Two Doll Tamar

She pointed and fussed until I gave her a doll, then she wanted a second one. I don't know if this is a continuation of "two-toy Tamar" or if she's just used to seeing me with two babies! She was very sweet with the dolls, hugging them and kissing their heads.  --Victoria

Daniel (teeth and walking)

As you saw in yesterday's post, Daniel is really solid on his feet when he's standing. He's SO bowlegged, though, that he often has a hard time taking a step from that position. Last weekend he took a few steps, and on Monday, he took about seven steps in a row. He still usually drops to his knees and crawls when he wants to get somewhere fast -- he's a super-fast crawler.

I looked in his mouth yesterday and saw that another tooth has just broken through his gums! So now he has five teeth (as compared to Tamar's dozen).

--Victoria

After School Spash Park

Benji at the pool

Classic Faces! (final zoo photo)

Tamar climbing stairs

Another set of shots from our trip to the zoo. These stairs, which were wide and low, made her SO happy! She started to chuckle as she was climbing them and, by the time she got to the top, she was laughing out loud with joy.  --Victoria

Daniel loves the tricycle

Benji's good day at school

This note is from a little while ago, but it's still worth celebrating!  --Victoria

Photos from our visit to the zoo

Benji's Outstanding Morning

Yesterday, I woke up to find Benji standing by my bed, fully dressed for school, holding up a sandwich in a ziploc bag.  "Look Mommy!" he said. "Benji, why are you giving me a sandwich?" I groggily asked.  "I'm not giving it to you, I'm showing it to you. I made it myself." he said.  I said that was great and he went back downstairs. I was surprised to realize that Aaron was still in bed, because I assumed at first that Aaron must have helped get Benji up and started on his morning. It turns out that Benji got himself up and dressed for school without any prompting!

I was really happy when I realized this, because Benji has been surprisingly resistant to doing things for himself (even things he's perfectly capable of) and I've wanted to address this for a while. My mother did a great job of teaching me and my brother to be self-sufficient and I definitely want to pass that along to the kids.

A few minutes later, Benji was back upstairs.  He proudly announced that he had made his entire lunch, "organized" it to fit into his lunch box, then put the lunch box into his backpack. We checked it out and he had done a great job. I was afraid he would have packed all treats, or only his favorite foods, but he had made a normal sandwich, packed it in a ziploc, and assembled a normal, balanced lunch with a drink, a piece of fruit, a pack of crackers, a yogurt, and a spoon.

The only issue was that he had packed himself an entire mango, not realized that it's usually not eaten as hand fruit like an apple or orange. I cut some mango cubes into a container for him and wrote "OUTSTANDING" on his hand in big letters with a "tattoo marker" (i.e. non-toxic and washable) so he would remember it all day and be proud of himself. For once, there was no arguing and nagging and reminding involved in getting him out the door on time.

I have no idea where this new attitude came from, but I like it!

--Victoria

Playing with their friend Ronan

Ronan, who is 5 months older than Tamar and Daniel, is the son of Yousef's brother Ben. The twins love it when Ronan comes over to visit, and he loves playing with them as well.  --Victoria

Babies At The Park

Happy Babies!

Fun At The Park

Cool Babies

Grandparents, get ready to roll your eyes (yes, I'm looking at you, Mum).

The advice these days is that children should wear sunscreen, hats, AND sunglasses when they are outdoors in the sun (to protect their eyes from UV rays).  I have been partially successful at getting Tamar to wear infant sunglasses by letting her play with my keys. She IS adorable, though!

Daniel was NOT having any part of sunglasses, but he was more willing to wear his hat.  You win some, you lose some...

--Victoria

More Sprinkler Fun

A few more photos of Benji dancing in the sprinkler from a few days ago. We've got to fatten that boy up!  --Victoria

Tamar Takes A Break

We walked around the block last night, at Benji's request (he was on his bicycle). About halfway through the trip, Tamar decided to take a break.  --Victoria

P.S. We do have shoes for her but she's still a little too wobbly on her feet to wear them and not fall over. I took them off for our walk so she wouldn't fall over. Dirty feet are easier to fix than a bumped head!  :)

Things Daniel Destroys (in a good way!)

He destroyed the mess on the couch by putting everything in a plastic tub, without any prompting! He was so pleased with himself that he's clapping. I need to figure out how to harness his powers and use them for good rather than chaos.  --Victoria

A Benji Story

From Aaron:

-------------------

So I was telling him about Alexander the Great, how he kicked the crap out of pretty much everyone in the world. Benjamin listened raptly to the whole story. Eventually, Alexander reaches the end of his journeys, after years of conquest. His men are weary and want to go home, and Alexander weeps for the worlds he will never get to conquer.

I pause, waiting for the moral to sink in - the men, wanting to return to their homes, their families, and the great general lusting only for glory and conquest.

"Well what happened next?"

I kind of blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Well, what happened when he got to the new worlds? Did he beat up their armies too?"

"No, Benji - that's the point of the story! Only Alexander wanted to conquer more worlds. His men wanted to go home to their wives, their boys and girls, and rest. Even Alexander couldn't fight without his armies."

Benji took a few moments to think. It was pretty clear that this answer was deeply unsatisfying to him.

"Daddy... do you think tonight you could make up a new part, where Alexander goes to the next place?"

So now I've got 15 minutes to figure out where Alexander would have gone to next. Australia? America? Mars? I love that boy.

-a

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Summer Fun (playing in a sprinkler)

Benji had a blast running through a neighbour's sprinkler on Saturday afternoon.  The babies thought it was hilarious to watch him.  --Victoria

Things Daniel Destroys (new sub-series: furniture)

Daniel is a determined boy, and he is STRONG. Yesterday afternoon, he proved that he can climb up the baby slide and the mid-size slide at the playground all by himself (I don't let him near the long spiral one). This morning, he decided to open the wooden blanket chest that my father finished for me, that we've been using as a toy chest in the living room. I had been worried that the chain that prevented this chest from opening all the way would lead to tiny broken fingers (because a child would open the lid partway then drop it down accidentally). As a result, we removed the chain several years ago and, when open the chest, we always rest the lid on the futon right behind it.

This morning, however, the wooden chest was still several feet away from the futon because we had a friend staying over for a few days, using the futon as a bed. I was in the kitchen but Daniel apparently lifted the lid and flung it fully open such that the front side of the lid hit the ground with a bang, overextending the hinges in the wrong direction, popping out most of the screws, and cracking the piece of wood that makes up the lid. In his pursuit of maximum chaos, he then proceeded to start pulling Benji's puzzles and toys out of the chest and throwing them on the floor for Tamar to eat and spread around the room.

This was all before 8:00 am, when I was on morning duty because Aaron has a cold right now.

Aaron thinks the damage to the wood is fixable but I am dubious. It may return to being a blanket chest in our bedroom, as opposed to a toy chest!

--Victoria

Tamar at Sammy''s Bar Mitzvah

She was adorable in her little dress but she couldn't "style-walk" (Benji's word for her scooting) when she was wearing it!  --Victoria