Tamar's First Steps!

She stood up unaided today, and took her first steps! Fortunately, I was right by the camera when it happened. She practiced standing up and walking for about 45 minutes, then again for another 30 minutes later this evening, after which she could walk about 5 feet without falling down.  --Victoria

Swarm of Kids

From a bagel brunch at Yousef and Sarah's place, last Saturday There was a swarm of kids on the floor, all working together on a puzzle. Clockwise from top:  Leo (Sarah's brother's son,, age )2, Ria (Sarah's brother's daughter, age 4.5), Xavi (age 4.5), Tamar, Daniel, Benji. Missing from the photo are Sarah and Yousef's other sons, Kai (age 2) and Eamon (age 7 months).

I'm so glad our kids have lots of friends to play with! 

--Victoria

Tamar Takes Matters Into Her Own Hands!

Awards Day at Sela (Benji got a "Good Citizen" award)

Babies in the Living Room

Benji's Game ("Rainbow")

Benji loves making up games. He saw a rainbow reflected through some glass into the house a while ago, and he made up a game called "Rainbow." It had multiple "levels" that each had their own name and each involved doing a yoga-like pose that was in some way connected to the name of that level. The levels were named as follows:

(1) The sun turns the rainbow into air
(2) Back into the rainbow
(3) Out of the rainbow into the shining sun
(4) Out of the sun into the stars
(5) Out of the stars into the frying pan
(6) Out of the frying pan into the fire
(7) Into the stars out of the frying pan

I was getting a little worried about the frying pan and the fire, so I was glad at how it ended!I love this creative boy so much.

--Victoria

That Can't Be Comfortable (almost-six-year-old edition)

Bath Babies Again

Daniel Loves the Dryer

He loves the dryer so much that he always dashes over when I am loading or unloading clothes into it. If I put the basket next to him and start putting dry clothes in it, he takes over and pulls the clothes, one piece at a time, from inside the dryer and puts them into the laundry basket. If I don't intervene at that point, he will then move them, one piece at a time, OUT of the laundry basket and onto the floor. Which only means that he gets another chance to move them, one piece at a time, off the floor and back into the laundry basket. Tamar enjoys peering into the dryer with him but she's not so obsessed about moving the clothes around. Benji observed recently that Daniel is probably just hunting for baby socks (his favourite thing) so he can crawl around with one in his mouth.  --Victoria

Shopping with 3 kids at Costco

It Was A Beautiful, Warm Day (Feb 4)

Benji with Bunny

We met this adorable fluffy bunny when we were at the Playseum for J's birthday. --Victoria

New Stroller!

It was so warm yesterday that none of us needed coats!  We had a fun inaugural stroll in the new (to us) stroller  Tamar gave it one foot of approval, as you can see in the photo. They seem to enjoy sitting upright and facing forwards. I am a big fan of how many bottles and travel mugs can be stashed in the parent organizer. --Victoria

Building a City to Save the World

Yesterday, Benji had a playdate with a friend he originally met 2.5 years ago, when he was in 3-year-old preschool at Ludlow-Taylor. He and J always enjoy hanging out, and this was no exception. They play really nicely together and--so importantly--they disagree really well!  For example, I overheard this conversation:

B: Let's make Spiderman (J's action figure) be the bad guy!
J: Noooo!
B: It's just pretend, he's not really a bad guy.
J: No, because then I would lose the fight.
B: We could have a tie.
J: We need more good guys than bad guys.

They continued discussing how the good guys/bad guys fight would go without Spiderman being a point of conflict.J was at our house for over 2 hours, and this was how every single disagreement proceeded. They would disagree, discuss it for about 10 seconds, then move on to something else. No fights. No winding each other up. No hurt feelings. FREAKING AMAZING.

For some reason, they also bring out each others' best judgment. One of our living room futons is still opened up flat from a previous guest's visit, and they were doing somersaults on it. Benji decided that he was going to  stand in J's path, wait until J started the somersault, then jump out of the way. J talked him out of that by pointing out that Benji might fall on the floor while jumping and get hurt. Later on, I heard Benji saying to J about something else, "No, that's a bad idea. Someone might get hurt."

This is the SAME Benji who seems to follow most of his other friends into all sorts of bad ideas that get him into trouble. I've even worked with him and suggested plans (e.g. "let's get ice cream" or "let's drive the car without seatbelts") to make him assess the plan and respond out loud with "okay, let's do it" or "no--that's a bad idea."

Did I mention how much I love J?

Also overheard:  "Let's build a city to save the world." That's what they're doing in the photo below.

--Victoria

Benji at the Building Museum

Chair Babies

Smiles (with jam, teeth, and pizza)