My little grocery boy

Naftali has appointed himself as the official grocery-putter-awayer in our house.  While all his siblings like to rummage through the bags of groceries to see what goodies I got (and try to steal some if I'm not looking!), he likes to take everything out and put them where they belong- and he really does a good job!  He really knows where everything belongs...this week he put away ALL my groceries for me and the only 'mistake' he made was that he put the new sealed container of mayonaise into the fridge...he doesn't yet understand that it only has to be in the fridge once its opened!  Let's hope the others follow suit- I could use a floor-sweeper, or a dish-washer....

A day in "Gan" Shalva

About a month ago, I enrolled Nissim in an early childhood development program at Shalva- an organization that has many programs and services for children with special needs.  This program was developed primarily for children with Down's Syndrome, but once a week they run it for children who were born premature or who had extended hospital stays and therefore have developmental delay.  The program offers a variety of different therapies to help the children develop and maximize their potential- physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, hydrotherapy, and massage therapy.

One of my favorite parts of the program is what they call the "white room". It is a special room that is completely white, with a cushiony floor (part of it is even a waterbed!) and there are different light stimuli in the room.  This type of room (invented in the 70's in Sweden) helps minimize distraction and therefore allows the "patient" to focus on the senses of vision and touch. 

In one corner of the room are two columns filled with water- there are lights shining in the water that change color, and bubbles which float upwards through the tube.  The therapist can turn on and off the lights and bubbles, and Nissim really watches them intently....he's even learned that when the bubbles dissappear, he should look at the bottom of the tube because that's where they start!

Nissim's FAVORITE part of the white room (and mine as well!) is the "spaghetti" - fiber optic strands that have a light shining through them (which changes colors).  He loves to grab the strands and watches them as he moves them around- and when he finds the pile where all the strands are, its very hard to distract him to do something else!

(the picture didn't come out NEARLY as good as the real thing..its hard to capture it!)

B"H Nissim has really started to develop nicely recently...and we hope that IY"H it should continue!

How do you like our new header?!

I know we've been LONG overdue for a new blog header, but that's been a mighty hard task! Its hard to find a time where all 5 kids KA"H are awake, dressed, happy, and ready to pose! I think this shot actually came out quite decent...now the challenge was trying to fit in the titles without blocking anyone's smile! I guess B"H as the family grows, arranging a decent blog header gets harder and harder (as do many other things!)

Nissim's Photo Shoot

Nissim is a really smiley guy...that is, until you pull out the camera. I thought maybe its just that I don't try hard or often enough to catch a smile! Today, while I was cooking for Shabbos, I saw him in a really smiley mood- so I dropped everything and started to shoot!

After about 20+ shots, with no major success, I gave up. As soon as he sees the camera (and especially the flash) Nissim stops smiling and starts staring. I did manage to get one nice smile, but since I was trying to hide the camera from him, of course the picture is partially cut off (the center shot below).

Enojoy all his funny faces!

 

P.S. Nissim weighed in at a whopping 11.5 pounds...how much do you think those pudgy cheeks weigh?!

Feeling Blue?

Bubbie, where are you?

The kids LOVE to Skype with Bubbie.  Bubbie usually reads them books, and its their chance to show her all their creations (they like to stick them RIGHT in front of the web-cam!)  Every time Naftali sees Bubbie on the screen, he gets so excited and starts to exclaim "Bubbie! Bubbie!"

This week, after Shabbos, when I turned the computer on, right away, Naftali ran up to it and starting saying excitedly, "Bubbie! Bubbie!"  He stood there for a while, looking at the screen, waiting for Bubbie to appear...

(And of course, as I am writing this post, who do you think came up to the computer looking for Bubbie?!)

Cute Quote: Mr. Know-it-All

We were discussing our exciting guests for this upcoming Shabbos (Chavi and Chana- we are REALLY looking forward!) and I told the kids that Aryeh isn't coming with them (had to warn them ahead of time so they wouldn't get dissappointed- no rocketship rides and "bum-bum-bum-bum-BUM").  I was about to tell them why he wasn't coming, when Yisrael piped up:

Yisrael:  Because he's going to a Chasuna!
Mommy:  How did you know that?
Yisrael: Because I know!
Mommy:  Who told you?
Yisrael: No one, I just know!
Mommy:  How did you know if no one told you?
Yisrael: Because I have רוח הקודש!

What do you have to say to that?!