Friday, January 28, 2011

Ora Update

I came home from a male-bonding vacation with David to hear Ora say "Mama" and watch her take a couple of steps (and pivot). There were already rumors circulating two weeks ago that she had taken a step or two, but if I don't see it then it doesn't count.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Talmud Torah Shaylah

A few weeks ago I waited in the car while Kinneret went to get David from talmud torah. She opened the door and as she strapped David in she said to me, "guess what happened today."
"Oh no, not again," I muttered.
"No, you'll get nachas from this," she said.
David had learned about Yosef's ketones pasim for parshas hashavu'ah. As an activity the class was given white t-shirts and markers to decorate them with many colors. One boy drew a picture of a fishing trip with his father. A girl drew hearts. And David simply wrote across the chest:
בראישת ברא אלהים את השמים ואת הארש
ויהארש [????] מרחפת
אל פני המים ויאר
אלוהים את האור ובן
המים אשר מעל לרקיאה
ויהי ערב ו
He wrote out what he remembered by heart from the first few pesukim of parshas bereishis, which I've been teaching him to lein.* (There were also a few nekudos but I can't reproduce them here). Yeah, it's jumbled and garbled, but I still thought it was cool that he even thought to do this to begin with instead of just drawing a picture like his classmates.
So my shaylah: Is it permissible to wash this shirt? Or even to wear it?
(*Progress note: He can lein bereishis through yom shelishi, a little into the third paragraph of keri'as shema and the first line or two of Friday night kiddush. I've started now to teach him to recognize the trop symbols and he can lein any word with a revi'i and I think pashta. He's also not bad with dagesh chazak and mapik heh, but I don't plan on stressing meseg with him.)
* * *
Ora can stand very nicely without holding on and has good balance, but she's still reluctant to walk. Kinneret said she took two steps last night, but I didn't see (so it doesn't count).
Her first word (a few weeks ago) was "up" or "abba." We're not sure which, as both are uniconsonantal bilabial plosive words and we couldn't really tell if she was enunciating a strongly aspirated "p" or a separate "ba" syllable. But now she definitely says both words distinctly. And still babbling a ton. If you say "oh no" she'll put her hands on the sides of her head and if you say "yes" she'll nod her head.
Still infatuated with David. Reverse is true, as long as she's not trying to play with his train table. Yesterday he hauled her out of the crib in the morning when she woke up and put her on Kinneret's bed.
* * *
David has a fear of homelessness. A few times he's asked where he will live when he gets much older. "And what if I don't have anywhere to live?" I reassured him that he'll always be welcome in our home, but he wasn't too comforted.