אִם-יֵשׁ אֶת-נַפְשְׁךָ לָדַעַת

2010-09-08T10:09:00.002-04:00

Trip to the Kinneret

2010-08-29T17:15:00.003-04:00

We spent the last few days of August at the Kinneret! It was our very first trip away with both Itamar and Maayan, who are 2 years 9 months, and 6 months old, respectively. Boaz's parents also joined us which was very helpful and fun too.

One little monkey jumping on the bed

Maayan with Savta

For all the photos click here.

Maayan is 4 months old!

2010-07-18T16:29:00.008-04:00

Time flies when you're having fun! Maayan is truly an angel baby. Here are some things to note for her first 4 months:

She now takes dummy for sleeping, especially during the day. She still sleeps only on her tummy, and she loves being on her tummy for long periods of time while awake too. She started going to classes at First Step with Ayelet, just like Itamar did when he was a baby. Maayani doesn't cry after bath anymore, and she is much better in the car - she sometimes falls asleep, although she is a very light sleeper. This month Ayelet went back to work (part-time only) and Maayan stays with a nanny for 2 mornings a week, and Grandma for 2 other mornings a week.

As with Itamar, at age 4 months we discovered Maayan has a milk allergy. When she started regular formula she got red spots all over her body, and also had mucous stools (like Itamar). She is now drinking Nutramigen, and nurses around once a day.

At age 4.5 months - Maayan turns over onto her back, plays, reaches for objects, turns around in a circle on her tummy, moves forwards with her legs, plays with feet while on her back
lifts body on straight arms.

At age 5 months - Maayan turns over from back to tummy and from tummy to back. You put her in one place and find her somewhere else in a few seconds!

For all the photos click here

Itamar's first guitar solo

2010-07-07T16:45:00.002-04:00

Here is a cute video of Itamar jamming to a children's tune called "Our car is big and green".

His version goes like this:

האוטו שלנו גדול וירוק
האוטו שלנו נוסע ברחוב
בבוקר נוסע, בערב הוא שב
מביא הוא לי טונה, ביצים וחלב

At the end of his performance, Itamar requests that we show him a video on You Tube. It is a song called "Garbage Truck" by the Biluim, and the chorus goes "Garbage truck, garbage truck, take me along with you - אוטו זבל, אוטו זבל, בוא וקח אותי איתך".

You can imagine how excited Itamar gets when he sees rubbish trucks in the neighbourhood, or any large construction vehicle for that matter. Cement mixers are a big hit. Some of Itamar's You Tube favourites can be viewed here, here and here.

Maayan is 3 months old!

2010-06-06T04:18:00.005-04:00

Sleeping through the night! It's possible! Maayan now sleeps from around 9pm straight though to the morning, and wakes up at around 8:30 to eat. Amazing! Never thought this could be, especially after reading this book which we totally empathized with and made us crack up laughing. Maayani has started smiling and stunning us with her million dollar smile. She has started to smile back at us when we smile at her, which is very rewarding and can make your heart melt!

It is quite difficult driving with Mayaani in the car, as she gets very stressed, and we hope that this won't last too long so that we can go on longer trips together. On Shavuot we went to visit our cousins, the beautiful Klinstern family in the North, and the long trip went quite well. Ninety-percent of the time was spent with 2 sleeping kids in the car. Itamar got to see many tractors on the farm, and played nicely with his second cousins, Shir and Or.

The past month has been quite hard on Itamar. He probably began to realise that he now has to share his Mum, and it's difficult for him. His behaviour became quite worrying at kindergarten, as he expressed his emotions using negative actions - like throwing and biting. We decided that he needed a different kind of environment at this stage, and found a new kindergarten for him.

Now Itamar goes to a Montessori kindergarten which is a 15 minute drive in the morning (rather than a bike ride, which is a shame). But it's worth it! He loves the new place, and they have many stimulating exercises for him to solve all day long. There is also sand there, which means that they get dirty and muddy, and they paint whenever they feel like it. So this "messy" place is great for Itamar, and we feel a positive change for the whole family.

Now that Maayan is 3 months old, and sleeping well, Itamar has invited her to share his room with him so that he can look after her at night time. This is what their room looks like. The time has gone quickly, and next week Mum goes back to work (part-time for now).

To see all the photos and videos click here.

Time for a change

2010-06-06T02:21:00.003-04:00

Here lives Itamar with his two servants - Bo'az and Ayelet

Think it might be time to change the sign on the door?
Suggestions for a new sign are welcome...

Itamar language age 2.5

2010-06-05T01:28:00.008-04:00

- anachnu osim pazel klei tachburot im beyachad savta - אנחנו עושים פאזל כלי תחבורות עם ביחד סבתא

- ma ze bishvil? (what's this for?) - מה זה בשביל

- im ani (with me) - עם אני

- ani tochal (3rd person) - אני תאכל

- ani mesim (put) - אני משים

- ima, ma hazman? (what's the time?) - אמא, מה הזמן

- im bli (without) - עם בלי

- oy yored li gadol tipot (it's dripping a lot) - אוי, יורד לי גדול טיפות

- ima, ani rotse she'akof tishan al yad ani - אמא, אני רוצה שהקוף תישן על-יד אני

- ima, ma at osat? (what are you doing) - אמא, מה את עושת

- aba, ata rotse she ima sheli tiftach lecha - אבא, אתה רוצה שאמא שלי תפתח לך

- aba, gam shelcha ha-artikmel nigmar? - אבא, גם שלך האטיקמל נגמר

- ani rotse she'apkak tiye (i want the lid to be on) - אני רוצה שהפקק תהיה

Birthday on the farm

2010-05-07T12:14:00.001-04:00

Itamar's class at Kindergarten went to visit a farm for his friend's birthday party. It was so nice! Ayelet went with him on the bus, which was very exciting (for her no less than for him!). Some highlights include riding on the tractor and collecting eggs. Itamar also got a fright when he tried to feed a horse and the horse bit his hand! Now Itamar wants to become a farmer. Let's see how long that one will last.

Photos and Videos

Maayan's first 2 months

2010-04-30T08:49:00.000-04:00

Maayan's second month has been both enjoyable and challenging for us. She has a very good schedule, nursing every 3-4 hours and sleeping in between. It seems that she is enjoying herself very much so far. She doesn't fall asleep on Mum anymore, and has learned to put herself to sleep quite well. She still has periods of crying in the evenings, where she lets us appreciate her miniature lung capacity... this girl is a screamer! She also performs her loud screams after the bath, in the car, and conveniently at the supermarket check-out. She wants to let us know that she is tired and needs to "check out" for a while. She likes to fall asleep in the ergo, which is quite handy for us when we need to take her out during the day.
Maayan's nights are very good for her age. Since around 8 weeks, she has started sleeping for 6-8 hour stretches and waking up at around 5am, then going back to sleep until 8:30am!
Maayan has started to get some really good tummy time action, not complaining too much and even lifting her head up a bit.

Photos and videos here

Maayan's first 6 weeks

2010-04-11T14:45:00.022-04:00

Maayan at 1 week

Maayan at 2 weeks

Maayan at 3 weeks

Maayan at 4 weeks

Maayan is 1 month old. Here is Itamar at 1 month

Maayan is 6 weeks old.

We officially have another baby! Maayan's first 6 weeks have been a time to get to know her personality, and we can so far conclude that she is, as Tracy Hogg puts it, an "Angel Baby". As a baby, Maayan doesn't like dummies and is not such a fan of sucking (Itamar will probably be weaned from dummies on his Bar Mitzvah, and on to cigarettes :-) She nurses very well and is providing Ayelet with a great "second chance" at breastfeeding. Maayan loves to sleep!! For the first couple of weeks, Maayan was very good at sleeping during the day in the pram, an then always falling asleep on Mum at night after nursing. So Mum was her bed for the first 6 weeks or so. Hoping to change this habit soon, and to get a proper routine started. At first, Itamar didn't show much interest in his new sister - more in the fact that he has to share his Mum with her. Using the dummy a lot more, doing pipi in inconvenient places, etc. To get around this issue, we bought Itamar a skateboard that attaches to Maayan's stroller and he loved it! This is his pride and joy, and allows him to get attention and at the same time it allows walking from day care with two kids under coltrol :-) Very cool invention (see photo). He is very tender with Maayan, touching her carefully and saying "Maayani!".

Maayan has a tendency to wail at the top of her miniature lungs when she gets tired or has gas, and this really stresses Itamar out. When we told him she is crying because she has bubbles in her tummy, he translated to Hebrew: יש לה סבון בבטן (she has soap in her tummy). Also when Maayan cries, he says to her in Hebrew: לא לבכות מעייני, אני פה (don't cry Maayani, i'm here). Very cute! Regarding language, Itamar is bilingual, but only speaks in Hebrew, even with Ayelet. If she insists then he speaks to her in English, but his Hebrew is way way more advanced than his English right now. He is aware that Mum's books are in English and Dad's books are in Hebrew, and he can translate things - mainly nouns. His syntax is much more advanced in Hebrew.

Our first 6 weeks have been (surprisingly!) lots of fun, and not so difficult (with a lot of help). We celebrated Passover with family, went on a few trips together with Maayan in the Ergo (see photo), and started getting used to life as a real family. It looks like Maayan is a very good girl, and if she keeps going at this pace, we think we can expect neat and tidy textbooks at school, and many followers. She already has been asked for her phone number from our neighbour's baby so...

For all the photos and videos click here.

Maayan has arrived!

2010-03-02T12:10:00.001-05:00

On March 2nd, Maayan came into the world! She was born at 12:10pm and weighed 2.36kg. The birth was a very good experience and it went very well, even without epidural(!) She is a good kid, causing no problems for Mum, right from Day 1.

Maayan's first moments right after popping out:

From the beginning, Maayan looks very much like Itamar did as a baby.

In preparation for his new "toy", Itamar had a Big Brother celebration at day care, and he brought photos of Maayan to show his friends. He also brought his friends yummy chocolate balls (which were prepared the night before the scheduled induction by his excited mother). Maayan started nursing well from the beginning (after a few pointers from lactation consultants), and enjoys sleeping most of the day, waking up to eat every 3-4 hours. These are two things we learned after Itamar's birth: (1) prepare for breastfeeding before the baby comes, and (2) Don't try to wake a sleeping baby to eat every 3 hours like they tell you at the hospital. Let them sleep, and they will wake up when they are hungry.

Here are all the photos from Maayan's first week with us.

Appropriately, the name of the blog has now changed, so we include here the original name, just for the record:

Itamar's Adventures - הילד העברי הראשון שלנו

Two years old

2010-01-30T15:11:00.001-05:00

Photos and videos

2009-12-21T06:07:00.002-05:00

Here are the photos from September to December 2009.
They include lots of friends, Itamar's 2nd birthday party, and the Hannuka party at gan.

Click here to see photos and videos.

A description will probably be updated soon.... one day :-)

p.s. little sister due to pop out March 2010. Stay tuned for details....

Some notes from around October, age 1 year 10 months

2009-10-27T08:34:00.010-04:00

- went to the kibbutz, saw ziv, Leeat and Yinon.
- started going on buses for fun.
- loves trucks, tractors, anything with wheels.
- says sentences with 3-4 words.
- saba pes dadu (סבא מחפש כדור)
- aba vi tama dummy (אבא תביא לאיתמר מוצץ)
- calls us "ima yet" and "aba boz"
- started calling me mummy
- repeats everything we say, gives out commands (mummy kum! = get up!)
- wakes up saying cute things: ima fog, ima sok
- talks in his sleep
- loves to read stories
- likes to identify letters of the alphabet that he knows (Hebrew: shin, mem, ayin, nun, he, gimmel) (English: S, A, B, C, W, O)
- learning colours at day care, started distinguishing (i.e. not everything is adom anymore)
- prefers certain DVDs (Justine Clark)

18 to 21 months

2009-07-24T01:58:00.020-04:00

Photos are here.

At age 1.5 to 1 year 9 months, Itamar has acquired a long list of hobbies. These involve playing guitar, drum, piano, recorder, basketball, soccer, ping pong, scooter riding, building tall wobbly towers, splashing in the water, sitting in the driver's seat, testing out anything with buttons, and making freshly squeezed orange juice.

The past three months were full of Summer activities. We went a lot to the pool and to the beach. Itamar played with his best friend Arthur (2.5) and learned from him to pee in the toilet. Great stuff. We also visited our friend Ziv and his dog, Boss. Itamar doesn't get to see pets very much so it was fun for him to feed Boss and play with him.

We spent a lot of time in the neighbourhood playground, running after older boys and their various balls (basket-, foot-, ping pong, etc). We also went for a trip to the Dead Sea and Masada with a conference including most of the world's population of convex geometry mathematicians. Itamar liked the hotel very much, especially wasting water at the water coolers (it's so much fun pressing the button and seeing the water come out).

At this age Itamar insists on driving the car himself and refuses to go anywhere before having 5 minutes alone with the CD player, taking the CD out and putting it back in, many many many times. We had an end-of year party at day care before the Summer break, Savta Sarit came to visit again, and we started going to swimming classes with Arthur.

Itamar also upgraded to a toddler bed, because he grew wings and managed to fly out of his baby bed - actually, he climbed and splashed all over the floor. So we urgently bought a new bed, and Itamar (with the help of Uncle Yair) took apart the old bed and built the new one. Itamar definitely has a promising career ahead of him in carpentry. So the new bed brought with it new sleeping patterns, which included many rounds of getting out of bed. But this settled after around 3 weeks and by 1 year 9 months Itamar is sleeping well again.

Language-wise, Itamar has definitely had his lexical burst around the Summer break at 1 year 8.5 months. He is very communicative now and has entered the 2-word stage at around 1 year 9 months. Here is a list of words, most of which were acquired during the 2 week Summer break at 1 year 8.5 months.

Ma, Tama = Itamar
H Sha = savta (grandma)
H Aba = saba (grandpa)
H bon = sabon (soap bubbles)
E tu tu = choo choo
E pim, pip = pip (of fruit)
ayi = yair
E abo = elbow
Ama na = mum, take this thing... ??
H po = po (here)
H Oto = oto (car)
H Oto po = says shen he hears a car
H toa = liftoach (open, verb)
E tin = Justine Clarke (means: "I want to watch a DVD")
E koo = Play School (a DVD show)
H da = toda (thank you)
Shai = Shai (a girl at gan)
Ta Tan = Yonatan (a boy at gan)
H apa = Hoppa!
wow = wow
E pata = potty
H dom/adom = adom (red)
E apo = apple
E pen = plane
H shama = shama (there)
H ashu = asur (forbidden)
H boim = boi (come here)
E min, mik = milk
E pum = plum
H kum = kum (get up)
H tom = ufitom (all of a sudden..)
H adu = kadur (ball)
E abo = ball
E up = up
E be = bear
H pi = pil (elephant)
E pi = please
E up = up
E dan = down
H yim, vim = anavim (grapes)
H non = balon (balloon)
H nin = balonim (balloons)
H shin = the Hebrew letter Shin
H nun = the Hebrew letter Nun
H tun = xatul (cat) - the letter x stands for the Hebrew sound, like "h". H obada = oy vavoy (means 'oh dear') H sim = sim (put) H sheme = shemesh (sun) E sun = sun H top = tof (drum) E pop = pop H shon = lishon (to sleep, asleep) E fok = fork E poon = spoon H kak = pkak (lid, cover) H ofanan = ofanayim (bike, used also for motorbike) E bak = bike E bak = back H emen = Amen (points to wine bottle) H pa = Kippah H ta = pita E men = man E eg = egg

Photos are here.

Don't miss out...

2009-06-25T05:12:00.002-04:00

Click here to join the Green Movement in Israel!

18 months

2009-06-01T11:27:00.019-04:00

All the photos and videos are here.

There's no stopping Itamar these days. During the past month he has undergone a huge developmental leap. He understands everything he is told, and is a lot more communicative. Saba Avi came over to visit, and introduced Itamar to the wonderful taste of cappuccino froth. Every time Itamar sees him on skype now, he runs over to his mini basketball game and starts playing, because that's what they played when Saba Avi was in Israel.

Itamar is in love with Justine Clarke and he loves putting in the DVD and pressing Play on his mini-DVD player (which he still calls "et ze, et ze", meaning "this"). That's the only DVD he likes to watch, despite having an incomprehensible amount of DVDs to choose from. So although we don't have a TV (yet...) we do use the little DVD player to keep Itamar occupied while doing the housework. Very handy little investment. Highly recommended!

The hot season has arrived so we went to the beach a couple of times. Itamar loves playing in the sand. On our first visit he preferred to stick to the sand, but on later visits he loved running into the water - but of course only if it involved running after a ball. This guy has a thing for balls. But we already mentioned that, didn't we.

We are pretty sure that Itamar is left-handed. If given a ball in his right hand, he transfers it to his left hand in order to throw it. He eats and draws mostly with his left hand too. But if he is holding something important in his left hand, he will use his right hand instead. Itamar is learning how to be polite - he says "da" (toda = thank you) when told to, and he gives kisses and hugs on demand, if he is in the mood. We are enjoying this (probably brief) period of obedience, and hoping that it will continue on at least to the teen years. Yeah right.

We have had some issues with separation anxiety this month - Itamar cries when mum or dad leave, but relaxes pretty soon afterwards. His first babysitting experience went well following a rough start. He is also very stubborn. At day care they tell us that if Itamar doesn't feel like doing something, or if he has other plans, it is quite a task to 'convince' him to stay with the rest of the group. Once he finishes eating, he puts his things down and trots over to the door expecting to be let out to the playground. But he has to wait until all the other kids have eaten too... try telling him that. Thankfully, he doesn't express any aggression towards other people (i.e. hitting, biting and the like), even if he doesn't want to do what he is told. Just distract him with something else and the scene ends pretty soon.

Sleep-wise, we were having a lot of trouble sleeping through the night until now, especially since coming back from NY. Itamar slept with mum when he was sick there, so he needed mum a lot in the middle of the night. This got better after 2 weeks, and by 1 year 6 months Itamar started sleeping through the night completely. Of course, there are still some nights when something bothers him, but at least now we know it's possible to sleep from 8pm to 6:30am! It is definitely associated with some sort of growing up that he is doing right now.

Better sleep is definitely related to the huge developmental changes as well. Itamar now points to body parts when asked (nose, mouth, belly button, knee, etc.) and says the name. He does the twinkle twinkle little star action, does "all gone" action and says "go" when something is finished. He points to people in photos, including himself and sometimes points out objects in books (moon, apple, animals, etc. ). He also gets the colours right sometimes, like "point to the green balloon", etc. Itamar can now climb ladders in the playground, drink from a straw and from a cup. He likes at puzzles with colour-matching, and just starting to get excited about regular puzzles.

At age 1 year 5.5 months, a whinge was still worth a thousand words. When he wanted something he would yell "ma ma ma ma" until we responded. Within 2 weeks he changed tactics and started calling us when he wanted stuff: "Aba" and "Ama" loud and clear. Another new and useful thing is shaking his head and saying "no no no" in a very cute fashion, when offered something he doesn't want. Finally some expressiveness! We have also now entered the wonderful age of books! Previously Itamar wasn't interested at all, but at age 1.6 he has finally begun to share his parents' favourite past-time.

Itamar has a lot of new words. He is now at the stage where he repeats what we say and copies what we do a lot. His consonants are mostly bilabial or dental, with fricatives being f (as in flower) and v (as in woof woof). He has started saying closed syllables now. Not surprisingly, so far they all end with a sonorant consonant (m or n). A cool thing about Itamar's language aquisition is that for each word he chooses the language (Hebrew or English) according to the sound. So he will say the sound "da" for duck in English, but also for "dag" which is fish in Hebrew. This could be an example of phonological code-switching. Not sure exactly.

Here are some more words that he has picked up (E = English, H = Hebrew):

E - baba = cucumber

E - che = cheese
E - che = cheerios
H - da = toda (thank you)
E - da = duck
H - da = dag (fish)
E - faa = flower (with an australian accent ;-)
EH- bom/boom (closed syllable)
H - ata = savta
EH - ayo = Allo (hello on the phone)
EH - yay, aya = ayin (eye)
H - pe = peh (mouth)
EH - ping = penguin (closed syllable)
H - a-yeh = Yair
H - ami = Amit

EH - ama = mum/ima

H - vovo = sevivon (dreidle)
H - mayin = mayim (water, closed syllable)

All the photos and videos are here.

New York, New York

2009-04-19T17:24:00.002-04:00

We went up to New York for a short visit to NYU. The location was fantastic, the weather was cold, and the baby's fever was 39.2 degrees Celsius. Boo hoo. Itamar was pretty miserable for the first half of the trip, with a painful ear infection. But as soon he felt better and the sun came out, we had a great time. Itamar felt right at home on the basketball courts of Greenwhich Village. Imagine four huge guys playing basketball, when a little cheeky boy rushes into their game with his arms outstretched, yelling "bo, bo". It was rather hilarious. We also got to spend time with our new friend, baby Romy in New York at the Children's museum which was fun. The definite highlight of the trip was our visit to Princeton. Itamar was reunited with his baby-hood friends - Johanna, Alessandro and Laura. They played really well together and made us feel like we should be coming over there more often. Laura is so far the first kid that Itamar lets keep the ball. If anyone else dares to take a ball from him he goes nuts. But with Laura he is quite the gentleman. Hmmm.... Alessandro might have some competition here. Compare: THEN and NOW.

So the trip was short but sweet. Here are the photos.

And here are some photos from before we left - hanging out with Ziv at a gymboree called Yalduta in Zichron Ya'akov.

1 year 4 months

2009-04-04T07:35:00.000-04:00

On Purim Itamar dressed up as a bee and was very busy, running around a lot. When the weather began getting nicer we went to Nachal Alexander for a picnic with the Green Movement. Itamar didn't seem to notice the beautiful place as much as the balls that were being kicked around. Boys will be boys... Other than that, Itamar has started building up a little vocabulary, mostly made up of single syllables. He has officially been crowned the "cheekiest but cutest" kid at Day Care. We are also very excited about our visit to NY to meet Itamar's 'childhood friends' in Princeton.

More photos are here.

Words:
1 year 4 months:
a-vu = it fell (or 'nafal' in Hebrew)
vu vu = woof woof
neh = knee

Words

2009-03-09T04:16:00.010-04:00

1 year 3 months:

aba = aba (Dad)

ma ma = ima/mum

et ze - et ze (this)
eh meh = dummy

mao = meaow

bu = bakbuk (bottle)

bo = ball/baloon

be = pea

bi = dubi/bear

aya = shalva (a type of snack)

am am = i'm hungry
mu = moon
yay = light
may = mayim / water
mo = more
go = liftoach (liftoach means 'to open', but go comes from lisgor which means 'to close')
baaaaaa! = Wow! (this is usually said when Itamar makes a huge mess)

We hear mostly 'bi-labial' sounds, single syllables and lots of duplications, i.e. go-go, ba-ba, meh-meh, ma-ma.

Merav, we miss you ...

2009-02-28T16:04:00.009-05:00

Last Saturday we lost Merav, Boaz's sister, after a fierce and courageous battle against leukemia. Merav loved Itamar very much, and we are grateful that he at least got a chance to play a little bit with such a wonderful person.

Photos of Merav
הספד

On the phone to Dad

2009-02-19T18:38:00.003-05:00

1 year 2.5 months

2009-02-14T14:35:00.004-05:00

At 14 months Itamar moved to a new day care, in which all the kids are around his age. No more sleeping babies to sit on. During the first 2 weeks Itamar was sick (eye infection, virus, grumpy, whingy, not sleeping, etc.) but we are on our way to a full recovery and back to normal.

Despite his lack of speech, Itamar is showing signs of a deep understanding about life. At 14.5 months, he is making huge leaps towards grown-up-hood. He is very excited about following instructions: putting a nappy in the bin, closing the lid and clapping his hands in satisfaction. This is usually followed by putting his dirty clothes in the bin as well, and then transferring them to the laundry hamper after several frustrated requests from us. This action is very handy too: instead of the cheerios hitting the floor during meal-time, we give him a bowl and he patiently places them one by one inside the bowl. Itamar now does lots of things in order to get praise, such as stack rings on a stick, put shoes away in their place, put things away in a drawer or closet - always followed by clapping his hands happily. He also now likes to add blocks to a tower, rather than knocking the whole thing down. Quite an achievement.

His linguistic awareness is expanding to more complex babbling, but still only 1-2 words in his vocabulary. Meh meh means either water ('Mayim') or dummy. Et ze means 'this'. But he now says 'Aba' in the correct context - i.e. whenever he hears the front door open, or when he wants Bo'az to come to him. Mum's arrival is probably taken for granted, so he doesn't call her yet at all.

Other physical advancements include seating himself down on chairs, running very fast, passing objects to people when asked, feeding himself and others with a spoon, among other things.

Another thing Itamar does lately is throw himself on the floor in frustration. Classic symptom of not being able to say what he wants. When he started walking he enjoyed his newly-found independence very much and constantly ran all over the place. However, now he is at a stage where he refuses to walk and wants to be held all the time [Note: Apparently this only happens with Mum, according to Dad...]. If we refuse he bends his knees and folds over backwards on the sidewalk. This form of communication is quite annoying, and we are waiting patiently for the day when he will simply say "hey, pick me up, i can't be bothered walking!" This also explains why we so often see empty strollers in the streets, with the strollers' natural inhabitant being held in the parent's aching arms...

Itamar also got his first haircut!

Click here for photos and some videos

Run run run

2008-12-28T09:55:00.006-05:00

In December we went to support the new "Green Movement" party as it prepares to take the Israeli Knesset by storm in the next elections. Itamar couldn't vote in the primary election, but he did enjoy the drumming circle there. Some more info here.

Itamar started walking (well, more like waddling) around Christmas time, and has thus earned a nice pair of size 22 shoes. He has also moved on to the copying phase, which includes clapping his hands, sitting down/standing up, and pointing to various objects (head, duck, ball, etc) "on demand". His family came for a long visit from Down Under, so Itamar spent a lot of quality time with his auntie Shani and his grandparents. He also ate lots of "sufganiyot" for Hanuka, and he learned to communicate with Morse code and became the family's youngest HAM radio amateur.

Here are the latest photos and videos.

Happy Birthday!

2008-11-30T13:50:00.001-05:00

This month Itamar finally got to taste dairy products and it seems that his bad reaction to milk is officially a thing of the past. He is eating and enjoying cheese and even had some yummy chocolate cake! Itamar has also mastered the art of mastication and can chew every food without choking. yay!

In terms of movement, Itamar is still walking very well while holding on to things, but he can now let go and stand by himself without support. He can go up and down stairs very carefully, and also up and down slides in the playground. Aparently he has taken a few steps by himself but we need to see it to believe it :-)

Itamar is very playful too. He can play peek-a-boo with us, and throws/catches a ball. Throwing other objects (food, dummy, mobile phones) is also very fashionable right now. He loves to play with anything that has buttons, and also with things that open and close, like the kitchen doors and the drawers in the dresser. Fingers do get smashed every so often, but that's how it is - no pain, no gain.

Vocally, Itamar's output has become a lot more specific. He can say "Aba" (Dad in Hebrew) which mostly comes out as 'ba ba' and also uses 'ma ma' to refer to either "Ima" (Mum in Hebrew) or maybe "Mum". His newest word is "et ze" which means "this" in Hebrew. Itamar also has several grunting noises used specifically for things like "i want more cheerios NOW!", "i do NOT want to put on any clothes!", or "I want to play with that thing". He has a favourite object, which is quite odd: anything that looks like a lid. Most of his day goes by while he is holding on to a green plastic bottle lid or a lid of a gerber jar.

And of course, we celebrated Itamar's 1st birthday at Day Care with all his friends. He seemed to enjoy the attention and the cake very much!

For all the photos and more videos click here.

Itamar's 11th month

2008-10-30T15:47:00.016-04:00

Itamar is starting to act more like a boy than like a little baby. He graduated to the big bath - since he was climbing out of the smaller one. He loves to do things that are clearly not allowed and then laugh hysterically when we say 'no'. Some worrying examples include playing with the water faucet and turning on the hot water in the bath, opening interesting cupboards in the kitchen, and reaching for electrical outlets in the walls. So this is the stage when we have to start the whole discipline business. And possibly influence our kid's behaviour for ever and ever. Hmmm.... not a problem at all....

Itamar's motor skills now include climbing up and down stairs, getting down correctly from the sofa and our bed, climbing up slides in the playground and cruising along the furniture. He goes very fast around the house while holding onto things, and also likes to push objects around and use them as a 'walker'. He is very careful when bending down to reach for things and pick them up. Especially if it is a tiny stone, leaf or cigarette butt that he feels like putting in his mouth.

In the food department we haven't made much progress this month. Itamar had a stomach virus so he was eating a lot of blender foods, rather than advancing with finger foods. He is still learning to chew, rather than swallow things whole, so there were many incidents in which we saw his food twice - both before and after he ate it...

This month we also went to visit Ayelet's Kibbutz family in Ashdot Ya'akov Meuchad. The Kibbutz is situated just South of the Sea of Galilee, on the border with Jordan. We were lucky to witness the birth of a new calf, and she was named Itamara! Hopefully she will still be around and producing milk when Itamar is old enough to come over and chat with her. We had a lot of fun with Itamar's new friends Shiri and Ron.

The dominant sound this month in Itamar's vocabulary is "meh meh meh", which sounds extremely cute but the meaning of which is not exactly clear yet. Hungry? Mummy? Dummy (pacifier)?

For a tour of Itamar's 11th month click here.

And here are the photos from the Kibbutz.

A visitor from Down Under

2008-09-30T03:43:00.013-04:00

Undoubtedly, the highlight of this month was Savta Sariti's visit from Melbourne. Itamar had not seen his grandma since he was 2 months old, so they had quite a bit of cathing up to do.

Since Itamar is a lot more active now that he is crawling around, we went a few times to a 'gymboree'. This is an activity centre with lots of soft objects to climb and play with.

And again, this month Itamar spent quite a few days being sick with a stomach virus. Here is what the miserable version of Itamar looks like:

Also, Itamar can now easily hold a bottle and drink all by himself. He is also able to insert a dummy (pacifier) correctly into his mouth, rather than be lazy and hold his mouth open ready for it to be popped in for him. This trick comes in very handy in the middle of the night :-)

Language: Lots of indistinguishable babbling. Hear for yourself in the videos. He seems to understand what he's saying, even if we don't...

Photos from Itamar's 10th month

Catch me if you can

2008-08-31T16:28:00.009-04:00

In the beginning of August Itamar started crawling around and standing up a lot while holding on to things. It's nice to see the progression of his abilities. First he stands up and falls when he wants to get down. Then he learned to bend sideways to reach for objects, and play with them while holding on to the furniture with one hand. Then he learned to get down nicely without falling over. Towads the end of the month he was already comfortable standing up and holding on with only one hand, with lots more control over his movements.
Also, this month Itamar was sick quite a few times. One of the lovely 'benefits' of Day Care, and unavoidable if Ayelet is going to keep her new job.
Some highlights from this month are going to the pool with our friends Ariel, Lena and Tomer, and also going to the beach for the first time. Itamar seemed to enjoy the sandy beach more than the salty waters of the Mediterranean. We have to work on that...

Finally, Itamar's 3/4 birthday was celebrated at the end of his 9th month with a very geometrically appropriate (and tasty) cake.
Language: Lots of babbling, with the most dominant sounds being the bisyllabic "da-dn" and "ba-bm". Very cute.

Photos from Itamar's 9th month.

Astronomical leaps and bounds

2008-08-01T11:06:00.018-04:00

Itamar's 8th month was our first month in Israel. During these past 4 weeks he has changed so much, that it feels like we have a completely different baby! Itamar met most of his family already (from both mum and dad's side) and has settled in to his neighbourhood in Ramat Aviv - near the Tel-Aviv Uni campus. Apparently, there has been a wave of births on our street, so the local park is always full of mums with babies. Itamar has yet to explore the wonders of the holy land... we will leave that to the next month and beyond. Here are some videos of where we live.

Developmentally, Itamar is a very different man now - as can be seen from the photos and videos. Until the 21st of the month, he still did not readily roll over from his back to his tummy. But by the 25th, he started sitting up by himself, and loving it! By the end of the month he was already standing up in his bed - and smiling very proudly every time.

As soon as we arrived here we were told that you should never sit a baby up until he can do so alone. They are supposed to crawl first and only then sit up by themselves. This was quite a surprise, since in the US nobody told us anything about such things. We were letting Itamar sit since he was 5 months old, rather than letting him spend time on his tummy. Apparently it can lead to bad posture and delayed walking. So in Israel we discovered that everyone has something to teach you, and they are always willing to do so (even if you don't want to listen :-) But this has many advantages too.

Itamar finally met Ziv and Tamar - their mums went to high school with Ayelet in Melbourne.

Itamar started going to a new day care here, and also had a virus with a fever. He was very lively and happy - even with a slight fever of 38.3C. However, the illness made him regress to being quite spoiled. He wants to be held a lot lately and is a lot harder to put to sleep. We are hoping that this is just a phase and that he will go back to being his regular calm self. And finally, at the end of this month, he sprouted another tooth. That may explain the mood swings - who knows.

Itamar is now officially a toddler.

Weight at 7.5 months: 9.1kg
Language acquisition (in this order): ba/be, nga, da/de, ma/me, fe/ve.

All the photos are here.

Tel-Aviv here we come - תל-אביב באתי להזיע

2008-07-03T09:49:00.001-04:00

The eagle has landed.

Welcome to Israel!

No smiling visitor will be turned away: 054-5384923.

More photos here.

Goodbye Princeton

2008-07-02T08:23:00.001-04:00

The time has come to say farewell to our dear friends in Princeton.

We said goodbye to Johanna,

Goodbye to Alessandro,

and even goodbye to the nice UPS man, who always brings us prezzies from 'the Amazon'.

Itamar is officially ready to hit the sunny beaches of Tel-Aviv.

"I'm leaving on a jet plane, don't know if i'll be back again..."

Click here for photos from our last days in Princeton.

Babies everywhere

2008-06-23T00:42:00.002-04:00

Nice day for a stroll into town. Princeton was full of people with strollers and there were babies everywhere! We met some friends at Palmer square and had yummy ice cream from the Bent Spoon (that shall be sorely missed when we leave...)
The burning question at the time was: Who won the soccer??

For more photos click here.

Itamar and the city

2008-06-23T00:24:00.002-04:00

We finally managed to take a drive up to New York, which was really fun. Now that Itamar has been to the big city, he is much better prepared for the night life of Tel-Aviv.

To view the album, click here.

June - Itamar's 7th month

2008-06-21T11:00:00.000-04:00

This month Itamar was especially cute, so there is a ridiculous amount of photos. Mind you, there is a very good chance that next month he will be cute as well, so you may as well make time for some serious procrastinating (i.e. photo browsing).

Itamar started using a high chair.

Here are some photos from day care. Itamar has been going there for 4 hours a day since he was 4.5 months old. He loves it there!

The weather was really hot for a few days, so we jumped in the pool with Johanna.
Itamar also started having big kids' baths, now that he can sit up straight.

We visited Mum's lab and Dad's office.

Itamar started drinking beer and singing pub songs at the top of his lungs before bedtime.

And we finally got two very sharp teeth!

There rest of the photos are here.

May - Itamar's 6th month

2008-05-28T21:34:00.037-04:00

This month was busy busy busy. We had 2 Aviads come to visit us in Princeton (one from Ayelet's side and one from Boaz's side).

On Mother's Day we had a BBQ by the canal, with our friends Itamar hagadol and Eshel Special (and their mum and dad and Yanir too).

All of the photos from the first half of May can be seen here.

There were also Itamar's first and second visits to Rutgers. The first visit was to see mum's lab. He didn't get to do any experiments, but Itamar played with a test tube, so that was very exciting and tasty for him. Itamar also heard Chinese for the first time and seemed to love it! You can see more photos and videos with Chiann-Chyi and Yacov in the album.

The second visit to Rutgers was for mum's graduation (or 'commencement') ceremony. 'Twas very medieval and Ayelet even got to dress like a wizard for the occasion. The rest of the photos are here.

On Memorial Day weekend we had a BBQ with millions of other babies at Alessandro's place. For the photos click here.

This month Itamar started sitting all by himself and can stand with support. He responds to his name, he can roll over to his backfrom his tummy (if he's not too lazy) and he has started vocalising and babbling a lot!

The next month will be our last in Princeton... getting ready for the big move to Tel-Aviv City.

Itamar's 5th month

2008-05-01T16:53:00.009-04:00

This month Itamar started "eating" some carrots, but some may hesitate to actually call this eating. At this stage it's more like "wearing" carrots.

Itamar also went to the Princeton university farmer's market, he hung out with his little friends - Johanna, Alessandro and Jarek, and also with his new big friends - Chiann-Chyi, Yacov, and Nomi.

As you can see in this video - Savta Nomi is a real pro at making babies laugh!

For more photos and videos click here.

Spring is here

2008-04-11T21:57:00.007-04:00

These past couple of weeks have been nice and sunny. We went for a walk at the IAS with Anna, Daniel and Johanna. Itamar also began going to a weekly baby music class, where he mingles with some other lads his own age and rocks his socks off.

Here are some recent photos.

Giggles

2008-04-03T14:24:00.007-04:00

This video here is a favourite among the fans... enjoy!

So Itamar is now 4 months old and gaining like a champ. His numerical values are as follows:

Weight: 15 lbs / 6.8 kg (50th percentile)
Length: 26" / 66 cm (85th percentile)

Click for more videos.

אצל הדודה והדוד

2008-03-29T18:19:00.014-04:00

Finally the moment has arrived... Itamar's uncle and auntie have come to see our new creation. As you can see from the photos, they were not disappointed!

Click here for the album.

Click here for beautiful photos from Shay's camera.

Itamar is 3.5 months old

2008-03-18T19:51:00.001-04:00

Here are the kangaroo boys (Alessandro and Itamar) peeping out from their pouches. Finally the mums (Anna and Ayelet) got some yummy sushi at Kanokos. **Guy, are you jealous?

Itamar also met his 'mathematical grandfather' Vitali Milman,

and he already enjoys spending his days relaxing and doing nothing.

Click here for more stimulating photos and even some video action.

Itamar is 3 months old

2008-02-29T09:10:00.004-05:00

Itamar is now 3 months old, and still growing (amazing isn't it?). This week we enjoyed the snowy weather when it was possible, i.e. above zero degrees Celcius, and went for a couple of walks around the campus. Itamar also had his first Shabbat dinner at the CJL, which was a special Muslim-Jewish Shabbat dinner. For more photos click here.

Snow!

2008-02-22T09:54:00.002-05:00

New friends

2008-02-21T22:00:00.006-05:00

Itamar's 12th week was very exciting and multi-cultural.

He met his new German friend Johanna (2 weeks old), and he also "played" with his Italian friend Alessandro Farneti (8 weeks).

For more photos click here.

Itamar's 11th week

2008-02-15T11:20:00.002-05:00

This week Itamar spent a lot of his spare time on his tummy. He even got one of those innovative "gyms" that lets him see the world from atop a ladybug-adorned plastic thingy (see photo on left).

He also visited the Cotsen Children's Library on campus, and explored his feminine side at the Women's centre (well, he was more interested in getting fed than in all of the activism books around him).

For the complete photo album, click here.

Itamar's first movie

2008-02-09T12:00:00.000-05:00

On Saturday Itamar went with his mum and dad to catch a movie at the local cinema (at noon, of course, so not too risky). The movie was Persepolis. Itamar slept like a baby.

Itamar's 10th week

2008-02-08T21:30:00.000-05:00

Here is Itamar's dad demonstrating what is known as the "football hold".

(A different kind of "football hold" can be viewed here).

Other than footy, Itamar's Aussie skills have recently expanded. Not satisfied with being a eutherian mammal, Itamar is experimenting with the notion of becoming a marsupial. He has recently become very fond of falling asleep in his mum's pouch (see photo on left).

Other photos from Itamar's 10th week can be viewed in this album.

Guy's visit to Princeton

2008-02-03T04:31:00.000-05:00

Some more beautiful photos from Guy's amazing camera can be seen here.

Itamar 9 weeks

2008-01-31T04:11:00.000-05:00

Photos from Itamar's 9th week.
Click here to see the photo album

8 weeks

2008-01-25T03:53:00.000-05:00

Photos from Itamar's 8th week.

Click here to see the photo album

The new bouncer

2008-01-22T21:03:00.000-05:00

One day, a box came in the mail from Amazon and in it was Itamar's new bouncer! He seems very happy with his present.

You can see proof of this in this album.

London bridge is falling down?

2008-01-21T13:23:00.000-05:00

Spot the difference...

2008-01-15T18:15:00.001-05:00

Itamar at 6 days

Itamar at 6 weeks

And of course, some more cute photos of Itamar can be seen in this album.

A walk to the canal

2008-01-10T06:27:00.000-05:00

Today Mum was wearing Itamar on their walk to the Princeton lake behind our apartment block. More photos can be seen in this album.

6 week visit

2008-01-09T06:05:00.000-05:00

Itamar went with his mum to visit Carolyn Neimann, the midwife who delivered him. He has changed quite a bit since the last time they met...

Cute faces

2008-01-08T21:07:00.000-05:00

A million more photos and 2 videos of Itamar making cute faces can be seen in this album.

New Year's Day 2008

2008-01-01T12:57:00.000-05:00

Went for a long walk through the university campus to Nassau Street with Mum and Savta Sarit. Here are more photos.

Tummy Time

2007-12-29T12:53:00.000-05:00

Here are some photos of Itamar playing on his tummy, and also saying goodbye to Saba Avi and Doda Shaniti.

Christmas time in Princeton

2007-12-24T21:12:00.001-05:00

Itamar went for a walk along Nassau Street with Mum and Dad.

Also, Ben and Lissy came to visit, and introduced Itamar to "Uncle Albert".

More photos/videos are in this album.

More friends, salsa dancing and mum's birthday

2007-12-22T14:13:00.000-05:00

This week Itamar met some more friends, and also had his first professional salsa class! He also celebrated his mum's birthday with her and wrote her a very nice card. Here are some photos.

איתמר מביט לאופק

2007-12-13T19:59:00.000-05:00

התמונה היפה ביותר שאבא של איתמר צילם אי פעם
עוד תמונות

First trip outdoors

2007-12-10T16:17:00.000-05:00

Today Itamar went for a walk with mum and dad in Princeton University. More photos can be seen in this album.

Hanging out with my family

2007-12-07T16:13:00.000-05:00

Itamar is very lucky to have his family with him in his first week. Click here to see more photos.

Itamar's Brit Mila

2007-12-07T16:06:00.000-05:00

Here are photos from Itamar's Brit Mila, a very exciting day in his short life!

Some nice videos too, but don't worry, you won't see anything private...

Hanukka with Itamar

2007-12-04T13:48:00.000-05:00

Here are some photos and videos from Itamar's first Hanukka.
His grandparents came to visit from Israel & Australia!

Hello World

2007-11-30T03:08:00.000-05:00

Itamar was born on the 30th of November with the first snow of 2007, in Princeton, New Jersey.
Here are some photos of his first moments.