Lunch Order

This year, both BSM and FF take food from home to school. BSM gets 2.5 sandwiches and fruit or veggie. FF gets 1 sandwich, a fruit, and a vegetable. They both get a water bottle.

Some nights, I remember to ask BSM and FF what they each want for lunch the next day. This way, I can make lunches at night after the kids are asleep, which makes the mornings less hectic. Being me, I write down the boys' lunch orders, so by the time I get around to making the food, I still know what to make. Recently, I came across a lunch order from last week. FF had requested, "Peanut butter & jelly, apple, and PLANKTON!" 

We Have a First Word!

BY has a large repertoire of expressive noises, but as tempting as it has been to assign value to his noises (c'mon, that was totally an intentional "d-all done," "night night," "b-abba," "mama," etc.), I had yet to be convinced that he actually spoke. 

However, as of this week, I am happy to confirm an official first spoken word for BY: "tuh-da" [תודה/thank you].

Not only does he nail the inflection, which he has done with all of his previous candidate-first-words, BY says "tuh-da" consistently and exclusively upon handing an object to someone or taking an object from someone. 

So cute! What an accomplishment! Ta-dah!

***

For all of you who will read this and wonder about his language development, yes, BY seems to have good hearing (mimics sounds, swivels around excitedly when he hears a brother approaching), and he understands particular words (I can ask a yentchy BY, "Change you? Want drink? Eat food?" and when I name the desired activity, he smiles hugely and pants and bounces up and down). BY is also pretty good at signing "food," "drink," "all done," and, less frequently, "change you."

Preferred Use Case

I bought magnetic building tiles (a.k.a., knockoff Magna-Tiles®) for the first time as a birthday present for BSM when he turned three. 

When I bought magnetic building tiles a few months later, as a Chanukah present for BSM, Husbinator shrewdly asked if I bought them for BSM or for myself. Fair enough: BSM was still doing fine with his starter set, but I simply could not cope with only 10 isosceles triangles, when an additional 2 isosceles triangles would finally let me build a dodecagon.

I mean, what were they thinking???

Anyway, various ones of my offspring have been enjoying building with the "magnetim," as they are called in Hebrew, for over four years now. As have I.

However, during the latest lockdown, BSM finally used the magnetim for their preferred purpose: geometry.

As part of a lesson on solids, BSM's teacher showed the kids a diagram of unfolding a hexagonal pyramid. Rather than expend time and energy searching for the dinky cardboard pyramids that came with BSM's geometry book, we got to build pyramids from the magnetim. At last!

The Goofball Strikes Again

 After he finished lunch yesterday, FF put on Husbinator's shoes and happily marched around and around the table. 

"Be careful, FF," said Husbniator.

"I am!" FF replied blithely.

"Don't fall, FF," warned Husbinator.

"I am keeping my balance!" declared FF, just as he hit a chair and stumbled. "By banging into things, of course," he clarified, not missing a beat.