira stopped by for a visit. Just three months apart, we're hoping that Ella and Kira become close friends as they grow up. At the moment, though, Ella's tiny newborn size makes Kira look all grown up!! It's hard to believe that Kira weighed the same as Ella when she was born:

After visiting Ella and her mommy, Kira and Mommy went by the JCC to visit our friend Nancy who hadn't yet had the chance to meet Kira. We had a fun time catching up and hearing about Nancy's daughter's latest accomplishments (she's just a few months older than Alex and Ari).

Mommy had told Ari and Alex yesterday that the mailman would bring them a table today- and Alex remembered, saying "mailman, table?" on the way home from school. Sure enough, when we got home after picking Ari and Alex up from school, we found a special delivery on the doorstep:

Alex and Ari love their new table and it's a perfect size for them to eat their snack, play with play-doh and color!

Finally, Alex finds yet ANOTHER use for the multi-purpose sand pail:

More School Pictures

From last week's classes:

Ari fingerpaints with the color of the week, red (they also learned the Hebrew word for red, adon)

Alex wants to know why his teacher keeps taking his picture while he's trying to eat his snack
Alex attempts fingerpainting with the color of the week, but gets more on the newspaper than on the craft paper!
Ari in the kitchen
Arts and crafts time
Alex plays peek-a-boo with his crush, Abbie
It's hard to tell Ari and Abbie apart!

School Pictures

Every week, Alex and Ari's teacher, Morah Sondra, sends us pictures from class. Last week she started sending them in a format that allows us to share them on the blog. Here are some from two weeks ago:

The class making frosted graham crackers (the older girl is Morah Sondra's daughter, who was off of school for the day)

Adam and Ari frosting graham crackers
Alex drives a car in the bike room (indoor play area)
Ari's finished making her frosted graham crackers Alex and Abbie do arts and craftsMoriah, Ari, Alex and Abbie use glue (amazing Alex isn't eating it, at least not in this picture...)Alex eating frosting- that's Mommy's boy!

Three Months

Kira turned three months old today! Unfortunately, we did not get to do much to celebrate during the day as freezing rain was falling outside, leading schools to open two hours late and cancelling our Spanish class. So we spent the morning indoors in our PJ's, staying warm and keeping ourselves entertained.

Alex and Ari play with Kira in her crib

The birthday girl

Three Amigos

Alex loves his little sister

So what is Kira up to at three months? She continues to give us lots of smiles- she's one of the happiest babies we've ever seen and only cries when she's hungry or tired. She is awake more during the day now, which also means that it's a little harder to count on her sleeping quietly in her carseat through Alex and Ari's activities. Unforunately, she's not sleeping through the night yet...her long stretch of sleep seems to be from 6 p.m. until midnight, which is a nice 6-hour stretch but hardly the stretch Mommy and Daddy would choose if it was up to them! She then wakes up around midnight-1:00 a.m. and again around 4:00 a.m. before getting up for the day around 6:00 or 6:30. Mommy is trying hard not to feed her right away when she wakes up in the middle of the night, but there's only so long she will be soothed by a pacifier before she's in full "feed me!" mode. We (Mommy in particular) are hoping that her schedule soon adjusts to the rest of the family's...three months is a long time for Mommy and Daddy to go on short bursts of two or three hours of sleep at a time.

Other than her sleep schedule, Kira is excelling in all aspects and growing so quickly. She moved into size 2 diapers this week and fits into all of her 3-month clothing. She has excellent head control and is close to being able to roll from her back to her front. She strated laughing in earnest this week (when tickled on her tummy) and coos and "talks" quite a bit. Her hair is growing in very curly, just like her sister's.

Happy three month birthday, Kira!