Developmental update

I have received a few requests to give an update on what the kids are up to these days. Thank G-d, they both seem to have new milestones nearly every week.

Adina has finally begun her language explosion! Every single word out of our mouths is repeated by her sweet little lips. Her favorite words (following suit as a good 2 year-old) are "No!" and "Self!" She wants to do absolutely everything all by herself, and she's actually getting pretty good at most things. She's mastering getting dressed, putting on socks and shoes, peeling bananas and oranges, and all sorts of other things. She also thoroughly enjoys the commands she's learned from our disciplining Libby (the dog). The second Libby makes a peep, Adina is the first to say, "No barking Bibby!" (She's still working on her L's...). One day, as I put Adina in her crib for naptime, Libby started barking. Adina began screaming, "No barking Bibby, no barking Bibby!" She wouldn't settle down until I went in her room and told her that Libby was sleeping now too so she wouldn't bark anymore. Adina also likes to assert her independence by using the "Stay" command on her parents. If she's getting into something she's not supposed to, or wants to accomplish something on her own without interference, she sticks out her hand and says, "No, stay Mommy! Stay!"
All of her new language has also helped her become quite proficient with her manners. Adina is getting very good at using "please" when she wants things and then says, "Thank you Mommy" or "Thank you Aba." For some reason, manner words sound so much cuter coming out of little mouths...
She also loves her role as a big sister. Whenever Ze'ev is sad, she leans into his face with a big smile and says, "Hi Ze'ev! Smile Ze'ev :)" Whenever he is in a giggly mood, she has found that bonking him on the head with toys brings out a good old belly laugh. Since it's all done in good fun, and everybody involved is happy and having a good time, I usually allow this. Sometimes, however, I have to draw the line. This morning for instance, Adina decided to bonk him on the head with the heel of her plastic dress-up shoes. While it did elicit the desired laughter from her little brother, I took the shoes away before the heel ended up in an eye or she accidentally hit him a little too hard.

Ze'ev is becoming quite mobile. He hasn't figured out the proper crawling technique yet, but between rolling and "creeping" (the army crawl), he can get basically anywhere he wants. He has also found lots of new foods that he loves - including hamburgers, cholent, bagels, and basically anything we give him that he can gum.
Ze'ev also seems to have quite an affinity for music. The minute he hears a note, he starts dancing. Sometimes, when I hold him on my lap he bobs back and forth and starts singing, as if he's asking for music. The minute I start singing back to him, he gets a big smile on his face and dances very enthusiastically.

Last week we had quite the snow here in Seattle. Ze'ev was too young to enjoy it, so he stayed bundled up inside, but Adina ventured out with some friends on the first morning of the big
snow...



















She enjoyed keeping the snow pants on halfway and biting into her apple...























Ze'ev hung out inside...
























This is a picture of Adina being a big girl getting ready to go to play group in the morning...
Today she was not very happy to see me come to pick her up. I walked in the door and she said, "Stay! Bye bye Mommy!" and ran off with her friends...