Seriously.

Not everything belongs in a blog. For example, most of you probably really don't want to know why, at around one this afternoon, Eema and Daddy were each holding a screaming, flailing sixteen-month old and hosing them down in the sink, while being serenaded by a three-year-old singing at the top of his lungs. Needless to say, there are no photos of this, and let's be honest, you wouldn't want to see them anyway.

So, moving on to some more bloggable events. First off, we need to post the last of our Hannukah pictures. We had a fun visit from Cousin Eddie and his guitar. Noam broke out his ukelele and they had a little Hannukah jam session.


Then the whole family opened more Hannukah presents...
...Noam got a calendar from Bubbe, so he can plan his busy life.
And the final event of Hannukah - Noam's school concert. All the children in the school - ages 2 through 5 - performed in this great event.
By "performed," I mean that they all stood there more or less obediently, while the teachers and the four and five year olds sang songs. The children Noam's age and younger largely stood around looking shell-shocked.
They look ecstatic, don't they?
By the end of the concert, he looked happy. No singing, but smiles did emerge.


And now, fast-forward to our trip to Grandma's country house. The opening paragraph of this post notwithstanding, we are having a great time. On Monday, Melissa came and played with the munchkins, while Eema and Daddy escaped for a bit. We returned to find that yet another Hannukah present was in use - this excellent tent from Cousin Marian!
Everybody loves to play inside...
And there's a really cool tunnel to crawl through...


Sometimes there's even two-way traffic...
And sometimes, all three kids go inside the tent and Eema and Daddy can't see them at all. Eema and Daddy are actually fine with that.
Of course, it is fun to watch them play...
They have been playing very nicely with each other, and with Noam. Noam goes back and forth between treating them almost as equals (especially Hillel), and patronizing them with gentle (and not-so-gentle) pats, enthusiastic encouragement, and the applications of pacifiers when necessary.We think that Akiva's first word is "tickle" (he says it while tickling us and giggling). Both babies woof (when asked what a dog says) and Hillel can also quack. When he's really feeling talkative, Hillel will even wave and say "bye-bye!"

Bathtime - a highlight at Grandma's country house, where the bathtub is big enough that all three children can successfully elude capture. Bathtubs are fun for playing, but getting clean is definitely a secondary concern at best for this group.One of our most exciting days during this visit was our MYSTERY TRIP on Tuesday. We can't fill you in on the details just yet. Let's just say that we all went out together (um, this may have been the second time that ever happened?) to get a birthday present for Aunt Debra W. A good time was had by all...

...Though it was VERY cold....
...and their snowsuits are VERY bulky.
They can't really walk in them. But nevermind that. We had a great time on our mystery adventure, which included a ferry ride and a stop at the Beach Bakery in Westhampton Beach (otherwise known as "the cookie store" or "the good cookie store." Yum.

Oh, are you wondering about the title of this blog post? It's Noam's latest verbal tic. He uses it indiscriminately to indicate...well, we're not sure exactly what. Exasperation with the frivolities of parental concern? Something like that. A sample conversation:
Eema: Noam, did you wash your hands?
Noam: (snorts) Eema, seriously! I mean, SERIOUSLY Eema!
Eema: Wash your hands!
Noam: Okay, Eema! Seriously!

Coming soon: Pictures from the mystery trip!

The Joys of Twin + 1 Parenting

The scene: At "Grandma's country house." Noam is eating breakfast - huge quantities of hummus slathered on crackers. The twins are wandering around, exploring. Eema is sitting at the table, Daddy is in the kitchen.
Noam: "Daddy, can I have more hummus please?"
(Daddy goes to the fridge, removes hummus. Opens container. Is holding open container in hand when he notices Akiva, hand in dogfood bowl, chipmunk cheeks bulging).
Daddy: "Akiva! No! No dogfood!"
(Drops to the floor, puts down hummus, begins sweeping little mouth clean of dogfood, which is both disgusting and a choking hazard. Eema runs to kitchen to assess damage).
Noam: "More hummus please!"
(Hillel, being helpful, picks up abandoned - open - container of hummus. Bring it to Daddy. Deposits it, upside down, at his feet. Big smile.)
Eema and Daddy: "AAAH!"
Daddy, on second thought: "Thank you Hillel! Thanks for trying to help..."
Noam: "MORE HUMMUS PLEASE!"

Maybe this is why we're hesitant about calling this a vacation...

"Can We Light the Presents Now??" (Noam W., second night of Hannukah)

Dear All,

Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but I am having a GREAT Hannukah. Every night, I get to light candles on my very own Menorah (thanks, Louise!) and Bubbe got me my own box of candles which I carry around the house, frequently scattering candles far and wide. Then we have to pick them so the babies don't eat them. Anyway, and then we open PRESENTS.

I love presents! Highlights include:
- Candyland - Eema and I love to play this game before bedtime. The later it gets, the more desparately she tries to end the game, and the more I get stuck on the sticky licorice spots!
- Digital camera - my own blog pictures, coming soon...
- A laptop - now I can do work, just like Eema and Daddy! Work, like, you know, counting stars, and spelling words. Work that sings to you and says: "well done!" Eema and Daddy wish their computers gave positive reinforcement...
- A magnetic calendar - to see what day it is and when we're going to Grandma's country house.
- A ladybug towel. From Marian, the cousin who loves ladybugs. She's fun!

- Clothes.

Those were boring, but Eema liked them.

- A tea set. Here I am, having a tea party with Richie...

...and here I am serving an early morning cup of tea to Eema.

- a book about The Wizard of Oz. I don't know what a wizard is or what Oz means. I'm fuzzy on cyclones and we're fudging the whole wicked witch thing. But the book is still awesome. Here I am looking at the Emerald City!

As you can see, we got to visit Bubbe and light candles with her. We also saw Grandma and Gigi and both Aunt Debras.

The babies got riding toys...

and placemats...


and a toy with pegs to bang on.

They don't really understand about presents, and especially about how lots of things are MINE. Sometimes they take things and then I have to smack them around a little. You know how it is. They also got some books...


and a duck that I secretly covet.

Oh, and a pop-up toy that they can close but not open. So they scream at it a lot...

My new word this week was "distract." As in, "Okay, Eema - you distract Hillel while I play with my toy!" Or "I'm trying to distract him but it's not working!! Make him go away!"

The babies still don't talk like people but they can say "woof!" And they like it when I sing to them (and I sing a lot!)




- Oh, and here's my kit for making paper chains. Eema says I can make them and hang them in the living room, because apparently that's all that's missing from the "many children live here" decorating scheme we've got going on.

Eema and Daddy have been letting me stay up late to light candles cause I'm a big boy. And the twins have been waking up really early cause - well, we don't know why. Once in a while the babies get to light with us, so here's Akiva singing Maoz Tzur with Daddy...
Happy Hannukah, everyone!


Love,

Noam

A Typical Morning

Noam: (getting dressed on the couch) Eema, can we talk?

Eema: What would you like to talk about?

Noam: (displaying huge dimples) Hugs! (cuddling ensues)

Five minutes later...

Noam: Eema, Hillel is on the couch!

Eema: (in the kitchen making Noam's lunch) I'm sorry, what?

(rushes into living room to discover that Hillel has indeed managed to climb onto the couch...what??)

Five minutes after that...

Noam needs help securing his kippah. Ominous silence from kitchen, where Akiva has been playing...then..

Akiva: Mrrmph!

Eema: (rushes into kitchen to find him with his hand in the craisin container and his cheeks chipmunk-full) Chew, Akiva! Chew!

Eema's ready for a rest!

The End of Life As We Knew It

Akiva took two steps on his own today. Let the wild rumpus start!

(good thing we bought two pairs of teeny-tiny toddler sized sneakers yesterday)

"Do All Fire Chiefs Have Bubbies?"

Inquiring minds want to know.
Trying to follow Noam's imagination can be exhausting. Some recent scenes:
Chief Noam
Noam has a fire chief dress-up kit - a gift from Bubbe - and he loves to dress up, drive the fire truck, yell at everybody to stay away (the kit includes a megaphone), and spray the water. Recently, in full battle gear, he asked: "Did Bubbe buy this for me?"
Eema: "Yes."
Noam: (with a big smile) "Because she loves me!"
Eema: "Yes!"
Noam: "Eema, do all fire chiefs have Bubbies?"
Eema: "Only the lucky ones."

Noah....m
Noam has a Noah thing going on. We're not sure if it's something he learned in school, or the influence of his (frighteningly gory) Noah's ark picture book, or something else entirely, but he plays "ark." All the time, and in various ways. So, for example, on Thursday morning Eema decided to attempt a brief nap while the babies slept and Noam stayed home from school with a runny nose. Using two milk crates (in which he managed to enclose himself) and a small wooden horse, Noam played Noah and the ark for about half an hour, muttering to himself in "Hebrew" and warning ominously of the coming rains. Game ended when milk crates came crashing to the floor, waking everyone.

Today it got even better. The game seemed to work as follows.
The play area = the ark
The babies = the animals. Or should I say, "aminals." Baby aminals, in fact, to be ushered into the "ark" and kept there at all costs, because "I need to take care of them so they don't get lost in the rain!"
The train tracks = food for the aminals. "And this one is kosher food, Eema, because some of the animals are Jewish."
Game ended when it was time for the baby aminals to go to bed. Noah wasn't far behind. Thankfully.

As for the twins, our tooth count is still at 2 - one per baby. One walker, one so close! Both very talkative. Akiva's new "word" is "amam." Hillel says "da!" Here in baby land, this is exciting news.

Some of their other tricks include:

Speak softly and carry a big stick...

Except for the speaking softly part. Hillel likes to wave the plastic golf club while marching (um, or maybe "waddling" would better describe it) across the room.
Creature from the Deep...
With teething comes...teething biscuits. I knew from when Noam was a baby, but had sort of chosen to forget, what happens when you let a baby really work on a teething biscuit for a while. (Aunt Debra, you may want to skip this part...) Essentially the biscuit liquefies, then hardens, distributed all over said baby, into a cement like substance, removable only by vigorous bathing. The above pictures is from the occasion upon which I was reminded of this unfortunate reality.

Akiva, where's your nose??
Yay - he found it!!

Reading books - sitting down, or standing up...



And traveling in style...Rule #1 of stroller travel: Never ever sleep simultaneously.
Does putting them side by side help you figure out who is who? Notice I purposely did not label the above photos...we can tell, but can you?

Next adventure: buying shoes for twins. Eema wonders: take them one at a time (and make two separate trips??)? Take them together - one-on-two seems like a bad ratio for this experience...?? Family trip to shoe store?? See if Zappos is an option for children this young?? Hard to say. We'll keep you posted.