Passover with Cousins

The first seder fell on a Saturday night, so we decided to spend it in Chico with my cousins whom we rarely see because they live so far away. Wendy and Eddie are my first cousins, children of my Aunt Judy z"l (who just passed away 3 weeks ago) and Uncle Ron. We were raised 8 houses apart and spent 13 years closely united.

Not able to take any time off from work, the 3 of us flew to Sacramento at 8:30 PM on Friday. We spent the night with Eddie, his wife of almost 5 years!!! Jeannie, and Jacob (almost 4). Hadarya is an amazing traveler who slept the entire plane ride, transferred to the car, and then to a new bed on the floor at their house. We had a delightful morning playing in their beautiful house and getting to know Jacob. Hadarya and Jacob played so well together!

We borrowed their car and drove just under 2 hours to Chico to be with Wendy, Cassidy (9) and Callie (4). It was a fun, busy, 24 hours in Chico! Hadarya could not enough of playing with the big girls. She really loved Callie's kitchen and slide.




Callie was amazing at sharing her toys and really had a ball with Hadarya. She enjoyed the goats, the hammock (but not walking across the grass to get to it!), and drawing on the sidewalk with chalk.














The seder itself was ok. It was the typical seder my dad likes to run but not so conducive to young children and not so inspiring to read words from a book. We forgot our bag of plagues and so things were rushed and hurried and the best part was dinner. Being with our family was what was important this holiday. It was great fun to watch Hadarya search for the afikomen with her cousins. She figured out how to look by watching them and grabbing something.















We drove back to Sacramento to spend the afternoon and evening before our flight with Eddie, Jeannie, and Jacob. Hadarya loved playing outside in the sandbox and exploring the stairs and new toys! Jacob was so sweet about sharing his toys and did a great job at pulling off his Spiderman mask when Hadarya needed to make sure he was still there! We flew home at 8:30 PM and Hadarya stretched across our laps and slept the whole way...into the car...and into her own bed! It was great.

Both sets of cousins are going to visit us in San Diego this summer (June and August) and we can't wait to show off the fun in our town with them. It's going to be so much fun!

G.G.'s Gift of Love

G.G. is Great Grandma Jeanne (Nana's Mom) who lives in Canada. She has never met Hadarya but showers her with cards, gifts, and handmade items anyway.

Upon her arrival into our lives, she knit a gorgeous pink and white blanket that is so big, we are saving it for her when she is in a big girl bed and needs an extra blanket. It is beautiful.

One of her favorite books is the one G.G. sent that makes animal sounds. The Pig and Rooster are going to get broken from over use!!

The latest gift... just because; is a poncho, hat, and purse that all match. The best part is that Hadarya can take them off herself! She thinks she's the big girl pulling things over her head to get changed. While trying it on today, she said "hot, hot" many times. I don't blame her...it was over 80 degrees in our house!

Thank you G.G. for your labor of love and caring about Hadarya so much!

Where did my BABY go?

Yesterday afternoon Hadarya and I were hanging out in her bedroom...well I was putting things away and cleaning up as fast as she was throwing (her new skill) toys around. I discovered a bag of uber cute summer clothes that I bought a few weeks ago but it got too cold to wear so they were stuffed in the bag in the back of the closet. It includes 2 new bathing suits for the summer.

Have you every tried to get an 18 month old to try on clothes? She doesn't like to get out of her pajamas in the morning, so why I thought she'd think this was fun is beyond me.

I managed, without difficulty, to get her in her new suit because it had fishies on it. Then she had fun saying fishy, fishy, fishy. She did not want to take it off. She put on her bright green headband and headed out of her room to the bathroom. My baby girl pulled up the step stool to the sink and pushed it against the cabinet. She grabbed her toothbrush and toothpaste and proceeded to brush her teeth.

I just stared at her. I couldn't believe that she was this 32 inch tall child standing on her own doing personal hygiene. She still likes to be cuddled...sometimes. She still likes her pacifier...all the time lately. She still babbles incoherently...most of the time. But she is no longer a BABY. She is a little girl with clear ideas, thoughts, and actions. She works hard to communicate with us, adding to her vocabulary daily, and developing a keen sense of imaginary play.

I miss the baby but I LOVE the little girl so much!

Rest Your Body - special guest post by Yiftach

The teachers at Hadarya's daycare center, the SDSU Children's Center, are responsible for putting dozens of kids down for their naps every day, so they have to have a system. The nap room is darkened, there's calming music, and it's often necessary to help the kids relax by repeating a mantra, bringing them down from their high-energy activity level to where they can fall asleep. The teachers often simply repeat "rest your body" over and over again as they pat the kids' backs or just sit next to their cots. I'm not the kind of person who can repeat a phrase like that without getting creative, so the other night, when I was putting Hadarya to bed, I came up with the following:

The Rest Your Body Song
(to the tune of Oh My Darling, Clementine)

Rest your body, rest your body, rest your body and your head,
Rest your body, rest your body, rest your body in your bed.
Rest your arms and rest your legs and rest your feet and rest your toes,
Rest your hands and rest your fingers, rest your knees and your elbows.

Rest your body, rest your body, rest your body all the way,
Rest your body, rest your body, and tomorrow we will play.

(repeat as necessary)

18 months old today

A full fledged toddler is who resides in our household now. A walking, breathing, talking, whining, smiling, toddler who knows what she wants, has a ton to say, and loves to play with us.

We are constantly amazed at her language development and skills that seem to emerge daily.

Here is a long list of the word she currently says...most of which are extremely clear. NOT in any particular order!
1. aba (daddy in hebrew)
2. more (and she signs this)
3. mama
4. stop
5. snack
6. ow
7. belly
8. pupik (belly button in yiddish)
9. eye
10. nose
11. hand
12. bye
13. duck
14. book
15. please
16. ama (for ima, hebrew for mom)
17. hi
18. up
19. nana
20. baba (saba, hebrew for grandpa)
21. hat
22. apple
23. jacket
24. doggy
25. g'pa (grandpa)
26. ball
27. baby
28. hot
29. flower
30. pee pee
31. car
32. no
33. tata (safta, grandma in hebrew)
34. ssh...with the finger to her lips
35. Hada (for Hadarya)
36. Tay (school friend)
37. Nino (school friend)
38. Babee (Gabby...school friend)
39. imba (auntie Kimber)
40. cracker
41. stuck
42. uh-oh
43. Elmo
44. cookie
45. onah (Jonah, her cousin)
46. neck


Hadarya signs please, milk, more, thank you, wash hand, blows kisses, and waves good bye in the utmost of princess fashion.

She LOVES music and insists on the radio the minute we get into the car by pointing and whining...I sure hope she learns to say radio soon! She dances and shakes to the beat. She moves her head and slaps her hands on her knees.

She does the motions to songs like Wheels on the Bus, Slippery Fish, Bim Bam, and knows the names of every one of her classmates (she can point to anyone if you ask where is______?)

She knows her body parts...eyes, nose, mouth, hands, feet, ears, neck, and we are working on tongue! She can follow one-step directions and loves helping put things away. She has become very good at tossing her diapers and turning the diaper champ. She also loves sitting on her potty and has gone several hours with dry diapers. Potty training is definitely close at hand!!

We delight in our miracle every day and every night (even when it's a sleepless one and she wakes up every few hours!). Her sunny, funny personality is a joy to be around and her social love of people makes it fun to take her out.

It's just so hard to believe that we are closer to 2 years old then we are to the infant we waited so long for. big sigh...