A high-flying wedding adventure

HG went to a wedding tonight, her first since she was a newborn. She behaved very well, and had a wonderful time. She was a bit unsettled at first by the crowds of unfamiliar faces, but she quickly settled down and enjoyed herself.

First she watched the band, a country/jazz ensemble with a banjo, tuba, trombone and washboard (really!). The huppa was outdoors in the cold, so she and Abba explored the halls of the building instead, HG walking while holding Abba's fingers. She took the lead, pausing to explore some signs, and eventually ended up in the stairwell. There, she proceeded to climb up 8-10 steps, crawling up them one at a time.

At dinner, as is her custom lately, she would only eat foods she could feed herself. So she had bitesized bits of eggplant and zucchini, along with matbuha, a spice tomato-based relish. Yes, she ate that with her hands, smearing them all over her face and Abba's clean white shirt.

The star attraction was the juggling. The groom is a juggler, and it seems he invited all his associates. One after another they entered the circle, juggling balls and batons and rings and blocks and chairs. HG watched in rapt attention, though on occasion she was distracted by the letters "Mazal Tov" held aloft on poles. (She just loves looking at letters.) Most of the time, she stood on the floor, holding onto Abba's fingers for support.

When the jugglers got to torches and knives, Abba decided it was time to move.

So they returned to the table, where HG practiced standing herself up against chairs and tables, and pushing chairs around the room, and picking up things she shouldn't be putting into her mouth. She's standing better from day to day, but still for no more than a few seconds at a time without support.

When the main course was served, all she needed was some bite-sized chunks of chicken and tender beef, left for her at the edge of the dinner plate. She helped herself to more when she was ready for it. (Or sometimes a bit before...) Once she took a handful of chunks in her right hand, and fed herself from them using her left hand. Most of them successfully made the transition from hand to mouth, but the floor also got its share. She'll have to practice her juggling.

Aside from that, she joined in the dancing, and tried to play with other children, and smiled at friendly guests. She stayed wide awake until we left after 11:00, and then, after a bit of crankiness, she fell sound asleep in the car.

Ein Gedi - HG's first weekend away

On their recent Israel trip HG's Bubbe and Zayde treated the family to a weekend away in the scenic Dead Sea oasis of Ein Gedi. Aside from the Shabbat on which she was born, this was HG's first sleep away from home since she was born.

The family stayed in the basic, rustic lodgings of the kibbutz guesthouse (the nicer rooms were all booked), very different from what HG is used to at home. The kibbutz provided her with a big playpen/crib which she actually seemed to enjoy, whether because it was something different and new, whether because it was located right


facing a full length mirror or whether because unlike either her crib or playpen at home, this one was very close to the floor, very open and square, allowing her more visibility. In any case, she had a ball playing with the mirror, making faces in it and watching Ima and Abba in it.


The grown ups beds were also for her to play with - as she does at home, she would climb up to the bed and pull herself to a stand on the window sill above it, looking out the window. Only here, unlike at home, the window had curtains, not shutters, more fun to play with, especially peekaboo. Of course the view out of the window was also a surprise, lawns and banyan trees and all sorts of things she doesn't see at home.

She spent quite some time absorbing the landscape, fascinated by the trees and flowers of this residential botanical gardens, staring out at the rugged cliffs and mountains and briefly transfixed by the Dead Sea.

HG has certainly begun noticing birds and animals. She seems to have learnt to associate birdsong with birds, when she hears bird calls she turns toward the sound, apparently looking for the bird. The wolf whistling Tristram's starling, a common Ein Gedi area bird, certainly gave her a run for her money! They spent a lot of time in the tree outside the chalet and woke Ima and HG each morning.

Another attraction for HG were the many foreign tourists staying at the guesthouse. She seemed as much an attraction for some of them as the flora and fauna. This weekend HG heard several new European languages, and met tourists from Italy, Germany, France, assorted Scandinavian countries and Belgium. HG isn't talking yet of course, but she did seem to register that they talked differently, sometimes cocking her head in the direction of conversation as though listening to the new sounds.



She charmed them all, sometimes crawling over to them or their tables at meal time, as if to say hello, or using their chairs for standing practice. She also liked using the lobby, which was usually quite empty, for crawling and walking practice, exploring the furniture and using the lighter chairs as push along walkers. Fortunately when she escaped from Abba, Ima or her grandparents and went off to explore the next table, the other guests took it all in good humour, turning to find a small baby pulling herself up on their chairs or crouching under their table and studying these new people.

HG enjoyed being taken to the substantial mini-zoo on the kibbutz grounds, though she seemed a little nervous of the large rabbits and remains scared of cats. She alternately enjoyed watching the peacocks and was scared when the free roaming birds wandered a little to close to her. She liked watching the goats, finches, racoon and parrot.

On the way home the family stopped at the ancient Ein Gedi synagogue. HG saw her first real Roman era mosaic, and seemed interested in the patterns. She probably wanted to crawl along and examine it, but remained safely ensconced in Ima's arms.

Finally, there was a stop at the Ein Feshkha springs where HG had her first chance to wade in a pool or fresh spring water. She seemed a little wary at first, perhaps because it was rather cool water (though a very hot day) but once Ima was splashing her legs in the water too, HG got into the spirit of things, though she still seemed a little unsure what the point was.

We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo

The weather was gorgeous, not too warm, not too cold, bright, sunny - perfect for HG's first visit to the zoo.

She fell asleep during the car ride to Jerusalem, so her first 45 minutes or so in the zoo were spent peacefully oblivious to her surroundings, as Ima, Bubbe and Zayde pushed her buggy around the lake filled with waterfowl, the Latin American enclosure and the Australian enclosure.

Jerusalem's biblical zoo is beautifully landscaped, sprawling across a hillside - even without the animals it makes a lovely park.

She awoke approaching the Hai Bar section which includes native deer, antelope and gazelle, some of which are being returned to the wild as part of a conservation project. They are housed in an open area with a walkway over the top for visitors. HG's first reaction was hunger, so she nursed on a bench overlooking Persian fallow deer and Arabian oryx. Satisfied but still drowsy she finally noticed her surroundings, staring fixedly at the black and white antelope before noticing the giraffes - including three babies. She didn't seem to be sure what to make of them, but stared around curiously at all the new sights.

She finally got into the swing of things in the tropical bird section - a huge humid greenhouse full of rainforest plants and birds, with a flowing waterfall and pond at its centre, complete with turtles and alligators. It was the waterfall which got her attention, and she spent quite some time staring at it fixedly, before noticing a bird flit by in a flash of bright red.

Much of the time she just seemed to be absorbing the new place with its very different sights and smells. At the elephant yard she seemed more interested in the boldy lettered sign announcing that these giants were a gift from the Thai government than in the elephants themselves. True to form, HG will always go for text over almost anything else.

The chimps were close enough to the front of their enclosure and active enough to also catch her attention, a huge family of them complete with tiny babies were having a family fight, defending their territory from a naive pair of mallard ducks who thought they had happened upon a nice place to set down for the afternoon...

Back to more native animals and this time it was the leopard, staring right at the visitors filing passed his enclosure, which attraced HG. He lay unmoving on a branch, his penetrating gaze and bold colouring transfixing HG for quite a while.

HG's absolute favourite though seemed to be the parrots and macaws. Big, brightly coloured and noisy, they entertained her, delighting her with their antics and bringing a broad grin to her face, rather than just an intent, curious stare. She reacted to the noise first, pricking up her ears (well, metaphorically anyway) upon hearing the raucous racket.

It was a very long day out for HG, several hours of schlepping through the spacious zoo grounds, and overall she behaved very well.

On the way home the family stopped for a late lunch/early dinner at the nearby Malha shopping mall. Ima ordered for HG, who seemed very happy to have her own plate of ante-pasti - in other words, soft, gently grilled veggies that were easy to cut into finger food for HG, who of late has often been refusing to eat food from a spoon (even when she holds it), prefering to feed herself with her fingers. She ate a generous helping of courgette, aubergine, her first ever potato and garlic, as well as soft chunks of onion from Ima's soup.

She very much enjoyed the cafe located in the middle of the mall, looking around her, crawling and exploring the polished parquet flooring (a rare surface for her) and so it seemed, feeling like a big girl.

Purim

HG may not fully have appreciated her first Purim as Purim, but she certainly enjoyed all the crowds, noise and much of the shtick.

She seemed a little stunned to see her Abba dressed up in garish mirrored waistcoast and red bow tie, plus cowboy hat, staring at him intently as though not believing that Abba would really dress like that... She had no problem with Ima's Flamenco get up though, and enjoyed playing peekabo with Ima's black lace headcovering and fingering the fabric roses in Ima's hair.

For Purim night HG had a warm, furry pink cat costume, complete with cute tail and little ears which her uncle Ivor had brought her. She obliged and put it on without a fuss. She seemed to like the plush, soft texture and kept fingering the fabric. Very cute she was too.

She was very good through the megilla reading, unphased by the noise making at Haman's name, even enjoying it. She was a little put off by Abba's reading of the megillah with voices though, actually becoming unsettled enough to give a little cry when Abba put on a falsetto for Queen Esther's voice. Her expression was one of shock and dismay - how can my one Abba be talking in so many little voices? What is wrong with him?! Perhaps it is the same as her alarm at meeting people who look like Abba but which aren't Abba - this voice emanated from Abba but clearly was not Abba, and so it scared her.

Purim day she wasn't in the mood to put on her costume. It was warmer, but Bubbe had brought her a lighter weight costume, this one of a charming, colourful peacock. Maybe HG was just a little drowsy from her previous late night, but she wasn't in the mood to wear it, so in the end Ima improvised and slipped HG's red hooded poncho over her head, so that she became Little Red Riding Hood. Very sweet.

On Purim afternoon the family went as usual to have the se'udah with cousins in Rehovot and after an initial few minutes in which she was stunned by the sheer number of people and volume of noise crowded into one room, she rapidly adjusted to the situation, allowing herself to be carried around by a host of relatives she had never met before, of all ages, several of the younger ones in fancy dress that one might have thought she might have even found a little frightening.

She had a fantastic time, playing with many of her young cousins, some just a few months older than her and also learning to walk, others of elementary school age. Her favourite game was grabbing a plastic chair and walking it backwards and forwards across the room, much as she had done at the bank the other week.


Everyone was most amused at the way in which she kept wanting to go back and forth between Ima and Abba who were seated at opposite ends of the table. She would sit calmly with Ima, who would be feeding her from her plate, and then she would catch a glimpse of Abba seated all the way at the men's end of the table, and smile, and wave her arms and give a little kvetch, and then be passed all the way down the table to Abba, to whom she would give a massive smile as soon as she reached his arms. Then about 20 minutes later, the whole thing would repeat, with her wanting to go back to Ima, quite possibly via the arms of some of her teenage or tweenie cousins.

As for partaking of the se'udah itself - she adored the roast pepper salad and ate huge amounts of roast beef, as well as aubergine salad and some grilled onion.

No, not just yet

Sorry it's been so long since we've written. As usual, there's so much going on!


Walking. No, HG's not walking yet, but she's eagerly trying to learn. More and more often, she will stand hands-free for a couple of seconds at a time. A few times, she's even taken a hands-free step from the piece of furniture she was holding to another. She just loves walking across a room while pushing a chair or stool. She often prefers it to her much faster crawling. Since she's more stable, she doesn't get as many bumps as she used to when she first became mobile, so Abba and Ima have taken away the play mats and she just wanders around on the floor.


Playing. She's spending more time playing on her own without adult intervention (but not without adult supervision...). She explores the room, picking a couple of toys to examine for a while, then moving on to something else.

Naturally, she loves peekaboo. It often gets her laughing uproariously. When Abba or Ima hides behind a cloth, she loves reaching forward and pulling it off. The other day, she took the cloth herself and lifted it over her face. When asked, "Where is Hannah Geitel?", she moved the cloth away from her face and giggled and laughed.


Talking. No, she's not talking yet either. But she is increasingly imitating things we say. Ima read her a book about kittens and made mewing sounds; HG copied the cat sounds assiduously. When she was being fed some apple, and she was told it's an "apple", we could have sworn she repeated "apple".


Food. She's into finger foods now. She's not that interested in pureed mush, like applesauce. She wants things she can feed herself, or at least chew a lot before swallowing. Sometimes when we give her a spoonful of something mushy, she'll grab the food from the spoon and try to put it into her mouth by hands. (The result is often messy fingers and face!)

She eats more and more of our usual menu, including eggplant salad, grilled peppers, kiwi. She is especially fond of chicken, soft grilled onions and roasted garlic. We have to start factoring her into our chicken purchases. Yesterday she ate two wings and a drumstick at one sitting! She just kept wanting more.

She loves fresh strawberries, but sometimes gets fed up with the small chunks we give her. So we let her gnaw on a whole strawberry for a while, She'll also take some bites from Abba's apple or pear. Lately, she's been interested in bread or challah, but we've been advised to hold off on the wheat for now.


Reading. Okay, she doesn't read yet either. But one of her favorite activities is "reading" her books. Her books are on a shelf at her shoulder height. (At least those of materials that she can't chew through!) She loves to pull herself up to the shelf, carefully look over the books, pick one or two and pull them down to "read" while lying on the floor. She looks at the covers, then opens them and flips through some pages. She also likes being read to - books, magazines, newspapers - by her parents or other carers.


Music and dance. She's started noticing rhythms, and will sometimes bang along herself. She loves it when Ima sings her a song and taps out the beat on a piece of furniture.

Ima dances Flamenco and HG has started to take a keen interest. Ima has been playing Flamenco music to her and sometimes practicing in front of HG for a months, but until now HG didn't seem to be a showing any special interest.

The other day HG was getting kvetchy so Ima started clapping out a Flamenco compas (rhythm) to her and HG was rapt - Ima had to keep it up for over half an hour. Next Ima tried dancing some Flamenco for HG, without the music, as HG sat in Abba's lap. HG was spellbound, constantly waving her arms in her "more" sign, smiling, laughing and calling out her excited enthusiasm, kvetching each time Ima stopped.

The next day Ima played HG some Flamenco music, and HG stopped what she was doing, went over to the CD player and seemed to be listening intently. Ima tried clapping out some of the rhythms, HG smiled. Then Ima took out her castanets, which she hadn't played in front of HG for fear it would be too loud, and practiced for HG. HG crawled up to Ima's feet and sat down in front of her, playing close attention. Next she pulled herself to a stand on Ima's skirt, rested her hands on Ima's knees and gave a big smile as Ima played some more.

Ima now tries to practice some Flamenco or play castanets for HG every other day, and HG seems to be lapping it up.


Social skils HG has now thoroughly warmed up to her grandparents after taking a few days to get to know them again (she last met them when she was only a few weeks old!). She now occasionally indicates that she wants Bubbe or Zayde to hold her and play with her, and greatly enjoys playing peekabo with Zayde in particular.

She enjoys being carried around by both grandparents and loves it when they play with her on the floor.