Sukkot and last week

Sukkot party face painting

Noah's helping grind and mash and juice apples with an apple press

Sometimes she lets me

Kids helped decorate a custard pie 

Went to an Octopretzel concert at a Sukkot party at Urban Adamah

Dancing to Octopretzel

this week

There's a song Noah likes called "All you need is love." Aviva agrees and says we need 100 of love.

Aviva also agrees that if she "do's" love, then everyone will "feel's" it. And if she "say's" that, and she "tell'ed" her teacher that she "be's" in the circle, then we can all feel the 100 of love.

There's a boy in her class who is mean to her and makes a mean face. She says that she'll try to make a nice face to him, especially when he makes a mean face, and that will teach him to be nice and make a nice face back to her. Maybe he doesn't know how to be nice or how to make a nice face. (Trump, by the way, makes a mean face, she says.)

We went to services the other night and as we were driving there, she said maybe they would have broccoli there. Maybe!

Shofar artistry

September

Aviva:

• She likes to sing a song about a space ship, and part of the lyrics are "here comes the countdown, count with all your might." I think that's really cute, to think of counting with all your might.
• She is constantly telling me to pretend this and say that; "Now pretend I'm a baby, and say, 'it's okay, baby.' " And there's a lot of "Now pretend you just forgot that and you didn't know I can walk." and "I'm a baby who can talk in English, and you're surprised." The other day, she wanted me to pretend she was dead! I did not want to and I said no, and she kept pushing. "Just for a minute. Just once." But I refused.
• We were looking at a magazine and there were some pictures of an archaeologist and a lot of skeletons and skulls. She asked what they were and when I told her, she asked, "are they like Halloween people?"
• She draws pictures that I can identify - I can tell that this is a sunshine and that is a ladder
• She's potty trained. She tells us when she has to go to the bathroom and very rarely has accidents. The way she says it is sometimes by whispering to me, and sometimes saying, "do you want me to try and pee right now?"
• She recognizes most letters and knows the sounds most of them make. When she arrives at school every day, she needs to sign in with her name, and she can do it pretty easily and quickly now. I'll attach a picture soon

Noah:

• Noah says that if his lips are dry, it means he should drink more water, and it's his body's way of telling him. The other day he said he feels like it's a good night to watch a movie, and he can tell because he feels it in his mouth, like this tingly feeling.
• Noah is reading daily (because we say so, and also because his teacher says so). He usually reads beginning books, very slowly. He sounds out the words, and he takes a break between each word. The other day he read a book that was easier for him, and we practiced reading it smoothly. Instead of "the. boy. rode. the. bike," he said that silently to himself and then all together, he said, "the boy rode the bike." It was fluid and smooth and really great. I told him it was like the difference between telling someone that 2 + 2 is 4 and "look at that rainbow over there!!!!" He read to Aviva and she liked it too. We'll be doing that more regularly, now -- reading things that are easier for him, smoothly. And we'll still read challenging slower things also.
• Since it's Rosh Hashana, we've been talking about this last year and this next year, and what kinds of things we hope for this next year. Noah said he wants to work on his body. He wants to eat a rainbow of foods, improve his brain, and listen to his body. Aviva said she wants to work on numbers, which means reading and writing numbers, counting to 100, and learning and practicing her addition facts.
• We went to a couple Jewish events where there were shofars, and Noah tried to blow the shofar. The first several times, he couldn't (and I couldn't). Then he could! And he can! And he's really good at it! (I still can't)

Wedding of Ed and Karlyn

At the wedding, in a fancy suit

The Band, with cousin Brennan, at Rosh Hashana dinner

To bring up to date

We're back in Berkeley and back from camping and Eel River. This is the second week of school. Both kids have started Jiu Jitsu classes and they like that a lot.

Aviva:

• She talks a lot in her sleep. Last night she said, "Actually, the bike is downstairs on the couch." (I like that she uses the word "actually,") And as she was going to sleep, she was quiet for a long time so we thought she was indeed asleep. But she said, "Do you know that 4 and 5 together makes 9?"
• She's in a new class at school and she has to sign her name when she arrives. She can write many letters and she recognizes many letters. Noah is very eager to teach her more.
• She had fruit salad in her lunch last week, and she brought the container back with the mango still in it. She loves mango so I asked her why she didn't eat it, and she said she knows Noah loves mango so she saved it to give to him.
• She's counting a lot of things, like how many steps there are to go upstairs, and how many people in the living room, and many other things. She seems to be most interested in counting when it's more than 10 and less than 20.
• She's constantly a baby, and she says "goo goo gah gah." Don't know why. It's sort of somewhat annoying, but she loves it and tells us what to say: "Say 'it's okay, baby.' "
• Whenever there's a decision to be made (particularly a minor and not important one) she does eenie meenie to decide. Should I wear this shirt or that shirt? Do you want the light on or off? Should I sit in this chair or that chair? Eenie meenie miney mo makes the decision. Many times a day.
• When we hear music, whether it's in the car or anywhere, she asks if people are dancing. Upbeat and fun music means that yes, people are dancing. That makes sense, I guess. 
• I was having a conversation with Noah about Trump, (which I will write shortly) and she wanted to know: Does Trump make a mean face or a nice face? The answer was clearly"a mean face," but I think her question was about whether he's a good or bad person, or a person we like or don't like. 
• When we were camping, she and Noah were standing at the campfire, looking at it. They stood side by side and she was holding his hand. She let go of his hand and put her arm around his shoulder and said, "You're my friend, Noah."
• I was watching her in the bath or somewhere, and I told her, "Aviva, when I see you play, my heart goes 'thump thump thump!' She said, "You're listening to your body! And sometimes your body tells you that you need to pee."

Noah: 

• He seems to be doing alright at school. No friends yet, but he said that there are two older girls who he likes. He doesn't know their names, but he had a good conversation with them once. Mostly the other kids want to play things that he doesn't, like tag. Hopefully he'll develop some friendships soon....
• He's really interested in teaching Aviva things, like how to write letters. He wants her to recognize them and know their sounds. Hopefully this will be a motivator for him. He's reading 3-letter words pretty well and he knows a lot of sight words. Josh or I will read with him every night
• He and Aviva are playing together all the time and it's mostly a nice thing. But they also fight a lot and this is usually how their fights go: They laugh, they share, she pokes him gently, he pokes her back hard and loudly whines, "She hit me!" I am constantly telling him to talk to her/tell her he doesn't like it/tell her stop BEFORE coming to me with the tattle. Yesterday he got annoyed with me and said, "You always say that! That's why I like Daddy better than you!" That's fine; he can like Daddy more. But I'm trying to change this habit and not succeeding. Anyone reading this who has any suggestions: please share with me.
• He's been bringing up the subject of God lately, in different contexts. He doesn't believe in God, and he thinks it's kind of ridiculous how people attribute lucky things to God. Yesterday, he said if someone puts their hand in a bag of cookies and pulls out the biggest one, they might say that it's because of God. But that's not right; it just happened like that. I want to explore this topic more with him....
• He thinks that Trump is terrible and doesn't care about his children's children's children. He thinks maybe people voted for him because "Trump" is a fun word to say.