Fall Day

You know how they say a picture is worth a thousand words? This picture belongs to the post that I'm not going to write. The one about the things my youngest children do when I leave them alone in their cribs - the toys they like to play with, the things they choose to wear and not wear, and why I keep leaving them in their cribs anyway. But I digress....

This is what I really want to tell you about...
...the awesomeness and fun....
...of the leaves in the park.
I think you get the idea.

More soon!

Three Little Monkeys, Jumping on the Bed...

Maybe they weren't actually jumping this time. But that's only because they were busy posing...and clutching favorite toys. Yes, that is a broom that Hillel's holding. Um, do you have a problem with that? Because I wouldn't recommend trying to take it away from him. It has Elmo on it. Raise your hand if you think it might be time to invest in a stuffed Elmo...but in the meantime, he has his broom. Akiva is the one clutching the cell phone. Another truly child friendly toy...Noam, meanwhile, has recently become completely attached to his baby tiger. He takes care of "tiny tiger" and occasionally lets the rest of us pet him (her? it?).
Check out all that brotherly love. Things have really stepped up a notch since Akiva and Hillel have started to say Noam's name! Granted, it sounds a little like "No-mom." But it's a big improvement over grunting and pointing. Interestingly, they don't say their own names, or each other's names. When asked, "Where's Akiva?" Hillel will occasionally point at himself, and vice versa. Whether they are honestly confused or just playing tricks on us already is hard to say.
Oh, but in case you're confused, that's Akiva on the left. Hillel, on the right, is still clutching Elmo. The conversation that immediately preceded this picture was probably something like: "Elmo! MY Elmo!"
"No, mine."
"No, MINE"
"ELMO!!"
Mmm. Good times.

We're back!

It's true. We've been very, very lax about the whole blog thing. But we've been very, very busy with other things.

Like this...

And this...

...and this...
And moments like these.

To sum up, we had a great summer which included both an amazing stretch at Bubbe's house, where Noam went to camp, and some time at "Grandma's country house." We are now more or less happy to be back in Princeton (we love being home, etc, but some of us miss the beach, Bubbe's swingset, and their aunts - not necessarily in that order).

Noam is a big boy, back in school, now in Pre-K. He has a full-sized backpack (by which I mean that it is the size of his entire body) and an all-important folder which he transports to and from school inside the massive backpack.

[A brief interlude for some words of wisdom from Noam: A few nights ago the three boys were eating dinner. Eema was trying to instill some semblance of table manners, and mentioned a few details about not using finger and not wiping fingers on shirts.
Eema: "But the most important rule...(turns to get something for twins)..."
Noam: "The most important rule is don't kill anybody, Eema. That's the most important rule."
Eema: "Um, right." (I forgot the other rule anyway...)]

Hillel is a real two-year-old, with strong opinions and a tendency to grab toys away from his brothers, while declaring: "No, mine!"

Favorite pastimes include pulling all the sheets off his bed and instigating food fights with his twin. He loves to make trouble in his crib (flinging, pulling, stripping, etc) and often requests "night-night" for that purpose (even in the middle of the day).

Akiva is shaping up to be our most stubborn child (which is saying a lot)...

If looks could kill, only Akiva would know where he'd buried the body. A two-year-old who is still smaller than most 0ne-year-olds, Akiva is clearly going to use his intimidating glares to muscle his way to the top. When he sulks, it's serious - but luckily little brother is there to comfort him.

And they fight. Over everything. We hear, "Mine." "No, MINE!" "NO, MINE!!" at some point during most playtimes. Oddly, this includes times when they are playing separately, each in his own crib. Go figure.

Other times, though, there's lots of love.

They do also seem to be developing a kind of twinspeak, a mix of real words and babble that seems to work for them. Yesterday, Hillel asked Akiva if he wanted to play ball, and Akiva said okay. I know that's what happened, but the only word I understood was "okay." Wish us luck.

More soon (this time for real!).

Bathtime!

Just a quick hello from here in little boy land...where life is just one big party. Naked crib fests, stripping diapers right and left, and lots and lots of barking...and that's just Hillel and Akiva. Noam, meanwhile, imposes discipline when his brothers are awake (okay, sometimes that involves attempting to strangle a sibling, but what can you do) and has been honing his typing skills while they sleep (yesterday, he typed his name. Today, Eema helped him sound out "lion" so that he could type it). He has also learned the world "emergency." (As in: "NOAM! NEVER scream like that unless it's an emergency!!" Ten minutes later: "EEMA! It's an EMERGENCY!! Akiva is eating Hillel!!)

And then, there's bath time. Much thanks to all who have purchased fun towels for our children over the years - you've created the possibility for images such as these:

Here's the aforementioned strangulation in action...
The duck, obviously, is Noam.
Hillel is the ladybug...
And in his spare time, Akiva trains young Jedi knights.

May the force be with you all.

Strawberry Picking and Other Adventures

Noam is somewhat preoccupied with the idea of getting older in a hurry. At dinner a few nights ago:
Noam: "Eema, I'm eating all my food!"
Eema: "Great!"
Noam: "I'm eating so fast! (pause for thought). Eema, if I eat faster, will I turn four even faster??"

In the meantime, it was a great day to be a kid. We took the whole family strawberry picking at our local farm (hooray for rainstorms that don't start till after dinnertime!) In a rare bold move, Eema and Daddy released the twins from their stroller and allowed them to participate (broadly speaking) in the harvest.


After gathering lots of sweet small strawberries, it was off to ride the tractors and bikes. Noam (who told us this morning that when he grows up, he wants to be "a boss" kept his brothers in line and out of his way while he pedaled around.

That could have probably kept us occupied for hours, but eventually Akiva and Hillel, who had been too grumpy to eat a post-nap lunch, decided they were thirsty and hungry (both of which sensations they can sign quite dramatically).

So we headed over to the farm store for some yummy apples, which all three children enjoyed. Though of course, "enjoyed" means different things to different people. For Noam, it meant that he ate a respectable two-thirds of his apple, passed the rest off to Eema, and then went off to say hi to the animals. For Akiva and Hillel, it meant that Eema eventually pried the stems out of their clenched little fists - that was all that was left (um, it's totally okay for babies to eat apple seeds, right??).


As you can see, this kept them busy for quite some time.

Back at home, everyone had a great appetite for dinner. Hillel and Akiva were ready and eager to get into bed. They curled up obediently in their cribs, were tucked in by Eema and Noam, and showed every sign of falling asleep.
An hour later, when they were still shrieking with laughter, what did Eema and Daddy think was happening? As now-experienced twin parents, we hadn't the faintest clue - nor did we care. Were they in their cribs? Yes. Did they need anything from us? No. Problem solved.

But little did we know. When the laughter dissolved intro true screaming, Eema went to investigate. A quick entrance into the bedroom caught Akiva prancing around his crib - completely naked. Hillel, though his pajamas were nowhere to be seen, was still in his diaper. Apparently Eema's sudden appearance at the naked party caught him in the process of trying to extricate himself.
Yes, Eema did try not to laugh. But no, the twins were not fooled. Their unrepentant giggles, plus the fact that this is the second time in four days that they've had a naked party, does not bode well. It's been quiet for several hours - we do think they are sleeping - though whether they are dressed or not is anyone's guess.

Shorter hair, new shoes, and an overall good time!

Here's a picture of Akiva, showing off his new haircut. Which you can't really see, because this is immediately post-bath, so more pictures will have to be forthcoming. But we did have an amazing day this past Sunday, which must be reported on.
Hillel strikes a pose. Dimples, new haircut, new pajamas from Grandma - this is one lucky boy!

Grandma and Aunt Debra drove down to Princeton, and after some yummy imported lunch, we got down to business. Our first stop was Noam's favorite haircut place (everything is relative, as you can see by his expression). Notable for the sheer number of distractions they provide for your children (okay, yes, we are taking your hair, but we have tv, cookies, toys, gifts, books, bubbles, and cool keychain-like bracelets to help prevent you from taking note of this reality!). Noam basically enjoyed the experience, which is more than we can say for his brothers.
Well, they enjoyed watching Noam get HIS hair cut (and this is such a classic "before" shot of their curls!).

Akiva's face is the combined result of his "no, I don't want a haircut!" and the hairdresser's "really? Okay, have a cookie!" Akiva is the family chipmunk - he seems to believe that he can store food for later by putting as much of it in his mouth as possible and continuing to go about his business. Here, the cookie is lodged firmly in his mouth, while he continues to cry in protest.
Hillel watches and contemplates his fate...
He cried less because we found the magic solution. And the award for best use of a pacifier in a public screaming situation goes to...(applause!)

Thanks to Aunt Debra and Grandma, our adult to child ratio was good, and having survived the haircuts, we felt emboldened. Time to buy sandals!

As an intrepid shoe-shopper myself, even I have to admit that we spent a LONG time in that store. Three children = six feet = much chaos. Luckily, Aunt Debra is decisive and Noam listens to her, and Grandma picks out great clothing, so we had quite the shopping spree!

Amazingly, we still found energy to visit several other stores, culminating in a trip the ice cream shop. A good time was had by all...

...and we all slept very well that night!

We promise to post some dry-haired pictures soon.

Getting ready for Passover

Despite some recent crises, we are doing our best to get ready for Passover. Noam knows many Passover songs (he especially likes to sing, with great feeling: "No, no, no! I will not let them go!") and he and the twins have been a part (if not necessarily a helpful part) of the Passover preparation process.

Here are Hillel and Akiva, emptying the cabinets of all the non-Passover things...


They specialize in Tupperware.

And here they are, climbing the boxes of seder dishes. You know, the ones labeled "fragile."

For a while, the twins took turns climbing the boxes and shrieking when they were removed. But ultimately, Akiva won the battle.
He's a stubborn little thing.
Once he decided that the top of the boxes was the best place to talk on his cell phone, there was no stopping him. And yes, he can now have some epic conversations: He says "hi" and "Bye" (that last one comes with a little wave).

More soon. Happy Passover!