The Adventures of Yoni and Ezra

2011-04-22T15:41:00.001-05:00

Day 2 with a spoon. Let's hope accuracy improves quickly

2011-04-22T15:36:00.001-05:00

Someone is happy to be using a fork

Yoni acquires language

2009-08-06T23:19:00.003-05:00

That's right, Yoni has begun speaking. We've read that Yoni's language would be delayed a bit since he is learning two languages, three if you include pig latin. So we were very surprised when Yoni started speaking in complete sentences about a month ago. Below is a little monologue that Yoni had during dinner about a week or so ago. I had to start the conversation off, but Yoni pretty much took it from there. In fact, it was hard for me to get a word in edgewise. Enjoy the monologue. Hopefully I'll have Yoni's growling session up in a week or so.

Yoni bounces

2009-06-16T00:37:00.005-05:00

Enjoy the bouncing boy. He is not only bouncing now, but is walking too. That started a little over two weeks ago. About 4 days after he started walking, he took a 3/4 mile walk to and from the grocery store with his Eema (he's not allowed out on his own yet). I think this is pretty good proof that he could have started walking quite some time ago if he just had the confidence. Maybe this means he won't start driving until he's in his mid-twenties. Here's hoping.

Trip to the Garfield Conservatory

2009-02-17T21:24:00.007-06:00

Yoni has grown quite a bit since we last posted, and has sprouted a couple more teeth too. So far he has his two bottom incisors and his two top canines (need a diagram?). One of his top incisors just cut yesterday.

While he still isn't walking, he's doing a ton of cruising (walking with the aid of furniture), crawls forward, backwards, and in circles, and can even crawl while holding a ball or other object in one hand; we call this peg-legging.

His vocabulary continues to expand. His words now include: banana (nanana), ball (baa), Abba (abba), Eema (emma), Grendel (dig dug [who knows why]), door (daa), light [Heb: or] (or)], Obama (mamama), thank you [Heb: todah] (toda), bubble (babol), and balloon (baa [o.k., maybe he thinks it's a ball]). There are also all the countless babbles which we can't make head or tails of. He will occasionally moo, quack, and meow, be he finds these challenging. He can make a lot of sounds using lip vibrations. There are a couple in previous vids, and probably some in new vids too. I'll have to dig through them and post something soon.

He signs a couple of words too. Milk, water (at least he used to), all done, more (rarely), cat (rarely). To see what they look like (yes, I should have video), go here.

He points at everything (which according to a new study is a better predictor of school performance than the number of words known; I'm going to hold him to it), has picked up whining, and is still really cute (in our opinion).

Last weekend we took a trip to the Garfield Park Conservatory. We loved it. It was the perfect outing for cold winter day. That morning we noticed our good friends the Traffic and Parking Enforcement (e.g. Department of Revenue) out towing cars. While that's a pretty common site in Chicago, it isn't on a Sunday. After the towing was completed there were police officers posted at all of the intersections on Woodlawn from as far north and south as I could see. This lead me to hypothesize that O-man was back in town. Luckily we left the house just minutes before his motorcade went whizzing by. The officer on our corner told us that one of the cars had a roof mounted Gatling gun or some such frightening thing. Here are some pics of the motorcade.

The photos below are in chronological order (or at least they are supposed to be). . .

Yoni doesn't realize that Mamama is coming. Yael is smiling because we didn't get our car towed (to be fair we were told that the cars that were towed were dropped off somewhere in the neighborhood and that the cars wouldn't be ticketed.)

Very fun atmosphere. Even Yoni is feeling the fun and anticipation.

Yoni thinks he should be clandestine too.

Here it comes ( I don't know which car O is in). . .

Probably not the Buick below. That must be someone grandma.

That's all folks. And that was all so that he could play basketball on campus. Who would want such a life? I'd rather go to the Garfield Park Conservatory.

Look how happy Yoni is to be here . . .

Can you believe that let children look at this kind of stuff.

Super cute shot coming up. . .

This was a really fun dirt table to play in. There were rubbery bugs and worms, magnifying glass, pots and flowers, and lots and lots of really nice mulchy soil.

This is when Yoni decided that the dirt looked tasty and found a nice pebbley clump to try. I mostly stopped him from eating it, but you'll see that his lip is still a bit dirty in some of the following shots.

There was also this nice crawling area for toddlers to play around in. Yoni really liked all the circles (balls, according to Yoni) with numbers in them. As far as I know, he doesn't have anything in his fingers.

Below are some real Koi and glass lily pads sculpted by Dale Chihuly, who also has pieces at the Fredrick Meyer Gardens in Grand Rapids where friends Kristi and Towi were married.

Yoni is snacking on banana in the next couple of pics.

It wasn't as much of a challenge as I thought it might be to keep Yoni from picking the folliage (babies have short arms).

It's a great place for photographers too. I'd really like to go back sans Yoni, however I don't see that happening in the near future. They also host birthday parties, which I can see us taking advantage of. Maybe we'll post adventures from this coming weekend. Stay tuned.

Finally a couple of stray cute shots.

YONI THE MAGICIAN: Making a puzzle piece disappear. . .

Subtle misdirection. . .

Happy Yoni faces (and chance to see his crazy teeth).

And finally, there is a fine line between really cute happy looking baby. . .

And kooky, crazy looking baby. . .

And a true rarety. . . a picture of the family together.

Yoni turns 1 year old / Thankgiving

2008-12-09T21:35:00.010-06:00

While the title could very easily refer to a single event, in fact it is referring to both Yoni's first birthday (November 19th) and Thanksgiving (November 27th).

Instead of having a birthday, Yoni had a birth week. It started with a visit from his Saba and Savta and Aunt Ronit from East Lansing. . .

In addition to being read to, Yoni also had his very first piece of cake; a very yummy chocolate mocha cake made from scratch and with love from his loving Eema. Being a Hoffman, he of course loved it. However, I was very pleased that he was just as excited to have banana as cake, and when presented with both, he alternated between the two.

He looks a little guilty, no?

The next time Yoni's birthday was celebrated was on his actual birthday, Nov 19th, a Wednesday. I even took off a bit of work to mark the special occasion. It was a very intimate affair with just Yoni, myself, and Yael. Yoni (and we) got to have more cake! The happy birthday hat was donned, and Yoni got to open a couple of gifts we got for him (a bead rollercoaster and a wooden crane with various block shapes that can be lifted by the crane; thank you Ikea). Hopefully the paint isn't leaded. It's very tempting for unregulated toy makers to add lead to the paint, since it makes it shinier; and much like racoons to jewelry, or Gollum to the One Ring, we humans are naturally drawn to shiny things even though they may not be good for us (especially if we eat them).

Yoni liked the birthday hat even less than his winter hat.

Being a boy (and my son), he does like fire.

But happily didn't cry when it was blown out.

The new toys!

And for all of those of you who sent cards and think that we don't read them or that we don't show them to Yoni, this is for you. . . (notice that he seems to enjoy the cards as much, if not more, than the toys we got him). . .

(Please ignore the fact that the card is upside down).

The final birthday event in Chicago was a open house we hosted on Sunday. We supplied the mimosas and munchables, while the guest supplied Yoni playmates.

I think the pictures below do a poor job of relaying the craziness that was this party. Unfortunately, Yoni did not enjoy the party as much as we, and I think most of our guests did. We originally thought it was because he missed his morning nap, but later discovered after a couple of bouts of full-stomach-content vomits, that the poor bear was feeling nauseous (and no, he didn't even have any mimosa).

(He doesn't look too unhappy here; probably thanks to being held by one of his favorite peeps).

So the party ended up being a great statistical experiment. Although we didn't find out how many people have the same birthday, there were some very crazy connections that were discovered. For example, a sister of a good friend of Yael's ended up knowing two people at our party, one through Michigan connections and another though Chicago connections. And pictured below are Ashley and Julie, and their son Julian. At the party Ashley mentioned that I looked familiar; after a little "do you know - have you lived" questioning, we determined that she helped me select the wine for my and Yael's wedding in Ann Arbor. I thought that was pretty kooky. I'm sure these unforseen connections are not as unlikely as they appear, and that some sociologist or computer scientist could explain the phenomenon. I have some hypotheses, but that's the focus of this blog.

Yoni with one of his other favorite ladies. . .

The Onel clan sans Lauren

Hello to you too, Dan. . .

This actually wan't a posed shot, although it is very apropos. . .

Cousins Mark and Judy made the trek down from Roscoe Village to share in the chaos.

Finally Yoni can play with his toys in peace again.

Yoni succinctly summarizes the long day. . .

On to Thanksgiving. We drove to Erie on Wednesday. We got a late start because the night before, at about 3:30 in the morning, Yael became extremely nauseous and emptied the contents of her stomach into the appropriate receptacle (thank you Yoni for the stomach flu). While she felt quite a bit better after, she still felt pretty lousy the next day. So in the morning, while Yael worked on feeling better, I performed baby and packing duty, which takes quite a bit longer when it's done solo. Luckily the ride in was pretty uneventful, and other than having to make one or two more stops than usual to recaffeinate with Rockstar(TM) the ride went pretty quickly. Yoni is a great traveler, and really doesn't make the trip any more challenging except for requiring slightly longer rest stops for diaper changes, stretches, and refilling.

We got into Erie a little after 9pm, I think. Yoni changed into his jammies and hung out with Grammie for a bit, and even opened up a couple birthday gifts. . .

The next morning was Thanksgiving. You can see Yoni in his fancy duds below. Sababa couldn't stay away and came over to say hi to Yoni, allowing me to get one of the rare pictures of my parents together.

Grammie's slipper-boots are a bit too big.

Grammie, Peg, and Yoni enjoy a story before bed.

The unphotodocumented story of Thankgiving is 1) dinner was for the most part great. I decided to make a recipe from the Vegan Dad Blog. I had a couple of technical difficulties; first, we decide to use regular stuffing instead of the recipe from the blog, and unfortunately the "roast" tastes a lot like the stuffing, and I think the acidity from the cranberries would have helped mellow out the dish, and second, because of not having a large enough steamer, the "roast" ended up undercooked, which led the loaf to have a texture disturbing enough to Grammie that she nearly vomited. 2) Yael apparently passed the stomach bug on to me and I got to re-experience Thanksgiving dinner at about 5:30am. I subsequently gave the bug to Grammie. She amazingly still wants us to visit.

Below is Yoni "playing" with Tidbit. . .

The concept of gentle, and not pulling fur are still pretty foreign to Yoni, although we constantly try to convey them to him.

Yoni thought the stereo was pretty cool too. He liked the multimeida aspect of the flashing lights that were synchronized with the music. We'll have to take him to a Pink Floyd concert if they ever play again.

Yoni butt. . .

The end of another long day.

The next day Yoni and Yael went to Sababa and Moo Moo's for a family gathering and celebration of November birthdays, of which Yoni is a club member. I stayed home since I didn't feel well and didn't want to be a Typhoid Andrew. To Yael's chagrin, Yoni was apparently in a pretty grumpy mood for much of the party. I would like to think it was because I wasn't there, but in fact it probably had more to do with his poor napping. I think the pictures below demonstrate Yoni's mood pretty well, although others seem to still be enjoying him somehow.

The toy pictured below is now one of Yoni's absolutely favorite toys, and one of Yael's least, but alas toys are given with the child in mind, not their parents. I'm sure that Kim and Tim are looking forward to some just desserts.

A happy Yoni back in Chicago. . .

Yoni at the pumpkin patch

2008-10-14T23:01:00.005-05:00

We tried to find a nice pumpkin patch outside Chicago. There were a number of enthusiastic endorsements from a Hyde Park parents' listserv, however it appears that one's idea of what a pumpkin patch should be depends on how urban his/her upbringing was. Regardless, we still had some very nice photo ops, even if our pumpkin patch had greenhouses instead of a swath of green farm land, and even if we were surrounded by subdivisions instead of beautiful countryside. It is sort of amazing how commercialized the "country" experience has become (at least around Chicago). Perhaps if we were in one of the "real" parts of the United States it would have been easy to find a nice orange patch. Luckily Yoni didn't notice the difference, and would have thought our interest in these large orange vegetables would have been strange in either case.

Below is a Yoni-sized squash.

They even found a way to "baby-size" the pumpkins and put them into a big bin.

The week before our adventure to the suburban pumpkin patch, the Chicago Parks department created a pumpkin patch just around the corner from us in Nichols Park (and is what inspired us to go find a "real" pumpkin patch). In addition to having a bunch of pumpkins in a pen (silly urban folk must think pumpkins are animals), they also had a petting zoo, pony rides, concessions, and music (although it was incongruous with its surroundings; some sort of R&B hip-hoppy thing; lest we forget where we are, perhaps).

By far, the petting zoo was the highlight. Yoni got to see a porcupine (I got to pet it).

The porcupine used to chew tobacco, and his new owner can't afford to whiten his teeth.

There were also a couple of very nice sheep, goats, and a turkey. I think if anyone ever spent much time with a real turkey, they wouldn't want to eat it, and not for the reason you might think. Keep going and you'll see what I mean.

Yoni got to pet a Chinchilla. This particular one was the chillest chinchilla I ever met (it was my second). I don't know if it was downing brown bettys or what, but this was one chillaxin furry dude, and really, really soft.

Yoni also got to say hi to his first snake; a python.

Yoni obviously has no sense of self preservation.

O.k., remember the turkey comments? Look at this guy. Perhaps this is just an ugly turkey, but for the love of god, if they all look like this it amazes me that they haven't gone extinct. See that brownish area behind his eye? That's his ear with bristly hair growing out of it. Poor Tom has no Tilly to pluck his ear hair.

Conversely, this guy looks like someone unsuccessfully try to pull out his whiskers.

That's a hedgehog down there.

And this one didn't come from the petting zoo, although her name is Mousy; she came from Boulder and she should move to Chicago!

Nay sayer

2008-10-14T22:11:00.005-05:00

The video below is from a little while ago; August 10th to be exact. I finally downloaded it to the computer and had a chance to view it again and am now sad that I didn't post it sooner. The video shows a couple of Yoni's talents. The first is his "nay" saying. Before he ever said nay, he started to crinkle up his nose, making him look like he has a little attitude. Shortly after that discovery the nay saying began. The other talent demonstrated about 1/2 way through the video is what I call Yoni's Teradactyl cry; you'll understand when you hear it. Interestingly, after about a week of practicing these skills Yoni abruptly stopped doing them. They resurfaced about a week ago. The Teradactyl cry is providing us with our first real test of recognizing the dichotomy between us thinking that pretty much anything Yoni does is cute (except pulling chest hair) and recognizing that others find his vocalizations somewhat disturbing. I hope that the smiles that occasionally cross my face while I shush Yoni don't frustrate those who are incurring hearing loss. I would also like to note that we aren't annoyingly imploring Yoni to perform his little tricks all day long.

Yoni goes up North (ern Michigan)

2008-09-11T20:16:00.006-05:00

Yoni, Yael, and I recently took a little vacation to Northern Michigan to visit with friends, be in a more sparsely populated locale, and to do a little hiking and swimming. Below is a series of photos showing Yoni's reaction to be told we are going on a little vacation. . .

Hearing the news for the first time

processing the news (excited to go new places? scary to be leaving his feline protector Grendel?)

Realization that his language skills are not up to the task of having any idea what he was told

I never think about the difficulty of constructing a the blog narrative when I am taking pictures. For example, in the picture below, Yoni is playing at Ellen and Bob's (not pictured) temporary digs in Traverse City where we visited with them, their son Jack (in background, sort of), and Debbie, Mike, and Ben (not pictured).

The series of photos below is Yoni enjoying a couple of Baby Mum Mums (rusks, rice crackers for babies) on our way out of Traverse City and on to Vanderbilt. The crackers are aptly named for Yoni since he actually "mmmm, mmmm"s while he eats them (and almost everything else).

Yoni can now hold his own food. . .when he chooses to

Notice that Yoni can also eat mum mums and be cute at the same time

Proud Eema, hungry Yoni

Yoni up close and personal with lunch securely glommed onto his cheek

We arrived in Vanderbilt later on that evening to spend some time with Stacie (front, left), Jim (back, right), Xavier (back, center), and Cassidy (being held). Stacie's folks have a beautiful plot of land with a little lake, large cabin, and great foliage.

We did a lot of berry picking. I think I ate one, and the babies ate most of the rest.

Below, Yoni is trying to help with the berry picking (the eating part).

Poison berries?
This is the pretty little lake right outside the cabin at dusk.

After spending a couple days with Stacie et al. and beginning to smell like fish to our guests, we headed to Arcadia (the Watervale Inn, if you're nasty). Our friends from Ann Arbor days, Tom and Rachel (and Zoe), vacation every year in this cute bucolic old miner company town turned into a little vacation spot sometime after the scare of 1893 (we're still not sure what was scary; cholera, ladies fashion, bird flu?). [update: after a little Googling, we discovered that it was actually the panic of 1893 and was an economic depression greater than the Great one.] Regardless, it was very pretty. See below. . .

Pretty on Lake Herring

Pretty on Lake Michigan dunes

Pretty sans Yoni

Pretty sunset

Pretty tired baby

We next moved onto Saugatuck. We were originally going to share a cabin with our friends Ashley and David (and Sam), but after an encounter with a very mean cabin owner, we ended up having to stay elsewhere; here (below) as a matter of fact. It's a long story that would just frustrate you and distract from the pictures of Yoni, so there will be no further verbiage about it. Except, do not stay at the Maple Ridge cottages. We ended up staying at a very nice B&B for a very reasonable price (thank you G.W. Bush for tanking our economy, at least it has some benefit).

Yoni liked the big bed; we did not enjoy sleeping in his pack and play nearly as much.

Yael is chillaxin with her favorite reading material (a birthday present from moi. Don't worry, it wasn't the only one).Below, Ashley and Yael (and Yoni) are watching David and Sam play on the jungle gym (not shown).

Now Ashley and Yael (and Yoni) are not watching David and Sam play on the jungle gym.

Sleeping Yoni hand.

After having our Saugatuck cabin plans fall though, we decided to head back to Chicago a day early, which allowed us to spend Friday on the beach just a mile or so away from our apartment. Below is Yoni warming up after a swim in the waters of lake Michigan.

Yoni with his pail and shovel (spoon?). Although he thinks they are a drum and drum stick.

We don't quite have his drumming technique perfect, but it's light years ahead of his digging.

Putting spitty fingers on camera lenses is another favorite activity of Yoni's.

After a hard day at play, Yoni likes to relax with a cold one. Luckily this place didn't card.

A colorful vegetable interlude (via the Green City Market . . .)

Holy crepe!!!
Back at the beach on Saturday (or Sunday).

O.k., while it looks like Yoni is playing with his bucket like it is a bucket, not a drum, it is because someone has filled it full of water, which Yoni also enjoys, especially when dolphin can play too.

And sadly here ends summer. It was a great first summer with Yoni are we are looking forward to an autumn full of rides in the country, apple cider, and brisk, great smelling weather.

Yoni language

2008-08-20T23:33:00.003-05:00

We've always been impressed with the sounds that Yoni makes. When he discovers a new sound, he sometimes practices it on and off for a week, and then we wont hear it again for a month. Some of Yoni's favorite new sounds are featured in the little clip below.

He also now enjoys making a very loud "ahhhhhh" sound while he modulates the volume using either a ball, the chest on which he's being carried, or with assistance from one of his parents. Hopefully we'll get a movie of that and post it soon. In the mean time, enjoy the concert.

The lost visit / Passover in Erie

2008-07-08T20:49:00.007-05:00

I've been horribly negligent in my blogging duties. I have no idea how people have jobs, hobbies, and children (not that this is exactly a hobby, and don't worry, it's not my job either). To give you a feel for how negligent, the following documented visit below is from Sunday April 13th. Sharona and Andy came in for a speed visit to sate Sharona's Yoni DTs and indoctrinate Andy into the FoY club (Friends of Yoni).
What S and A didn't count on was Yoni's unpredictable napping. Below is Yoni with his new fans at Eleven City Diner. Afterward we went back to our apartment where Yoni took a marathon 3 hour nap.

Here is Sharona with a very well rested Yoni.

Sharona is now cross examining the witness to discover why he had need for such a long nap. Yoni is not forthcoming.

Sharona contemplates a new approach. Yoni holds steadfast to his lack of vocabulary.

Sharona, using the defendant's unwillingness to defend himself as fodder towards his guilt, is quite pleased with turning Yoni's muteness to her advantage. Yoni is very please with the poo he just took in Sharona's lap.

The following week was Passover, the Jewish holiday of underaged drinking (strangely centered around the Jews egress from Egypt and 40 year desert stroll). We were all very happy to be able to visit with Moo Moo and Sababa, Grammie, and introduce Yoni to his cousins and aunt and uncle.

Sababa is performing a creative reading of the Squishy Turtle, teaching the Yonster that sharks are not scary since they are squishy.

While I joked about Yoni pooing on Sharona above, I believe that Yoni actually did so on Moo Moo; I'm not sure that this is when he did it, this is a pretty good visual reenactment.

Moo Moo forgave Yoni for his ill-timed release.

Yael and I are not always the best at being prepared for Yoni's needs. For example, for Yoni's very first visit with his pediatrician, we forgot to bring the diaper bag and had to ask the nurse to borrow (o.k., have) a diaper. You might be thinking that that would explain why Yoni is wearing his sleeping dress in the photo below. You would be wrong. In the course of two diaper changes, Yoni peed and pooped on both outfits that we brought for him, leaving nothing for him to wear but his bizarre little sleeveless fuzzy sleeping bag.

Yoni got to spend lots of good QT with Grammie (and Humphrey) as well. Humphrey was very good with Yoni and did his best not to lick him or steal his toys (which confusingly look just like doggy toys).

Yoni is a big fan of sticking his fingers in my nostrils, and here he is practicing on Humphrey.

Yoni expresses his dissatisfaction at 1) riding without his cowboy outfit on, and 2) riding without a western saddle.
Riding on Great Aunt Sue is much more fun. . .

This year was either, depending on who you ask, the 98th, 99th, or 100th consecutive Tannenbaum (Grammie's dad's given name) Seder in Erie, PA. For the sake of family harmony, an oxymoron really, we say it's the 99th. It was Yoni's first. He slept or complained through most of it. We brought the pack-and-play (PAP) over to the Seder, but 55 Tannenbaums, including the drunken teens, can make quite a ruckus. While he wasn't able to get a lot of shut-eye in the PAP, the sling laced with black Betties worked wonders.

Below is Yoni singing the Four Questions. And can you believe he actually wasn't the youngest one there? My cousin Aleece and her husband Stephen have a new daughter who was just several weeks old at the time.

All the Winbushes came in on the Sunday after Seder to have their very first visit with Y. As you can see below, they did not like him, and did not want to touch him. Yes, of course I'm lying. They are now full fledged members of the FoY club. Below Tim is explaining the joy of coffee to the little man.

Here Gabriel is working his biceps doing some Yoni curls.

Yummy Sophie dreds!
A very cute Yoni with a nicely tanned Sababa.

Yoni and Moo Moo share a smile.

Being the oldest sister, this baby stuff is old hat to Angelina. You can tell Yoni knows he's in capable hands.
Garbriel fascinates Yoni with his glowing ball. Yoni really did love this thing ( I thought it was pretty cool too).

Back at Grammie's house, G shows Yoni the great outdoors and her beautiful front garden.

Yummy rhododendron. Fun to say too.

Grammie and Yoni enjoy a big breeze.

O.k. I hope you all feel a little better. I'll try to be more regular; I'll also try to post more often to the blog.

Yoni starts on solid food

2008-06-24T22:28:00.007-05:00

Yoni started on solid foods about a month ago. His very first meal was rice cereal and milk (breast if you must know). He thought the whole thing was a little strange, but he played along. After a day or two of just rice cereal, which he really wasn't so crazy about, we gave him some jarred baby food. One of his first meals is shown below. I think he's eating peas. As you'll see, he's not a big fan. As it turns out, he really likes fruit (mangoes are one of his favorite), but the veggies do not excite him too much, something I expect he inherited from his Eema. We've been able to ensure that he gets a balanced diet (although at this point the food is more for his entertainment (and ours) than for meeting his nutritional needs) by mixing in a little fresh banana with his veggies.

The movie below was taken just last weekend (Your "hey something is up-to-date" comment was not appreciated). Ronit is feeding Yoni his breakfast. In addition to Yoni looking SC (super-cute), you can also see that he actually really enjoys eating. In fact, when he's eating a meal he likes, if you don't get the food in quick enough he starts to cry and get upset, which unfortunately for Yoni, is also pretty cute. The little dude can get quite a temper when he does not get what he wants, with stomping feet and all. Oh yeah, make sure you have the volume up. I hate to use the word again, but the little sounds he makes when he's eating are _________. Yup, super-cute. See if you think I'm using the C word too much. I don't think so. Also, Yoni uses his feet to eat. I'm not sure what their function is, but he almost always uses them; and yeah, that's cute too.

Bbblllllllllll

2008-06-23T23:49:00.004-05:00

I know, I know, it has been a million years! Happily Yoni ages very slowly and does not look a day over his 7 months. I have many, many, many pictures to post, none of which you'll see here. But I do have a very cute movie of Yoni and his Eema having a rather silly conversation. Enjoy and stay tuned; I hope to have some more goodies coming up this week.

Yoni has lots of visitors

2008-04-27T23:04:00.007-05:00

We had a number of visitors a couple of weeks ago. It was great seeing everyone, and introducing Yoni to them. Prior to the onslaught, we took Yoni to his first Purim festival; he "dressed up" as a dinosaur, which consisted of a dinosaur hat and shirt, both gifts from Savta Sandy. Although it wasn't the most creative of costumes, we think Yoni pulled off the transformation very well. See for yourself. . .

Jenni, a very good friend of Yael's from middle school and high school, whose mom and brother live in and around Chicago, came in to visit a couple weekends ago with her kids. Yoni doesn't like her. No, that's not true, but he sure isn't happy in this picture.

Jenni's kids, Maya and Jayson, were great with Yoni. Below Maya has lapped Yoni with skill, a talent she likely learned taking care of her younger brother.

Below Jayson is showing Yoni the magic trick that Matt, Jenni's brother, just taught him. Yoni was fascinated!

And now for a cuteness interlude . . .

Carolyn, Rob and their cuties Tarek and Isabelle came to visit over the weekend. Isabelle was a big flirt as is evidenced by these pics below.

And here she appears to be asking (well taking and eating, really) Yoni's hand. Yoni sure is popular with the ladies.

Tarek was a real sweetie, and gave us a preview of the sort of energy that Yoni is likely to exhibit in the years to come. All I can say is: Thank god for pharmacoparenting. A little bourbon in the sippy cup, an appropriately timed Benadryl, and all may return to a pace more compatible with sanity.
Here Yoni is with his first cousin thrice removed, Dorothy (Yael's maternal grandmother's first cousin). Dorothy, like Yoni's super Savta Bess, was much impressed with his ability to grasp her index finger. I can't wait to see how excited she gets when he can talk.

Yoni's Aunt Kate came all the way from the Netherlands to visit. OK, so maybe she had a little other business to take care of, but she made lots of time to spend with us. We and Yoni had a great time with Kate and finally had a chance to tour the Robie House, one of the Frank Lloyd Wright houses in Hyde Park. The house is a bit more impressive from the outside. To be fair, the house is still under a major renovation, but I get the impression that it isn't one of Mr. Wright's greatest creations.

My good friend Jason also had business and came to visit over the same stretch that Kate was in. Here is Jay in the obligatory Yoni shot. I'm afraid that someday Yoni might complain about being treated like the traveling gnome, except instead of showing up all over the world, those around the world show up with him. I would make another analogy, but I don't want to be deemed heretical, plus no one has brought any myrrh.

You probably thought this was the end, but nope! Below Yoni is hanging with his new friends Cristin, Billy, and whatever the combination of their very talented and beautiful genes will bring. Yoni is communing with the sub-belly bugger, perhaps feeling a little nostalgic.

Last but not least is the rambunctious Bev, coming all the way from the Holy Land, with her new best bud Shlomi (not pictured). It was a lot of fun having them with us, and being vegan for 2 days.
And finally, a big sigh of relief as our world turned back to normal as it ever is, which isn't very. Here are a couple pictures of our return to domesticity.

And finally, one picture which shows two important facts. One, Yoni is a big Tigers fan, and two, Andrew should be supervised when dressing him.

Talking and Laughing

2008-04-25T19:43:00.011-05:00

Below is movie of Yoni and me having a conversation. In it, he also demonstrates his ability to produce copious amounts of beautifully clear and stringy drool. I'm happy to say that having become quite accomplished at this skill he finds he has less need to practice it. I'm sure that once his first teeth start coming in he'll be well prepared and will become a champion drooler.

The short movie below is a nice example of Yoni's crazy little laugh. Unfortunately you may not be able to fully appreciate it, since it is often interrupted with contagious laughter it induces in those that hear it, which includes myself, his Eema, and Doda Dalia.

Savta Sandy visits Yoni in Chicago

2008-04-13T22:29:00.004-05:00

While this is primarily a post about Savta Sandy's visit, I thought I'd let FoY (friends of Yoni) know that yesterday was Yoni's first day of sleep training. Yoni started his sleep training because he's become increasingly social, which is interfering with his ability to sleep through the night and nap. At his age he should be sleeping through the night, or at most getting up once, while in fact he is waking up around midnight and then every subsequent hour and half or two. It's also become increasingly challenging to get him to nap, which results in a cranky Yoni until he gets his first good nap. Although Yael generally feeds him to get him back down, he's not actually hungry and we think just wants a little social interlude. Thus Yoni has forced us to either cosleep with him or sleep train him. While we would both love to cosleep, we decided that it probably would not be the best solution for us or Yoni. First, I snore on a somewhat regular basis and when Yoni is in his light sleep state, he awakens quite easily (so does Yael, but she won't sleep train). Second, it appears that we would probably need to change our sleep habits to be a bit more in sync with his, and unfortunately we're not early morning sort of folks. And third, we already bought a crib.

We started his training yesterday with his morning nap. Yoni showed all the signs of being ready: yawning, rubbing his eyes, and starting to get cranky (which means that he was actually past due). We put him in his crib in one of his sleeping dresses (which will probably make an appearance in a picture in a future post), kissed him, wished him good night, left the room, and shut the door. To make a long story short, he cried intermittently for 50 minutes before he fell asleep. According to the esteemed Dr. Weissbluth (who I think is a self-gratifying snobby, poop head), if he cries for an hour you can go and fetch them. Of course, this one hour limit is completely arbitrary, but we abided by it anyway, and it worked (maybe it's not arbitrary?). Yoni woke up three times and fell back to sleep relatively quickly. We set 6am as the time after which a cry will result in one of us fetching him and bring him to our bed. Yael was a little sad when 6am rolled around and there was not a peep. She only had to wait another 10 minutes for him to start making a ruckus. It was really nice having him in bed with us again. I think this sleep training is hard on all of us, but will also improve all of our sleeps tremendously. Thank you Dr Poophead Weissbluth.

O.k. on with the fun stuff. Below is Yoni expressing his disappointment that Savta Sandy was yet to arrive, and won't be arriving until after his bedtime.

On Saturday we took a promenade around the Promontory Point. I should also note that most of the pictures below are probably taken by Savta Sandy. I think I counted that she took approximately 250 pictures while in Chicago for 3 days.

(she didn't take this one)

(I think she took this one)

Who would have guessed that Gary, Indiana could look so pretty. Maybe because it's actually South Shore, though Gary is right behind it causing the haze.

Here's Abba looking all Jewy with Yoni and SS. SS is reading "Are You My Mother?", which I remember from my childhood (as does Yael, Yoni's Eema). I didn't realize I remembered it until the pictures of the construction shovel (called a Snort! by the baby bird) made their appearance.

This is picture number 66/250; I think it was of Superman.

Here are Yoni and I getting in the spirit of Chicago's St. Patrick's day parade.

(look at that spirit! Look at that nose!)
Picture 78/250. The Bean at Millenium Park.

You may have heard that they dye the Chicago River green for Saint Patty's day, and it's true; see below. This is looking from the Michigan Avenue bridge west.

And the water is really this green. It'd be sort of fun if they could make it into Jello, but I'm not sure for which holiday that would be appropriate. There must be a Jello day, right? Actually, after a 2 minute google search I found that it's July 12th, which not coincidentally is Bill Cosby's birthday. Mmmm Jello.

Leisure suit Yoni hanging with his pimpette.

SS gives Yoni the ever popular head kiss, a.k.a. the brain suck. We're very fond of laying this one on him too.

I love this picture. Don't know why since Yoni looks a bit asymmetric and I have a ring around my eye.

Look at those cute lips and big eyes, and expression that says: "one more picture and I'm going to pee on your knee."

Yoni does some tummy time to work on his abs and neck.

Savta Sandy and Yoni play in the gym and have a chat with Harry, Sally, and Penelope.

Savta Sandy had a chance to come to Music Together with us. Directly below must be the wiggle wiggle song based on the location of Yael's finger, while the latter two are from "Play the drum" where Yoni and his friend Anna became one with the drums while we played them. That means they lay on top of them, not that we used them as the floppy baby drum sticks.

I think this set of pictures are the first I've seen where Yoni looks like a little boy, not just a baby. I'm hoping that this was just the angle or the lighting or something I ate and that there are many baby months left until boyhood kicks in.

(this is the first picture of me with two chins)

(and this is the first picture where my nose looks big)

Does Yoni not look like a little jazz musician here. Probably a drummer.

That's all folks. Stay tuned for more to suck on.

East Lansing Take 2

2008-03-30T21:06:00.006-05:00

My apologies to all of the loyal Yoni fans. We are in the process of hiring a publicist, but Yoni always finds some fault which each of the potential hires. For example, Harry the Horse just didn't have the dexterity; Mr. Wazzup had a tendency to embellish, and Donkey, well, Donkey is just a stuffed animal (I didn't have the heart to tell Yoni that the others are too). I hope this post will alleviate your DTs.

Below are some pics from Yoni's trip to E Lansing several weeks ago. Below is Saba Mort talking to Yoni about Midrash. It took a while for Yoni to get that Midrash had nothing to do with the itching on his belly.

Here is Savta Aviva and Doda Ronit entertaining Yoni. What does Yoni think is so funny, you ask? Ronit just told Yoni that MSU's basketball team will be in the Final 4. In all fairness, they did better than predicted. Now "Go Green!" can be returned to the environmentalists.

Saba Mort and Yoni share a moment of play on the bed. Saba Mort had to take Yoni from the living room because he wasn't able to stop laughing at Ronit's MSU comment. Luckily, Yoni and Ronit can root for the Detroit Tigers together. By the way, baseball's opening days are today and tomorrow, so you might not see any additional posts until September.

Yoni is sharing a big smile with Savta Aviva. Aviva has always been able to make him smile, but recently he is much less stingy with them. We absolutely love his gummy smiles, and will probably be a little sad when they are interrupted by little white teeth.

We're back home now, although these pictures are still several weeks old (from the beginning of March)!
Yoni is an excellent airplane, but much like the frozen discs of urine from real airplanes, it is necessary to dodge the strings of drool that occasionally leak from his mouth. However, unlike frozen urine pucks, drooly spit in the eye isn't all that unpleasant.

I'm not sure why we don't have a picture of him more visibly enjoying airplane, but he really does. The pictures below are better at demonstrating that even when he looks like a dork, he's still pretty cute.

Yael and Yoni had a play session in the mirror where Yael would smile and laugh in the mirror, and Yoni would return the favor.

I think Yoni finally figured out that it's him in the mirror, and well, it came as quite a surprise. What do you think?

Yoni had his first solid food today. We gave him spinach, although generally all the doctors suggest rice cereal. Perhaps spinach isn't recommended due to the possible interference with muscle development --- we were quite shocked by the acute and dramatic results. Yoni also spoke his first words today; they were something about a sailor man, and then he kept asking for Olive Oil.

I just had to include this picture of the cheese counter at Zingerman's. Mmmmmmm, cheese!

Dancing Fool

2008-03-10T21:31:00.004-05:00

What more can we say!!

Yoni goes to East Lansing and Chinatown

2008-03-10T21:19:00.010-05:00

Yael took Yoni to East Lansing to visit his grandparents two Sundays ago, taking advantage of the generous and brave Pearlmans who were driving from Chicago after visiting their four grandchildren.

Below is a picture of Yoni with Saba Mort. See if you think the two share foreheads, and hair coverage (Yoni might be in the lead). Lucky for Yoni, hair loss is a sex-linked trait. Unluckily for Yoni his dad is somewhere between Yoni and Saba Mort in terms of total hair coverage.

Saba Mort is consoling Yoni after he learned this news. A hand in the mouth can make everything seem blue skies.

Yoni thinks it's funny that Savta Aviva uses a pacifier too.

Below is Doda (Aunt) Ronit and Yoni. They are very fond of each other. If there was a balloon over Ronit's head it would say something like: "Hmmmm, a little green dye number 22 and those pants could be Spartan green. Whaaaaa ha ha ha, whaaaa ha ha ha!" Luckily, Yoni, his parents, and Ronit can all root for the Tigers together.
Now Doda Ronit is trying to talk Yoni out of his pants.

Here is Yoni visiting Rachel, Tom, and Zoe (the baby who appears to be on the Brady Bunch set) good friends (prior to that comment) of Yael and Andrew's who live just outside E Lansing. Not surprising to us, Zoe is making a move on Yoni. Yoni thought the fact that Zoe was almost twice his age was too much of a generation gap, and told her to check back in another six months.

Luckily gender stereotypes are still firmly enforced. I'm not even sure if girls are allowed to have fuzzy ears on tops of their heads, or if that is solely a boy thing.

O.k. So this picture is a non-sequitur, if such a thing can be said for pictures, but it's kind of cool. Yoni and his Abba were off for a walk while Yael got a cute bob-cut.

Yoni has been getting exceptionally (slight exaggeration) good at holding objects. Below are some examples. . .

(Yoni reading a book by himself)

(Yoni threading a bear rattle onto his arm [with some help from his Eema])

(Yoni holding a purple hippopotamus all by himself)

(Yoni holding the bear rattle and purple something-or-other)

Below Tsar Yoni is contemplating the political ramifications of hanging the traitor Frogavov by his rump for speaking ill of Duckalia and knocking her from the royal berber carriage. Frogavov is quite popular among the marsh-dwelling serfs for his hoppity ways, while the feudal baron Duckalia is generally highly regarded by the serfs for her generosity in giving passage on her back across deep areas of the marshdom to stranded amphibians. Tsar Yoni hopes the stability of his serfdom will not be affected by the Frogavov-Duckalia incident.

Below Yoni is visiting Chinatown for the second time, although this is the first time he has been conscious for it. Here his good friend Jeff is teaching him to use a chopstick. We await with great curiosity to see how he breastfeeds with chopsticks. In reality, Andrew asked Jeff to give Yoni the chopstick so that we'd have a visual landmark of our location.

Hilit and Jeff pose with a Yoni who's starting to get a wee bit cranky. Notice the skill Jeff is demonstrating in supporting Yoni's head while also keeping the pacifier in place. Quite impressive.
Don't worry, this is not Yoni, but yet another and even more extreme non-sequitur.

Inspired by Yael's birthday gift to Andrew of How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman, and my love of all meat-like non-meat items, I made my own seitan (a.k.a. wheatmeat). Below is a picture of the seitan as it just finishes simmering in an asian-style simmer sauce of water, veg broth, soy-sauce, garlic, star-anise, and miso. The seitan itself is just vital wheat gluten and water. The hardest part of making it is cleaning the bowl the dough was mixed in. Even if you never eat it, watching the transformation of the dough from flour to what looks like giant alien turds is worth every hour of pot scrubbing.

To give you some feel for the consistency of the thing, and hopefully drive home that fact that we really didn't cook Yoni, is the pic below.

Tada! Spicy seitan and broccoli in orange sauce with a side of roasted parsnips and Brussel sprouts. I think I slept alone that night.

Don't worry more pictures of Yoni will follow to allay the fears of those who are still dubious that we cooked Yoni.

Jonah goes to Florida

2008-02-19T22:25:00.010-06:00

{Postcard of Yael and Yoni in Florida}

Winter is a fun time for babies. They get to dress up in all sorts of layers to the point where they can barely move. That's not the case below. Here he is dressed up for his Santa Claus audition, or Satan's helper, depending on his mood. His pacifier (Moe-tzets [phonetically] in Hebrew) looks quite huge here. I don't know why that is. His head must be small this time of day. Regardless, he sure is cute.

Below is what Yoni looks like when he's crazy. I don't think I've ever seen him look like this other than on film (hmmm, what's the digital analog (no pun intended) for film). Doesn't he look like he has a tooth in his mouth? Or that he had teeth and lost them. Very strange, but yet still cute. Two cutes in two paragraphs. I hope this blog doesn't get cheesy.

Oral satisfaction. Yes, Yoni is enter the stage of "Hmm, what's this? I think I should put it in my mouth." Luckily he still doesn't quite have the dexterity to get most things there, but he's getting better every day. He was particularly successful during this shoot.

Here is Yoni not paying attention during story time; and look who is responsible for it. Bad Eema.

Yoni took his first trip out of the city and state two weekends ago. It was also his first trip on a plane. His first time to the ocean. His first time in A/C. His first time in a rental car. His first time in a pack-and-play. And his first time visiting his great Grandma Bess. We met Savta () Sandy there too and stayed with his great great aunt Sue. Below is a picture of GG Bess's first time holding Yoni (and a lamp; and half a dude).
GG Bess loved that Yoni likes to hold fingers; and Yoni was very happy to have such a nicely manicured finger to hold. I think this was his first time seeing a gold fingernail.

Below are 4 generations of Steins (GG's maiden name). How cool is that.

When two Tanner ladies battle and the battle is of rummy and the rummy's on the table and the table's in a parlor, that's what we call a Tanner lady rummy table parlor battle muddle fuddle. . . you get it; right? Damn those tweedle beetles!

Yoni and GG Bess have a moment.

Savta Sandy is having a chat with Earl E Bird. Yoni is very curious to know what Savta Sandy and Earl E are talking about. It looks very serious. I think Earl E might be in trouble for pooping in the luggage.

Below Yoni is having a frank discussion with Earl E about his inappropriate elimination, knowing something of the subject himself.

Savta Sandy and Earl E have made up; although she's still looking a bit distrustingly [yes, I made that word up] at him. Yoni served as arbitrator and we think he may have a great future in diplomacy or dispute resolution.

We had some excellent pizza on the Fort Lauderdale beach. Don't remember the name of the place, but the pizza folks were from Pittsburgh of all places. GG Bess had a whopping slice of pepperoni pizza (pp) -- the kosher kind. Yoni had a slice of cheese several hours later, if you know what I mean.

Abba inspects Yoni for traces of contraband pepperoni. None were found.

As it turns out, it wasn't just pepperoni Yoni was concealing. Apparently Yoni hooked up with some seedy characters at the airport who asked him to carry a "package" for them. He was caught by the Shitsu narcotic brigade and promptly taken to security. He was allowed to fly back with us, but was brought up on smuggling charges once he arrived to Chicago. Below is a mugshot taken by the Cook County sheriff's department. I still think he looks better in stripes than Lindsay Lohan. Remember crime doesn't pay, but does provide you with a free jump suit.

Sababa and Moo Moo too

2008-02-13T22:55:00.010-06:00

Wow am I behind. Yael posted a couple of pics from Mel and Mary's visit, but I just couldn't help myself and am posting some more. Below is a very proud grandpa (now Sababa (cool in Hebrew, or Saba Sababa (Grandpa cool?)) and Moo Moo, so named after having a dream that Yoni called her such. In between them is Yoni, who is still Yoni, except occasionally in song when he becomes Yoni macaroni, or Yoni bologna, or Yoni the one who rides on a pony. I'm not certain if it's a good or bad thing that Yoni rhymes with so many inappropriate descriptive words. Plus we have to explain that the bologna is soy-based bologna. That's generally followed by an explanation of what soy is, and it just goes down
hill from there. . . legumes, nitrogen fixing, photosynthesis, symbiosis, evolution, creationism, the spaghetti monster, etc.

Here is another bath picture of Yoni where I'm checking to see how soft Yoni's soft spot still is. Actually, that's a lie. Years ago I had thought I would be really worried about accidentally depressing a babies soft spot, but that turns out not to be the case. I rather enjoy it!

You known those two theater clowns, one laughing, one crying?

Grandpa with his grandkitty Grendel.

Yoni mocking Moo Moo. or vice-versa . .

Here's a pic of Yael, Dalia, Melsy, Moo Moo, and Yoni in front of the Robie House, one of Frank Lloyd Wright's buildings (although I'm between them and the Robie House, so actually what you're seeing is a bit of the Robie House's outer wall and the University of Chicago Graduate Business school. ) Angelina [and other fans of The Wright 3], if you'd like to see better pictures of the Robie House, go here (<- click there).

Ride 'em Cowboy

2008-02-06T22:16:00.000-06:00

Yoni had a visit from Sababa and Moo Moo recently, during which he was presented with a rocking horse--no doubt inspired by his John Wayne outfit (see previous post). Unfortunately, said outfit had been barfed upon days earlier, so the two have yet to meet...

Note the Detroit Tigers hat--not very equestrian, but a nice homage to Curtis Granderson's new 5-year contract with the Tigers--boy is Eema happy! Here's a better look:

As you may have noticed, Yoni is once again in the play-gym--and wearing an Elvis get-up. He has recently discovered his image in the play-gym mirror and has become obsessed with himself. We're not sure what to do with our little narcissist--it's all "me, me, me" now.

Here is Yoni enjoying story time with Sababa and Moo Moo:

Finally, and for no particular reason, GO BLUE! (Perhaps it's now obvious which one of us posted this?)

Vaccination time :(

2008-01-30T22:03:00.001-06:00

Yoni went to the the pediatrician the Monday before last for his monthly exam. He weighed in at 10lbs on the dot and was 21.75 inches long. His noggin got a bit bigger too, but I don't recall the exact figure. To reward him for his voracious appetite which led to this increase in volume, he was given his first set of vaccines (although he got Hep B in the maternity ward; I guess there must be a lot of needle sharing amongst the newborns in the maternity ward).

Yoni got a shot in each pulki (thigh). After each, his mouth opened as if to scream and his face turned bright red, and this was followed by a horrible wail (no biblical allusion intended). Happily, he was consolable with some hand holding, shushing, and breast feeding. In the picture below, if you look closely, you can see a band-aid on each pulki (and in the picture below you can see that Yoni is in his John Wayne outfit).

Yoni went to be early that night, but started stirring around 9pm, when usually he wouldn't get up for a snack until at least midnight. His stirring led to some crankiness, which led to inconsolable crying. The pediatrician had mentioned that muscular knots may form at the injection site, making him uncomfortable, so we checked. Instead of a knot, we found that his left calf was bright red and warm. We paged our ped, who got back to us very quickly. He instructed us to give him some baby Tylenol (which we had on hand from the big snip), and apply a warm compress. Prior to calling our ped, I came up with the idea of putting a cold compress on it (whoops). We marched the crying Yoni around for about 30-45 minutes before he finally started calming down. Yael was very upset (as was I) at Yoni's inconsolable discomfort, and did a little crying of her own (I gave her some Tylenol and put a warm compress on her). The Tylenol had kicked in, and we all breathed a big sigh of relief. Poor little Yonster. This was our first real experience of seeing the little Yoni in real pain; we're not looking forward to the next time.

Below is proof that Yoni really did survive his vaccinations and is a happy little baby again. He's playing in his play-gym with, from left to right, Sally the shy sheep, Penny the porcupine, and Harry the happy horse. The blue homentash looking thing behind the animals contains a pressure sensitive musical player, that will play 3 or 4 different tunes when you hit it. We use it for musical interludes between the stimulating conversations that Sally, Penny, and Harry have.

Yoni also has tummy time on the mat. In addition to building his neck muscles, he likes to lick the mat and see how big of a drool puddle his can make. Right now his record is 8.23 inches in diameter.

I don't know if it was the vaccine or what, but Yoni has gotten very good at smiling recently. Here he is after being told the Aristocrat joke; he has a very warped sense of humor.

From Bath to Binny's

2008-01-20T16:20:00.000-06:00

Jonah has been enjoying his baths more and more, although sometime his transitions from dry to wet can be a little disturbing for him. Here you can see Yoni posing and showing off his big belly. In big developmental news, although probably not visible from the photo, Yoni has developed pigment in his nipples. He and we are very proud of his new development.

Below is a picture of Yoni getting ready for a trip outside, I think to Whole Foods to get new wipies, and scour the store for free samples. Although Yoni shows an awful lot of emotion, we suspect he might be part Vulcan (notice his right hand). We've also caught him mind-melding with the cat.

Before heading to Whole Foods we stopped at the latest and greatest liquor store in Chicago: Binny's off Roosevelt. Yoni got pretty excited in one of the beer isles and drank himself into a stupor while we weren't looking. We weren't too upset though, since we didn't realize he had the dexterity to uncap a bottle. Such a crafty kid.

Here's Yael and Yoni after a breast feeding session at Whole Foods, one of Yael's favorite spots to tank up that baby. During Yoni's feeding, I'm sent to forage for free samples for Yael. It all feels so primitive/back to our hunter-gatherer roots.

Yoni's new look; New iBook security device

2008-01-20T14:07:00.000-06:00

Recently, Yoni has been enjoying his occasional stays in the bouncy seat more and more. In addition to providing entertainment for him, it also allows us to shower or eat without having to hold Yoni or put him in the bassinet. Thank you bouncy seat! Although he hasn't figured out to pull the little rubber shapes to make the bird spin around and play music or chirping bird sounds, he has been batting them around and making them jingle, which entertains him for minutes (now up to around 10).

During breakfast this morning, Yoni came up with a new facial expression. Others, which perhaps I'll try to photodocument at some point, include parrot, Zoolander (as in Derek ), smile, pout (bottom lip pushed out), and several variations on cry. I'm not sure what this one should be called or why he does it, I think perhaps he is just experimenting; feel free to suggest some names. See below:

The 2008 MacWorld expo has just finished, so I think we'll have to present our new product idea next year. Hopefully we can get all the patent paperwork out of the way by then. We call our new device the CatOnMac protection system. Think of this as a device to take to unsecure places where you use your laptop, such as coffee shops, airports, etc. When you step away from your machine, you place the device on it. The apparent ferocity of the device will deter any would-be thieves. The device is shown below in two of an infinite number of configurations. Using the device with the keyboard open is more difficult; a lighter weight device is being developed to allow for more flexibility.

There have been a couple of suggestions for names for Yoni's expression. Grandma Sandy has thus far come up with the most convincing (Grouper, or more simply, fish), and with the following supporting material. If KC can can demonstrate why shrub is appropriate, we could have a poll. How exciting would that be!

Boppin babe or flash dance fanatic

2008-01-20T14:05:00.000-06:00

Yael has been giving Yoni some tummy time each day. She read that they prefer being a bit upright and has started using the boppy to this end. Here are some shots of him looking particularly cute (in our opinion) working on his abs and neck muscles.

Here is evidence that I'm back at work. Yael has dressed Yoni up to try out for the new Flash Dance series on NBC. I'm praying he doesn't get the part -- you know he would be so type cast for the rest of his acting career.

And finally a shot of Yoni doing his marsupial imitation. Pretty convincing I think.

Shake, rattle, and hiccup

2008-01-07T22:39:00.000-06:00

Jonah provided some new material for us. First, is him showing off his new found dexterity with the rattle. A video of it can be found here (please forgive our perpetual baby talk voices; we don't recognize how annoying it is until we hear ourselves do it) [note that Yael is on the phone with Serena during this video, and not talking to her imaginary friend]:

Yoni has been hiccuping for a while, starting in utero. We've finally captured him in one of his ex utero bouts of hiccups. Since you probably have better things to do, I've compressed over six minutes worth of hiccups (a single episode) into a 45 second clip. Enjoy!

Fingernails, the many faces of Jonah, and other tidbits

2008-01-06T22:11:00.000-06:00

Cutting fingernails can be dangerous!!

Ever since I first tried to cut Jonah's fingernails at the hospital and accidentally cut into his cuticle and made him bleed, Yael has been understanding and has taken over the nail cutting responsibility. However, as can be seen in the photo below, Yael has become even more careless than I had been. Not only did she cut into his cuticle, but completely removed all the tissue from Yoni's hands all the way to his wrist. How this happened twice still befuddles me.

G & Y

Below is evidence of the improving relationship between Yoni and Grendel. Grendel has become much better at tolerating Yoni's bouts of screaming, and is now sharing story time with him as is seen below. Yoni has primarily ignored Grendel; my guess is that Grendel will not be pleased when Yoni takes more notice of him, but we'll see.

Faces

Below are some of my favorite recent pictures of Jonah. All of these expressions occurred within several minutes of each other. He has many other less happy faces, but we don't seem to be inclined to run and get the camera when these occur. That said, when he starts to get upset he puffs out his lower lip, at which we can't help laughing. He rewards our misinterpretation of his cue with a hearty wail (no pun intended).

Napping shots

Here are a couple of nice pics of Yoni and Yael napping together. I have no idea how Yoni got himself into this pose. It sort of looks like he fell asleep reading the pillow, but I don't think that's what happened.

Grendel has a new habit of dressing Yoni up when we aren't around. We had thought Yoni was doing it, but here we caught G in the act (He's also the one who reads the trashy magazines; Yael reads the Economist and the Utne Reader).

Yoni hits the bottle

Below is a picture of Yoni's very first drink from a bottle (other than the Manischewitz from his bris). Given that Yael will be teaching in the spring and that every now and again I will have to do supplemental feeding, we needed to make sure that Yoni would be o.k. drinking from a bottle, and not be a boob snob and turn has nose up to the artificial nipple as can happen. We followed either Sears or the AAPs advise, and I tried to feed Yoni with Yael out of sight. Yoni was crying because he was hungry and when I stuck the bottle's nipple into his mouth, he was not impressed, thinking I was just trying to pacify him. I give him a couple of squirts from the nipple, and he figured out what was going on right away. He polished the bottle off in about 3-4 minutes (~3 oz or so), but was still hungry. I was out of ammo, so Yael took over. The lessons learned were: 1) Yoni likes drinking from the bottle, 2) Yoni probably wants more than 3 oz per feeding, 3) Yoni eats much more quickly from the bottle (a commonly known fact). FYI, did you know nipples come in different speeds --- just like squash balls?, 4) It will probably be very wise for me to make Yoni stop occasionally when bottle feeding, 5) I may not have boobs, but in a pinch, armed with a bottle full of milk, I will suffice come feeding time.

What Yoni will look like in 10 years

2008-01-02T23:20:00.001-06:00

As probably all new parents do, Yael and I were dying to know what Yoni would look like in the future. There is an online service which for a small fee of $500 lets you project what your infant will look like in the future. Below is what they extrapolated for Yoni. . . (keep scrolling)

(keep going. . .)

Yoni has visitors

2008-01-02T22:14:00.000-06:00

Yoni had a number of visitors over the holiday weekend. He got to meet Karen and Barry for the first time, and had a very yummy meal with them at Nuevo Leon (although Yoni doesn't get to have that particular meal for several hours later). Below is a picture of Karen holding Yoni. Barry, keeping his distance, seemed to have some sort of psychic ability to predict baby barfs, for several moments later Yoni showed his affection for Karen by covering her arm and leg with a projectile milk kiss. She was an excellent sport about it, and somehow repressed any feeling of disgust.

Kristi, Towi, Ana, and Javi came to visit us and Chicago after spending Christmas with Kristi's mom and her husband, Dee and Marv, in Grand Rapids. It was great seeing and spending time with them again, and introducing them to Yoni. Below are some photos from their weekend stay which includes a visit to the Shedd Aquarium.

(Yael listens intently as Kristi imparts her parenting wisdom [Yoni is napping in the sling, but absorbing everything ])

Kristi and Ana prepare for a nap (although I don't remember either of them napping).

Javi and Towi at the aquarium after watching the sea otters, or maybe it was eating lunch.

Here's Yael and Yoni at the aquarium. Yael's sweater was a bit scratchy, so Yoni requested to rest his head on a barf cloth (admit it, if it was just burping that the cloth was used for, there would be no need for it).

Here's a couple pics of Miki, a 4 month old Beluga whale calf with her Mom. There's another older calf and several other females in the tank. Both calves are still breast feeding, which we observed a couple of times. It was unclear which female was the lactation consultant; although perhaps breast feeding in water reduces the likelihood of chaffing.

Yael reads Yael's House

2007-12-31T22:45:00.001-06:00

Yael's been working very hard to speak Hebrew to Yoni. This includes reading stories in Hebrew from books Safta Aviva has given him. One of Yoni's (and Yael's) favorite stories is about a little girl named Yael who tries to find a new play house to live in. After graduating from the houses you'd typically expect a child to "live" in (e.g. under the dining room table), she looks for more adventuresome housing outside the house. Every time she finds a new place she asks: "Who lives here? A cat, a dog, a horse. . ?" etc.

Below is a short movie of Yoni enjoying story time with his Eema. Enjoy. . .

Jonah's blog is finally up

2007-12-23T13:34:00.000-06:00

So I have new good excuse for not having anything up sooner than today. Jonah has been supplying plenty of "bloggable" material, although I'm still undecided about how much pee-poo content is appropriate. While you wait for more interesting posts to arrive, have a look at some very cute pictures of Jonah's first couple weeks of life. They can be found here (<-there)

Enjoy and stay tuned,
Andrew and Yael

Jonah arrives to Nineveh (Chicago)

2007-12-09T20:44:00.001-06:00

After a 10 month journey, Jonah finally arrived . . .

I (Andrew) had a little chat with Jonah, when he was still only known as Sesame, on Saturday night (already 5 days past his due date) and explained to him that it would be great if he could come out the next day, but that he should perhaps not begin his journey until around 10am or so, so that Yael could have a good night's sleep with which to begin labor.

Yael and I awoke around 9:30 or 10 on Sunday morning and she mentioned that she slept relatively poorly and had cramps during the night. In addition, she said she thought she might be having contractions now. I measured the time between contraction --- about 3.5 minutes apart. We decided that if, by chance, Yael really was in labor, of which we were not convinced since we were both certain that she would have to be induced the following weekend, that she would need a good carby breakfast with which to fuel her labor. I made us chocolate banana walnut pancakes --- yum!

To make a long story short, Yael was not experiencing Braxton-Hicks contractions, and after a long walk, laboring with with our doula Isabelle, frightening our neighbor with a moaning contraction in the front hallway, water breaking outside U of C hospital, and a total of 15+ hours of labor Jonah came dramatically into our lives.

Our hope is that this blog will be a chronicle of Jonah, a.k.a. Yoni, and our journey together, and provide us with a way of sharing pictures and stories with friends and family.