Noah's Halloween

Hi.

Since mommy and daddy are so tired from this evening's activities, I am dictating this blog entry. While I am very smart and talented, the one thing I have not yet mastered is typing. Although I LOVE banging on the keyboard when mommy is not looking.

So mommy picked me up at daycare this afternoon so we could meet daddy at the mall for dinner and Malloweeen. For this event, kids like me get dressed up for Halloween and go trick or treating at all of the stores. Well, when mommy picked me up at school I was in the midst of a MAJOR tantrum. Once I realized that there was candy where we were going I stopped crying and let mommy put on my costume. I was a scary tiger and the mouthpeice on my costume roars when you push it. Grandma bought it for me at Last Chance after Halloween last year. Way cool. And when we were walking out of the JCC everyone said how cute I was. Even better.

We got to the mall and had dinner (hamburger with apples for me, chinese food for mommy and daddy) and then we went trick or treating to all of the stores. It was fun being pushed in my stroller and getting candy and I also liked looking at all of the other kids in their costumes. My favorite was a little boy who was the same age as me dressed as Mel Gibson from the movie Braveheart. I think mommy and daddy had a good time too. . .especially since Dairy Queen was passing out Dilley Bars. I would have played on the playground but I was tired and it was crowded. Like mommy, I don't do crowds.

After the mall we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house. I went to the front door and rang the bell (well daddy did) and Grandpa came to the door. He didn't recognize me! It took him a few seconds to realize that it was me and not some other kid from the neighborhood. Grandpa took a bunch of pictures of me in my costume and Grandma gave me special Halloween cookie. Because I didn't have enough sugar today. I had my cookie, went trick or treating to a few of the neighbors, and came home.

It was a fun day but I am pooped. I am also surprised with the amount of candy people were willing to give a 13 month old. If you think about it, my candy haul is really quite impressive. Mommy said that she is going to put most of the Halloween candy in the diaper bag to bribe good behavior out of me in public.

Time for bed!

Noah

My New Toy

Since Noah learned how to climb before he learned how to crawl, for his birthday Noah's Grandma Linda bought him a Little Tykes climber for the backyard. Needless to say, it has been a huge hit.

Here is Noah attempting to work his way "up" the slide and later checking out the view from the top.

Let's go to the mall!

The goal of today was to keep Noah busy and active until 1pm because then he would sleep for the rest of the afternoon. I have today and tomorrow off from work for Sukkot and I want to keep him more or less on the same schedule that he has at school.

At 8:45am we went to the park, played on the swings, and fed the ducks. Actually, I fed the ducks while Noah ate the bread. But he did seem amused by the ducks and their quacking.

At 9:30am we went to Grandma's house. Noah played with Grandpa's liquor bottles. Don't panic, he did not drink anything.

At 10:30am Noah started whining and crying because he was tired. So we left.

At 10:45am we went to Borders.

At 11:15am went to the mall playground where Noah played (and pooped). While we were there we ran into two of Noah’s preschool teachers who were there with their kids. They invited us to join them for lunch so Noah had a chicken mcnugget happy meal with apples and milk and played with his friend Cameron who had pizza.

We left the mall at 1pm. On our way out I stopped to buy myself a cookie and Noah got one to. He then CRASHED within two minutes of being in the car. It was so cute that I took pictures. And no, your eyes are not deceiving you. Noah is wearing long-sleeves and jeans because it was somewhat cool and damp. Given that we live in Phoenix, I had forgotten what cool weather feels like.

What else? This past weekend I went to Nashville to visit some friends. I stayed with my friend Eve who is in a PhD program at Vanderbilt. While in the Volunteer State we went to the Country Music Hall of Fame (interesting!) and we went to the Vanderbilt Bookstore where I bought Noah this cool t-shirt. He looks very collegiate to me.

Dan and I went to the family service at Temple tonight for Yom Kippur and in the program there was a special thanks for a valet service. Is it just me or is there something sacrilege about having valet on the holiest day of the year? I did not actually see the valet with my own eyes but I know that parking is an issue. I almost laughed aloud when I read that little gem.

As if that were not weird enough, my left eye has been bothering me for the last few days so I went the to eye doctor to have it checked out. Apparently I have a mild case of arthritis IN MY EYE?!?!?! Who has ever heard of such a thing? I asked the doctor directly if his diagnosis was a fancy way of saying that there was schmutz in my eye. He said no.

Not much else if going on. Noah made me a shofar in preschool this week and it is so cute that I am trying to figure out if I can bronze it. What I really need is a big chest to store all of his projects. Noah also had a dinner date last week with his friends Josh and Drew. We went out with the boys and their parents and then listened to some live music. The kids had a great time and we had a good time with the other parents.

Rosh Hashana . . . Noah Style!

Tonight is the first night of the Jewish High Holiday Rosh Hashana (Jewish New Year). We do not currently belong to a Synagogue but we have taken Noah to Tot Shabbat a few times at the synagogue that I grew up at it. It was 30 minutes, intimate, and a lot of other toddlers there so Noah did fine. He could crawl around, make noise, and he blends right in.

Synagogue membership is outrageously expensive ($1000-$1,700) and tickets to High Holy Day Services are just as bad. For non-members you can expect to spend $300-500 for a family. We can't afford to go, but because I work for a Jewish agency and because I have an awesome boss we were able to get tickets at the Synagogue I grew up at, which right now is the largest in Phoenix. . . back when I was growing up it was one of the smallest.

ANYWAY. . .I gave Noah a bath, dressed him in his new overalls and off we went to the family service. Dan and I figured we could bribe good behavior out of him with graham crackers, juice, his pacifier, and some melon. In theory, this was a good plan. There were tons of kids but Noah was the youngest. And while he seemed interested in the music, he had ZERO desire to sit on anyone's lap or a chair. All he wanted to do was walk to the front of the sanctuary and that was not going to happen. Even at a family service the Rabbi would have been pissed. We lasted 20 minutes. Let's just say this was not an appropriate venue for Noah to entertain the masses with with his babbling. We were planning on taking him to the morning service tomorrow but there is no way that it happening now.

Noah had his one year check-up this past Friday. He weighed in at 23 lbs., 12 oz. and he is 31.5 inches tall. This puts him in the 50-75th percentile for weight and the 75th percentile for height. Not bad at all. As the doctor tried to examine him Noah toddled around the exam room in nothing but his tighty-whitey Huggie's. He also got his flu shot and his Chicken Pox vaccine and when he opened his mouth to scream I saw that his two front teeth had broken through. The bottom teeth took SO LONG to come in that I was not expecting his these for another few months.

Noah took his first steps a few weeks ago, which was nice be cause Dan's mom was here to see it. For the last week or so he has been practicing but we had a breakthrough this weekend. Friday night we went to Desert Ridge and we let Noah push his stroller. It must have given him confidence because he is now walking all over the place.

Enjoy the new pictures!