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.