We were reading a Chanukah story recently (Hanukkah Hamster) which describes the lovely beaches of Tel Aviv. In an aside I said to Eitan, “You know, it never snows in Tel Aviv.” He answered with a very yiddishkeit accent, “What?!”
The other good part of this story is that Rich argued that it does sometimes snow in Tel Aviv. I looked it up later, and Rich was correct. In 1950, it snowed in Tel Aviv for “several minutes”.
Source: https://www.israel21c.org/snow-in-tel-aviv-1950/
We’ve started to do more things with Eitan now that he can mask well. It’s been a harder transition for him than we anticipated. Recently, we planned a trip into Boston to visit Mrs. Mallard and a chocolate store. He really wasn’t into it. There was a good 30 minutes of screaming before we wrestled him into the car.
Fortunately, eventually, we enjoyed our trip. When we got home, Eitan found the coasters he had thrown during one of his tantrums and quietly put them away. Then he said, “sorry I didn’t want to go to the farm, mama”. It might have been the wrong story, but it was the right sentiment!
Since he was pretty small, Eitan called juice ‘jupe’. It is definitely his favorite drink, and he continues to call it jupe even though he can now pronounce the sound ‘s’. The other day he was helping me peel an orange and his finger punctured it. “Hmmmm, jupey!” was his reaction. It was great.
Eitan is playing with Dada’s wallet.
“What’s this?”
“That’s the bank card. It has our money in it.”
“I don’t see any money…”, as he flips it around to see it from all angles.
Sometimes, Eitan really surprises us. This was a chat I had during our Dada-son bonding time, aka the minutes after he had been put in his crib, aka the time he should already be sleeping.
Eitan: I want to be a grownup. Like you.
Dada: You’ll get there.
Eitan: When I’m grown up, I want to keep you forever.
Dada: Thanks, buddy. Me, too.
Eitan: And I want to keep Dodo forever.
Dada: we have to do a Covid test on you
Eitan: don’t wanna!
Mama: we have to make sure you don’t have Covid!
Eitan: I have Covid! fake cough
This evening, the power went out right as we were reading at bedtime. Ironically, we had just finished “Katy and the Big Snow” in which one of the plot lines involves downed utility poles.
After we got the home switched over to running on battery power, Eitan immediately switched from slightly frightened to inquisitive. He just had to know what happened.
One ritual Eitan and I have developed over the last year or so has been a man to man talk about literally anything after he is supposed to be asleep. This evening was no different.
Eitan: Why no power?
Me: There’s probably a pole down somewhere in Needham.
Eitan: Tomorrow, you draw me a map.
Me: A map of the power outage? Sure, bud.
Eitan: Need two pieces of paper.
Me: How about we start with one and go from there?
Eitan: Maybe two pieces. Needham big. Maybe three pieces, actually.
Kids are the best.
Eitan: “Dodo came out of my tummy”
Dada: “Is Dodo your baby?”
Eitan: “yuppie”
Just a favorite expression.
For those unfamiliar with Frog and Toad, I recommend you pick up any one of Arnold Lobel’s four compilations. Nearly all of his reptilian short stories can be enjoyed by adults and children alike.
One such story, Cookies, concludes with a teachable moment about willpower. I won’t give away the story, but limiting sugary goods is a recurring theme. Following a recent reading, this was a conversation we had with Eitan…
Mama: How about we dress up as Frog and Toad? I can be Toad, Dada can be Frog, and you can be willpower.
Eitan: No, I will be Toad. You be willpower!