Visiting relatives

To round out a very exciting week, HG met some more relatives this week who were visiting from abroad. She warmed to them very quickly - she isn't always easy to impress but clearly took to their fun games, songs and the amusing faces they made for her - plus she discovered that these were cousins in whose arms it's fun to take 40 winks. They were very taken with her and she picked up on their cheery enthusiasism, enjoying having so many new people to play with.

Thursday afternoon everyone went to Tel Aviv beach. HG was not in the mood for a car ride, and started crying, so everyone started singing to her. This worked briefly, but HG was soon upset again, stuck in her car seat without much of a view. Cell phones were produced and this did the trick - the fun selection of musical ring tones distracted her for most of the drive, along with singing, humming and drumming from all those in the car. She only got upset when she tried to eat the cell phone and Ima moved it out of her reach.

HG was fascinated by the water (did she recall the sea from Eilat?). She was already feeling a little drowsy and nestled into her Ima's shoulder, transfixed by the water, occasionally giving little glances and smiles in the direction of her new relatives. She fell asleep on Ima, waking up just as she was being put back into the car for the return journey. She calmed down as the car drove through Tel Aviv, the streets were narrow and well lit so that even in her backwards facing car seat she could see buildings, trees, lights and signs, keeping her occupied until at some point on the highway there wasn't much to look at again - cue more cell phone melodies, singing and drumming.

Friday brought an outing to the nearby Neot Kedumim nature reserve. HG fell asleep in the car, and spent most of the visit sleeping on her Ima and visiting relatives, waking to find herself once again somewhere new. She enjoyed watching the son of the family draw water from a pond using an Archimedes screw, sloshing it into a trough full of tadpoles. A marsh harrier (bird of prey) caught her attention, as did songbirds flitting amongst the trees.

She ate well Friday night, enjoying the crowd around the table, playing under the table, going from person to person. She was reluctant to go to bed but when finally it was time for pajamas and Ima took her to nurse in the bedroom, she fell asleep quickly with a cute little sleep smile, tired and happy from her busy day at the end of a most busy week.

She rested a lot on Shabbat, nursing a great deal all the way into early Sunday morning. She seems to be on another growth spurt. After one more long nurse she dozed off again at 9am, waking only around 1pm Sunday, happy, bouncing and fully of playful energy. As she entered the living room/dining room she looked around, apparently wondering if there was another new friend waiting to play with her...