Random pictures and Aviva's varying emotions.

Some of Aviva's words:

flowen= flower

showen= shower

fingin = finger

towen = towel

noo-ins = noodles

elphen = elephant

Noah's words:

chwoah-wa = troll and drawer

dinorina = diarrhea

Notes from recently

Noah's therapist did a magic trick with Noah and Noah thought it was the funniest thing ever. They were looking at a cell phone or something, and Matt said suddenly, "Look over there!!!!" and when Noah turned away, he took the cell phone and hid it. It was the weirdest thing how suddenly the cell phone was gone! Wow how weird. Then he said it again, "Wait Look at that!!" and when Noah turned again, he put back the cell phone.

He was trying to teach Noah how to do it, with Aviva, but Noah kept forgetting major parts of it. That was great fun, with the trick being played on Noah and also with Noah trying to play the trick.

Noah said the other day that he already let me knowed.

Both Aviva and Noah were taking turns spinning in the office chair, around and around and around. Then they'd stop and try to walk but it was like a drunken stagger because they were dizzy. They both liked that a lot and kept wanting to do it again. "Spin! Spin!"

Aviva now says the word "yes" in addition to "uh huh." 

When I clean Aviva's hands or wipe away some dirt or something, she doesn't like that and she puts the dirt back afterwards. It's like I'm cleaning her and she has some "uncleaning" to do. She also wipes away kisses and hugs.

When Aviva plays with her dolly and she reads to her, she says, "putta putta putta putta." I'll include a picture.

Noah can't say "th" for "thirteen", so he skips it. He says 11, 12, 14, 15... He can't say "three" so he says "twee." We were trying to help him say it and it would only come out as "flutteen" or "twahteen". Otherwise he goes from 12 to 14.

When I was putting Noah to bed the other night, he said I could sleep in his room if I want, and he would make space for me. He scooted over on his bed and showed me how much space I could have. He said there was room for me, if I wanted to. But just if I wanted to.

And, by the way, he really loves pickles.

Both he and Aviva love hiding things, even behind their back. I'll say "where's the key? I wonder where is the key!" and then they'll open a hand and show me, and I'm happy and excited and they think it's so funny and so much fun. Again. And again.

Same thing with them hiding in the curtain or under a blanket -- it's such a fun game every time and they want to repeat and repeat. A new variation is with them hiding a key under a bowl. There are 3 or 4 paper bowls and they can hide things under them when they are upside down. They want me to guess - where is the key now? I guess and they keep saying "no" until I pick the correct bowl. They do not tire of this and it's so funny every time.

Where could Noah be? I wonder where is Noah!

Fort Bragg and ice-cream three times

Here are some highlights and memorable things from our weekend trip to Fort Bragg and Mendocino:

• We went to the book art exhibit at the Marin moca museum and had a picnic outside with dorian
• We drove to Fort Bragg and both kids slept on the drive, and we listened to a podcast
• We walked to the glass beach and played with sand and some beach glass
• We went to a great playground there and did a lot of swinging and cooking and making an ice cream store and a toy store and balancing on a balance beam.
• We walked back to the house we stayed at, and Noah and I walked backwards and with our eyes closed
• We went to a Chinese buffet for dinner and it was totally junk food but I liked it a lot. Lots of fried food and ice cream for dessert and watermelon and sesame balls
• At Katherine's house the kids played in the hammock and with different things in Katherine 's house and talked with Katherine also
• The drive to the Bob and Pam's house is so beautiful.
• We went for a hike using both hiking carriers. Not a long walk but it was nice and after we had walked awhile we sat down and just chilled outside in the grass. 
• We went to the light house and walked up all the stairs - 120 or something. Aviva was in the hiking carrier but Noah really walked the whole way
• Dinner at Pam and Bob's with really good food and we saw seals and the beach from their house and grilled nectarines for dessert, with creme fraise and ice cream.
• All weekend Noah peed in new places
• General rule for Noah - if he asks permission he can do it (whatever IT is) and when I say stop, he'll stop.
• Earlier, Noah told me that when he wears his helmet he can't yawn.
• We got fish and chips for dinner at a little place by the dock that gave it to us in baskets
• Also he mentioned that paper is usually white, but the paper towels that are brown were colored brown with food coloring
• "Recently" definition- Noah wanted to know what it looks like or how long is it... I said it depends on what you're comparing it to, but he doesn't know what comparing means... If we talk about something happening recently, it depends on the comparison to say how much space between your hands
• We got ice cream on Monday night and Noah had his own cone and she had her own cup and it was so good... Afterwards when we were near the car, we ran back and forth into Josh's arms and my arms - Noah would run to me and Aviva to josh and then they'd switch and we did that for a nice long time
• We popped popcorn with Katherine on Tuesday morning using her cool popper
• We did a puzzle with the alphabet for the first time, where you need to match the letter with something that starts with that letter. We'd never done it before and didn't know if it was the right level. But we did it and it was awesome - Noah did maybe 18 letters on his own!

Where could they be?

Both kids really love to hide. Repetitively, in the same places. They like to hide things and hide themselves. Again and again and again. And it's always so funny to get found! So, so funny. He hides under the blanket on his bed, and she hides in the curtain. He hides a book in one of his drawers (and he even tells me it's in one of the drawers) and she likes to hide books behind her back. They also like me to pretend to not see them. Perhaps Aviva is next to me, and she likes me to pretend I don't see her. I'll look behind her, I'll look to one side of me, I'll look right over her, and I'll keep saying I don't see her. She'll be saying "here! here!" and I'll keep saying "where?" until I finally look at her. Both kids think this is really really funny. This is the highest level of humor for them. Sophisticated, yes?

Noah likes to pick kumquats from the tree across the street. He doesn't want to eat them, but he wants others to eat them. He says it's good for the body to eat sour things (and spicy foods also) - it's like exercise. Also Aviva has a buckle toy (thank you, Abuelita!) and she loves to buckle and unbuckle it, and sometimes it's hard for her and sometimes easier. Noah says it's making her stronger. He says also running around the block will make her stronger. He's very health-conscious.

Noah's old now

We had a birthday party for Noah today. It was outside the Tilden Steam Trains, and we had a picnic and book swap and then rode the train. We invited Noah's school classmates and a bunch came, including one teacher. And a bunch of our friends came, with their kids or just them. Josh made a lot of really good food! And Nana made an amazing train cake. Here are some pictures:

This is the cake for the kids

this is what was left of the cake

Also last week we had a Passover seder at Nana and Papa's house. Noah wanted to give everyone kisses. And before we started, he was so fast asleep and we could not wake him up. Here are pictures:

Aviva loves trying on shoes:

Wearing Daddy's shoes

Wearing Noah's shoes

 Pictures from our camping trip w/Meredith et al, Kate/Margee et al: