Foul Revenge

AM eats a LOT. He never stops eating, really. He sometimes takes food to bed with him at night, and in an average morning he eats three breakfasts. While his big brother tends to be a pickier eater, AM has rarely met a food that he doesn't like or won't at least try.

Since yesterday was the last day before the Nine Days, the period of mourning leading up to Tisha B'Av when we don't eat meat, we decided to have a fleishig lunch as one last hoorah. We went to Carlos and Gabby's, our favorite neighborhood Mexikosher restaurant, where the boys love to eat chicken fingers and french fries. AM ate his fair share, and we packed up Y's leftovers to take with us to the zoo, where we planned to spend our afternoon.

As we walked through the zoo, the boys munched on their chicken fingers. Maybe it was the scent of dead chicken on AM's face and fingers that precipitated the unfortunate event that happened as we were walking to the exit on our way home.

D and I were attending to Y, who had managed a slow-motion-totally-predictable collision with a slightly older boy that resulted in the older boy walking away unharmed while Y did two somersaults and landed on his tush (he was fine, just upset). As we were comforting him, AM decided to say hi to the chicken that was wandering around outside the petting zoo.

He did everything right...or so I thought. He got close, but not too close, and he didn't try to touch the chicken. He just stood next to the chicken, waved, and said, "hi chicken." Apparently the chicken decided to seek revenge for his brothers lost in the process of making AM's lunch, because he suddenly flapped his wings, jumped up on AM, and attacked him! He jumped down, took a second to regain strength, and did it again! D ran over and yelled at the bird, who decided to fly away rather than attack D as well.

Poor AM was stunned. He just stood there in shock. I quickly examined him and discovered two small scratches on his lower back. We consulted our on-call pediatrician, who didn't seem concerned and talked me down from rushing AM to the emergency room, and we left.

Now, when talking about the incident, AM says, "Chicken ate back. Chicken ate AM." When he's in therapy at age 46 over a strange fear of farm birds, he can refer to this blog post for the origin of it all.


p.s. Y's reaction to the attack: "Now AM learned his lesson. Never talk to a chicken while he's busy."

A Proud Ima

Yesterday was a day full of nachas for this proud Ima.

First, I attended YS's graduation from his 3 year-old class. Unlike all past performances or events I have attended at his school, this time he actually participated fully, sang loudly and proudly, did all of the hand motions, and actually seemed to enjoy himself! I could tell that he was proud of himself, and of course I was beaming with pride. It was a big year academically for YS! He now knows all of his letters and how to write them, both in English and Hebrew. He knows much more parsha and probably knows more about some of the chagim than I do! When he colors, he stays within the lines! He has developed (or maybe just unearthed) a deep love and appreciation for learning, and it's wonderful to observe. He is truly saddened by the end of the school year, even though he will spend his summer playing and learning at his yeshiva's summer camp.

AM also amazed me yesterday! He said his longest sentence yet: "I want more water in my cup please." Atta boy! I was worried about him being able to communicate his needs now that he's starting camp in a week, but after last night, I'm a little less concerned.

What a good day to be their Ima!

I cheese!

AM, who is almost twenty months old, has recently started to have a vocabulary explosion. Each day he's saying more and more. While he mostly identifies nouns, he has also begun to say mini sentences using verbs he sometimes creates.

He has a habit of saying "cheese" (though it sounds more like "cheeth") every time I take his picture. Yesterday he pointed to my camera and identified it as "I cheeth." As in, when I see that object, I say cheese.

This afternoon, after saying "bye" to his nanny, he proudly ran up to me and announced, "I bye! I bye!" Yes, AM, you said goodbye.

He then picked up his toothbrush, gave it a swish or two in his mouth, and said, "I teeth!"

My favorite moment was a few weekends ago. After returning from minyan one Sunday morning, D asked the ever-important question, "Who wants to go to Dunkin Donuts?" AM quickly raised his hand and yelled, "I do!" I don't know where he learned to raise his hand, and I don't know when he started saying "I do," but I know he loves food, and he figured out the way to tell us in no uncertain terms!

I love hearing his new words! Before long, I know he'll be speaking like a pro, and if I'm lucky he'll be a little chatterbox like YS. For now, though, these little gems are too delicious not to share!