Eeeya is now Ali

Today, without warning, Andrew started calling Alison "Ali" rather than "Eeeya!"

Andrew's Artwork

I figured I should add some of Andrew's artwork too.

By the way, when Alison does her homework at the kitchen table after school, Andrew insists on having homework to work on too!

Andrew is Blue's Clues boy!

Andrew is crazy about the show "Blue's Clues." The human star of the show always carries around his "handy dandy notebook." Andrew is mad about notebooks, we now have about 15 little 2-inch by 4 inch spiral-bound notebooks scattered around the house that he plays with. Periodically, we'll catch him playing "Blue's Clues" on his own. He'll be doing the dances that they do on the show, and singing the songs. It's all very cute.

Andrew can count!

Tonight at bedtime Andrew and I were reading a Noddy board book. It's 5 pages long and each page is about a number -- the first page is one, the second page is two, and so on.

I've known for a few weeks now that Andrew can count to two, maybe to three. A couple of times tonight he managed to count, essentially on his own, up to ten. Now the number four sounds a bit odd, but after four came a sequence that ended with something that sure rhymed with "eight, nine, ten" (and since his speech isn't normally that clear, anything that rhymes is pretty good!)

So I genuinely am more or less convinced that he can count to 10.

Alison's Homework

We continue to be thrilled with Mrs. Menzel's first grade class. Everything we hear about school is fantastic, and the homeworks are always really interesting.

Here's tonight's homework, for example.
I think these sentences are particularly nice and deserved to be posted.

Alison's Artwork

I'm really taken with Alison's latest picture from her art class. I believe this is called "Superbear." Note that he (she?) is simultaneously kicking the soccer ball into the goal and dribbling the basketball. Coincidentally, Alison's soccer season finishes next week and her next sport, basketball, starts at the beginning of December.

The "1M" at the top of her page is to signify that she is in Mrs. Menzel's 1st grade class.

"Peee peee"

I've just come down from visiting Andrew, who is, as usual, still awake in his room. It's been a busy day. The JCC is closed today for Sukkot, so he and I were at home together all day. I've been cleaning a lot in preparation for our party on Saturday.

Andrew had been quiet for a while (half an hour? Maybe more?) when he suddenly began yelling "pee pee, pee pee" incessantly and insistently and quite loudly. I figured he wanted a new diaper, so I went upstairs. But no. He was naked from the waist down, and was pointing at his little potty (the downstairs one that I'd brought up and dumped in his room rather than leave it out during the party) and sure enough, he'd done a pee-pee in the potty. As a reward, I let him help me dispose of it and flush the toilet (something he really enjoys these days). He was very pleased. I'm just confused. Do we start toilet training? Or is it too early. I think for now, we'll just let him lead the way. I don't want to ask daycare to start emphasizing it and have it take all the fun out of this new game.

Glove Puppets, Names, A visit to the zoo

A couple of bits of old news, mostly about Andrew, that I haven't had a chance to blog.

1) Alison made (well, colored in) a tiger glove puppet at camp last year. Andrew is crazy about it. Frequently at night (tonight was no exception) they sit in Ali's room taking turns. Ali puts it on, and says, "Hmmm ... Andrew ... " and starts the puppet either eating or kissing Andrew's leg. Then Andrew says "Do do turn" and he says, "Hmmm ... Eeya ..." and bites (or kisses) her back.

2) Once in a while Andrew calls himself "Do-Drew" now. And I'm occasionally Mommy not Mama, and Red is occasionally Daddy not Dada. Ali is still Eeya

3) We went to the zoo last weekend. Andrew was totally entranced by the animals. He knew lots of them from books, but mostly books with cartoon versions of them and I think he was surprised to see what the real animals look like. The first animal we encountered at the zoo is a kind of Dr. Zeuss creature, stripes on the lower half of its body like a zebra, but other parts that look very different. Andrew pointed and said "dee-brah"

Mrs. M is learning Andrew's name!

OK, before Mrs. M (Ali's bus driver) was simply wonderful. But now she's just amazing. Today she said good bye to Andrew (who always see's Ali off at the end of our drive) by name! "Bye bye Andrew" she said. What a wonderful woman.

Back to School Night

Tonight Red and I got to meet Ali's teacher, Mrs. Menzel, for the first time during "Back to School Night." We sat with the other parents in Mrs. Menzel's class and Mrs. Menzel told us about what the kids do during the day and about the things they're learning.

Before I met her I already liked Mrs. Menzel. Now I love Mrs. Menzel. The classroom is bright and there are so many clever things that they are doing. Just like in kindergarten, they are counting the first 100 days of school. But in addition to counting the number of the day on a chart, they are also keeping track of how many days have passed using pennies and dimes, and using tick marks, and straws. It seems as though everything they learn has multiple aspects to it. They are learning about graphing and reading and counting by tallying up things like their favorite breakfasts (tonight Mrs. Menzel asked us to add tick marks to a breakfast chart so that the children could see how their favorite breakfasts compare with ours). They have a group story time where Mrs. Menzel reads a book to them, the book on the easel today was a huge oversized book. And they sent the same book home for a night to read at home as part of homework!

One more note about homework -- it seems really valuable and I'm so pleased it's not just busy-work. The homework always seems to be designed to reinforce something that they've learned in school that day. It's never too tough, though Mrs. Menzel said today that we don't need to be perfectionists with homework and that homework shouldn't turn into a chore.

Oh, I forgot to mention. When we arrived at the school we were heading in what we thought was the direction of Alison's classroom when Mr. Feldman, the principal, turned us around and pointed us in the right direction. As he walked down the hall with us, he told us how he saw Alison every afternoon as she was waiting for the JCC bus, and how she had been nervous on the first day, but Mrs. Menzel had introduced her to some of the bigger kids who took that bus too, and now Alison sits with those kids quite happily to wait for the bus. I was not only pleased that they had made the effort to make Alison comfortable in this way, but also thrilled that Mr. Feldman actually recognized us and associated us with Alison. Admittedly before we enrolled Alison at MES I had met with Mr. Feldman for half an hour to talk about what happens in the school, etc., and he'd seen Red, Alison, and me again during orientation. But still, I think it's fantastic that the principal cares so much for his students that he remembers them and their parents (OK, I don't think he remembered her name, but she's only had 8 days of school so far and it was clear from the conversation that he knew exactly who she was).

I asked Alison when we got home about seeing Mr. Feldman every day and she said yes, she sees him every morning because he greets all the students at the front door as they arrive. What a caring principal! After a little more questioning, she said that yes, she often sees him in the afternoon too.

Yay Mr. Feldman. Yay Mrs. Menzel. Yay MES!!

"Mrs. M" -- Ali's bus driver

Something I hadn't appreciated about Mrs. M until the other day. She knows Alison's name! She drives a big yellow school bus with lots of kids and I guess I hadn't expected that she'd ever learn the kids names, and yet, after barely a week of school (and with Alison generally only on Mrs. M's bus in the morning -- she takes a different bus to the JCC in the afternoons) Mrs. M has already learned Alison's name. She's wonderful!

Rosh Hashanah Letter

Here's the text of our Rosh Hashanah Letter. It has enough info about the kids I figured it'd be good to add it here. Of course, the only people who are reading this will get the letter, but what the heck ... (I've decided to keep a couple of details out just in case some random person is reading it ...)

Dear Friends & Family,

It’s been years since I’ve actually managed to get out a new year’s card on time, let alone write a holiday letter to accompany it. But this year it might happen -- at least for those of you in the US. (You never know, I might make it on time internationally too one day).

So what are we up to? Well, let’s see. The kids are, of course, wonderful and delightful, and periodically drive us completely and absolutely nuts. Alison is 6 and Andrew is 2. They do play together shockingly well most of the time. My theory is that there are two reasons for this. The first is that Andrew is desperate to do virtually anything that Alison is doing exactly the same way that she is doing it, and Ali simultaneously loves to be the leader. For example, one night at “teeth time” Ali was sitting in the bathroom doorway flossing her teeth with a little dinosaur flosser (yes dinosaur, and they do come in a variety of colors!). When she was done with the flosser she tried to toss it into the trash can and missed, and so picked it up and dropped it into the trash and then went to her bedroom. Two seconds later, Andrew sat in the doorway, flosser in hand, and deliberately threw the flosser at the floor and then picked it up and dropped it in the trash can.

My other theory for why they get along so well is because Andrew’s speech is still pretty limited, and so Alison gets to make most of the decisions most of the time. Andrew’s speech has grown from nothing (nada, no indication of comprehension or words, absolutely nothing) a year ago to the occasional three word sentences now (thank goodness). But a lot of the time he still doesn’t really understand complex questions or else we don’t understand the responses, but regardless, the result is that Ali gets to make many decisions for the two of them.

For Alison, the coming year is full of a lot of firsts. She started first grade yesterday at Marlton Elementary and after a nervous morning is absolutely thrilled with it. She said that Mrs. Menzel is her new favorite teacher, and yesterday was so much fun that it felt like two days. Today wasn’t quite as fantastic, but still pretty good. Tomorrow soccer season starts and she has her first game. In first grade, soccer consists of a 40 minute “practice” session (the primary coach has stated that if, by the end of the season, one girl can pass to another and the second girl actually receives the ball and keeps it moving she will consider the season a great success). Then there are two games that are played simultaneously (4 girls on each side) for 40 minutes. I get the impression that soccer is really popular in Marlton, and when we arrive we will be faced with a sea of little boys and girls on a massive field. The kids are given T-shirts and matching knee socks as a uniform. Ali’s team’s T-shirts have a cute puppy on them because they’re sponsored by a local pet shop. The coach said we lucked out this year -- there is a local funeral home that sponsors a lot of the teams!

Meanwhile Andrew has moved up from the Camels into the Tiger Class in daycare. Today was his first day. He wasn’t as excited to be starting in a new room as Ali was, but he seems to have had a good day nonetheless. He’s actually had a formal diagnosis of a speech delay, so once a week he and I get to play games with a teacher supplied by the state to work on his speech. On the one hand, I’m fairly dubious that it’s doing anything. On the other hand, his speech has improved so dramatically over the last year that maybe I should give the teacher some credit! His favorite things include virtually anything that has to do with the Sesame Street character Elmo (much to my dismay, Andrew spent months referring to Red and I interchangeably as “Da,” and used the term “Mama” exclusively for Elmo. At this point I am pleased to report that Elmo is “Mamo,” I am “Mama,” Red continues to be “Da” and Ali is “Ee-ya.” He mostly calls himself “Bee-bee” (baby?) but occasionally uses “Doo-doo”).

He also loves the aforementioned dinosaur flossers, hoarding them after use and insisting on having them in bed with him (clearly he’s the second child -- had Alison wanted these things in bed I would have absolutely forbidden it, but if it makes bedtime easier at this point I say let the child have his flossers). Finally, he is besotted with his potty seat. Not that he can use it effectively, mind you, but he is crazy about his “pee-pee” nonetheless. It’s one of the ones that looks like a little white throne with a removable black potty insert to catch the kid's output. He sits on it fully clothed. He sits on it when he’s just wearing his diaper. And he sits on it as it’s meant to be sat on. He loves it so much that there was a period when he insisted that it be with him all the time -- we had it in the living room, and always in his room at night. Well, one night shortly after his second birthday I put him to bed as usual, and went next door to get on my exercise machine. 30 minutes later I got off the elliptical machine and walked past his room. And what did I see? Andrew, in a bed full of toys and books, sitting on his potty chair (yes, that was on the bed too), with the insert on his head like a hat, head tipped back, drinking water from his sippy cup! And indeed, for a while he called the black insert his “pee-pee at” (potty hat).

Not nearly as much to write about Red and I. We’re both still working at R. Red is the campus database administrator, though really he’s that plus a “do all the other bits and pieces that need doing” kind of guy. Unfortunately he’s been suffering from some pretty serious migraines for the better part of a year. He’s had all sorts of tests that have come up normal (thank goodness for that, but it’s frustrating not to be able to identify a (benign) reason for the problem) and the current approach is to try and find a medication that will help without having too many side effects. Hopefully the current one he’s trying will be a winner, though with most of these medications you need to start out with a very low dose and increase it slowly, so it is probably going to be a minimum of another month or two before the current medication approaches a dose that is considered the standard effective dose. The one bright side to this is that most of the time he finds that sitting at a computer distracts him from his headaches rather than increases them. So most of the time work is OK and if he’s feeling lousy at home he can retreat to the computer room.

As for me … well, in June I finished up my 3-year term (with a break for maternity leave) as department chair and am incredibly relieved to be done with it. It’s something I might consider doing again when the kids are older, but for now I’d rather get back to my teaching and have some real time for research as well as more time with the kids. It was great to have had the experience, but it’s also absolutely wonderful to be able to have an hour or two here and there at work where I don’t have continuous interruptions and what seemed like a never-ending series of fires that need fighting.

Now that Andrew is a bit older and things just feel easier, I’m also trying to get back to some of my old hobbies a bit. I managed to make it to Israeli dancing twice a week over the summer. I’m really hopeful that after the holidays I’ll be able to keep up that frequency, I really enjoy it a lot. I’ve also pulled out some old embroidery that hasn’t seen the light of day for years. It’s a cover for a throw pillow that’s essentially a picture of a single giant flower. Every few weeks I manage to work on it for half an hour or so and add another petal or leaf or something. And I’ve just purchased a quilt pattern off of eBay to replace one that I’d lost years ago. I have probably a quarter of the work done, maybe a third, and perhaps by the time Ali goes to college I’ll have finished it!

Andrew is much better

I don't know what happened overnight but this morning Andrew was *so* much better. He barely coughed this morning (after almost continuous coughing at times yesterday) and was smiling and running around and almost back to his normal self. Yay.

More on Ali's first day of School

This morning Ali reported that Mrs. Menzel is her new favorite teacher. She also said that yesterday at school was so much fun it almost seems like it was two days!!

Andrew's Sick

Andrew's sick :-(

He was coughing all weekend. Red brought him to the doctor on Tuesday (Monday was Labor Day) and he was diagnosed with Croup. He's got a really nasty liquid medicine that he has to take and twice when he's taken it he immediately vomited :-(. I brought him to the doctor again today and the croup has apparently improved, but he's having some asthma symptoms now (the persistent cough can be asthma too). So we're using a nebulizer, and we've got a humidifier in his room, etc.

He wasn't really very well tonight -- a lot of coughing -- so I think I'm going to bring him to the doctor's yet again tomorrow morning. I'm also going to ask about a "quick dissolving pill" that the doctor mentioned today in place of the liquid that is so awful.

Alison's first day of school

Alison had a fantastic first day of school today. Here are the highlights of things that I saw or she reported.

She was very nervous this morning (of course). Worried about riding the bus, worried about how school would go, and had a bit of a tummy ache. She and I talked about how sometimes kids get tummy aches when they're a bit scared about something, but that it would probably go away once she got to school.

At 7:50 (around the time she often woke up over the summer) Andrew, Ali, and I were leaving the house for the long walk to #12 down the street, Ali's bus stop. #12 is located at the very tip of the circle and isn't really that far, I suppose it could be a quarter of a mile away, though probably not quite. It was a bit of a rush in the end -- Andrew has been sick this week and he vomited shortly before we left the house :-( but we still made it out on time. He wanted to ride in the stroller so that sped things up a bit. We made it to the bus stop at 7:55 -- her bus time is 8:05 and they ask that you arrive 10 minutes early. Ali was very excited to be up and out of the house before (as far as she could tell) the rest of the world was up. Never mind that Red had already left for work!

The bus came pretty close to 8:05. The driver was really really nice. I believe she said we should call her "Mrs. M" (though I might have the letter wrong!). She was very encouraging to Ali (who was obviously a bit reluctant to get on). She let me get on with Ali and help her choose a seat (she chose the one right by the front door and Mrs. M), get her seatbelt on, and give her a kiss goodbye.

Mrs. M also confirmed that we lived at #15 and said that since no one else on our street was on her bus, that in the future she'd pick Ali up right outside our house! (If someone new moves in they may have to move the bus stop, but for now we've got door-to-door service!)

That's it for what I saw firsthand. Now let me tell you about Ali's impressions of her first day.

Overall she *loved* it. Despite her positive attitude last summer about making lots of friends, today she was nervous because she wouldn't know anyone. But she told me that there is a girl on her school bus that she knows from soccer (this seems unlikely, actually, since I don't think anyone on her team goes to her school, but perhaps she's right, or perhaps she's just met another girl who plays soccer).

When we visited the school a few weeks ago we saw all 5 first grade classrooms. There was one that was Ali's favorite because it was decorated with stuffed animals, and unbelievably, that's the class she's in! She says Mrs. Menzel is really nice and doesn't ever yell (This is something I never heard before. I asked her if her old teachers yelled and she said that yes, they did sometimes when the class was too loud. Mrs. Menzel, in contrast, says "One, two, three, eyes on me" and doesn't yell).

At lunch time Ali was going to buy some juice instead of milk, but then she discovered that THEY HAVE STRAWBERRY MILK in the cafeteria (they'd told us they had regular and chocolate, but strawberry is her absolute favorite, and was a complete surprise). So she's going to have strawberry milk every day now.

She also made a friend (Samantha) during the two times she got to play outside in the playground today. She and Samantha played on the swings the whole time for both playtimes.

She takes a different bus to the JCC in the afternoon and she made a friend on that bus too. Finally, when she arrived at the JCC, she discovered that two kids from her Kindergarten class are participating in the after care program there.

Her homework today was to read her "daily news" that the class writes as a group every day. Here's her daily news from today:

Today's Daily News
Today is Thursday.
We are going to Computers.
We will meet Mr. D.
It will be fun.

We also got a note home that says the following:

This is what I did today:
I toured the school.
I started my time capsule.
I explored the math manipulatives.
I listened to a story.
I went to computers.
I practiced my PIN number.

The PIN number is the way they pay for lunch at school. You put money in an account and then they just type in a 6 digit (!) number. A picture of them pops up on the screen in front of the cashier to verify they got the number right and away they go!

Overall, a fantastic first day.

Andrew and his keys

Andrew has been dragging out bedtime these days. His latest trick is that every night after we're done reading books and have turned out the light he grabs his pile of toy keys, closes his bedroom door, and jams a key in the crack between the door and the frame before opening the door.
(actually, usually he closes the door first which can be a problem when it's dark out!)

I'm now a soccer mom

Friday night we had the first meeting of Ali's soccer team. This was just an introductory meeting, Ali's first practice/game is next Saturday.

There are 13 girls on the team, all are 6-years-old. Their uniform (!) consists of turquoise shirts and socks, plus shorts, etc. provided by the girls themselves. Cleats (studded shoes) are recommended and we bought some cheap ones at Walmart, along with some shin guards which are required. The shirts have numbers on the back; Alison asked for an even number -- she got number 10 which she likes. The shirts also have a picture of a dog on the front -- while we did have to pay to participate in the soccer program, it also has private sponsors and her team is apparently sponsored by a vet's office. One of the coaches told me that we had lucked out -- there's also a funeral home that sponsors a lot of teams. I think I'd prefer her to have a dog on her shirt!!

Ali has soccer every Saturday for the next few months. The time varies from day to day. Apparently they have 20 minutes of practice followed by a 40 minute game (4 10-minute quarters). Four girls play in a game, and the team plays two games simultaneously against other teams. Should be fun!!

Alison and School Supplies

Alison has been very excited about getting ready for school. She has a fancy new pack of colored pencils from Granny and Grandad that have her name on them that she is crazy about. And last week she and I went out (along with Andrew) to buy the things on the list her new teacher, Mrs. Menzel, asked that they bring to school. She got a pencil box, a fancy pillowcase (they need to bring a pillow in for reading time), a 3-ring binder (file), and some pocket folders (one in red to leave at school, and another with a "Hello Kitty" design to bring work home. She needed a couple of things we couldn't find at Target, so I went to Staples yesterday to try and finish up the list. Well, I succeeded in finding everything, but came home with that and more.

It all started when I saw a pink pencil box. For 50 cents. But I thought I couldn't buy that after we'd bought a perfectly good one the day before (also for about 50 cents). At very least, I didn't want to teach her that if you see something better you get to buy it too. But then it occurred to me that she's probably going to be doing most of her homework at the JCC where she's going to be in their Kidz Korner after-school program. So I thought "wouldn't it be a good idea for her to have some basic supplies in her backpack." Thus beyond the 50 cent pencil box, I bought her a small pair of kiddie scissors, a glue stick, a small ruler, a pack of small (washable!) magic markers, and a pencil sharpener. I presented it to her today and she was thrilled.

School starts next Thursday.

Alison visits her new school

Last Wednesday morning, Red, Alison, and I went to visit Marlton Elementary, Alison's new school. We loved it. We met with Mr. Feldman, her principal, in the library.

We were the first to arrive, and Alison helped Mr. Feldman carry some cups and pencils into the library.

The first thing he did was read a story to all of the children about an overenthusiastic principal who wanted to have school on weekends and holidays until a little girl said she needed to learn things outside of school too.

Then we went on a tour of the school (which is the newest one in the district -- it was built in 2000) and saw all of the first grade classrooms, along with the computer room, and art room, and music rooms (there's even a sound proof practice room!), and the gym. The entire tour Alison was skipping along next to Mr. Feldman up at the front of the group and was the first into each room.

Mr. Feldman told us about all sorts of things, including how children can choose to bring their lunch or buy it in the cafeteria. He said that pizza day was one of the most popular days. Later, when he asked if anyone had any questions, Ali asked what they put on their pizza! (She was pleased to hear that it was just cheese and sauce). Ali was the only child to ask questions (she actually asked another question -- what are the "specials" that they have. Each day of the week they have one special activity -- Art, Music, Library, Computers, and Gym.

Alison is very excited about going to her new school in September!

Andrew uses his keys

Andrew has a set of toy keys. Last night and tonight he closed the door to his room, jammed a key down the side of the door, and then opened the door.

Andrew uses the potty!!

Andrew did a real pee-pee in the potty today!

He surprised me with a stream when I was changing his diaper -- I yelped and the stream stopped. So then I quickly put him on his little potty and encouraged him. And he did it!!! And then stopped. And I told him to do more pee-pee in the potty and he did!

Andrew -- words

"Nee-nah" = Blanket

Ali is a Ga Ga Champion

Alison said last week that she won every game of Ga Ga but one when she was playing with her bunk. Tonight she looked at her schedule for tomorrow and she said "Ropes *and* Ga Ga on the same day!!"

Andrew is now "Bee-bee"

Andrew now refers to himself in the third person as "bee-bee" (sounds the same as "baby" to me). "Oh-oh, bee-bee all" (Oh-oh, Andrew fell down)

Alison's amazing attitude to her new school

Alison told me something a few weeks ago that just astonished me. I wish I could have such a positive attitude about things as she (occasionally) does.

She told me that Dara and Samantha were going to be together at their new school, but that she didn't know anyone at her new school. But this, she said, made her very lucky. While Dara and Samantha are going to be playing on their own, Ali is going to have the chance to make LOTS of new friends because she doesn't know anyone yet.

I asked her later if her teacher had told her this. No, she said, she had just figured it out herself. Yay Ali!

Andrew Bed Time Routine

We brush and floss. Recently he started pursing his lips and not opening for his toothbrush (an electric Elmo brush) so I tapped on his lips and said "knock knock teeth." He thought this was the funniest thing ever, so I do this every night now and then he opens his mouth.

Then we read some books. Currently he always sits on his mini potty (!) in his bedroom, fully pajama'ed, while I read to him. He's very partial to the "bear hunt" book right now (that they also read at school). He loves to yell out "oh no" as I read "oh no" in the book.

While I'm reading the last book, I say "last time book" frequently. But when we finish reading it he inevitably has a mini-tantrum when I say no more. So I say "OK, I'll come back in a minute" and then 2 seconds later I ask if he wants me to put him to bed and he says "yes". I tuck him up, and then he decides to sit up. The last couple of nights I've left him flossing his duck's teeth (I forgot to mention, he loves the little flosser sticks and insists on keeping them with him in his room after he's done) and then reading duck a story.

More on Andrew's potty seat

It's official. What I've suspected for days is indeed the case. Andrew's name for the insert that goes in his potty seat ... his "pee-pee at" (aka "pee-pee hat"). Lovely. And yes, he does wear it on his head frequently.

Alison's Anti-Smoking Campaign

Tonight in the car we were stopped at a light next to a car with it's window open and an arm with a lighted cigarette hanging out the window.

"Don't open the window, Mommy," said Alison, "someone's smoking!"

A discussion then followed about smoking, about why people find it difficult to quit, about how people can die from smoking (she brought that up, not me), and assorted other things. The conversation ended as follows:

"Mommy, when we get home before you make dinner could you call the President and ask him to make a law that says people can't smoke any more?"

Andrew at Bedtime

A couple of days ago I pulled out two (identical) little potty chairs from the closet. They look like a little white throne with a removable black potty insert to catch the kid's output. I'd bought them for Alison, who never was interested in them and went straight to sitting on the potty on a little ring that made the seat smaller. I figured that nowadays, while Ali sits on the toilet at bed time Andrew could sit on his potty and start to get the idea.

Andrew was absolutely delighted. He loves his "pee-pee" (that's what he calls the potty) and wants it in whatever room he happens to be in. At bedtime he sits on the pee-pee fully pajama'ed while I read him his bedtime stories. In the morning he wants to drag it down to the living room. Today he spent half of the time playing with Cassie (his early intervention teacher) while sitting on the potty seat.

In the last couple of weeks Andrew's bedtime routine has gotten difficult again. It's as though he knows he's turned two and should rebel. Until he discovered he could climb out of the crib bedtime was easy -- we'd just plunk him in the crib and he'd play quite happily until he conked out. We had a bit of difficulty immediately after he learned to climb out of the crib, but then things settled down again fairly quickly. Until recently.

Well, tonight was actually pretty good. Admittedly we started a little later than usual, but after minimal fussing I left him and went off to do my 30 minutes of exercise leaving him reading the "Sesame Street Wheels on the Bus" book to his duck in bed.

30 minutes later I get off the elliptical machine and walk past his room. This is what I see:

Andrew, in bed, which was pretty full of toys and books, sitting on his potty chair (yes, that was on the bed too), with the insert on his head like a hat, head tipped back, drinking water from his sippy cup. I wish I'd had a camera. I got a picture shortly thereafter, but the "hat" had been reinserted into its location in the seat, and the sippy cup was just sitting on the bed.

Andrew -- more words

Today at the kiddish after Tot Shabbat Andrew said "more challah." Very clearly.

He also looked at a picture of Elmo's fish Dorothy and said very clearly "Do-ty"

Andrew and the word "Dog"

Andrew will not say the word "dog" only "woof." I tried to get him to say dog the other day by saying "D-D-D-Dog" and he said "D-D-D-woof."

Alison and the Tooth Fairy

Alison asked Red and I not to pretend to be the tooth fairy because she wanted to know if there really was one. I wasn't sure what to do, but Red was brilliant.

Ali asked him point blank if there was a tooth fairy. He said, "do you really want to know?" and she said "yes". So he told her there wasn't one. Ali said, "I thought so."

A few days later, her tooth fell out, but she lost it on the school bus home from camp. Red told her, "well, you'll have to write a note to the tooth fairy to tell her to look for your tooth on the bus." Ali said, "But the tooth fairy doesn't exist, Daddy." Red said, "OK, but if you want a prize you at least have to pretend."

(She never did write a note, but she still got a prize)