The Case of Missing Mr. Turtle and YouTube

As I explained in my last post Y has a lovey called Mr. Turtle. Mr. Turtle is in fact a turtle. I had said he was a dog toy, by this I meant that he was bought in a pet store and was made to be a chew toy for a dog. This morning Mr. Turtle went missing. This has been a difficult day for us because although Y is not out and out protesting we can see that he is a bit perplexed by this. I tried faking him out with a dog that he got at the same time. He is also a chew toy and is the same material and same colors. Y keeps looking at it like, it is the right material and the right colors, but something is not quite right. I have looked high and low to no avail, hopefully we will find him soon, otherwise we are going to have to figure out where Mr. Turtle came from and see if we can find another one and hope he doesn't notice.

My other thought for the evening is YouTube once again! It has nothing to do with Mr. Turtle, but happened on Fri. afternoon and I did not have time to post it before Shabbat. We all know that when watching something public like YouTube that you never know what you are really getting. Well on Friday this was definitely true. Instead of previewing the Clifford show like I should have for S we just clicked and watched. It was a man narrating a Clifford story book and it looked like a legitimate Scholastic Books Clifford story. Well the story starts out about how Clifford has the hiccups and how the Howards' and Clifford's friends are trying to help him get rid of them. Well finally one of his friends, Mac, tells him to drink water laying upside down and low and behold that does it! So it shows Clifford's veterinarian telling Mac what a good doggy he is for getting rid of Clifford's hiccups. Then the next we see is the veterinarian cutting Clifford open with a saw and all of his innards falling out! Yikes! Not kid material. I quickly turned it off and closed the page. Fortunately I don't think S really caught what was going on because he was not sure why I turned it off. But from now on I will be even more careful before I let S watch something off of YouTube! Although for the record the legitimate selection of Thomas the Tank Engine is great.

Second Post for the day!

I am going out on a limb and typing two posts today. This by no means is a measure of how much time I have as the other one took forever to post. We are trying to get the kids to bed now. S won't sleep since he had a big nap today and M is mad that I won't nurse her, plus she hates to go to bed. Y is the only doing what he is supposed to be doing, which is sleeping.

The kids were just so cute today that I couldn't resist doing a quick up date. We have a big double stroller with baskets underneath. A while back we figured out that in a pinch S can sit underneath when he is too tired to walk. This has come in very hand since we no longer have a front pack to carry one of the twins in. So today while S was waiting for me to get the twins ready to go out and run errands he fell asleep sitting in the bottom basket, it was too cute. I got him up and in bed for a nap. An hour later he woke up, but then climbed back into one of the seats of stroller and took another nap. I leaned it back so it would recline. Guess it is his equivalent to falling asleep in the car.

The other cute thing today was Y is starting to walk more and of course we are so excited! I held his hand today twice and he was able to make it down the hall. Of course I know this means more work soon, but it is so much fun to watch! Mr. Turtle also got a bath today. For those of you not acquainted, Mr. Turtle is Y's best friend. He is actually a plush dog toy and was given to us as a gift, one for each of the kids. We lost number one and fortunately M doesn't care, but Y loves Mr. Turtle and to be separated from him while he got a bath was a very big deal. However, not only was Mr. Turtle about three shades too dark, Y put him in the toilet which had not been flushed! Yuck! So along with all the kids Mr. Turtle also got a bath. We noticed that he is going to have be mended too. I am considering finding out where he originated from and perhaps purchasing a back up in case this one doesn't make it.

M is just her cute little usual self and it is fun watching her since she is just such a girl! She has such a great smile and loves to just sit and watch and clap and play with her big bird. Our tub is two tiered here and so after we had emptied the water and she was waiting for her turn to get out she discovered that she could go up and down. Very exciting for her.

Today I also made another internet discovery. Not only is You Tube good for waisting time, it has quality material for wasting time! Not only can we watch Thomas clips and old cartoons and T.V. Shows, but I found clips from my favorite musicals today! I watched pieces of Singin' in the Rain and Father Goose and Fiddler on the Roof. It was great! OK Father Goose is not a musical, but still! S was less than impressed and wanted to know why we were not watching Thomas, but he did like the Singin' in the Rain piece, "Make 'em laugh" with Donald O'Connor. The kid does have some taste.

Food for thought

Normally I don't give Rosie O'Donnell the time of day in my life, but I was reading Fox news today and curiosity got the better of me. The article was about a photo on her blog of her daughter dressed up as a warfare guerrilla. I of course chalked it up to her being a typical neurotic celebrity seeking attention, but claiming not too. I have very little respect for RO since her stunt in Portland a few years back of trying to get the local radio station to change its name as it was also called Rosie. Can we say, too much time on the hands?! But I went to her blog and started reading a lot of the comments. It was really interesting and people viewed it from all different angles. Some viewed it as I first did, disturbing and horrible. Others saw it for what she claimed it to be, her daughter playing army with her brothers. Some people also saw it as a staged art political comment about how our real kids are dying in the war in Iraq. I decided that some of those other opinions were pretty valid. I found it shocking as we see it in the news here in Israel all too often. Little boys dressed up in guerrilla warfare because that is how they are brought up, that they should want to be a martyr and die in the war against the Jews. But I thought some of her loyal fans made good points. One, that her daughter is playing dress up with her older brothers and people need to get over it. Two, that it is a private blog and the media is just making too much of it. And finally that there are real men, women and children dying over there everyday and not one of them has drawn this much media attention. To me that is really sad. Why does the news make such a big deal over Paris Hilton and how Rosie O'Donells kids are dressed, but not over all the people dying in an actual war.

The other thing that impressed me about RO is that she has a non-profit that is for kids in the U.S. That in itself is not such a big deal, but it is the fact that she points out that 1 in 5 kids in America live in poverty. It has always bothered me to see such huge campaigns for all the starving kids in (insert country here) but have very little information on the large number of kids that are living in deplorable conditions in America, the land of the free and "rich." It is not that kids all over the world do not need help and indeed it is horrible that kids in China and India are working in sweatshops from a very small age, but I also feel it is important to take care of the those in your own house first. Imagine as parents that in our quest to teach children the importance of feeding the homeless our own children went hungry. We would never allow that. And I feel that aid to other countries is very similar we must be sure that things in all areas are right in our house before we can take care of others. This could be said of any country.

History and people

Usually my news consist of four sources. Katu news in Oregon so I know whats up in my home town, Yahoo news as I log in to check my e-mail, Israel National news so I know what is happening here, although it mostly political news and my husband, sometimes reliable in passing it on sometimes not, but always informative when it comes. Lately I have started reading Fox News on a regular basis. David has been reading for years so I would glance at it every now and then but recently I have decided it gives the best news for whats happening globally. We support Fox new as we feel it is one of the more pro-Israel news sites out there. I am a bit slow, but I recently figured out that they categorize all the news. Not just local, global, etc. But for example "Crimes" is broken down into most recent crimes, sex crimes, murder and so on. I started reading it then found it to be most depressing as there too many listed that involved families. However, last night as we were unwinding from Amalia's wedding, I discovered that they list all the recent archeology discoveries too. It is so cool! Some of them I knew about already, but some I had not. I could have spent all night on there reading about all different discoveries. I love archeology. For a while I think I wanted to be an archaeologist, probably during the Indian Jones phase. I mean really, who didn't!? I have seen these adds to volunteer on digs, always think it would be fascinating. My husband thinks I am nuts. Why would I want to sit in miserable conditions, sifting through dirt when I probably won't find anything anyway. But I think it would cool. My aunt did one years ago and I think that is awesome! I found that organization that we came to Israel with had an event where people got to do just that. I want to contact them and find out if they are going to organize another one.

The other thing I found was a website called Find a grave.com I found it on Wikipedia when I was looking up information on Katherine Hepburn, Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant. If you have not been to Wikipedia you should check it out. You can truly look up anything and since it is created by the public for the public if you find incorrect information on there you can edit it. Anyway, so while I was on there I found the Find a grave web site. It started out to be for famous people, but the person who started it opened up to all people as a genealogy tool. It was late and I did not have time to look at it as a genealogy tool, another hobby I have which is currently on hold. However, I looked up actresses out of curiosity and it was cool. They listed factoids about them and if it was available cause of death and where they are buried. It had people from all over the world. I really want to use it as a genealogy tool as I started my dad's family years ago and really did well on my grandmother's side, but everyone else is been a bit harder. I would also like to do my husband's family. Our past is so much about where we came from that I think it is great that more people are making tools available. As our older relatives pass on we lose part of our history unless we can get it down on paper.

Both hobbies are about people's lives and how they lived. One is more personal as they are my ancestors and the other is about people's lives I am not directly related to but helped shape the world I live in now.

What we have been up to

After a week of being sick I finally managed to get the kids out for some activities in the afternoon. We have been to Malka Mall, which has air conditioning, free play areas and a petting zoo. We did not go in, we just looked at the rabbits and birds. We also made it to a couple of parks. A great trick that I have learned from my mom is to take the kids on a bus to a new park. It is cheap and the kids think we have had a huge adventure. Thursday was a big day we finally, please G-d, got the kids registered as American Citizens and applied for their passports. It was a huge mess and suffice to say that if the U.S. government would quit giving money to terrorists and re-organize their staffing situation there it would be a lot more efficient! However, we went with another couple and while we were able to get everything done, the husband of the other couple had to come back the next day. The fate of many of the people there. So I should not be complaining too loudly.

The other exciting thing about Thurs. is that I got to leave the house with no kids for 4 whole hours by myself! I went in search of a wedding outfit for a wedding we are going to tonight. No such luck. Actually I went to what is called a gamach where you can rent fancy outfits for just such an occasion and then return it. You pay a deposit and then get it back when the dress comes back. I only went there as the bride and crew were going to be there. Great dresses, however, nothing suitable for nursing. But the great thing is I got to socialize with out my kids! Then I went up to the Shuk and bought all our veggies for the week. I know, I know, I get free time and what do I do? Go grocery shopping. But hey, it was still exciting!

Truthfully our new family anthem should be G-d Bless Av! She is the sister of the bride to be and is the daughter/niece of friends of ours from Seattle and Portland. Av lives in the area and comes over at least once a week, usually more, to help out and just hang out. So it was Av and her brother who rescued me on Thurs. so I could go out. The kids are great for her and she said her and her brother were able to hang out. She made them dinner, cleaned up afterwards, and got everyone ready for bed. Now in truth we have hosted Av for many a Friday dinner since we have been in the country, but what she does for us far out weighs a few Shabbat weekends. We really enjoy having Av around and she likes being here so it is great for everyone.

In kid news, Y and M both have 8 teeth each. I think Y is getting more but we will see. Also, Y has taken his first steps! We have all witnessed it now, although of course I was the last one to catch him in the act. So I expect he will be up and running soon. He can also climb up the foot stool now and play in the kitchen sink or grab things off the counter. I will have to start making sure the foot stool gets put back when we are done with it. Y also points when he wants something. On Friday night he was playing the drop game with S. He would drop his turtle from the crib and have S get it. When S would not get it, he would point and cry. It was really cute. S is getting big and seems to be on another growth spurt. He is also getting smarter by the minute! He is great at identifying tractors, helicopters and other vehicles. He also loves, Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy and Fog Horn Leg Horn. We have discovered this thanks to You Tube and a search for various cartoons. M has become Princess Puff Puff, D came up with it, but it really suits as she has this straight hair that always stands up. It is really cute. Also, I have given up with initials. M is making her own progress, and is interested in the foot stool but is not really ready to climb it. When we were at the park she did explore and liked going down the slide, but she is much more cautious than the boys. She takes after her mommy.
I am in the process of trying to get the twins to give up nursing, but we are going very slowly. I need to get juice concentrate so I can encourage them to drink more. They get tired of water, but in this heat the kids all need to drink more. Although I am probably cursing myself, dare I say it, M is sleeping through the night! It seems that if we put her to bed late enough she does sleep through the night! Hurray! Now if Y would even cut back, I could be half way sane again!

As for us, the grown-ups, we are fine and just moving along. We are still debating where to move and what to do. We have a little less than two months and we still have more questions than answers. I really don't want to have to move again if we can help it so we are now looking into school options, Gans, location in relation to what we will be doing in 2, 5, 10 years, etc. Because David's line of work is not a conventional job and it is more about achieving more knowledge and where that will take him in the next few years, it is a little more tricky to envision. So we are going from the angle of where we want the kids in school, what kind of neighborhood we want to be in and how close the area is in relation to the rest of Jerusalem. We know that our lives will probably be centered here in Jerusalem for a while so we have to decide do want to live in a suburb and commute in or live directly in the city and which allows for more options for the kids, etc. We both agree that we would rather raise our kids outside the city if possible. I am also concerned that since we have moved here the kids noses have not stopped running, which makes me think allergies to the environment, there is little chance of having a yard here, and no option for a house, and I still say it is dirty and smells funny! Not all areas are like that but enough. It is a big city, it has noise and pollution and it is not always pleasant. On the upside, the school options are huge and we have a lot more help with the kids thanks to all of our friends who live near by. We also have more neighborhood options and we will always be closer to where ever D is working. I do also like the closeness of a lot more activities, more parks, the malls, zoo, etc. So we are weighing the pros and cons and hopefully we will have some place by the time our apt. contract is up here. Or like our friend pointed out we will be living our tents and camping until we do! (Not really!)

Another tooth!

Y got another tooth on the bottom left. This makes for a grand total of 8 now! M. is still holding at 4. Guess she is going to take her time. I think as soon as everyone is better I am finally going to quit nursing the twins. With Y. having 8 teeth now he can eat just about everything and M. does a good job just with her 4. Also at this point it should all just be comfort nursing and not nutritional value. I know they won't like it, but I need my sanity and my sleep.

We are all still sick here so nothing new for now.

TTFN

Question

Why did the baby crawl on the table?
Answer: To get to the clothes pins of course!

Yesterday M. managed to wiggle out of her booster seat, which she was buckled into and crawl on the table to get the bucket of clothes pins I had sitting there. She was happily playing in them and passing a few to Y. I have decided that M. should be called Danger Woman since she is always trying to push off the table with her feet or climb on it. Y is Captain Destructive as he is always pulling things down and breaking them. Today he ruined D.'s cell phone by chewing on it. Guess we will be getting a new one! D. wasn't too happy this morning.

We are all sick here I think S got it first and now the rest of us have it. Yesterday evening D. asked me, "How long are you going to be sick?" Groan..... As if I want to be sick and I planned this out! So, lucky for him I feel better today, not well, but at least I can get out of bed. Guess I am back to running the house already!

Shabbat

We had our first shabbat here in Jerusalem and it was very nice. The kehila (community) here is really amazing. We had dinner and lunch with friends from the kollel. Really sweet couple who just celebrated their first anniversary. We were their first guests to bring kids! Hope we did not wear them out too much. Our down stairs neighbor invited us for a late afternoon meal toward the end of Shabbat and I went to a kiddush for a neighbor down the way that just had a baby girl. The woman hosting the kiddush has twin 15 year old daughters, so that was nice to see. It was very nice seeing everyone out and about on Shabbat and even though we are in the center of the city, our neighborhood is set off so that we don't really feel it. Everyone has been really friendly in introducing themselves and making sure I knew about the kiddush and offering help etc. It is not at all what I would expect to find in a big city and it really feels like a small community here. Our downstairs neighbor said that the whole area here which is comprised of Romema(the neighborhood we are actually in), Mattersdorf, the neighborhood below us and another neighborhood connected are really nice and are all connected community wise. She said that it is really unique in Jerusalem. I really like it. The other nice thing is that people are on all different levels here so I am not so self conscious about where I am religiously. That is a really nice feeling too. And surprisingly I am really finding a lot of green. The park is dinky and S. was bored in about 10 min. but there are lots of big large pine trees and they really smell great and cover up the city smell. All in all things are going well. Maybe it will be a good summer after all!