"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.

What is it with this kid??

Melissa (aka our amazing nanny) reports the following:

(All three boys are in the bath tub)

Noam: Hillel has gum in his mouth.

Melissa: WHAT?!

(inspects mouth. Finds....tooth!)

Good thing we have Noam around to alert us to our babies' milestones!

A Kid Who Knows He's Cute

Noam (sitting at dinner, suddenly pouting): I'm sad.

Eema: Oh, Noam, why are you sad?

Noam: (batting big eyes): I'm sad because you're not hugging me.

(Eema melts...)

Akiva Has A Tooth!

(While eating breakfast this morning. Babies in high chairs, Noam munching challah and chumous, his major food groups).

Noam: Eema, the babies have teeth!

Eema: Mmm-hmmm.

Noam: They do, Eema!

Eema: I don't think so, sweetie.

Noam: Check!

Eema (checks Hillel's mouth with finger): Well, Hillel doesn't. (Checks Akiva's mouth - lo and behold, there's something sharp in there!)

Eema: Noam, how did you know??

Good times are coming. Times of chewing, and food that does not have to be cut into little tiny pieces...yay!

Wet and Wild Naked Babies!

Dear All,

Have you ever noticed just how much FUN the bathroom can be?? Especially if you can crawl and/or walk? Personally, we've recently discovered our ability to pull down towels, track water all over the floor, and drum on the toilet...


There have also been some failed attempts to climb the toilet, but never mind that just now.

But of course, the biggest party of all is the bathtub.

Oh, how we love our bath! (You'll have to excuse the quality of these videos - Eema is laughing too hard to hold the camera still!)




Love,

Akiva and Hillel

Shana Tovah! (Happy New Year!)

Well, it's a new year here in the Wolkenfeld household, and things are going pretty well. Particularly in comparison to last year. If you've spoken to me at all in the last month or so, you might already be aware that I spend a not-insignificant amount of time thanking my lucky stars that I don't have to go through last year again (little flashback for those of you who may have missed it: newborn twins. nursing. two year-old violently ill the day before Rosh Hashanah. New job. Need I go on?)
But I digress.

You want to know what our kids are up to; and really, what aren't they up to? It's a great time of year for kids. The twins are old enough to eat both apples and honey (but still no teeth. Can't have everything), and Noam is obsessed with the shofar. He goes around the house "blowing" his (paper) shofar that he made in school. The babies, he has explained to me, really like hearing shofar. Um, especially when they are trying to sleep.

And we made it through Yom Kippur with minimal drama. Noam was a little confused by the Eema not eating thing, but he got over it.

[On a side note, a pre-pre-fast meal grocery store run with all three children, necessary as Daddy was frantically practicing his Yom Kippur davening, yielded this letter, which I mentally composed in the car on the way home:
Dear People Who Stare Openly at us in the The Supermarket,
Perhaps you think that taking three children age three and under to the supermarket is my idea of a good time. Or perhaps you think that I had identical twins just to spite you, and have brought them here today to taunt you. All this is incorrect. You may further believe that if you just continue pushing your cart towards us, the double stroller will magically narrow. Also, not so. It's true, there are three of them. Yes, they are all boys. No, I cannot hold the hand of my oldest while also pushing the double stroller, but no, this does not make me a bad mother. And while we're on the subject of things that are socially less-than-desirable (like laughing at us while we try to get past you in the aisle) - I appreciate the sentiment, but has it occurred to you that wishing someone a "Happy Yom Kippur!" or a "great holiday" is somewhat akin to wishing a Catholic a merry ash Wednesday, or a phenomenal Lent?
Just checking.
Thanks to all those of you who did move out of our way. And to the rest of you - we also hope not to all be back here anytime soon.
Sincerely,
Eema of Three]

And now it's Sukkot. Noam helped build the sukkah - he had a great time - while the babies played inside. The funny thing about having two puppies - oops, I mean babies - is the way they play with each other. Witness below...(the first video basically just showcases Hillel's ability to walk, and Akiva's ability to articulate phonemes previously unknown to humankind, but the second one shows twin play at it's best).



If you really want a good laugh, it's especially fun to watch Eema bathe all three children without the presence of another adult. Let's just say it involves a lot of naked babies...

and then comes bedtime.


Note the proximity of Hillel's foot to Akiva's head. See previous post for details.

During these past two days of holiday, Akiva and Hillel both clapped hands for the first time, and Noam played intense games of Set and Bananagrams with some of the students. He also consumed an incredible amount of junk food, but let's not discuss that.

Stay tuned for tales of flu shots, dancing babies, and other fun stuff.