Something fun

Here's something fun for a Monday, a short video of the kids dancing at a rest stop between Ithaca and Harrisonburg. Their dad logged a LOT of miles on this road so it was kind of poignant - is that the right word? I feel like there must be a better word to exactly express the strange mix of happiness, poignancy, and nostalgia that this evokes for me. There probably is in German (or here).

Anyway, here's the video:

(I also love the song playing in the background - Dream, by the Cranberries).

Inventive

This is from this past winter - it was so cool, Samueli made a self-propelling little car out of an empty toilet paper roll, a balloon, a straw, four plastic caps, and two Q-tips. The kids loved playing with it although they needed help blowing up the balloon again!

Pulley

Twisty Slide!

Enjoy: 

Video from G's Second Birthday

Am I stuck in a blogging moment that I can't get out of? The past two weeks have been very Bug-centric around here. I think that's ok. Valerie is really cute in this video too :-)

One of the guys who went on our historic hike 2 weeks ago made this little video about it. You can see glimpses of Terry and I carrying the kids at 0:37, and starting at 1:04 (I think you can see V saying she needs to pee). We never made it to the waterfall ourselves but you can also see what we missed :-)

Oh, and for the record, we didn't actually walk across that insane little gray ridge (1:10), we went around it.

More kid stuff

Here's a little video to take you into the weekend. They are imitating a guy we saw on a video who goes, "Rock, Paper, Scissors, Go!" And then does a silly little arm-pump saying "I won!" I think they are adorable.

More funny little stories:

We watched a youtube video based on "Hickory Dickory Dock" in which a parade of small animals all take turns going up and down the clock as it strikes one, then two, then three, etc. But when it got to six, an Elephant went up the clock - and crushed it with his great weight. Valerie was so involved in the video that when the clock collapsed - she started crying! And then of course Gabriel had to join in too because he does everything big sister does. For day after that she's been telling me she doesn't want to see the elephant go up the clock. And seeking reassurance that we will not allow any elephants to go up our clock at home.

But Gabriel had a different response - he'll look at me, make his elephant noise, then go "tick tock, tick tock," wanting me to re-tell the story. Then one morning he found a little toy elephant doll that Terry brought back from Cambodia last year. He looked around, picked up a full pack of disposable diapers, leaned it against the wall on one end, and then marched the little elephant up the side going "tick tock, tick tock" and then CRASH! Sometimes he'll end these re-tellings by saying "Pooh, Pooh," and pretending to cry. He's very attuned to her.

It's been pooooouring rain this week and last. We've made it out a few times between showers but it hasn't been a great month for going outdoors. I'm growing some cilantro on the balcony, which is so fun to see the little leaves poking up out of the earth. The two seedlings that I put in next to our bean plant (remember, Mom? From January?) are doing the best.

One day I bought some scrub brushes for the house, and they were instant hits - each kid grabbed one, got down on hands and knees, and diligently started dry-scrubbing the floor. For a day, the brushes went with them EVERYWHERE - even to bed that night. I am so not exaggerating. Again - why do we buy toys...?

There are so many micro-moments, things they say and do. I keep thinking "I have to remember that for the blog" and then I sit down here, and it's gone already. Gabriel is getting so big! I see my baby vanishing and I feel a little sad. But the little boy who has come to live with us is so charming and fun, it makes up for it :-)

Valerie challenges us with her almost-4-year-old drama - but then she'll wrap her arms tight around my neck, her legs around my waist, and it's all worth it too. She's been learning more and more sight words, and starting on some basic math with an app we got for the iPad. Fun little games for adding and subtracting. She LOVES the Dr. Seuss book I ordered - but didn't give the Dick and Jane more than a passing glance! Oh well, good to know! She can't read more than a word or two on each page of the Seuss book but I've noticed she's started playing with rhymes - rattling off rhyming words in long strings (mostly made-up words, but it's she's showing that she understands the pattern concept).

More photos soon once I get around to downloading them. Have a great weekend!

Gabriel says "no" - and other things!

Gabriel has been adding some new words to his repertoire - "Nana" (banana), "Nena" (Grandma), "Up," "Gja" (Giraffe), and, most charmingly, "Noooooo." Don't believe me? Behold:

There are more - all the time. I'm still trying to catch him running around trying to jump, with his hands over his head, kicking a ball and shouting "Gooo! Gooo!" [Gol] My little dude is getting SO BIG!!!

"Wooshawoo!"

from last week

Here is a video I took near the old Tirana castle on Flag Day last week; some traditional Albanian dancing. It was very cool.

Dizzy!

Gabriel has been imitating Valerie's spinning around. Midway through the video you can hear her saying "My [I'm] Gabriel - two Gabriels!" and then a little later "Gabriel laughing - Panther laughing."

Youtube version forthcoming.

Barnyard Dance!

Anyone remember the 2-year-old version of this?

(Look in the background during the last verse - 0:37 - and you'll see some boxers who were working out near us at the park. G was fascinated by them!)

youtube version here.

Sa i madh?

I do have some Valerie videos, that I will upload sometime this week. This is G being cute in the high chair. Here is the youtube link.

Here's a transcript:

0:03 - imitates me shaking head vigorously

0:08 - I say "lepurushi!" (little rabbit) and sign rabbit off camera

0:12 - he signs rabbit, just as I ask him "where's your head?"

0:15 - he pats his head

0:21 - I ask "How big is Gabriel? Sooo big!" He looks at me funny.

0:24 - I ask in Albanian, "Sa i madh është Gabrieli? I madh!" He lifts his arms

0:30: I say "shumë mirë, shumë mirë" (very good, very good) and he begins opening and closing his hands and being thoroughly entertained by this activity for the rest of the video clip.

Enjoy!

Video of Gabriel Walking!

I took this video two days after G's birthday (July 9). He was a little tired, so that's why he seems kind of floppy when he sort of half-falls against the chair.

"Look out World Cup, here I come!"

(and here it is on youtube for those of you using an iTouch)