Christmas Morning / Chanukah

Hi, its me Patrick. Its great living in a family where two cultures come together. Hard at times too, but always an adventure. We have been celebrating both Chanukah and Christmas for years now and every year we get better at ironing out the details of how to do it. I'm sure the kids will be thoroughly confused when they are older.
So anyway, this year has been great. Christmas morning was great for the kids. Priya loves to help open everyone's presents and Eli just likes to dig through the trash. At night we turn on the Christmas tree and light the Menorah while saying a Jewish prayer. We have a great little cloth Menorah with flames you attach with velcro, which Priya loves. Neither Deb or I are especially religious but it's important to us that our kids learn both sides so they can choose for themselves what they want and understand where their families come from.
The Holidays thus far have been wonderful. Here's a short clip of Priya making Holiday cards and a picture of the snow we got last weekend.

Bathtime and other snippets

The kids love to take baths- and I love watching them squeal with delight just for the sound of the water when they slap their hands in it. Priya loves to "fill up Eli" with gas so that he can "go."
Other things Priya's been doing lately: pretending that she is the mommy panda for bopa, her baby panda.. getting herself dressed ("all by myself with NOOOO help!!")... wanting to "help" with everything that we do... making footprints in the snow... taking "nightwalks" with her mommy (and declaring that "the moon is following us!") as we walk!
Eli is still not a huge fan of walking. He walks when coaxed, but usually prefers to crawl across the room. He is talking and communicating more now, which is fun. Some of his new and favorite things to say are: "Awduh" (all done),"PaPa"(Poppy), and "Hiyi" (Hi Eli!).

Check out this video of Patrick and Priya dancing in the living room, it makes me laugh! She is wearing her "dinosaur jammies" that are practically glued onto her, she wants to wear them ALL the time!


Here is one more video of Eli and Priya's bath this morning.

A Model

Pat's final project. A Graffiti Gallery off a subway stop with arched entrance and overpass. Fun, fun, fun!

Walking!

About a month ago Eli took his first steps, but now, he is really walking! Check it out!

Belated Birthday Boy Blogpost

I'm finally putting up a few pictures from Eli's first birthday. We had a great birthday party for him. Dad and Berta came, along with lots of friends. Jenny and Jake donated a crawling tunnel for the kids, and everyone brought wonderful toddler food. Patrick made a great lasagna, cake, and chocolate meringue mini pies. I made pumpkin soup. Eli wasn't into his birthday cake at all. As soon as we placed it in front of him, he promptly picked it up and attempted to drop it on the floor. So I caught it and ate it myself!

Happy Thanksgiving

Here is proof of what happened to the green beans- I caught it on film!

Tantrums End

Today Priya had a temper tantrum that lasted about an hour. I don't know where she got the energy to scream for that long. It doesn't really matter what it was about- a combination of not getting the snack she wanted, not wanting to get dressed, not wanting to go outside, then once outside, not wanting to come back in... nothing was going her way no matter what we said or did. I'm feeling kind of down about the whole thing, like somehow we are not providing something for her and she has to express it that way. She finally calmed down when her Poppy went in the room to bring her a sandwhich and talked to her, and then I put her down for her nap. Anyways, this is what I found just now when I went in to peek at her sleeping- proof that she really is a bookworm:

ladybug

Earlier today I noticed something was in Eli's mouth. I did the modified "finger sweep" of his mouth to see what I could find. I pulled a half chewed ladybug out of his mouth! A little later, when Sheila came by, I asked her if she thought that ladybugs were poisonous. She said no, they just taste bad. How did she know this?

Play

Tonight Priya and I went for another "night walk" after Eli went to bed. I love our night walks because we get to have one on one time, and she is so much fun to talk to during those walks. Tonight she was looking for pandas and squirrels. She kept stopping to pick up the "pandas" and had me put them in my pocket. She said we would take them home for Bopa to play with.

Priya also had her friend Django over to play today! They are one month apart in age, and had a blast together. He is very spirited, talks a lot, and seems older than he looks. Here is a video of them together:

Siblings

It makes me happy to think that Priya and Eli will have each other as they grow older. These days they are becoming better playmates. This video shows one of their recent interactions..

Pictures

Here are some more photos.. The first shows one of Priya's new pass-times: turning herself into a "walking pillow," a couple pictures from China and Bill's wedding, and a Halloween picture of our little chicken, our panda, and her panda.

More pictures

This pictures shows you how meticulous Priya can be.. She makes these perfectly neat block stacks, or "trains."



Trying on a silly wig..
Eli with his "Nana"
Hanging out in the laundry basket..

Say Bye Bye!

Eli's first real word is "Bye Bye!" Check it out..

vampires

Wanted to share this video where our kids look like little vampires after eating beets!!

In our new home

We are FINALLY starting to feel a little more settled in our new house. The past two months have really been a blur, and quite stressful to get through. The kids are now used to the new place, like their rooms (ie. have finally agreed to nap again in their rooms), and we only have about 10 boxes left to unpack (the most annoying boxes, the ones with all the small random stuff in them). Karen and Stan, Patrick's parents, are coming for a week starting this Friday, and I can't wait! I'm looking forward to good conversations, eating good food with them, and having help with the kids!
We had a wonderful visit to Virginia, although quick. We got to see Gigi, Pat's grandmother, meet Norah (Ann's newborn), and see all of my family who I miss tremendously. Priya and her cousin Carly were so cute together, they even slept together in a toddler bed! We heard them giggling and talking together until it was very late- hopefully this is the beginning of a close friendship between them.
We also went to our friend Katie and Christian's wedding in D.C. and had a fabulous time. We got to spend the evening with some of the best friends that we have ever had, and it was really hard to say goodbye again.. This was a very unique wedding as it was completely in Spanglish. Katie and Christian's personality came out in all of the wedding details. There was even a man who filled up my purse with Reeses peanut butter cups as we left!
There is so much more to update on, but I am exhausted. I'll post some pictures here..

The world is full of wonder

Priya inspires the wonder inside of me. She makes me feel the magic in the changes of seasons, and appreciate the laws of nature. I forget how little experience she has being outside at night- she's usually home well before bedtime. Tonight, though, we went on an outing to the hospital where I work while the sun was setting. We went to go visit the "brand new baby" that had been born just an hour after I left work last night. It had gotten dark out while we were there, so on the way home, the conversation went something like this: "Mommy, it's dark out. Why?... Mommy, I can't see, well, I can see a little bit. Why? Mommy, why are those street lights on? When those lights turn off, I can't see? Mommy, I see a star!! What's it doing? Mommy, I see two stars! Is it twinkling?"

I couldn't find an image to go along with this line of thought, so instead I'll show you what our apartment looks like right now:

Pitter Patter?

So even though about 75% of our belongings are still located exactly where they have been sitting for the past year (not in boxes) we are theoretically moving within the next two weeks. We are really excited about our new place- it will have more space, including a bedroom for each kid and a study room for Patrick, and it backs up to woods with hiking trails. Also, our good friends Hannah, Julia, and River are moving into the apartment directly downstairs! I'm really looking forward to having their close friendship right nearby, but I am a little worried about this new angle our friendship has taken. I tried to warn them that Priya likes to zoom around hardwood floors so they shouldn't expect their new abode to provide peace from above. They assured me that they would rather know and love their upstairs noisy neighbors than have a random family upstairs that they couldn't complain to without being afraid of repercussions. SO I thought I would post a little clip for Hannah and Julia here, a sneak preview of what I was talking about.

Exposed

Why is it that we choose to share the cutest, funniest, most beautiful moments? If I only post those pictures, and those stories, I would not be accurately representing our family. Does anyone really want to hear about the difficult moments? Today was a hard, exhausting day. Priya has regressed with potty training and had so many accidents I literally ran out of clothes for her to change into (we were at Sheila's house). She thinks using her pants as a diaper is a really good option, and I don't think I can convince her otherwise as she is not a big fan of logic. I was up with Eli four times last night before he woke up for the day at 530 a.m. I was definitely not in the mood to be awake let alone accompany moody tantrums and figure out "natural consequences" for Priya's limit testing. I was dying for a nap this afternoon, but after trying to put Eli down for over an hour, I gave up and figured I could wait a few more hours until bedtime for a break. Sometimes I wish that other parents would complain more so I wouldn't feel so alone.

captured moment

Here is a captured moment from this evening. Priya adores the naked state, so this is a typical moment. However, I wasn't quite prepared for what she had to tell me. I am not going to quote her here, so see if you can understand what she says!

Architecture School

So I did it. I finally made it back to school and I'm exhausted after just a couple of weeks. After several years doing carpentry I'm transitioning into design and Architecture. It's been hard juggling school and family and still get all my homework done, but I'll manage. I think being back on a campus has rejuvinated me in a way. Maybe it's that I am using my brain again, or maybe it's all the chocolate I have been eating lately to stay awake. Eitherway, life is good.

starting a blog

So this is the first night that Pat and I have had to hang out in over a week. We were so excited that we promptly did the dishes, folded laundry, and started a blog. I am not really sure why, it seems like fun, but I can't imagine adding another thing to our daily have-to-get-done list. I'm really enjoying the kids these days, though, so maybe it will help me record some of what they are doing and saying.
One of my favorite recent quotes from Priya happened when we were driving by a cemetery. She asked me what it was, and I said something like, "when people die, thats where they get buried." She said, "Mommy, I want to dive and get berries!" I love the way she thinks.