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