Daniel's Busy and Adventurous Week

If it wasn't my schedule it was mommy's. Or it was Mimi's daily Skype marathon from New York, starring me. Or the internet at home just didn't work as was the case several evenings this week. Basically, I was just plain busy this week, too busy to blog. Did you miss me?


Well I'm back! And I'd like to take you on a tour of my very interesting week.


On Saturday I met some friends from England for the first time. They bought me a cute outfit they sent over when I was first born. It was the only outfit that fit me those first few early weeks.

Thanks Michael and Anthea! Nice to meet you!

Then I had "spa day" at Shalva. Here's me in the pool!

It all started well enough.

Then I started getting skeptical.

Apparently, I wasn't the only one!

On Monday, more spa-like activities. This was "play time with Ayala," one of my many fine physical therapists.

Me on a bouncing ball.

Afterwards, a culinary adventure! Mommy took me to my first hummus place, fittingly, with Aunt Majda, who was indoctrinating me on the intricacies of why Hummus Lina is the best. While abba agrees with her, mommy likes Gamal the best. But I'll be the judge when they take me there.

At first I opted for my burp rag. Yum!

Soon though, I dove in like the good Middle Easterner that I am. More yum!

Then on Tuesday, mommy had her own schedule so I met up with Grandma for a short date. Here's me arriving in the Old City on my carriage.

In between all this mommy managed to squeeze in a few runs and is now in the best phase of marathon training: tapering! This means she runs a lot less. 


During one of those short runs on Tuesday, abba took me out for a stroll and we picked up some sushi. He didn't let me taste it for some reason, but mommy gave some to Lucie - not fair! But this is apparently what happens also during marathon training - my parents eat a lot of take out.


Today, well, we went to a cafe to write this. Look, I've almost graduated to real lattes!

Photo courtesy of today's Skype-a-thon with Mimi!

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Training for Everyone

My training is in high gear right now. I've been practicing for this marathon for weeks now. I'm nowhere near where I should be and my lofty goal remains to be reached. But after much effort and many failed attempts, on March 25 I must be able to ... take a bottle. Or some alternate form of food supply besides mommy.

"They" have been warning me for awhile now that on marathon day, mommy will be gone for hours. She'll be running probably for five hours and she'll leave at least an hour before the race starts. So we're talking about six hours minimum of finding an alternative ways to sate my appetite.


It is funny how life changes, even when life has only been a half year long. From my first days at the hospital I was introduced to a bottle by the nurses there. And then I took nothing else. Mommy tried offering me her supply, but I was still dreamy and sleepy and preferred the easy-access bottle. The doctors said I probably would never nurse, considering my conditions. Especially my heart. Nursing is an aerobic sport for us babies, never mind running.


So mommy continued to pump so I could have the good stuff and occasionally try to get me to switch. Then one day, about eight weeks into my life, (did you hear the angels sing??) I just did it. I nursed, no problem.


And I never looked back.

I will accept tastings, but I still don't view those as meals or substitutes for the real deal. I enjoy the fun food that mommy and abba mash up for me. I will eat it off a spoon. I will eat it off a finger if it is offered. And I love to taste things. I ate an entire orange wedge the other day. But bottles, no way. Not even a pacifier will do. After weeks of taking just silicone nipples, I refuse.


This puts abba in a bit of a quandary when we are alone. How will he feed me? He tried on Friday during mommy's long run to give me rice cereal from a regular plastic cup. It would've worked had I not flailed my arms in excitement and knocked the cup and its contents clear across the living room. Oh well.

In the meantime, mommy had what she termed "the worst run of my life" on Friday. Boy was that depressing. And she only has less than three weeks to recover. Pray for her. For comic relief, she read this article about running in Israel and she hopes that remembering this while running the race will give her some joy to power her through.


So how will I be fed on race day? Well, that is for them to figure out, not me. After all, I'm just a baby.

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