Sled, which was a flop but was a good idea

Weekend in the snow in Truckee, near Tahoe

Noah and candy

Woman's March, Oakland

We took BART to the march and it was so crowded. Everyone was going.

There were a lot of great signs (including "Trump is poop" and "Trump is stupid," which were made by some kids).

Noah brought his scooter and Aviva had her trike. We planned on joining everyone for the whole march, but just before getting there, Noah felt sick. So we hung out at the end destination and watched people arrive. He showed me how he can ride the scooter and sit down cross-legged while he's riding it, and he can keep going like that. It was fun to see so many people and so many signs. 

Veeba's birthday

(She calls herself Veeba.) She is now three years old. We've been asking her repeatedly how old she is, and often she says "two-naf" but she's getting better at saying she's three. We had a teeny party for her yesterday and here are some pictures:

Noah kindly helped Aviva blow out candles.

Josh made a lemon layer jammy cake, with frosting and pomegranites that spelled out her name.

Noah brought home some treats from school including a lollipop. (It was the birthday of a classmate, so they brought treats.) He was excited to give the lollipop to Aviva and he proudly and energetically gave it to her. She came home around dinner time, so we didn't want her to eat it right then. She said "I'm gonna do it like this:" and she sucked her thumb. She repeated this a bunch of times, showing us how she was going to eat the lollipop. She wanted to show us how.

And you know what?

Since we've returned, Noah has been telling strangers all about our trip. At the playground or anywhere we go, he finds adults and holds their hands and tells them all about Mexico. "We were half a block from the beach!" and "the pool was kind of cold but there's a fountain and it's so pretty." He's also told people about Grandma Sara passing away and how old she was. He really likes to talk, and really likes to explain things to people.

Aviva's hiding

Aviva loves hiding and she's been doing this for a few weeks and every time, it's an exciting game for her. She hides her eyes and says "Find Veeba!" Sometimes she's turned away from us, and sometimes she has her lovey over her head and sometimes she's just covers her eyes. She likes it when we pretend we can't find her.

Last night we went to the Malecon and got ice cream and Noah rode his bike. Joyce had a game she played with Aviva that kept her walking, and it distracted her from asking us to carry her the whole way, which is what she wanted. They would touch all the trees we passed, and step on all the reflector-things on the path, and walk sideways in a gallop-y way. That was called "side slide." She liked that a lot and all together, all these were things that helped her walk the almost-mile to the ice cream place.

Isla espiritu santa

We went on a boat trip to an island where you can swim with sea lions. It was awesome. The sea lions were jumping in everywhere and swimming all about. And they're super curious and playful they bite your fins one even bit my arm gently. Noah was very brave and went in the water with the sea lions. Aviva did not. On the way back, we stopped at a beach to have lunch. Most of us ate ceviche, Beebah made a tostada sandwich.

Isla Espiritu santa

I swear I have no idea how this happened

Mexico pix

She gave him a good licking

Yesterday we went on a trip. Joyce joined us and we all took a boat ride to Espiritu Santo, a nearby island. We saw sea lions and got to swim with them! We had snorkling stuff and had lunch on a little private beach. both kids napped in our arms on the boat ride here or there. at one point, Noah was asleep and Aviva was awake. she pointed to him and said he was sleeping, then she licked his face. She wanted to do it again but I stopped her. He didn't wake up so he didn't have a problem with it, I guess. 

Soon I'll add pictures and captions....

Let me show you this!!!

Aunt Joyce is visiting now, and when she arrived yesterday, Noah immediately took her hand and showed her around the house. He wanted her to feel the pool water and see the roof deck, and also, very enthusiastically, he showed her one of the cupboards in the kitchen that opens in a corner. There's even two shelves inside!!!!

Aviva loves to hide, and it happens a hundred times a day. To her, the word "hide" means that she'll close her eyes and we need to do the finding. Sometimes she stands in front of us with her eyes covered with her hands, and she says "find me." She'll also put something over her eyes, like her lovey, and then tell us to find her.

The malecon at night, and normal life, lately

Tonight, as we have many nights, we went to the malecon. Usually we bring the kids' vehicles (bike + scooter) but tonight we rented "carritos" and a bananabike. We stopped for ice cream too. Kids get little popsicles and we got ice cream of interesting flavors, like nuts and "chongos" which I still don't know what it is, but I think it's my favorite.







When we're walking without vehicles, the kids like to ride piggy-back, or hold our hands and swing. We made up a new way yesterday, where Noah is holding each of our hands, and we count to three and then fling him ahead and he runs. Since we're flinging him, he calls it "woofling" and he likes that a lot.

Noah is very concerned with fairness, and wants everything to be fair. If Aviva gets to press a button, he needs to also. If she turns something on and off, he feels he has to also, to be fair. Anything she does, he is determined to do also, just to make it fair.

The malecon at night has been a fun thing to do. There's a playground and ice cream, but also we see people doing parkour and walking on slacklines, and lots of little children who sometimes like to play with ours, and wagons selling corn or other Mexican foods. We went out a few times around dinner time but more recently we realized that it doesn't start happening until 8:00ish. The playground is empty until about that time, when it's packed until 9 or later.

Elaine came to visit!

We rode bananabikes on the malecon

When we were at the malecon a couple nights ago, there were some men talking to each other, and for some reason, Noah wanted to talk to them. He asked if he could tell them how to spell his name.

Very often, Noah is playing with something or talking to people or demanding attention in some way, while Aviva is very happy playing by herself. She's talking and singing to herself, and sorting rocks or something, and she'll do that for a very long time. She's completely occupied and busy.

Josh is really good at making relevant consequences for things, and also solving problems creatively. One thing he started that works so well: he'll tell Noah he has to get dressed before he counts to 5, or else he'll be in big trouble. But he talks about what trouble he'll be in, and how he'll be so mad if it's not done, and while he's explaining this, Noah is really quickly getting dressed. Noah always wants to be done before Josh starts counting. He thinks it's so funny and so surprising, even for the seventeenth time. Shira and I have been trying to do Josh's trick, but we can't do it like Josh can.

We've gotten into a schedule for weekdays. Kids wake up at 7 or 7:30. Sitter comes at 9 - there's Andrea and Myra, who are daughters of the managers of our airbnb. With the sitter, the kids play with playdoh and books, play at the pool, or go to the beach across the street. We adults take laptops to a coffee shop a couple blocks away and we work there 3 hours. We come back and have lunch together, and then either it's naptime, or we swim and run around first, and then take naps. From 4 or 5ish until dinner, we either swim at the pool, play around the house, or go for a walk or an exploring adventure. Then dinner, and then malecon afterwards. We come back past the kids' regular bedtime (of 8:00ish; we come back around 9 or 9:30) and then get ready for bed. The kids are so tired at that point, that it's been relatively easy to put them to bed. We watch a Daniel Tiger video while brushing teeth, then snuggle in bed a little, and fall asleep.

Also, Aviva is mostly potty trained. She's not wearing diapers during the day and she's sitting on the potty throughout the day. She earns raisins for sitting (but she calls them "rains") and she's really proud of her pee. She wants everyone to look at it. She's having accidents sometimes, but she's mostly trained. That was easy. Check that off the list.

Balandra - that's us in the kayak

beach at Balandra - see how shallow it is?

Noah + fishbone

Josh plus Noah and bananabike

As malecon

  

Visiting on Chanukah

Reading

We love Aunt Shira