Almost seven

I was tickled to capture this photo of Elijah this afternoon at the soccer field.  Today was his first day of AYSO soccer and he seemed to really enjoy it.  Pretty adorable to see him running around the field in uniform.  He kicked the ball handful of times but was smiling for almost the whole game.

Go Team LEMON!

Brother and sister

Elijah and Anne seem to grow closer every day.  When we first brought Anne home from the hospital, I had to bribe him to be in a photo with her.  As you can see, they are now quite the pals.  Elijah is a pretty reserved kid but I've noticed that he gets more silly and relaxed when interacting with more spirited children.  Anne is quite the spirited little girl and she definitely brings out a fun part of Elijah.

Anne turns 18 months old this week; she is bursting with smiles and personality.  She loves dogs and "woof woof" was one of her first words.  She tends to be a wild one but is very gentle when petting the neighborhood pooches. Anne is quite active and will climb pretty much whatever she can.  She ventures to the top of our park's "big slide" and zooms down without hesitation.  She nearly walks down stairs on her own though (usually) agrees to wait for someone to hold her hand.  A few weeks ago, she managed to climb and jump out of a baby swing, thankfully there were no injuries. One of her favorite places to play is on our wide window sills.  She is generally independent but definitely enjoys being with her brother.  Anne loves to eat, cheese (another first word) and fruit are particular favorites.  When she is tired of eating something, she either flings it to the ground or rubs it into her hair.  We have been working on this with only very modest success.  The worst is when she rubs fish into her hair and then smells like the ocean (not in a good way).  Thankfully she loves baths, though getting out of the tub is a different story. At this point, Anne is super outgoing.  She loves greeting people with a "hi" and big smile.  When out and about, strangers most frequently comment on her beautiful smile, blue eyes and curls. She is repeating words a lot more frequently and clearly these days.  Her spoken vocabulary is limited but it is clear that she understands most everything in both English and Hebrew. I sometimes suspect that she can say what she wants but chooses instead to scream. This evening, Amiel brought her to the park. She unsuccessfully tried to swipe another child's ball and later found the same ball unattended. Apparently she picked it up and announced "my ball!" To my knowledge, this is first time she independently put two words together.  Speaking of words, Anne loves her Daddy and says "Abba!" all the time.  When we try to prompt her to say "Ima" or "Mommy," she yells "Abba" even louder. She finds this game immensely entertaining, often repeating "Abba" using the same volume and intonation as I am using to say "Ima." Other favorite things include nursery rhymes, snuggling with her well-loved pink blanket animals and playing with her wooden baby stroller.  She particularly likes to climb inside of it and have Elijah push her around the house. 

More about Elijah to come!! 

Vacation

I am now in the midst of a glorious two and half week hiatus from the working world.  Elijah's last day of kindergarten was my last official day at UIC, very fitting as he started preschool on the first day of my residency. Last weekend, we took the kids up to a great B&B in Elkhorn, Wisconsin.  We loved wandering around the grounds, swimming in the pool and reading magazines while the kiddos napped.  Anne has shown a pronounced interest in all things water-related.  The inn had a gorgeous koi pond and she was holding a small rubber ball while we were walking towards it.  Fearful that she might throw the ball in, I took the ball from her and momentarily turned around to throw it in the other direction.  I turned back in time to see her leap into the pond!!  She was entirely submerged with the exception of her little tush and a few curls of hair.  I grabbed her by the waist band of her pajama pants and quickly yanked her out.  She was only mildly distressed and eager to revisit the pond throughout the remainder of our trip.  Elijah continues to be reclusive when it comes to the camera, but here are some photos of Anne meandering around. I was able to get a quick shot of him giving Amiel his father's day card too!

Graduation!

Graduation from my residency program was a good excuse to get dressed up.  Needless to say I had two very handsome dates for the evening!!  Anne stayed home but joined us for this quick pre-party photo!  Two days later, the whole family came over to help us celebrate in the park!

At Wagner Farm

Anne at the park

Springtime with Anne

Sweet face

Elijah with a face-full of cotton candy at the Beth Emet Purim Carnival
Thank you to Dad for capturing this great photo of our camera shy boy!

From this weekend

Miss Anne is now 13 months old. She has five teeth and I expect number six to come through any day.  She really enjoys eating and thinks it's funny to squish food out of her mouth too.  She just learned to clap her hands and we are all very proud of her.  Her days of crawling are long past, she instead likes to bolt down the hallway and climb on pretty much anything she can!

Elijah has fallen hard for his little sister.

He loves rolling around on the floor with her!

Elijah used to hate being in photos but now asks me to take pictures of him and Anne.

Had to include this photo as Elijah is hugging an elephant I used to play with as a child.  He has also become quite attached to my brown stuffed dog.  "Doggish" was given to me by my mom.  Elijah loves him so much that he sewed a friend for him.

MATCHED!!!

Northwestern's LURIE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL, my first choice!!!

Stay tuned

Be sure to check back on Wednesday for a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!!

An interview with Elijah

What is your favorite animal? - Sea animal or land animal?  Either one.  No, you tell me.  Sea. Whale.  And what is your favorite land animal? Hedgehog.

What would you like to be when you grown up? - A scientist.  And what will you do? Not sure.

What is your favorite thing about school? - Doing a dictionary.

What is your favorite sport? - I do not have a favorite sport because I am not a sport person.

What is your favorite kind of music? - The Mix (from Uncle Neal)

What is your favorite food? - Dessert or first meal? Dessert.  That would be Hagen Dazs.

Scooter or Bobtails? - Bobtails.

What is Daddy best at cooking? - I didn't have a lot that he made.  What does he make best?  I don't know.  (Daddy prompts with several options)  Spaghetti.

What is the best thing that Mommy makes? - Starts with a D.  Dessert?  Yes.  What's the best dessert? Cakes or muffins.

If you could change one thing in the world, what would it be? - Invent a kind of machine that threw away one hundred pieces of garbage at a time.

What is your favorite thing about Anne? - Her soft hands. Actually, and her tongue (laughs) What do you like about her tongue? When she does this with it (sticks out tongue).

What do you think Anne will be when she grows up? - A vet.

Do you have any special stuffed animals? - Doggish and Elephant (both from Mommy's collection).  And yellow bird with two eyes and a beak.  And cow.

What kind of kid are you? - (silence) Like how Papa's strange and Daddy's cute.  That's a hard one, what do you mean Mom?  I mean, what kind of person are you?  Interesting and watchable.  What does "watchable" mean?  I watch what people do.

Anything else you want to talk about in this interview? - Whose in my family. Mom, Dad, Elijah, Anne.... lists multiple family members including Grandma Anne and Sabba.

Someone is ONE!

The family joined us for Anne's first birthday feast!!
Anne slept through dinner but joined us for dessert. Very fun to watch her squish her fingers in the frosting on her cupcake.

Squash gratin and bread on one of my Mom's plates

Lemony bean salad with fennel and parsley

The happy birthday girl!

Happy 2013!

Went to Harry Caray's for the first time during our "stay-cation" dowtown last weekend.

Perched atop a cow from the Chicago Cows on Parade installation!

Note Elijah's gorgeous long locks, had a hair cut a few days later.

Enjoying the "touristy" sites!  Did not actually eat here but Elijah had fun checking out the robotic animals.

Near the corner of Rush and Ontario, how romantic and fun to witness (she said yes, of course)

Anne enjoyed playing in our fluffy hotel bed but spent all three nights sleeping peacefully in her pack and play.

One of her signature poses!

Anne's first Christmas!

I drove down to Dee's for Chinese and sushi.  Was overjoyed to discover that Anne loves garlic eggplant!

Shabbat with Cousin Max!

Max and Elijah are actually starting to play together, very exciting!

Anne has two teeth!!  Here she is brushing them (for the first time!) with Daddy.