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Saturday, September 7, 2013

Happy New Year, One and All!

Did you say I could throw something? Or is this a trick?

Not a bad view for a playground

In honor of the new year on the Jewish calendar we had four straight days off from school - just one week after we started! So Lucas and I were back at it at home, having not yet had a chance to grow rusty from our at-home engineering skills.

While in the house we set about reacquainting ourselves with each and every electrical outlet that we hold dear to our hearts. Most have been covered and sealed - baby-proofed, as it is called. But we always find new things to do. For example, mommy and abba are running out of safe shelf space and now I can even reach the bar. So all those remotes that were up until now "hidden" at the edge of the bar are now crowded into the middle of it along with other important items that have long since been endangered on the table.

I also spent all of my vacation nights recreating the TV series "Prison Break" as, about two dozen times in the first hour of going to sleep, I escaped from by bed and magically appeared in the living room until I was banished into a pack and play. I haven't been able to crack the pack-and-play code yet.

We went to dinner one day at Rob and Alisha's apartment where we quickly demonstrated how inadequately baby-proofed their place is. We didn't even know where to begin, whether at the wide open window with no iron bars or the tempting television set that had all sorts of cables that were just begging to be pulled out. Or the cord that was attached to a glass lamp stylishly ensconced on their shelves. OR the ancient Egyptian artifact decorating a baby-reachable shelf.

There was also a very dangerous balcony ledge that we could climb up on and more doors and cabinets to open and close. On each other's fingers. Believe it or not, we all made it through dinner unscathed.

Finally we made it outside one day to a scenic overlook in Jerusalem in order to change the scenery and to give us a chance to burn some energy in wide open spaces. And if this is any indication of how the rest of the year is going to unfold then we have a lot to look forward to: mommy and abba let us throw as many olives as we could find over the hill! They actually encouraged rather than forbade throwing. For once.

I overheard something along the lines of "let them get it out of their systems." But the underlying fear is that we will hone our throwing abilities and never want to stop, even indoors. Nevertheless we found as many olives that had fallen from the surrounding trees and gleefully watched them roll down steep hills.

And we got to run to our hearts' content. And climb stairs - which we do anywhere but in our own apartment building. Naturally.


Happy babies

We were not allowed to follow the olives, however

But we did climb stairs

And run! So much in fact that Lucas took a 2.5 hour nap afterwards!