Me? Cookie?

Life is kind of... good! Pesach was lovely. Ezra and Naomi put on a hilarious show for the 10 Plagues, scratched us with forks for lice, dragged the red chair pad off the Ikea chair for the river of blood, flopped on it to represent the dead fish (those were the two very original ones), and so on. Farfel replaced kasha (for us, oats--"kasha" of generic Russian use) for the deedees, and Saul can still be heard requesting it. Ezra now reads constantly, finished the Prydain books, read the Alfred Hitchcock mysteries D. read as a boy (now fears the Jackal god, sleeps with light on), read Julie Andrews' Whangdoodle book, and has moved on to Narnia (I silenced D.'s objections). When I tried to read My Father's Dragon aloud to the three big kids, I got halfway through, Ezra took it to bed and finished it, then read the rest of it aloud to me the next day while I was finishing the Pesach prep. Naomi is starting to read, too, she sounds out words very slowly, but she's on her way. Saul now likes to pull Yasha's pack-n-play up to the futon by the window and dive inside, then jump wildly (I always scoop him out before he gets in the habit of trying to climb out by himself). Yasha likes to call everything a beebee (i.e. baby) in a plaintive/excited tone of voice and point and point. He loves to hug. We went on a Shabbos "adventure" this past Shabbos with the twins and the two bigs, while Hannah napped. We discovered that we had brand new neighbors with little boys, and that our beloved across-the-street neighbors have Roman lamps and pottery from 120 A.D. (!!!) in glass cases in their basement, and many many ancient treasures, we met several animals, whom Saul smothered with loving babbles and giddy half-scared pats and compliments (i.e. "He'ssooooo pretty!") but Yasha wouldn't walk on the road, and I had to carry him. He wouldn't even stand on the road without clinging to my legs and whimpering. He's a Kling-on Yasha. I love him. Oh, another development. Naomi decided on the same Shabbos that the deedees were ready to grow up, so she gave them sippy cups and they haven't had a bottle since. They drink less, they sleep better (no more nighttime diaper changes) and I have no more tooth-related guilt. I really appreciate that my older kids make up for what I'm lacking as a mom. She also tried to let them feed themselves with utensils, but the resulting mess pushed my limits, though she's welcome to try again. I'm sticking to bad mom status on that one, for now. So long for now, more some time later: no time at all lately to blog, think, post photos, or even take them. Oh well. 

But wait! Must explain the title: "Me? Cookie" needs no explanation, but it does need attribution. It is all Saul, and sums that little guy up pretty gooood.