Another busy busy week

HG has been going on more outings this week. She had some nice playdates with some babies of around her age and a little older, including some fun in the park with her friend Elisheva, who is many months older than her and is HG's role model for walking and talking. She loves watching Elisheva and trying to figure out how she manages to walk without holding on.


Ima and an honorary auntie took her for a walk to a local nature area. Unfortunately HG fell asleep on the way there and slept through the entire outing (most unusually for her), missing the glorious spring flowers - but we have a photo to prove to her that she was there!

HG has started developing some stranger anxiety, though not all the time, and not with all people. A couple of weeks ago Ima and Abba took her to a melaveh malka hosted by friends in Jerusalem to celebrate the birth of their son. As the host opened the door, HG took one look at him and screamed, remaining on edge and periodically becoming hysterical all through the visit, every time she saw either the host or another young man who looked a little like him. Both men have a passing resemblance to her Abba - similar build, similar colouring, similar beards. This seems to have been what was upsetting her - men who looked like Abba but weren't, she seemed to find the concept alarming.

Fortunately, she's usually much calmer than that!

On the upside she travelled great in the car - even though of course it was at night and dark. She played, talked to herself, burbling along happily and "singing". She even seemed to enjoy looking at the lights out of the back window.

HG's Persian experience

As part of some research work Ima is doing she needed to interview some Persian ladies so this Motzei Shabbat the whole family trooped of to the Meshad senior's home to meet some women from the community.

It was a fabulous evening out for all. HG, Ima and Abba were hosted by HG's great aunt's auntie and some of her friends, who were both interviewees and gracious hosts. HG was royally spoiled, alternately listening (so it seemed) to their fascinating stories, looking at old photographs and keenly examining the gorgeous rugs on the floor.

HG of course would not be HG if she did not go exploring too, but somehow within the confines of the small room she mostly stayed out of trouble, especially with a band of adoring fans to keep watch and entertain her. She was thrilled to have so many bubbes all to herself.


Her new honorary auntie gave her genuine Turkish rose water to sniff (it was after all Motzei Shabbat) and plied her with banana. Then she and Abba kept HG amused while Ima did some interviews. HG came back grinning from ear to ear. Honrary auntie had put some little dots of glitter on her face and showed her how she looked in the mirror and HG thought it was a hoot. Of course the stickers, which weren't really all that sticky, came off quickly, well before HG could try to taste them.

Within minutes of getting into the car on the way home, HG was fast asleep, a testament to the exciting evening she had. She and her parents look forward to visiting again soon.

Tu B'Shvat

HG attended her first Tu B'Shvat seder last night. The hosts always put on a wonderful feast consisting almost entirely of fruits and nuts of every description, fresh and dried, and providing a fun and interesting selection of texts to learn too.

HG enjoyed "reading" along with Abba...

While dried fruits and nuts are not on her diet, amidst the colourful spread Abba and Ima did find something she could enjoy - her first taste of avocado. And enjoy she did, eating what amounted to almost half an avocado!

As always, HG enjoys social occasions, and she had a ball meeting and playing with these very warm and baby loving family friends. She felt right at home in this home full of books, studying the shelves and reaching for interesting looking covers.

The sofa was just the right height for HG to cruise along, and she enjoyed pushing along one of the dining room chairs and walking along behind it - good thing there were no downstairs neighbours.

She looked on in fascination as after dinner Abba and Ima played ping pong with the hosts - another first for HG who until then had never seen ping pong before. She of course wanted to join in too.

Busy, busy week

HG has had an incredibly busy week.

Last Sunday she spent most of the day at the park. It was unseasonably warm, and she relished time outdoors without the need for a bulky coat or jumper. The weather remained warm on Tuesday, so she spent much of Tuesday at the park too.

Of course she did not spend the entire day swinging. Ima and a friend took her on the rocking horse (well, rocking motorbike actually) too, but mostly HG had her first real introduction to playing in the grass. On Sunday, her first time, she was safe, learning to crawl on this new texture, of course trying to stand, sitting and looking around and patting it with her hand.

By Tuesday though she felt well enough acquainted with the lawn to try to eat it... She began trying to pull our clumps of grass and picking up bits of leaves and putting them close to her mouth, though Ima managed to preempt any bits actually going into HG's mouth. Well, as far as Ima could tell.

HG hasn't neglected her home toys either. She has started schlepping toys with her across the room, rather than just playing with them in one space. After playing with her rings for example, she'll grab one and carry it in one hand as she cruises or crawls across the lounge. Then, before reaching for her favourite orange stool to practice standing up, she'll reach up, put the ring (or other toy) on the stool, and only then pull herself to a stand. Once standing, she'll support herself with one hand or her chest, while playing with the toy with her other hand or her mouth.

After a few cold days, including a dust storm on Wednesday and a rainstorm on Thursday, Friday dawned coolish but clear and dry so Abba decided to take HG out for a little adventure, just Abba and HG. They went to a huge baby products/toy store in Givat Shmuel, near Petah Tikva and Bnei Brak. The objective was to find suitable gates to curtail HG's reconnaissance missions into unsafe areas such as the kitchen. As far as HG was concerned though, this was an outing for her fun, a new place, lots of other babies and children to look at, toys to inspect, a new place to study.

On the way back there was the added bonus of a side trip to a forest close to home, including a play area. HG also met donkeys for the first time, a couple of Bedouin kids were hawking donkey rides at the playground. HG watched the donkeys from afar, intrigued by these big eared creatures making funny noises. And, no, Abba didn't think that 7 months is really the right age to ride a donkey. For now HG will be sticking to riding the rocking horses/motorbikes at the park.

Shabbat brought more nice weather, so on the way home from shul Abba and HG, together with the little girls whose family had invited HG and parents for lunch, stopped at a nearby park. HG had more fun crawling in the grass, this time not really eating it, just trying obstinately to crawl up a very, very steep little slope at the edge of the bowl shaped park.

HG had so much fun exploring a new apartment and playing with someone else's ima and abba, that she skipped her nap time, just taking a brief doze and nurse in her Ima's lap while everyone else was eating desert. She had fun playing with five adults and was quite happy to pull herself up on which ever lap, trouser leg or skirt was closest to her. Of course another family's apartment, especially one with two little girls, offered her many new toys to discover, as well as new furniture to practise standing up with and to chew and a new dining room table to crawl underneath. As far as HG was concerned, Abba and Ima had taken her to a new amusement park.


Motzei Shabbat HG and parents were invited to a third birthday party and upshirin in the southern town of Sderot. HG did not participate in chopping off the young lad's hair, but she did meet several new babies and charmed many new grown ups. The apartment was crowded with guests and HG seemed a little overwhelmed at first, but soon warmed to the idea of inspecting all these new people, toys and furniture. She crawled over to two older babies lying in car seats (salkal) and tried to grab a bottle from one, then tried to touch the face of another, later rocking a third baby's carry seat. The other babies seemed quite happy with this, though Abba moved HG somewhere else before she could get into trouble. She then played on the floor for a while, until she noticed some boreka crumbs and tried to eat them. Definitely not baby food.

HG's car phobia seems to have returned. She kvetched and screamed most of the way to Sderot, and was happy again as soon as she was out of the car, remaining smiley and bonny throughout the evening. She nursed right before setting out again, and was content until halfway home, when she began fussing and crying again, eventually crying herself to sleep. This behaviour is in contrast with her calm, happy disposition during her Friday outing with Abba. It seems that she once again is having trouble with night time car journeys, but by day is now tall enough to see a little of the view out the window, and so is OK with day time rides. Even the Beatles didn't help calm her down on tonight's night time journey. Back to the drawing board for Ima and Abba.

Swings, piggybacks and flowers

HG has recently discovered the joy of riding piggyback on her parents. While she seems to be able to hold on by herself, no one is taking any chances, so Abba and Ima hold her hands or torso while she grips tightly with her legs. Her face lit up with glee the first time Abba hoisted her up on his shoulders (well, more accurately around his neck), looking around excitedly at her new, elevated vantage point. She proceeded to play with the top of his head, knocking of his kippa and clinging to the hair atop his head with one hand and holding Abba's hand with the other. Riding Ima was even more fun, as Ima agreed to dance with her at the same time, providing her with a human amusement park ride.

This follows her introduction to swings two weeks ago, when HG and Ima went to the park on a play date with a baby friend and her Ima. A nearby park has a baby and toddler corner with a small slide, sandbox (which HG will not be going near for some time) and baby swings with bars that support infants who can sit up. HG is now just big enough, especially when wearing her "snow suit" coat, to fit these baby swings, and from the beginning she holds on very securely, always with her hands, sometimes with her mouth as well... Ima or/and Abba are always very close by just in case. She enjoys the motion of the swing, but also the observation platform it affords for watching other children at play, folks out walking their dogs, trees and all the other interesting things surrounding that corner of the park.
Today HG not only went on the swing, but Abba also took her on the infant slide, another novelty which HG much enjoyed, though she seemed to especially like sitting atop the slide with Abba supporting her. This girl likes high places.


The playground outing came after a walk around a nearby nature area. Usually HG has dozed off on these nature walks, but today she woke up near the bottom of the hill and was soon demanding to be taken out of her buggy so that she could get a better view. Abba obliged and HG was thrilled to be riding along in Abba's arms, being raised or lowered so that she could get a close up view of the flowers, trees and seasonal almond blossoms. She stared around, taking it all in, catching the movement of a flock of small greenfinches flitting by, or noticing the bees and butterlies darting about the almond blossoms.

HG seemed to take particular pleasure in exploring the different textures of the flowers, leaves and tree bark. She no longer immediately grabs unfamiliar objects and stuffs them in her mouth, rather she now observes closely first, studying the item intently, then reaches for it, feeling its texture and only then does she move her mouth closer to taste it. At this point Abba or Ima whisk her or the object out of reach.


Carrying her along has become increasingly common, at least when out on family outings when there are two parents (and no shopping) to schlep her. As a very fast crawler and a beginner stander, she often gets fed up with being strapped into her buggy, she would much rather crawl (or walk if she could) in the street, while crossing the street, in the supermarket or through a muddy park. Today Abba found a smooth, flat patch of path through the nature area and holding her hands, let her "walk" along for a little way. HG was ecstatic.